Here is a quick run down on what I’ve been watching in the last 3 months
- The Sopranos – (season 1 -4 at the moment) great drama, and very entertaining.
- The Office US – great writing by Ricky Jervais and probably the funniest shows around.
- Greys Anatomy – One for L but still a interesting show. I hate the way they do superimpose the main characters problems with patients ones.
- Lost – Another addictive program. There was a bit of a lull in the middle of Season 3, but it’s back on track !
- Heroes – I’ve just started to watch this and it looks interesting. It’s supposed to be the hottest thing on TV this season.
So there you go ! These things (and Joost) make living in Germany much easier.
i’ll add to/critique your list there, Paul.
1) The Office US isn’t really written by Gervais. I think he has an executive producer listing or something, but he’s really only been directly involved in writing/directing a couple of episodes. Regardless, yes, it’s one of the funniest things around.
2) Go find and watch the whole first season of 30 Rock. It’s been airing on Thursday night’s after The Office here on NBC. Simply put, it’s awesome. It basically got better and better as the season went on, and towards the end of the season, it was actually consistently better and much funnier than The Office. The Office went on a bit of a weak stroke there for the middle 1/3rd of the season, but 30 Rock was just nailing it week after week. During the last few episodes (the season finalie was 2 weeks ago), I think it might have actually surpassed The Office as the best comedy on TV.
3) Anytime you can download some The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, do it. Since each of them come on 4 times a week, that would basically overwhelm you to watch them all. As far as being flat-out funny, I would recomment The Colbert Report. Try to grab a few episodes of it every once in a while. It’s excellent political and media satire.
If you’re not fully familiar with Colbert, watch how he skewered the President and the press directly in their faces last year at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner.
They also regularly post videos and clips here – http://www.nofactzone.net/
4) Heroes – keep watching. After they introduce all the main characters (there are a LOT of them), things really start to heat up. Mohinder stops being so annoying and some really sweet villians emerge. Here in the US, there are 2 more episodes until the end of the 1st season, and it’s getting awesome. A tiny spoiler alert, but in 20 they spend the whole episode 5 years in the future – great TV.
5) NBC started a new show called The Black Donnellys about 3 Irish brothers in New York. It started off really good, but NBC cancelled it after only 7 episodes, even though they had taped 13. You can watch them all at NBC.com – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Donnellys
6) I have to put this embarassing plug in, which maybe you’ve heard if you’ve talked to Dave…… Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly are 3 of the best TV shows ever, all created/written/produced/etc by one guy – Joss Wheadon. He has a rabid fan base because basically everything he touches is gold. I started watching BtVS on DVD a couple years ago and watched all 7 seasons in a couple months, then did the same with all 5 seasons of Angel. I never watched any of that before because I thought it was silly high-school girl’s TV, but i was way wrong. If you are interested at all, talk to Dave and he can get you some discs, and I might know of a place you could go to easily get all the seasons 😉
7) The current season of 24, season 6, really sucks. But seasons 1-5 are kick ass
Wow long reply, thanks !
1) I thought that Gervais was still on the writing staff. But I did see an interview with him where he said he really liked what the US guys had done with his idea.
2) I tried to watch 30 Rock but I didn’t really like it. It’s based on SNL right ? Not that I’ve watched it or anything
3)I did watch the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, and I thought it was funny.
4)I think I will pass on BtVS too. Maybe I will be desperate for TV at a later stage in the summer.
5) 4 eps of Heroes completed and it’s starting to get interesting !
30 Rock isn’t really “based” on SNL. It’s a show behind-the-scenes look at an SNL-type show. But they never actually show the actual show they’re producing.
Of course, Tina Fey created it and Tracey Morgan stars in it, and they’re both from SNL. And the name 30 Rock stands for 30 Rockefeller Center, where SNL is filmed. But it’s really driven by the characters, and doesn’t have anything to do with the show they’re making. Alec Baldwin is fantastic in it. I missed the first 1/3 of the season, and it was still a little sluggish when I started watching it, but it got really good towards the end of the season.
and hey, a 9.2 rating on TV.com doesn’t lie! 😉