Breaking Bad. Very clear plot and character arcs and tight composition for all 5 seasons. One bad episode and if you binge it now, that episode, The Fly, will just go by quickly. It was much more noticeable when watching it while it was airing and you had to wait another week to get back into the plot.
Why not The Wire you ask, given my user name? Season 5. The first four seasons were tight. Well done and good plot arcs contained in each season. Season 5 dealt with the Baltimore press and a stupid fake serial killer plot line. The creator of the show was a former Baltimore Sun writer so this was supposed to be his grand finale and imo he blew it. There are some really great moments and resolutions in season five so if you binge it, the awfulness of the serial killer plot line isn’t as bad but it’s hard to watch for me.
And X Files? One of my favorite shows but the last two seasons were awful. They just didn’t have a plan how to end it and it showed.
I separate comedy from drama, but this is probably my current drama list
1. Lost
2. Breaking Bad
3. Sons of Anarchy
4. The Sopranos
5. The Wire
6. Mad Men
7. Better Call Saul
8. 24
9. Prison Break
10. The Walking Dead
I wanted to put Justified and Ozark on there but didn’t have room
The Wire is tops on many lists, but agree with Jimmy. The last season was not very good. And season 2 at the docks not great either, but did pick up steam towards the end
Icee,
You have to watch Breaking Bad. Season 1 is ok setting up the story. Season 2 plods along but you have to stick with because what eventually happens at the end of the season sets the tone for the series. But when the Cartel gets heavily involved in season 3 and 4 the episodic tension soars
I don't think the Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul combo can be beat. So that's my vote for best.
Other favorites that haven't been mentioned: Taxi, Fawlty Towers, and the Larry Sanders Show.
The boys is a very good show. I haven’t seen the latest better call saul season but that was getting good. Icee breaking bad is your kind of show, its got white people you can hate on, cartels, purp, etc
The Expanse, Vikings. The Walking Dead was good, then they started putting lots of pad material between the plot points, to extend the life of their milk cow. I really liked Z-Nation at first. A campy zombie apocalypse makes sense, given how thermodynamically implausible zombies are. But it got kinda stale towards the end.
A common problem with TV shows is, they get you interested with a good plot, but think you'll get all fascinated with the characters. So then they can pad with a lot of mundane, character-study story lines. Like chicks who try to get to own half your shit by getting you pussy whipped.
Breaking Bad was great for both seasonal and series-long plot arcs. Walter White's slow moral degeneration was awesome.
The Wire was great for the dramatic portrayal of urban dysfunction at all levels. @jimmy, agree that the fake serial killer plotline was pretty fucking stupid. I think they wanted some way, any way, to cleanly end the series and that was the best they thought of.
The one that keeps me coming back is The Shield. The incident in the pilot episode (and all the Strike Team's bad deeds) comes back to haunt them and build behind the scenes. And the series ends like a Greek tragedy with every character receiving their just desserts. Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) might be my favorite law enforcement character ever.
American horror story isnt as good as it used to be iirc first 3 or 4 seasons were fine but it started getting bad.
I think the trumper season maybe with the killer clowns? Was good but then it again started getting bad.
Not really much of a TV show watcher but I did really enjoy Married With Children. I will sit and gladly watch reruns before watching anything else. Al Bundy was a modern day hero for the average American man.
I don't know that I really have a favorite all time. I have Uverse cable and they have a group of channels that show series like the Three Stooges, Green Acres, Star Trek with 5 series on 6 nights a week shown in series chronological order for that 5 hours.
I don't watch during the day but Batman, Perry Mason and Andy Griffith are on too.
Tonight, I watched a few episodes of Sanford and Son and really enjoyed them. Fred and Aunt Esther had some great battles. Aunt Esther even called someone the big "N" word and it was funny.
I travel so much that I don't watch new TV series because I know I will never be home. I did enjoy some cable TV series over the years like Game of Throwns, Boardwalk Empire, Trueblood, and Spartacus. I was able to watch these because they were on Sunday nights when I am usually at home.
Been too many that series that I like over the years to have an alltime favorite. I enjoyed them all at the time.
Twilight Zone, the Dick van Dyke show, Perry Mason, The Avengers, The Prisoner, The original Star Trek, Rockford Files, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, The earlier Simpsons episodes.
I've watched little television in the last twenty years. Now I usually just watch movies from Netflix. I liked the episodes of Breaking Bad, American Horror Story and Rick and Morty I saw. I really liked a British tv series called Utopia. My favorite of all recent tv series was Burn Notice. My all-time favorite dancer took the name "Fiona" while working as a stripper because people told her she looked like the Fiona character on that show. That is my type.
Breaking Bad was fantastic. I watched a YouTube video of the filming of Gus in his final scene, it was very interesting.
I also enjoyed Prison Break, the guy who played Tea Bag is an awesome actor.
I liked the Wire when it came out on HBO back in the day, but I talked one of my kids into watching it with me recently and it didn’t age well.
There was some terrible acting on the Season about the Greeks on the docks.
I can watch the Sopranos anytime, though Silvio was a week link. The actor playing him wasn’t good. Always made goofy faces and just didnt seem like someone in real life.
Seeing this thread reminds me of a tv series from around 2000. It was called the pretender. No I don't think it was the best tv show ever but it still applies here because it was about a guy pretending to be other people like dougster has been doing pretending to be phatboi, icey, etc.
Seeing this thread reminds me of a tv series from around 2000. It was called the pretender. No I don't think it was the best tv show ever but it still applies here because it was about a guy pretending to be other people like dougster has been doing pretending to txtittyfag, phatboi, icey, etc.
^
Reposted and edited for dougeedoo lulz
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