Sci Fi is probably my second favorite genre, my favorite being comedy (who doesn’t want a good laugh). Here’s a run through of what I’ve got on my itunes and you can get a good feel for recommending me stuff (if anyone wants to)
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Battlestar Galactica (surprised?)
The colbert report
The daily show
Dexter
Firefly
Harvey Birdman
Heroes
House
Journeyman
Lost
Monk
My name is Earl
NCIS
Prison Break
Psych
Robot Chicken
Sealab 2021
South Park
Venture Bros
Veronica Mars
the world stands up
Well, I happen to like ALL of those shows to some extent so I’m guessing we have similar (and excellent) taste… I also tend to get into tv obsession kicks and would recommend the following as quality viewing:
[ul]
[li]Dead Like Me (2 seasons, Showtime)
[/li][li]Weeds (on the third season now, Showtime)
[/li][li]Rome (2 Seasons, HBO)
[/li][li]Carnivale (2 Seasons, HBO)
[/li][li]Life on Mars (2 seasons, BBC- not sure if it’s on iTunes, but there are alternatives…)
[/li][li]Doctor Who 2005- current (BBC)
[/li][li]Jekyll (6-episode BBC series from this year, probably not on iTunes)
[/li][li]Avatar The Last Airbender (2 seasons, one of the few quality shows left on Nickelodeon)
[/li][li]and totally random recommend is No Reservations with Antony Bourdain from Travel channel. 3 seasons of just watching a guy I would totally hang out with, doing what I would do if I could travel across the globe.
[/li][/ul]
a couple more recommendations if you haven’t watched them already: early 24 and early Alias and early Gilmore Girls. also The Closer.
(for taste credibility, I like BSG, Firefly, Monk, Veronica Mars, Lost, and Heroes. haven’t seen most of the other stuff you listed.)
I didn’t really fall in love with Firefly until Out of Gas. lovelovelove that ep.
DocP, given that you seem to share my exact same taste, let me throw a few out there that I think you should try and why. All of the following fall into one or more of the following categories: Funny or intelligent
Dirty Jobs - Funny, funny, funny. Mike Rowe travels the country looking to do the jobs that you and I take for granted. This isn’t a stupid reality show, it is a sincere look at jobs people do that make you go, “Thank god I am a <fill in the blank>” Mike is an intelligent, generous and hysterically funny guy who treats each one of these people like the Queen of England. He empathizes with them and respects them, then he does the job himself. Awesome.
Mythbusters - I suspect you probably watch this already, but in case you don’t I needed to throw this one out there. Two guys and a team set out to bust common urban myths such as, “If you dive into a body of water while being pursued will the water protect you from bullets?” or “Will lighters explode if left on the dashboard?”
Eureka - There is one good reason to watch this show: Sheriff Carter. He is a funny, funny man. They are just finishing their second season and have taken a much deeper, darker turn than the first season. The first season is good, but the second season is better…of course you may have to watch the first to understand the fundamentals of the show. In short, go ahead and give this one a try. Funny, smart and a sniff of sci-fi to boot.
Pimp my Ride - I know, you would have never expected this show. Let me tell you, for an intelligent, funny and feel good experience, there is no better. Here is the secret to watching it tho: You need a DVR. Why? The best part of the show is the first 5 minutes and the last 5 minutes. In case you don’t know the premise of the show, I’ll quickly summarize: A surprisingly charismatic rap star goes to people who truly have terrible, complete wrecks of cars. These people usually have a special need, or are people who give more than they receive in life. The first 5 minutes of the show walks you through a snapshot of their lifestory and introduces you to their car. The host inspects the car, hilarity ensues. The middle twenty minutes is where they go through excrutiating detail as to what they are going to do to the car and then show you everything they are doing. The last five minutes is where the person is introduced to the car. This is the money part. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
The Office - I was surprised to not see this on your list, but suspect it is not your kind of humor. If you only tried one episode I would recommend trying it again. Last night’s season premiere had me howling with laughter. I won’t belabor the point. This is quality tv.
There you go…hope some of my recommendations pay off. If you were to force me to pick one for you, it would be Dirty Jobs. Best of the bunch by far.
Mike has been bouncing around for a while. He also does these “Your New Home” infomercials for a developer in my area (very weird seeing him up to his waist in filth one day, and trying to sell you a house on the next.)
He’s also done stints on QVC, and he’s entertaining enough that some folks have put him up on youtube:
Mind you, it ain’t Black Adder, but few sitcoms are. To this day I can’t watch an episode of House without picturing Hugh Laurie as George IV going, “cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck” or maybe calling his oncologist buddy (sorry, I don’t watch the show enough to know the secondary characters’ names) “Bladders.”
It’s this kind of emabarressment comedy that annoys me though, its meant to be funny that this person is acting like a prat but instead it just really encourages me to turn the channel.
Steve Coogan did that kind of humour much better than Ricky Gervais ever will.
Normally I would agree with you Armando, but on this subject I sadly agree with the other side. I simply couldn’t get into the British office which was strange because I am a huge Anglophile. I love all British television, humor and literature…but this one, well, I can’t pinpoint what it is.
Steve Coogan is most famous for playing the character Alan Partridge, if your into the office youll love alan partrige and even if you don’t like the office theres a good chance youll still like Alan Partrige.
I also share your taste in TV to a great extent, and second the recommendations for Rome, Weeds, and The Office. Also check out Deadwood. i just finished watching all three seasons a few weeks ago, and man, was it a great ride!
