Best HBO/Showtime series?

I'm in the middle of rewatching both seasons of HBO's Carnivale. Good shit. Spooky mystical stuff and dirt and an evil preacher and dirt and naked coochie dancers and dirt and intrigue and mystery and dirt.

This is next on my list. An old friend came into town a few weeks ago and would NOT stop telling me that I have to watch this show.

a few of us were big fans of rome.

sopranos / wire (tie)
entourage
sex & the city
6 feet under
oz

Those are the only series that I've seen enough of to truly judge. Sounds like I really need to check out The Wire.

re: Dexter - is his sister hot or strange-looking? I am undecided. I find myself fast-forwarding through a lot of his girlfriend interaction, Dexter looking befuddled by human relationships gets old after the second time.

http://tvlinks.voodeedoo.org/

I just watched the first season of the wire, which was very good. does it get better?

agreed. i think there are many liberals who use it as a proxy for actual politics. liking the wire is the new ripped jeans?

ALL AMAZING

not Eeeply

Alex in SF OTM. Having not seen The Wire yet (soon!), I have to say that the first couple-three seasons of The Sopranos are fine, fine small screen viewing by any standard.

the "series 1-3 sopranos" thing pisses me off. i can't think of any programme that's been so consistently great.

You're forgetting one thing. THE WIRE.

I like Deadwood in theory, but I found season 2 to drag a bit, and that Seth Bullock character is really lame.

I liked Soprano's for a while, but I just started season 6 and am only finding it mildly entertaining.

Carnivale looked great, but the story dragged badly - not much happened over long stretches of air time.

For Wire fans: I just watched The Corner, which was a pre-cursor to The Wire. It was good, but very grim and depressing.

01 wire season 4
02 sopranos season 1
03 wire season 3
04 wire season 2
05 wire season 1
06 sopranos season 2
07 sopranos season 6
08 sopranos season 5
09 entourage season 1
10 deadwood season 1
11 six feet under season 1
12 the comeback
13 the corner
14 sex and the city season 5
15 curb your enthusiasm season 2
16 the l word season 1

98. craaazy.

jk about arli$$ but deadwood and the wire both kinda suck. i cant believe there hasnt been an arli$$ joke yet.

though i think sopranos season three (even four) deserves as much love as the last two.

and i can't believe i forgot larry sanders. larry sanders in its entirety is top five easy.

1. Sopranos Season 1 (this is very close)
2. Wire Season 2 (maybe the best police procedurale ever)
3. Wire Season 4 (this could be #1, but I haven't finished it yet--either way it is fucking amazing.)
4. Wire Season 1 (4, 5 and 6 are all just about equal, I give Season 1 the edge, because Season 3 is a touch less tight with a lot of the lead-ins for Season 4 slowing it down a bit--Season)
5. Sopranos Season 2
6. Wire Season 3
7. Deadwood Season 3
8. Six Feet Under Season 1
9. Sopranos Season 5
10. Deadwood Season 1
11. Deadwood Season 2
12. Sopranos Season 4
13. Sopranos Season 3
14. Six Feet Under Season 5
15. Six Feet Under Season 2
16. Entourage Season 2
17. OZ Season 2
18. Sopranos Season 6
19. Entourage Season 1
20. OZ Season 3

deej, it's impossible for me to parse out wire seasons as every one of them means so much to me and accomplishes so much. but i feel like with every season, simon's actual vision/goal gets closer to fruition. i love that in seasons three and four, bunny colvin is the stand-in for simon and burns, delivering word-for-word mini-essays from the corner about what's wrong with the world and why no one can ever fix it. i loved it when mcnulty/stringer/avon/bunk were the crux and the interconnected relationships between them, but i really respect -- and enjoy -- how simon is continually thinking so much bigger. and season four, which i also have yet to finish, is just so heartbreaking. this is the only way the show should have gone.

i'm glad every is down on sfu, too. started off so well and then went i dunno where. although everyone says the final season was great (i haven't seen it yet). oh! and what about weeds?

I don't get this. It just takes the place of movie watching for a week (or in the case of the Wire, I just go over to a friend's house and we eat pizza, bullshit and watch the shows every week or two.)

The best thing about it is the writing - while the actors are good, the directing is good, etc., the writing is so stellar, its amazing. B/t my own childhood in the Baltimore area and my family/friends still being there, the amount of stuff that they not only get sort of right but absolutely nail speaks volumes about the amount of effort and talent that goes into each script.

My buddy who works for the Baltimore Police Department (as an attorney) says that they also get the intra-division tension and politicking dead on.

For those who haven't watched it, do it now. Amazing show.

We're already paying for cable, so I'm just maximizing my alread-spent dollars.

Honorable mention:

It's Garry Shandling's Show
Real Sex
Taxicab Confessions
Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
Not Necessarily The News
Fraggle Rock
John Byner's Bizarre (for Super Dave)
Tales from the Crypt
Dream On (okay, this sucked, but it was groundbreaking)

Haven't seen:

Queer As Folk
Angels in America
The L Word
Da Ali G Show
Rome
Entourage
Huff
Lucky Louie
Band of Brothers

Not a series but great HBO/Showtime movies/programming:

Def Comedy Jam
The Chris Rock Show
Against the Wall
Red Rock West

I remember the plot arcs for most of the seasons of the big three shows and I remember gut feelings about them (Sopranos Season 3 was weaker than 1 and 2 definitely, Six Feet Under slipped dramatically post Season 1, the Wire has been consistently amazing, etc.) The hardest one to keep straight was Deadwood, I'll admit because I watched so many episodes of it so close together.

Oz is a bit of a blur, season-wise, because so much happens in such a short period, and I watched all of 6FU but never quite cared that much, but Deadwood and the Wire are more like miniseries than tv seasons which makes it easy to consider them individually.

No. You're the only interesting person left.

Actually, I see what you mean, because while keeping up with a few new shows is no trouble -- just a few hours of TV a week -- renting an assload of episodes of a show that everyone tells you is great and addictive is an INVESTMENT to be carefully considered. And I'm prone to obsessive behavior anyway. I'm afraid to start watching Veronica Mars on DVD because I'm afraid I might not shower for a couple of days.

http://sports.sho.com/full-color-football.html

not bad

Anyone mention Damages yet?

But Damages is on FX.

It'd be interesting to see how Not Necessarily The News holds up. Loved it when I was 14.

And then:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bizarre_(TV_series)

oops Bizzare.

Possible Rome movie in the works? <3 Pullo and Vorenus, not sure how I feel about this, though.

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2010/03/04/hbo-rome-movie/

Has there been an HBO series poll? It would have to be sans Wire, just to open up the field a bit.

i was thinking a poll of current/recent HBO shows would be interesting, since there haven't been a lot of huge or universally liked shows on there in a while

I haven't had HBO since 2003, so I can't wait to participate in such a poll!

Not a series, but I recommend watching 'Teenage Paparazzo' on HBO.

been watching two new showtime shows of late.

Episodes

Shameless

anybody catch these?

i really, really, really need to see both the wire and the sopranos

because I fucking love Deadwood

i've been watching and enjoying Episodes and Shameless too -- there was a little discussion of them here: 2011 winter/spring TV thread: mid-season replacements, returning favorites, etc.

as a brit, if i like breaking bad, sopranos, modern family, arrested development, mad men and the like, am i going to like episodes?

that seems like a strange question to ask since Episodes is essentially a British show (2 of the lead actors are British, co-produced by BBC etc.). but I could see it appealing to people who like Modern Family and Arrested Development, sure.

yeah i see it more of an american thing for some reason. heard some bad things about it but think i'll give it a go

Not really a "best" but since I didn't see a more appropriate thread, watched a couple of episodes of Getting On and find it pretty good. Very nice acting.

looking forward to this harrelson/mcconaughey show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXwCoNwBSkQ

First episode of "On Becoming a God in Central Florida" was pretty strong, less funny than dark (though as yet not so dark as to be unfunny). Felt less like a premiere than it did the first act of a movie.

Years and Years

not sure about this one yet but the ending of the first episode was something else !

Getting On is 10/10 amazing.

it only had three seasons, did they manage to end it nicely ?

Years and Years was terrifying for the first couple of episodes, but got a little too plot heavy as it went on.

yes definitely anxiety inducing for me

Oh god, I still haven't gotten over one specific plot twist in Years and Years.

And yes, Getting On might be my favorite HBO comedy ever.

i'm quite a fan of On Becoming A God in Central Florida on Showtime; Kristen Dunst is the best.

why didn't they just call the outsider true detective season 3?

Cause something else is already called that (and I really need to get around to watching it)

The outsider is when I realised, after years and years of seeing him in things, that Ben Mendelsohn has a lisp

Heh, my wife always has trouble remembering who Mendelsohn is, usually reminding her that he's the Imperial office with the lisp from Rogue One helps.

I forgot this started.

it doesn't seem very good but i'm curious enough that i'm going to keep watching it at the gym. i forgot there was already season 3 of true detective. amend my joke to season 4 please

First episode was nothing special but I’ll give it at least another episode.

Consensus among readers is that the novel starts promising and goes off the boil so manage your expectations!

As someone who will always watch shitty king adaptations, I think it’s ok - Richard Price is doing a good job of adapting, making it less talky. Probably not the best use of his talents tho and not much reason for this to exist as a glossy hbo thing as opposed to an extension of the cheaper less prestigey mr Mercedes which the novel is a sequel to (I’ve seen bits of that one too: it’s a David Kelley joint so worse than this but Brendan Gleeson is like Mendelsohn, watchable in any old shite)

Finding this very compelling after two episodes and it’s pleasingly free of Sharp Objects/True Detective-style ersatz edgelord grimness. Instead its grimness seems... genuinely earned?

Admittedly part of the tension comes from wondering how the hell Price and King are gonna end the story, given that they’re both notorious ending-fudgers

Either way Mendelssohn is vv watchable

Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that every show on HBO and Showtime that had a 2021 season is nominated in the ILX TV poll, with voting ending this weekend:

ILX's Best Television of 2021 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends After January 31, 2022

If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (3 minimum, 25 maximum, ranked by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail. It'll take five minutes; get to it!