Your All Time Favorite TV Series?

[Tig***]

In the vast wasteland of TV, there are certain stand out series that were/are miles above the rest. Some are mini-series, others held on for many regular seasons. Currently, I'm enjoying Fringe, even if Fox tends to mess with the writing too much.

HBO and a few British made series tend to be the best IMO, with a dash of M*A*S*H* (early seasons) thrown in. HBO's Band of Brothers and The Pacific were incredible, and The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire were/are entertaining for the mafia movie fans.

However, my all time favorite series will be the Sherlock Holmes series from Granada Television between 1984 and 1994. 42 episodes featuring the arguably best, most authentic Sherlock Holmes of all time, Jeremy Brett.

[stingx]

Taxi was my favorite TV series of all time. I have enjoyed a lot of cable series of late, such as The Sopranos, Rome, Deadwood, and most recently Spartacus.

[Tig***]

I finished watching the first year of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and had a great time. I almost gave up on it during the first episode, but it got better. Sure, the graphics are a bit cheap and the blood is over done, but the story and acting make up for it.

I'm now watching the prequel 6 episode series. The second full season will be without the lead actor since he is still suffering from non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

[MAXIFUNK]

Beverly Hillbillies, Andy Griffith show, Sanford and Son, Soul Train, Chiller (local Saturday night horror show in Pittsburgh, Pa), The Ghoul (Saturday night Horror show from Parma, Ohio shown on channel 20 in Detroit. MI), 3 Stooges, Dexter, Spartacus on Starz.

[Beerman***]

Friends, Star Trek TNG, Lost, Fringe. Lots of others too but how many favs can you really have?

[bcdon***]

Doctor Who


Six Million Dollar Man


Mission Impossible

[Tig***]

I forgot Doctor Who! While I'll always enjoy Tom Baker sine he was the first I watched, my favorite of the many Doctors is David Tennant.

[marnold***]

Monty Python's Flying Circus: all other T.V. shows are trying (and failing) to live up to its awesome wonderfulness.

[Tig***]

Thanks to my much wiser brother, I was exposed to the Python boys when PBS was first airing Flying Circus, and even saw M P & The Holy Grail on opening night (USA).
I've been a twisted lad since.

[vroomery]

I watch a ton of tv. Probably way too much, but I love being sucked into a show and hanging on the suspense.

Dexter is easily my favorite show with the highlight being Michael C. Hall (Dexter) playing off of John Lithgow (Trinity) in the 4th season. It's definitely a graphic series (the plot centers around a protagonist serial killer who kills serial killers), but it really is incredible.

Lost is another one. So epic right down to the end.

There are so many others, but it would take a while to list them.

[sunvalleylaw]

That is tough. There have been many favorites. All Time Fav:


For scripted television, I am going to go with:



For unscripted TV, Monty Python's Flying Circus (see Marnold's post above), or maybe the Carol Burnett show.

[R_of_G]

^^ Flying Circus was scripted. Granted there's room for improvisation in sketch comedy, but still, much of what we saw was scripted material. Still hilarious though.

As for mine...

Favorite animated series: The Simpsons (seasons 1-9), Futurama, Archer

Favorite non-animated series: The Wire, Northern Exposure, Freaks & Geeks

[sunvalleylaw]

^^ Flying Circus was scripted. Granted there's room for improvisation in sketch comedy, but still, much of what we saw was scripted material. Still hilarious though.

As for mine...

Favorite animated series: The Simpsons (seasons 1-9), Futurama, Archer

Favorite non-animated series: The Wire, Northern Exposure, Freaks & Geeks

True, the sketches were scripted. But I guess I meant more to say a full episode scripted as one piece, rather than a collection of skits or sketches.

I love me some Star Trek too. Both series, but I enjoyed the campiness of the first series, and how they posed issues of the day in alien worlds. And the green ladies.

For animated, The Simpsons was amazing. I would submit that the original Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show was great too. And I wanted to list the original Peanuts shows, when Guaraldi was still alive and before Hallmark really changed Peanuts in the 70s. Those old shows were good stuff.

[R_of_G]

True, the sketches were scripted. But I guess I meant more to say a full episode scripted as one piece, rather than a collection of skits or sketches.

Again though, I'd contend most of the classic episodes of Flying Circus meet that standard as well. The Pythons were able to craft shows where the bits would flow into the next, sometimes as a result of a running joke, sometimes a thematic link to the whole episode, etc. It stood in contrast to shows like SNL which were more the collection of skits you describe. I didn't see another sketch show that did that until Mr. Show (a must-see for David Cross fans.)

I would submit that the original Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show was great too.

The music in those Looney Tunes classics is fantastic as well, much of it the work of the great Carl Stalling. Stalling was a huge influece on John Zorn's Naked City project, one of my favorite bands.

Also, Eric, good call on Arrested Development. That show was able to achieve new frontiers with the running joke concept, one of the many things about Archer which make me think of Arrested Development.

Two more of my favorites, Curb Your Enthusiasm and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Both are done an injustice by just calling them funny.

[Eric***]

Also, Eric, good call on Arrested Development. That show was able to achieve new frontiers with the running joke concept, one of the many things about Archer which make me think of Arrested Development.

I love the Ann jokes in Arrested Development.

"It's as ann as the nose on Plain's face!"

[tunghaichuan***]

Good call on Arrested Development, great show. I never missed an episode.

I also really liked The X Files and Millennium.

Bugs Bunny is my all-time favorite animated character.

In terms of new shows, I've been catching up on Star Wars: Clone Wars. The new CGI animated series. The first two seasons are out on DVD now and the third season is now currently showing on the Cartoon Network, IIRC. The acting is way less wooden than the first three of the new Star Wars movies.

[R_of_G]

I love the Ann jokes in Arrested Development.

"It's as ann as the nose on Plain's face!"

"Her?"

Those writers excelled at using the same punchline for different jokes.

[Eric***]

Hmm. Arrested Development, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The New Yankee Workshop.

[guitarhack]

Andy Griffith, Maverick, Star Trek, Taxi, and current favorite The Marty Stuart Show.