Good ongoing tv series?

[bernie14]

I started watching the Expanse but just could not get into it....I do like the syfy 12 Monkeys series....me and the wife also loved Strikeback (ran for 4 or 5 seasons on cinemax) but I would only recommend it to murica lovin, total kick ass, take no prisoners (unless you are going to torture them) sex and violence (MOSTLY VIOLENCE) escapists. some shows that were not my first picks but ended up enjoying anyway included The Tudors and Versailles (my wife likes period costume stuff) I thought The White Queen was pretty forgettable....cant recommend Reign. enjoy both Vikings and The Last Kingdom....oh very much enjoyed Marco Polo and Narcos on netflix

 

[Valka D'Ur]

At the time when The Tudors was first on, I didn't know enough about the real history to spot the historical mistakes. I've since corrected that lack, and... that series is bad. There are times when it's not a big deal to combine two characters into one for the sake of getting on with the story and not getting bogged down with yet another character... but not when you combine critically important historical figures. Remove one of them from history, and history changes.

The same thing happened with the Rome series. These series are visually stunning, with amazing production values in some areas. But with Rome, they could have done with more research into the genealogy of the Caesars. I can't take that series remotely seriously, due to that egregious error. Of course it's an error that wouldn't be spotted by most of the audience, only those familiar with the Julio-Claudian family tree.

It's why I didn't spot the problem with The Tudors. I didn't know any better, but now that I do, it's annoying.


The only good part of Reign is watching Megan Follows as Queen Catherine. She's come a long way from when she played Anne in Anne of Green Gables (not that she wasn't superb in that, as well).

 

[Ferocitus]

I started watching the Expanse but just could not get into it

I was the same. It's exactly what I wanted in a scifi show, but I found myself
fading out halfway through each episode. I even tried re-watching episodes
a few times and still drifted back to whatever I was working on. Eventually it
picked up pace and I started to recognise the (many!) different characters.
It is worth persevering with if you like hard scifi. My wife really liked the
series of books and said they too were a bit confusing at the start until the
characters fell into place.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Some of the (original) music was terrific too.
I thought the show lost its edge a bit towards the end.
Do you know if there were many who were involved with Re-Genesis who also had
something to do with the writing or concept development of Orphan Black?
There are a lot of ideas that were there uder the surface in Re-Genesis.

I'm not aware any of the primary creative folk behind the two shows overlap. They're both Canadian, iirc, so some of the writing staff could overlap. One of the co-creators of Orphan Black wrote Cube, and the other directed Ginger Snaps.

The BBS series Humans was quite good. It was completely over-shadowed by
WestWorld though, which was exceptional in many, many ways.

I liked Humans too. I haven't seen Westworld, but the thematic similarities are evident from the trailers.

Yeah, AMC does Walking Dead, Preacher and Better Call Saul. They have some pretty solid shows. I even liked Turn but I could see why some one from outside the US would find that uninteresting. I've heard Into the Badlands is good too but havent checked it out yet.

If I could only ever watch one cable network, I would choose AMC: Halt and Catch Fire; Preacher; Turn: Washington's Spies; Humans; and Into the Badlands are all things I watch currently (or plan to, when I have the time). Past AMC shows I really liked were Rubicon and the American remake of The Killing. And of course Mad Men and Breaking Bad are often named among the best shows ever produced. Wikipedia notes that AMC Networks Inc. also runs IFC, Sundance TV, and BBC America (jointly with the BBC of course), and something called WeTV, which I've never heard of before.

 

[VicRatlhead5199]

Wasn't Red Road with Jason Momoa on Sundance? I liked that one but streamed it on Netflix.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Wasn't Red Road with Jason Momoa on Sundance? I liked that one but streamed it on Netflix.

Could be. There are a couple of Sundance shows in my streaming queues that I haven't watched yet, Hap & Leonard and Deutschland 83. Sundance also did The Honorable Woman with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Top of the Lake with Elisabeth Moss, which were both pretty good.

 

[civvver]

Sorry, I don't know what AMC is. Is that the channel that screens The Walking Dead?

I meant the British series:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humans_(TV_series)

Yes walking dead is on amc, it's an american cable network, and yes it is the same show. I wasnt entirely sure cus humans is based on another Swedish show

Yeah, AMC does Walking Dead, Preacher and Better Call Saul. They have some pretty solid shows. I even liked Turn but I could see why some one from outside the US would find that uninteresting. I've heard Into the Badlands is good too but havent checked it out yet.

I didn't like badlands. I watched the first 2-3 episodes and stopped. It didn't grab me. Fighting was very much like kill bill or a jet li movie, super over the top ninja stuff, which was fine, but the setting and acting seemed shallow and fake. It's literally like a comic book but not a cool one like legion or sin city for me.

AMC is my top network but FX is really close. Sons of anarchy I think rivals breaking bad and the wire as best shows ever, the Americans is still on, Legion is a breakout hit and I really liked Taboo. Archer is always funny too, up there with south park and futurama for animated shows. Much further down definitely B-level is the Strain, but I still enjoy it. If I ever cord cut I'll probably get sling tv cus they have one package that has fx and amc. Only two cable networks I watch (and hbo but that's like its own thing).

 

[EgonSpengler]

AMC is my top network but FX is really close. Sons of anarchy I think rivals breaking bad and the wire as best shows ever, the Americans is still on, Legion is a breakout hit and I really liked Taboo. Archer is always funny too, up there with south park and futurama for animated shows. Much further down definitely B-level is the Strain, but I still enjoy it. If I ever cord cut I'll probably get sling tv cus they have one package that has fx and amc. Only two cable networks I watch (and hbo but that's like its own thing).

Yeah, FX does a lot of good stuff. A couple of their shows I really liked were Rescue Me with Dennis Leary and Damages with Glenn Close and Rose Byrne. They also did The Shield with Michael Chiklis, which I didn't watch much but I think was very well regarded.

 

[civvver]

Damages had a great first season, decent second one and then got really weird.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Damages had a great first season, decent second one and then got really weird.

I'm not sure I watched it past the 2nd season. At some point it moved from FX to another network that I didn't have access to. You've piqued my interest. I may have to go back and rewatch it. I think it's in one of the streaming services now.

 

[civvver]

It's on netflix in the US at least and I tried to watch season 3 but it just wasn't that interesting.

OP asked for ongoing tv shows so I tried to list current ones instead of just all my faves, but I am currently going through Entourage on HBO. I missed it the first time around, cus I just didn't have HBO in 2007 ish, but it's really entertaining. I thought it would be too much of a bro show with too many celebrity cameos and turn me off, but it's not, it's actually quite cool. Only thing I don't get is why everyone thinks Vince is so attractive. His hair always looks stupid and he doesn't seem that dreamy to me, but hey I'm not into guys so what do I know?

 

[Kyriakos]

Hm, saw s01e01 of Fargo. Well, that escalated fast.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Hm, saw s01e01 of Fargo. Well, that escalated fast.

Season one was the best

 

[Ferocitus]

I haven't seen Westworld

Then you have missed out on the most remarkable scifi show ever made.

 

[Kyriakos]

Season one was the best

Now saw s01e02. It is not trying much to be a realistic show, is it?
Did they need the (obviously false) disclaimer in each episode, that this is supposed to be based on true events?

Dr. Watson is good in it, but part of why he is good in it is the general suspension of disbelief going on.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Then you have missed out on the most remarkable scifi show ever made.

I definitely want to see it, but I'm not currently pleased with the business model. HBO Now currently charges twice what the other streaming services charge, and for less content. They have a 30-day free trial that I may take advantage of to watch Westworld and give Game of Thrones a spin. It's not entirely a question of whether I can afford it; there's so much good-to-great television available that HBO would have to offer something off-the-charts spectacular to justify charging double.

And in related news...

Variety, 3 May 2017: HBO Shows Will Leave Amazon Streaming Service Next Year

HBO has made the strategic decision to pull its library shows off of Amazon’s streaming service after the current licensing pact ends in mid-2018, HBO chairman-CEO Richard Plepler told investors Wednesday during Time Warner’s first-quarter earnings call.

The move reflects HBO’s focus on growing the subscriber base of its HBO Now standalone digital service. Amazon Prime is among the many digital content providers that HBO has teamed with to market HBO Now.

[cont.]

So, yeah, Westworld looks awesome, but HBO offends me a little with its opinion of itself. It's no big deal, though. There's already more television than I have time to watch, so any provider that gives me a reason to take a pass is sort of doing me a favor.

 

[civvver]

That doesn't really make sense to me as you still needed an hbo subscription to watch through amazon. It just changed the app you used to get the content. Am I wrong? Were you able to buy individual seasons before?

The reason HBO is so expensive for less content is cus they produce everything on there, it's all super high quality and they have a lot of expensive to produce shows. I mean really it's cus people are willing to pay that much for it, but the reasons why are cus the content is so good. Hit show after hit show. It actually shocks me sometimes how inexpensive netflix is for how much content they offer. They do have some really good originals, but hbo is still on like another level. Idk if I will keep it though. I get it for free on my cable promo right now that expires in the fall. $15 a month is a lot of money if you aren't watching a lot. I'll probably just go month to month, wait til thrones and silicion valley and what else have done a season, binge watch all that in a month for $15, then cancel.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Older HBO shows are currently available with Amazon Prime: The Wire, The Sopranos, The Newsroom, etc. Basically anything that isn't airing anymore. For Westworld, Game of Thrones, or True Detective, you need to pay the extra HBO charge. I've loved most of the HBO shows I've seen, but they're weren't so much better than all of the great shows named in this thread. I agree, Netflix is almost surprisingly inexpensive, but it is the market price right now, in line with Amazon Prime and Hulu. I don't know what CBS All Access charges, but they make the last few episodes of most of their shows available for free, with commercials (I think they have one show that's exclusive to the subscription service right now, and are planning more). The CW likewise makes all of their shows available for free, but with commercials.

 

[Kyriakos]

True Detective isn't dead as a series?

 

[EgonSpengler]

True Detective isn't dead as a series?

Entertainment Weekly, 27 March 2017: True Detective season 3 revived, David Milch joins team

After being off-the-air for two years — and following and plenty of speculation about its future — HBO’s True Detective is making some progress behind the scenes toward a new season.

EW has exclusively learned that creator Nic Pizzolatto has penned at least the first two episodes for a potential third edition of the acclaimed anthology crime drama.

We have also learned that Emmy-winning writer-producer David Milch — the mind behind dramas such as Deadwood and NYPD Blue — is coming on board to work with Pizzolatto.

[cont.]