best hbo series premiering post-2005

hate to be centrist - no I don't - and be first to fall in line but eb&d

yay you doing the legwork on something it would've taken me weeks to get around to myself

well im drunk so i tht i might be fun to bitch @ other posters abt their terrible tv opinions now that the taylor swift thing seems p settled

I think Hung is pretty underrated, Generation Kill was solid, and True Blood got really good last season. Other than that...Eastbound was alright but I'm just not that into it like other people are, The Comeback was OK. Lucky Louie was a huge disappointment IMO, Bored To Death was just kind of stupid, and Tourgasm and Little Britain USA are the worst shit ever. the show fulla n00d people was pretty cool, I guess.

John From Cincinnati is the only one of these I made an effort to watch via torrent, but I'm voting for it by default. (Also because I loved it despite its thousands of flaws.)

i was kinda surprised by how many of these i genuinely like - even flight of the conchords had some really great moments - since i def think of this period of hbo as being really unsuccessful.

this is a pretty grisly list -- i'm voting for FOTC

party down eats all of these for hors doeuvres (sorry)

not even sure what id vote for although i guess my 1st instinct is in treatment which uses the serial nature of television like p much no other show & has so many great small moments but generation kill & eastbound are really good shows in their own right

true blood is hugely entertaining but i dont think its really any good. i did like the n00ds show too - tell me that you love me - wish it hadnt been canceled. insanely great set decoration. but the first 1/3 of that show is really slow and flat and at times almost unwatchable

still haven't seen in treatment, that thing is undownloadable

I've only seen the first season of In Treatment, but Gabriel Byrne is all kinds of awesome in it, so that.

I would have thought this would be a total lock for Flight Of The Conchords, tbh.

either john adams or eastbound

this list mostly makes me think i should have cancelled hbo a few yrs ago

tourgasm

As someone who wants nothing more from drama than two people sitting across from each other in a single, 25-minute scene, In Treatment.

Tarantino probably saw In Treatment, said I could do that, and wrote Inglourious Basterds.

Big love
True blood
In treatment

For ongoing series

Gen kill was good but only like 5 eps long

I thought John Adams was great.

john adams all the way GOOD DAY SIR

Haven't seen many of them, but would go for Big Love. Constantly entertaining.

john adams was good! missed that one in the options

The Comeback is my jam

extras!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Life & Times of Tim, easily.

Going w/ Rome. Generation Kill probably better but it was designed to be a one-off miniseries.

conchords or true blood. or big love but I still haven't watched past season 2.

Big Love

ROME

Rome narrowly over Extras.

totally unqualified to vote in this. voted Generation Kill.

totles True Blood

Extras was like a shitty version of The Larry Sanders Show, I thought. Then again, I loved John from Cincinnati (though I voted for Eastbound and Down).

The ones I've seen are so good, I'm tempted to rent everything else. How I'd rank 'em:

1. In Treatment: Brilliant, ignore pans from critics holding therapy to a higher standard of realism than other professions. Really pays off as it goes.
2. Generation Kill: One of the best things in any medium about the war, though watch with subtitles. Flawed only by an obvious touch near end.
3. Flight of the Conchords: Who knew absurd dry satire could be so warmhearted?
4. John from Cincinnati: Scripty but compelling, with a great unusual cast (mostly actors previously "typed").
5. Big Love: Soap-opera-y but with some momentum, and so many subconscious-time-bomb plot-strains and great performances that it's all worth it.
6. True Blood: Funny enough that its premise flies, sexy enough that Woody Allen stole Sookie for Whatever Works, adult enough that she has more emotional life here, though its Northern Exposure coziness doesn't make sense with New Orleans so close.
7. Little Britain USA: "Moon!"
8. Rome: Kind of an ambitious nice try, with great characters but no shape--maybe it was cut off too soon.
9. John Adams: Great first couple episodes, but the story goes slack, and Jefferson agonizing over slavery is both overdone and wishful history.
10. Extras: Only saw a couple episodes, will pick it up again.

Complaints aside, these are all better than most acclaimed movies.

John Adams and Generation Kill were great, but since they were mini-series, I'm gonna have to vote Rome.

Big Love was amazing until this season imo

Hung was such a great premise but was so utterly terrible in execution.

Big Love was amazing until this season imo

Yeah, I'm not terribly excited about continuing next season. Shit went off the rails this season. Most people will never have as many huge problems in their entire lives as that family had in a couple of months. As the show ceases to present any kind of realistic portrait of what life as a polygamist might entail, I lose interest rapidly.

lolvoted 4 tourgasm

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

either ban ilx or ban hbo

FOTC concert last year was the most boring two hours I've spent being entertained.

gen kill shouldve swept it

i dont 'get' in treatment, why would anyone want to just watch someone else's therapy... i can go to a shrink any time i want, i dont need the experience recreated for me

Titties?

Rong show

sounds about right ... though i think john adams should've been ranked higher. and rome bored me.

guys you need to give life & times of tim a chance if you haven't already.

I don't even know what generation kill is but I guess I'll need to investigate. FotC bored me with Season 2 but I did like Rome and it's no secret that I fucking loved Eastbound and Down.

Generation Kill is by the guys who did the Wire, follows a group of Recon Marines in the invasion of Iraq.

Vote for How to Make it in America clearly a joke

x-post will check it out

costas now 0

lol this makes me so happy

Hung was such a great premise but was so utterly terrible in execution.

― you gone float up with it (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, March 9, 2010 12:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it definitely went downhill (much in the same way the creator's previous show The Riches did) but the pilot is the funniest thing Alexander Payne's done since Election.

hung was solid despite the corny premise - thomas jane owns pretty hard

Yeah, the pilot was really good and hooked me, but I could barely make it through to the end of the series.

Otoh, I absolutely loved The Riches and am still really bummed it didn't last longer.

jam'ie is kinda terrible

LOL at poll winner

The correct answer is Treme. Final half season starts this Sunday I believe?

tregay

Eastbound and Down wuz robbed!

broadway empire is the obvious answer to me, I guess this poll was prior to that

Life and times of Tim deserved more than 1 vote!

would take 24/7, veep, the pacific, mildred pierce, luck over most of this list

Lol would watch broadway empire. Bitchy stage managers murdering each other, sounds great

Game of Thrones would win this in a landslide now, right? I would vote Luck or John from Cincinnatti, I think.

I'd probably vote for Boardwalk, last two seasons have been outstanding. Loads I haven't seen though.

Bitchy stage managers murdering each other, sounds great

They did this. It was called Smash.

It'd be a tough call for me between Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones, the former has gotten so good over the past two seasons.

Enlightened. :/

OK, pretty much everything on this list pre-2011 is up and free to stream on Amazon Prime now. Who cares if it's boo-hoo-no-Game-of-Thrones.

Mildred Pierce, all that shit.