inspired by certain discussions i've been having...

[lirazel]

Okay, if y'all could force all of your friends (define "force" however you want: emotional blackmail, actual blackmail, duct tape, guns, whatever) to watch certain shows, what would they be? Here are my top 10.

1. Friday Night Lights, because it is a work of art and will make you a better person. I know I am given to hyperbole, but when I say that it's a work of art, I mean that it is a work of art.
2. The last three seaons of Buffy. I mean, I guess you need to see the first four to really get why the last three are so important, but I really just love the last three and they're the ones I watch over and over lbr.
3. Coffee Prince, because I genuinely think everyone in the whole wide world would like it. It's so lovable.
4. Parks and Rec because of happiness.
5. Press Gang, because no one but redsilverchains has seen it, and I have a lot of feelings I would work out in fic/flail form if there was a fandom for this show. Also: Lynda Day.
6. The Black Donnellys because best pilot ever and also heartbreaking brothers and Jenny Reilly is the best.
7. Designing Women because I'm pretty sure it's what made me a feminist. Also: best characters ever.
8. Miranda, because it is delightful and will make you all happy.
9. Shut Up! Flower Boy Band! because I want all the fic and I don't understand why there isn't a fandom.
10. The Good Wife, to convince you that it's possible for a lawyer show to be good. A lawyer show on one of the main networks, no less.

Play with me!

Comments

[magisterequitum.livejournal.com]

The West Wing, because it's the best damn TV show to ever be on TV

Veep, because it's new and delightful and hilarious

Parks and Rec, because everyone needs a silly 30 minute hour show to watch

Avatar the Last Airbender, because everyone needs a cartoon show

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

TWW would definitely be in my top 15.

The Veep flail on tumblr has convinced me to watch it. I will be checking it out soon!

Avatar the Last Airbender, because everyone needs a cartoon show

So on my list! I love it pre-emptively.

[snickfic]

I have seen alarmingly few of these. Just BtVS and Coffee Prince, basically, although I watched part of a Miranda episode once. Oh, and 1 1/2 eps of P&R.

Some of those I have on my list of things to see, and some of them I have no idea why I should watch. I don't even have any idea what Press Gang is about.

You should write motivational posts for some of them, like you did with the kdramas (because those totally worked on m!).

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

P&R rewards investment. It's just okay in the first season or so, but when it becomes good it becomes so good. I love it because it's the opposite of ironic: it's genuinely fond of all of its characters and loves them and their quirks. It's optimistic and upbeat and just makes me feel good when I watch it.

I have a lot of rambles about Press Gang here, though you have to scroll down past other things to see them. Basic premise: a big-time newspaper editor moves back to his hometown and decides to sponsor a youth newspaper run by students at a nearby school. It's a "kid's show," except that it's not at all. By which I mean that it doesn't feature anything parents would find objectionable, and yet it is very adult in the way it views the world.

I do like motivational posts! I should do more of those!

[ruuger]

Babylon 5! Because everyone needs to watch Babylon 5! It has awesome women! Continuity! Canon gay marriage and bisexuals! Political storylines that are eerily relevant almost fifteen years since the show ended! An amazingly beautiful soundtrack! More awesome women! And alien genitalia that can be used to cheat in poker! :)

Also The Mentalist. Not because it's perfect or anything, but simply because I wish there were more people in the fandom :D

(and also because it too has loads of awesome women)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I actually fully intend to watch Babylon 5 at some point! But I'm glad you reminded me that it's on my list!

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

Press Gang is my childhood, woman! Admittedly haven't seen it in many years, but probably my first proper fannish moment was the immediate, urgent phone call with my best friend after the first half of the gun-siege-cliffhanger episode. This is before the internet, and before spoilers, and we were far too young to guess the resolution. And we had to wait a week to find out who died.

*hyperventilates*

And on my list is seasons 2-4 of Blackadder. Not negotiable.

Slightly more open to debate on the 3 three seasons (ish) of ER. But when that was first airing I was a university student here, in a student flat shared with between 4 and 12 other people, with (usually) only one TV. (I know, I know. Unimaginable days.) And I gave up all my TV privileges apart from that one hour of the week when people a) had to let me watch it and b) were not allowed to speak. Rigidly enforced. It's just *excellent* storytelling, and brilliant filming, no matter how cliched it looks at times now it has been so copied.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

but probably my first proper fannish moment was the immediate, urgent phone call with my best friend after the first half of the gun-siege-cliffhanger episode.

This is so endearing to me! And of course you would have seen it! *foreheadslap* You were the actual audience! And not just someone who randomly stumbled onto it on the internet years later like me!

And on my list is seasons 2-4 of Blackadder. Not negotiable.

*puts it on list*

I remember ER being on in the background while my mama watched it, but I was too young to really pay attention to it. But I know in retrospect it had a great cast!

[blackfrancine.livejournal.com]

1. Buffy. Obvs.
2. Community
3. Miranda
4. I'm going out on a limb, with The New Girl. I swear, it's not just a manic pixie dream girl vessel (vessel? is that the right word?) for Zooey Deschanel. It's actually really funny.
5. Parks & Rec
6. Arrested Development
7. Oh! Leverage! Duh. (Because I need all the fic.)
8. Veronica Mars. Because I just need people to talk to about FEELINGS. And also, I need fic.
9. The Wire. Because it's simply the greatest show in the history of the universe.
10. Gilmore Girls. Because it's the first show I was ever actually obsessive and sort of fannish about.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

UGH I NEED TO WATCH THE WIRE. THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN SOON. Another show I love before seeing it.

I am kind of laughing about 4. Maybe I'll give it a shot, though?

[snickfic]

4. I think the word you're looking for there is
'vehicle'. :)

8. The first season of VM would definitely be on my list. I... haven't ever watched any more.

10. Oooh, do you have any fic recs? My roommate's a huge fan of GG and I want to sucker her into fandom with fic, but I don't know GG at all. I know that Luke/Lorelai is the ship of her heart and that she prefers Rory with Jess, although she likes all three boys.

[marketchippie.livejournal.com]

The Borgias! My baby. Well, really a show about my babies, but it does them justice and I can work from there. Other than that I don't watch enough tv for a list of ten, but BSG (shows I need to talk about with the whole planet), Rome, Pushing Daisies, and The Avengers (the sixties spy show) would be my top five.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Ah, Borgias. I am behind on the season and need to catch up. I miss Lucrezia's face.

I told my aunt I went and saw The Avengers this weekend, and she was like, "They made a movie? About that show?" And I said, "No, it's not what you're thinking, it's a superhero thing." And she said, "Oh, I was thinking..." And I said, "Emma Peel?" "Yeah." And it just sort of made me happy that she's so out of the current pop cultural loop that when I said Avengers she thought Emma Peel.

ANYWAY.

[youcallitwinter.livejournal.com]

DAWN IS MY FAVORITE. Actually, I suppose Buffy is my favorite, but Dawn is right up there like an inch away <3 I JUST saw Buffy this December (and Angel like a month ago), and I can't even tell you how obsessive and in love am right now.

Also,


I HAVE SEEN PRESS GANG. ;)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

DAWN IS THE BEST. I cannot with people who hate on her. Buffy is my fave (with Spike in a very close second because of how much I relate to him), and then Dawn in a very, very close third.

I HAVE SEEN PRESS GANG. ;)

I AM SHOCKED!

[muneca-brava.livejournal.com]

Hmm, interesting. I've no seen enough of the ones you mention :/ FNL is on my list but I couldn't get through the first ep. I'll go back to it, I'm sure.

For me; Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, definitely. I feel like people watched it when it aired but it isn't one of those shows that stick around and IT SHOULD because it's the greatest.
Being Human, but I'd only tell certain people to watch it - it's not for everyone but it's not just another vampire show either!
Brideshead Revisited because dammit, I cannot be the only person with so many feelings about a seventies miniseries.
And Firefly because it's short and excellent and the concept of cowboys in space has to be seen to be understood.

Oh! and Luther! For people who like shades of grey, cute psychopaths, and Idris Elba. Which should be everyone I am friends with because if they don't appreciate at least one of those we have little in common ;)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

it's not for everyone but it's not just another vampire show either

Absolutely. I'm currently trying to convince the BFF to watch it.

[kwritten.livejournal.com]

My top-ten EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH THESE ALWAYS in no particluar order:

(1) CARNIVALE: because the writing is stellar, every shot is PURE ART, the world needs to know the OT3 that is my Jibbykins, and because the mythology is so RICH that after only 2 seasons there should be all the fic!

(2) Twin Peaks: trust me. Everyone should love this.

(3) Dr. Who: because I want to Squee over this all the bloody time

(4) Buffy: (also the last three seasons because of DAWN)

(5) Veronica Mars: Possibly the best thing that ever happened to me

(6) Fringe: BECAUSE OF THEIR FACES OMG

(7) Gossip Girl: because Blair should win all the awards and Jenny just... More people should love these girls

(8) BSG: if I convert enough people, maybe Starbuck will agree to be my wife

(9) Frasier: I am rarely taken in my sitcoms, but this one satisfies in a bizarre way

(10) LOST: I run a fracking podcast on this damn show i hate love it so hard

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Yay for excellent shows! There are so many on this list that I love so much!

[snickfic]

My list (which is not even close to ten):
1. BtVS, obvs.
2. M*A*S*H. Which apparently my generation doesn't watch? Or maybe it's just that we all saw the re-runs when they were too young to understand, and so no one really knows what it's like.
3. VM seaon one. Just that season. I've never even seen the other seasons; I'm not going to tell anyone else to. *g*
4. Firefly. Because it's cowboys in space and Gina Torres is perfect and I love the theme song. And it's short. (I think people could safely skip the movie, though. Whatever ending people imagine would be better.)

I think that's it? I definitely have other shows I enjoy, but nothing that I'd be willing to stake my TV taste reputation on, nothing that I'm willing to say, "I love this and also it's legitimately good." The first 1.5 seasons of BSG, maybe?

For cultural literacy, everyone should watch a season or so of MacGuyver, and also Gilligan's Island. (Both shows I mainlined, once upon a time.)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Or maybe it's just that we all saw the re-runs when they were too young to understand, and so no one really knows what it's like.

That's how it is with me. I should watch it as an adult sometime.

Gina Torres is so perfect.

[eilowyn.livejournal.com]

I've been asking myself this question lately as I less-than-legally download (is it still illegal if I own the DVD's but don't want to give up the space the DVD files would take up?) favorite shows to my external hard drive for France. I'm still considering bringing some DVD's, but space is an issue. So here's what I downloaded so far:

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for reasons.
2. Arrested Development, because it's probably the most critically-acclaimed and best comedy of the past 10 years.
3. Lost, watching Lost was an experience best done communally, and I felt connected to all the fans as we counted down to the final episods together, wondering how it would all end.
4. Battlestar Galactica, because it's first two seasons are brilliant and it serves as the best commentary on Bush-era politics.

That's what I have right. Next up for downloading is Veronica Mars (best first season ever), Friday Night Lights (because it surpasses all expectations to go above and beyond), Community (because I have a deep, abiding love for this show even though I haven't seen an episode since they came back from hiatus because I have no time. Also, Abed and Troy exist), Parks and Recreation (because its an antidepressant in television form), and even though I haven't seen them and would be watching them for the first time, The Wire (my mom got me season 2 when I hadn't seen season 1 so my viewing has been delayed) and The Sarah Connor Chronicles (which I'm watching over the summer with xlivvielockex, but know I'm totally going to love because LENA HEADY AND SUMMER GLAU).

[ceciliaj.livejournal.com]

Mine! These recs are written for an abstract general audience :).

1. Six Feet Under (best gay relationship ever on television, serious about faith, inter-generational wonder, perfect blend of psychological and spiritual)
2. The Wire (mandatory viewing for U.S. Americans and the people who have feels or curiosities about us)
3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (duh)
4. Dollhouse (yep. for real. the whole thing. particularly, I would recommend this show to anyone who is uncomfortable with their level of investment in popular culture)
5. The Real Girl's Guide to Everything Else (mandatory viewing for anyone who ever enjoyed an episode of Sex and the City, but also for any feminist who can dedicate an hour of their life to watching a web series about cool feminists)
6. Glee (just the first two seasons, but I think that, like with Mean Girls, anyone who went to a large public school at any point in the United States, or knows and loves someone who has, could learn from Glee)
7. X Files (because my yahoo id was princessmulder for a reason)
8. My So-Called Life (some of the best representations of women's relationships with one another I've ever seen, a fundamental inspiration for Joss, who wrote lovingly about it on the DVD set)
9. Awkward Black Girl (the fact that this web series has not been picked up by a network is nothing short of appalling. U.S. media culture, you suck. Issa Rae, you deserve all the awards.)
10. The Guild (if you're reading this, you are on the internet. If you have been on the internet, you can get something out of The Guild. TRY IT.)

[eilowyn.livejournal.com]

THE X-FILES AND MY SO-CALLED LIFE! 90's me would approve!

[theramble.livejournal.com]

bookmarking this page for future tv addict use? why yes i am.

i agree with everything you say about friday night lights, and i feel obligated to second the recommendation above and mention my all time favorite show, six feet under, which i feel just as strongly about. a work of art? oh yes. perfectly written characters and (especially family) relationships? oh yes yes yes. bonus: dealing with death, "the body" level? uh-huh, except throughout the whole show instead of one episode. *love!eyes*

[janie-aire.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna make a list that's all duplicates.

1. Community because of feels
2. Doctor Who for its amazing mashups
3. LOST because the Island is real
4. Fringe because of mashup feels
5. Dollhouse for the first truly polyphrenic character ever; and what ceciliaj said
6. Battlestar Galactica was a part of the plan
7. Buffy -- after all, this is what got it all started
8. The Good Wife because, uh, Alicia and Mr Big and, uh, mashup feels
9. Touch because of guilty pleasure feels
10. Life on Mars for Master worship, and going back

Okay, so one got in there by accident.

[eilowyn.livejournal.com]

DOCTOR WHO! How could I have forgotten Doctor Who? Cheers to you for adding it!

[rosie1234.livejournal.com]

You're Beautiful, my first ever Korean Drama. (tried to make my mom watch but no one in my family likes subtitles :()

Buffy - I am making my brother watch and we are on season two so far, I can't wait until he sees the last three.

Doctor Who - I need someone to love David Tennet as much as I do.

Veronica Mars - She is full of awesome! :D

[ellievanna.livejournal.com]

1. Buffy, because it's my favorite show ever and all that (especially the last three seasons).
2. Avatar: The Last Airbender. IT'S JUST SO GOOD. Also because people need to see that cartoons doesn't equal badness or shallowness.
3. Firefly, because it probably shouldn't work but it does and I love all the characters.
4. Pushing Daisies, even though I'm not even finished with it, but I love how happy it makes me.
5. The Guild, a show about geeks done with so much love and also Felicia Day.
6. Vintergatan 5a/5b/Tillbaka till Vintergatan, okay, random Swedish children's show that probably won't ever be available for people outside of Sweden but THIS IS MY CHILDHOOD. Kids going into space and saving the world pretty much, and it's very much a children's show but I loved it when I was little and I think it is really well done.
7. Parks and Rec, because, yeah, happiness.
8. Lost Girl, because it's funny, action-y, has a nice mythology and also because it's sex-positive and has a bisexual main characters and several other LGBT portrayals.
9. The first two seasons of Misfits, because they're both really funny, with good drama and characters I love.
10. Dollhouse, because of Victor/Sierra, Topher, Adelle and their arcs.

There are some shows I'm still watching that'll probably make the cut when I'm finished, such as Six Feet Under and Leverage. Your list also reminded me I really need to continue watching Friday Night Lights (I still have only seen two episodes or so) because everyone loves it and I think I probably will too (I'm just scared of all the feelings I'll have).

[zombie_boogie.livejournal.com]

Giving a shout out to my beloved Rome; I noticed Isabel mentioned it, but since I introduced her to it I feel like I can claim it as my own lol. I want to tell everyone who is currently obsessed with Game of Thrones to watch Rome because it has a lot of the same qualities. Morally ambiguity! Ladies! Costumes! Heartbreak and bloodshed and tears and your tears are blood!

[spunspider.livejournal.com]

(hello!)

so, as far as asian dramas go, the show along with coffee prince that i think the majority of people who don't like typical asian dramas would love is capital scandal (the novels for both are by the same author!).1930s korean during the independence movement – flaky playboys getting sucked into the revolution by tiny bookstore-owner lobbyists of steel. suits and swing-dancing and intrigue and one of the greatest female characters ever, a beautiful courtesan by day, revolutionary assassin by night, and her tragic, doomed childhood love otp. also she's BFFs with the male lead ("oddly, we don't have chemistry, but we were touched by one another" lkdshljsdjlsd it's like V and wallace all over again i love this stuff). it's funny and snappy and the costumes and sets are wonderful and it is the best thing ever.

english shows i would stake my life for: veronica mars (perfect and yeah s3 is s3 but any veronica is good veronica lbr); s1 of prison break (and some of the latter ones bc of otp which is one of my favourite otps ever); the hour (so perfect); the high school seasons of sabrina the teenage witch (totally); community (so damn delightful, even if not completely consistently); kings (so ambitious, such superb characters, such great acting, ugh), and, yes, buffy.