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!).

[magisterequitum.livejournal.com]

It's such a cute show! And really hilarious. It's like TWW only somewhat more realistic, less idealistic, and full of cuss words. MY PEOPLE.

[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!

[snickfic]

So, not about a bunch of men impressed into the navy against their will. That's good to know. :D That actually sounds pretty intriguing! I should look it up when I'm in the mood for something like that.

[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)

[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]

Haha, no! Though I have it on tracked tags on tumblr and I always get confused for a second when it's not about British teenagers working on a newspaper and it is about a bunch of men impressed into the navy against their will.

[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!

[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?

[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.

[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]

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.

[blackfrancine.livejournal.com]

You should SO watch the Wire. I'm about 98% sure that you'd love it. And: Idris Elba! Idris Elba!

And, YES! Give The New Girl a shot. The first handful of episodes are amusing, but pretty much exactly what you'd think--ie, Zooey Deschanel's character is all MPDG and there's a little bit of forced romantic stuff on the horizon for she and another character. But then, out of nowhere, like 6 episodes in, it becomes genuinely funny, and she's not a paper cutout anymore. And her best friend (who's a very minor character in the beginning) is suddenly the greatest person ever. And the guys (the roommates) are given more time, and they're hilarious. It's just way better than it looks.

VEHICLE! That's the word I was looking for in my first comment. Not vessel. Silly me.

[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]

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!

[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

[youcallitwinter.livejournal.com]

You'd be right D: Spike may actually be my favorite character, I love him so much, and he's so, so not-the-hero; IDEK, IT'S ALL VERY CONFUSING, I REFUSE TO CHOOSE.

Actually, I'm shocked! Nobody I know has seen Press Gang. Except for unoriginal_liz who got me into it, a long time ago. But seriously, Lynda Day is exceptionally flawless, js.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

and he's so, so not-the-hero;

I KNOOOOOOOOW. One of my favorite things about him!

Oh, I was sincerely shocked! Very few people have seen it! Lynda Day is the best.

[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.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

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