Binge-worthy TV shows?

[Ranger107]

Wife and I have been watching the old NYPD BLUE episodes. Really like the situations they dream up. Very realistic.

 

[Brewdude]

Wife and I have been watching the old NYPD BLUE episodes. Really like the situations they dream up. Very realistic.

Recently viewed all those episodes on DVD courtesy of my library. Just as good as when I first saw them on TV.


Cheers,

RR

 

[Blackhorse]

No mention of Swamp People?!?!?! Are you kidding?

The Creature from the Black Lagoon!

 

[Zeno Marx]

Wife and I have been watching the old NYPD BLUE episodes. Really like the situations they dream up. Very realistic.

I'm an NYPD Blue and David Milch obsessive. I think it was the TNT network that used to run 2-3 episodes every afternoon. I'd tape them (that's right, when VHS was the saving system) and watch them at night or have them running all weekend long. One of those series that I've probably seen close to 10 times in its entirety. The tenth time was just as great as when they were first airing. You can find many of the actors in other David Milch creations (Deadwood, Luck). It was said that the reason NYPD Blue ran through so many actors was because Milch, who was a heroin addict and alcoholic at the time, wouldn't have any dialogue written when the actors would come into shoot that day, so he would scribble down words on a napkin or whatever, and the actors would have to learn their lines on the spot in a rough shot manner. Nevertheless, the quality was tip-top, and that created even more stress on everyone because of the high expectations everyone had, from Milch himself to the directors to the actors themselves to the network heads. It was a bona fide pressure cooker, and after a couple seasons, the actors couldn't handle it anymore and would want out. Also a truly cutting edge series of fine art. I still quote some of the lines from NYPD Blue to this day. One of my all-time favorites.

 

[Brewdude]

I'm an NYPD Blue and David Milch obsessive. I think it was the TNT network that used to run 2-3 episodes every afternoon. I'd tape them (that's right, when VHS was the saving system) and watch them at night or have them running all weekend long. One of those series that I've probably seen close to 10 times in its entirety. The tenth time was just as great as when they were first airing. You can find many of the actors in other David Milch creations (Deadwood, Luck). It was said that the reason NYPD Blue ran through so many actors was because Milch, who was a heroin addict and alcoholic at the time, wouldn't have any dialogue written when the actors would come into shoot that day, so he would scribble down words on a napkin or whatever, and the actors would have to learn their lines on the spot in a rough shot manner. Nevertheless, the quality was tip-top, and that created even more stress on everyone because of the high expectations everyone had, from Milch himself to the directors to the actors themselves to the network heads. It was a bona fide pressure cooker, and after a couple seasons, the actors couldn't handle it anymore and would want out. Also a truly cutting edge series of fine art. I still quote some of the lines from NYPD Blue to this day. One of my all-time favorites.

Interesting. Dennis Franz' character (Andy Sipowicz) is, to me, the standout performance of this series. Classic, take no BS sort of cop. As it should be.



Cheers,

RR

 

[Zeno Marx]

Interesting. Dennis Franz' character (Andy Sipowicz) is, to me, the standout performance of this series. Classic, take no BS sort of cop. As it should be.



Cheers,

RR

Sipowicz was the first character in a drama, that I remember, who had such a huge character development arc. The Sipowicz in season 1 was not the Sipowicz in season 12. Like in real life. People (hopefully) change for the better as they gain wisdom and experience, and he did. His sit-down in the rib joint with Lieutenant Fancy is a scene for the TV history books. Or his relationship with John the PAA...* So many social issues worked through in thoughtful ways.

*hope you didn't read my original post Ranger107. I hope I edited in time to not ruin anything for you. Apologies. If you haven't seen the series and plan to do so, don't click the blurry part either. Potential spoiler alert!

 

[Ranger107]

Zeno, no worries. I like NYPD BLUE and Hill Street Blues. Two of my fav cop shows. And, yes, Sipowicz did change character, but always stayed true to character in dealing with the bad guys.

 

[Brewdude]

Zeno, no worries. I like NYPD BLUE and Hill Street Blues. Two of my fav cop shows. And, yes, Sipowicz did change character, but always stayed true to character in dealing with the bad guys.

Also liked Hill Street Blues and viewed it recently, again from my library. That's where Norman Buntz (Dennis Franz) was introduced as a rather obnoxious but tough as nails cop.


Cheers,

RR

 

[Brewdude]

I'll put this forward as a contender for binge-worthy shows. aamof I've been binging on this lately, having seen it at least twice before. But not for some years. So much of it is fresh to me again and I'm picking up on things I missed. It's just as weird and surreal as before. And even with the wiki explanation of the episodes, there's much that I can't wrap my head around. That said, I certainly nominate it for a one of the most gripping and sensational series I've ever seen. The comic relief is something only David Lynch could dream up.

One addition feature for me is that the area its filmed in, in part, is where I lived for 20-odd years. The Double R diner (or Mar-T if you prefer) was an establishment I passed everyday on my way to and from work. That, the falls, and Mt. Si in the background on many shots brings me back to that place. Even if it's much altered for the series.



Cheers,

RR

 

[DWSmith]

The Creature from the Black Lagoon!

Swamp People is made up of alligator hunters in Louisiana out in their boats filling their tags. It's a reality show.

 

[Blackhorse]

Yes dear. I’ve watched it before. Always interesting to see how different other peoples realities are.

It’s interesting too to watch things on YouTube about other culture’s folk things (dances, singing, horseback archery, etc.) and thinking how fundamentally different we are…THEN seeing contestants on that same country’s TV singing shows like “the Voice Mongolia” or “China’s Got Talent“ etc. and the contestant is crooning some REALLY Western song by, like Bob Dylan or Bruno Mars. And all of a sudden it kind of hits you how alike some if those ’other realities’ are to ours.

Anyway, I wonder if watching compilations of contestants do their thing on those talent shows counts as something “binge-worthy”.

 

[DWSmith]

My wife is hung up on watching the Chicago trio; Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago P.D. I'm so tired of watching them so I do other stuff but they are good shows.

 

[Zeno Marx]

My wife is hung up on watching the Chicago trio; Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago P.D. I'm so tired of watching them so I do other stuff but they are good shows.

Those shows, like many NBC shows, have the most grating, constant soundtracks. I'm an experimental music fan (ambient, drone, etc), and even I get driven nuts. Endless mood-manipulating sound. Eerie, dramatic synthesizers always present. Maybe they've done studies on that being mesmerizing and addictive, like they have with color studies and lighting? Seriously, I'm a sound nut. I can't believe how much it bothers me.

 

[DWSmith]

Yep, and the music overwhelms the speaking so much of the time. She was watching Chicago P.D. last night and the volume level kept going up-and-down, up-and-down. I had to increase the volume to hear the speaking and lower the volume because the music was so loud.

Then CBS and their commercials drive me nuts. I'll turn on the TV in the bedroom while I make the bed and commercials will be on. I finish making the bed and it has been nothing but commercials the whole time. On Face the Nation they'll go to commercial break at 10 or 11 minutes before the hour and keep showing commercials until the top of the hour. Along with all of the other commercials I estimate at least 20 minutes of the hour long show is commercials.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Then CBS and their commercials drive me nuts. I'll turn on the TV in the bedroom while I make the bed and commercials will be on. I finish making the bed and it has been nothing but commercials the whole time. On Face the Nation they'll go to commercial break at 10 or 11 minutes before the hour and keep showing commercials until the top of the hour. Along with all of the other commercials I estimate at least 20 minutes of the hour long show is commercials.

At times, I watch a lot of shows on FX. AMC falls under this comment as well. Networks that love to have programs that are 67m, 75m, etc. Lengths that are beyond one hour, but in actuality, you get about 2-4 minutes more of content with the rest being commercials. An example was the recent airing of the new season of Better Call Saul. The first airing was two episodes playing for nearly 2.5 hours. Subsequent airings were just a tad over 2 hours. They didn't remove any content, but with that first airing, you got around 20+ minutes of extra commercials to make up that additional .5 hours of air time. It doesn't bug me too much because I DVR everything and fast-forward through their game playing.

I don't know how people watch Deadliest Catch on Discovery. If you have your DVR set to record all "new" episodes, you could wake up to 20 hours of recording. They mark nearly every single thing as "new". I noticed the other day that when the new season started, the afternoon before it was marked all new, as well as all the episodes playing 12PM-7AM. It's quite an aggressive way to up your numbers for advertising dollar purposes. Really, the episode at 3AM is "new"? And if you're on a limited/basic DVR space program with your provider, all those BS episodes could fill your space allotment and delete all the stuff you actually want to save. Do people really watch that many hours of Deadliest Catch?

 

[Zeno Marx]

I've probably said it on the board before, but for me Breaking Bad was a really good show, but not an all-time great. I was there for every new episode as it aired. I liked it plenty, but it just can't rank up there. With favorites, I can watch them over and over and over again. I couldn't even watch BB a second time. Maybe in the future, but the last time I tried, it was a no-go.

To the point...Better Call Saul this season is as good as any Breaking Bad season and is the best BCS season of them all. I've been around the same level of jazzed for BCS as BB, but this season, I'm there. I look forward to each episode like I would a potential great. One big flaw so far, but I don't want to throw out a spoiler.

 

[Ranger107]

My current favs are Blue Bloods and SWAT. But we have been rewatching the old series NYPD Blue. Forgot how good it was.

 

[Brewdude]

Just finished re-watching this most excellent Masterpiece Theater series. I first saw it back in the 70's and was an instant devotee. Anyone who enjoys Downton Abbey should check this out as it's much along the same line.




Cheers,

RR

 

[Brewdude]

WTF is this you say?

Thomas and Sarah were 2 cast members of Upstairs/Downstairs for the 1st and 2nd seasons. They were servants in the Bellamy household but went on to make their fortune. This mini-series of 13 episodes takes a look at what befell the pair as they move from one scheme to another, failing spectacularly in the process.




Cheers,

RR

 

[Swede]

I've enjoyed many listed already, especially Longmire. I really used to like Person of Interest, and should get back on that, as regular TV season is reruns. My wife likes Virgin River, but I can't tolerate all the drama, so read the paper by kerosene lantern on the deck or read about various things online...like tobacco. Not a series, but thinking about breaking out my DVD collection of Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes. Used to watch that with my daughter when younger to teach her how to look for clues and solve problems. Swede