Author Topic: Best TV Series in the Cable Era  (Read 33751 times)

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Best TV Series in the Cable Era
« on: August 02, 2015, 03:47:16 PM »

Offline Redz

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If you haven't seen Deadwood you're missing out on on his portrayal of the best antagonists in modern American television, period. Antiheros are blown out at this point but Swearengen is forever.

A crying shame that show spun out of budgetary/directorial control...I would have loved to have seen where it went

This deserves it's own thread, but I'll ask here.  What are the best shows ever, assuming most are in recent years and mostly on Cable.  For various reasons, I never watched shows until the last couple of years.   GOT is a amazing, the Sopranos was great too.   I know Madmen was great, but
I have never seen an episode.  What are the best shows?

yeh

I'll branch it off to another thread...That's a pretty huge topic!
Yup

Re: Best TV Series in the Cable Era
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2015, 03:56:31 PM »

Offline Eja117

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Wait. Does it have to be something that was on a cable station?

Re: Best TV Series in the Cable Era
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2015, 03:57:55 PM »

Offline knuckleballer

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TP, awesome, thanks.  I'll start it off,  :)

1.  GOT
2.  Sopranos
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Re: Best TV Series in the Cable Era
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2015, 04:00:28 PM »

Offline Eja117

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As much as I don't necessarily like to admit it here I gotta give a shout out on Sex in the City

Re: Best TV Series in the Cable Era
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2015, 04:04:48 PM »

Offline Yoki_IsTheName

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Breaking Bad has to be in the top 5.

Has to be.
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Re: Best TV Series in the Cable Era
« Reply #5 on: August 02, 2015, 04:05:09 PM »

Offline LarBrd33

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As much as I don't necessarily like to admit it here I gotta give a shout out on Sex in the City
Oh you mean the female version of "Entourage"?

Re: Best TV Series in the Cable Era
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2015, 04:05:53 PM »

Offline LarBrd33

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A lot of people say that "The Wire" is the greatest television drama of all time and they have some valid points.    It's definitely in the top 5. 

Re: Best TV Series in the Cable Era
« Reply #7 on: August 02, 2015, 04:08:18 PM »

Offline Csfan1984

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I think this topic still may need more trimming like best scifi, anime, drama, reality, comedy ect series.

I am a big sci-fi fan so for sci-fi I like
1.Quantum Leap
2. Babylon 5, seasons 1-4,
3. X-Files/Fringe it's a tie for 3rd
5. Farscape
6. Sliders

Re: Best TV Series in the Cable Era
« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2015, 04:08:41 PM »

Offline Redz

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Wait. Does it have to be something that was on a cable station?

I dunno

you guys can make up the rules!

I just split it off so it didn't consume the Game of Thrones Thread
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Re: Best TV Series in the Cable Era
« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2015, 04:11:03 PM »

Offline slamtheking

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a number of good mentions so far.  I'll throw out 2 of my personal favorites:  The Walking Dead and Sons of Anarchy.  Liking the Strain so far as well.

Re: Best TV Series in the Cable Era
« Reply #10 on: August 02, 2015, 04:11:22 PM »

Offline LarBrd33

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In some order, I'd have to say the top shows of the modern era are probably

The Wire, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Sopranos, Mad Men. 

This is from Chuck Klosterman in 2011:

http://grantland.com/features/bad-decisions/

Quote
Though some may disagree (and I?m sure some will, because some always do), there doesn?t seem to be much debate over what have been the four best television shows of the past 10 years. It seems like an easy question to answer, particularly since it?s become increasingly difficult to write about the state of TV (or even the state of popular culture) without tangentially mentioning one of the following four programs ? The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, and/or Breaking Bad.

He goes on the describe why he is going against popular opinion and putting Breaking Bad ahead of "The Wire" as the G.O.A.T.  This was in 2011 when Breaking Bad hadn't yet gathered the widespread fanbase that it has today.  By the time that show was over, I think several more folks had joined Klosterman in calling Breaking Bad the "best show ever". 

Since 2011, I think Game of Thrones has inched it's way into the conversation as the 5th great show.  Nothing else has really comes close to those shows, IMO.    That's not to say that shows like "Lost" or "Sons of Anarchy" or "Dexter" or "Walking Dead" aren't popular... they just in no way received the same amount of unanimous critical praise as the 5 shows I listed.  Nothing else is in that conversation.

Re: Best TV Series in the Cable Era
« Reply #11 on: August 02, 2015, 04:14:43 PM »

Offline Redz

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HBO making the leap from a movie channel to its own production company really upped the bar.
Yup

Re: Best TV Series in the Cable Era
« Reply #12 on: August 02, 2015, 04:18:59 PM »

Offline Csfan1984

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Action Drama series (Heavy life and death consequences) I like
1. TWD
2. GOT
3. Sopranos
4. The Shield
5. Breaking Bad
6. The Wire

Re: Best TV Series in the Cable Era
« Reply #13 on: August 02, 2015, 04:26:56 PM »

Offline Celts Fan 508

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HBO making the leap from a movie channel to its own production company really upped the bar.

YEP.

Game of Thrones
Silicon Valley
Ballers
The Brink

are all great shows, True Detective too except this season hasn't been great
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Re: Best TV Series in the Cable Era
« Reply #14 on: August 02, 2015, 04:29:19 PM »

Offline LarBrd33

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Action Drama series (Heavy life and death consequences) I like
1. TWD
2. GOT
3. Sopranos
4. The Shield
5. Breaking Bad
6. The Wire
This is where it should be clarified if we're just listing our FAVORITE shows or the ones we think are the "Best of the Cable Era". 

I've never watched "The Walking Dead", but it seems to be a polarizing show where opinions fall into two camps.  #1 - "It's a great show.  I love it."    #2 - "I guess the first season was well done, but the rest of the series kind of crap."

I do see that consensus critical rating has hovered between 75-82 on Metacritic which is pretty good... But I don't think it would be labelled as one of the greatest shows of this era.  Kind of like... I enjoy the shows "Shameless", "Girls" and "Silicon Valley" for what they are, but I would never consider either one of the best shows of the modern era.

Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Wire, Mad Men and Sopranos consistently scored in the 90s.   "Breaking Bad Season 5", for instance, scored a 99/100 on Metacritic which is the highest score a show has received. 

A couple more shows that have scored in the 90s.

"The Americans" - I've never seen it (it doesn't get many viewers), but I hear it's really great. 
"Louie"  - I enjoy it, but wouldn't call it a "comedy" at this point. 
"Sherlock" (BBC) - Extremely well done, but it's kind of like a movie series and less of a show since each season only has a few episodes.
"Deadwood"  - Perhaps the first to kick off this television golden age?  EDIT:  Season 1 got an 80 and season 3 got a 85, so perhaps it shouldn't be included in the conversation.  I feel like it puttered out a bit.

As far as I can tell, nothing else got consistently high critical praise.

« Last Edit: August 02, 2015, 04:36:00 PM by LarBrd33 »