Recommend a Show

Nettdata, I think I found a show for you (and the rest of TiB) in The Venture Brothers.

Synopsis:
It's a spoof on the "Superscientist and His Family of Adventuresome Heroes" genre. Instead of being the pre-eminent superscientist, however, Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture has been, in the words of one character, "riding his father's corpses' coattails for 30 years."Basically, he's not a very successful superscientist. In fact, he's more adept at getting himself kidnapped, which is why he has Brock Samson, his blonde, rage-prone bodyguard.His kids, Dean and Hank, are more interested in irritating one another than anything their father wants, and the family is completed by H.E.L.P.E.R., a robot who never once lives up to his name.Aside from Brock, the Venture clan is pretty much a sad lot, which makes it difficult for The Monarch, Dr. Venture's arch-nemesis, to really hate him properly."Here I am, in the belly of the beast, and I don't even care," the Monarch says when he sneaks into Venture's laboratory in one episode. "I don't even want to take a whiz on this... I used to DREAM of taking a whiz on this!"Essentially, the series is about a bunch of marginal superheroes and supervillains with modern concerns and problems.One of the best episodes involves Dr. Venture's tag sale, where, natch, he is selling used atomic death rays and other assorted superscience weaponry.There is a lot of low-key, but hilarious humor throughout the whole season.

This is why I think that most or TiB would love it. From what I've inferred from reading threads over the years, subtle humor is usually what you guys find the funniest (and in truth, it usually it, if you get it). The writers of the show play exactly on that premise, and if you get the joke, you have a sort of satisfied smile on your face knowing that you understood what the writers were trying to say....and it was actually pretty funny as well.

I also think that this show would deserve its own thread in the TV shows forum, as there is a lot of room for discussion on the show. There is so much subtle humor in the show, it really is hard to pick up on it just from watching the episode once. Also, there is a plot line unlike most humor cartoons (yes, it's a cartoon, but watch a couple of episodes before you judge. You'll see what I mean). While you may be scratching your head saying that there is no way there could be a plot line, especially in the beginning of the season, it will start to unfold as the show goes on. That is another one of the redeeming qualities about the show. The plot line is, well, it's just plain good. You can chalk this up to fan-boydom all you want, but I will definitely maintain that it's a great show.

I'm not sure where to direct you to watch episodes online. You can try Hulu, but I don't want to post any illegal links like torrents or the like. If anyone else knows where to find episodes online, please post a link so others can enjoy what they have been missing.

Oh yeah, and the fourth season just started a week ago. I'm looking forward to episode 2 tomorrow night.

 

Another great British show: The IT Crowd http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-it-crowd

If you like either version of The Office then you'll like this.

 

Alright, another one.

Life on Mars:

Sam Tyler is an annoying asshole most of the time but Gene hunt more than makes up for it.

 

Curb your enthusiasm, I think, is the best show these days. It is currently in its seventh season, after a brief hiatus.

Generally, I stick with the classics. Might I recommend "Daria"? It is not on the air, but I just downloaded every single episode in less then a week, so it should be relatively easy to find. I think it ran from the late 90s to till about 2001, five solid seasons. The show stopped on a high note, unlike the Simpsons who just keep going and going and going. That show should have stopped after season 10.

Anyways, useful resource for everything that is Daria:

http://www.outpost-daria.com/index.html

 

My friend has been telling me to watch Hustle for a while now. (He and I used to be great TV buddies, trusting each other's tastes and recommendations implicitly. However, after the Wire ended, something happened to him and now he prefers crap like Top Chef and Project Runway and can't "get around to" watching Mad Men or Sons of Anarchy, so because of that, I've been doubting him and slow to take him up on his recommendations.) Anyway...

The YouTube Hustle channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/hustleseasons

It's like that show Leverage on TNT, only not terrible. (Leverage isn't bad if you're sick in bed, drifting in and out of consciousness, and can't find the remote, and Lindsey from Angel is on it.) Or like Ocean's 11, only not as witty. Which isn't to say it's not witty (it is) it just doesn't pat itself on the back for it as much as the Ocean's movies do. It's a show about "the long con" if you find that sort of thing entertaining (I do) then you will probably like it.

The thing I don't like about the YouTube channel though is that due to YouTube's limits, each episode is broken up into 6 blocks. It's annoying. But, it's free.

 

I'd have to recommend "Peep Show". I'm horrible at providing synopsis's for anything, so I'll take what someone else wrote from the imdb page:

 

Any show thread you've seen me start/post in.

I don't watch mass-appeal, dumbed down garbage like 2 and a half idiots.

Watch the shows I talk about.


Fin

 

Dexter This is one of the best written and well acted shows I have ever seen. I started watching it last year and blew through the first season in one night. I'll let IMBD provide the synopsis:

Here is a trailer for season 1

 

I'll continue the BBC show recommendations with Jekyll.

A fairly short miniseries (six episodes) done in 2007 about Jekyll & Hyde -- with some twists of course. Excellent show with a great lead and supporting cast.

 

Another BBC show: Top Gear

 

I got totally sucked into a Man V. Food marathon on Sunday. If you like food, and you like watching a guy subject himself to some crazy eating challenges, then it's the best show you're not watching. It's possibly the only good thing about the Travel Channel outside of their shows on super yachts.

 

I second Man vs Food. To me the draw isn't necessarily the eating, it's Adam. He is a total crack up. You know the question, if you could eat a meal with someone famous? Fuck Oprah and Bill Gates. I want to have lunch with Adam Richman.

We've seen them all at this point, but we used to DVR Kitchen Nightmares. Not the U.S. version, which was crap - the original UK one. Gist is that restaurants in serious debt and about to shut down ask Gordon Ramsay to come and turn things around. One fascinating aspect of the episodes were when owners or chefs refused to believe that certain decisions they'd made contributed to the failure of the restaurant.

 

I believe this one's on Channel 4, but you get the idea.

http://www.hulu.com/green-wing

My synopsis:

A comedy with exaggerated personalities set in a hospital. Unlike most hospital shows, this one features virtually no medical technology or drama. Sexual humor abounds.

Bonus: All the episodes are currently available on Hulu.

 

Sorry but you are way off base here, the US version is fucking awesome, sad thing is that you know that someone somewhere has eaten at one of these shitholes. Yes I know a couple of clips are from the UK, but still.

 

Bottom <----Wikipedia link.

I may be influenced by sheer nostalgia here, but I think this is one of the funniest shows the BBC has ever commissioned. It is VERY early '90s alternative comedy, with hilariously overdone slapstick and two brilliant characters. Its style hasn't endeared it to many people I've shown it to throughout the last couple of years, but to me it will always be pure genius.

 

Well, to break from the string of BBC shows, here's a Canadian one that the wife and I recently found on a torrent site:

Corner Gas

Overview from Wikipedia:
Corner Gas is the only gas station for 60 kilometres (37 mi) in any direction (according to season one, episode one “Ruby Reborn” and season one, episode two "Tax Man"). Brent Leroy (Brent Butt) is the proprietor of the station and Wanda Dollard (Nancy Robertson) works at the station’s convenience store as a retail assistant. An adjoining coffee shop (The Ruby) is owned by Lacey Burrows (Gabrielle Miller), who inherited it from her Aunt Ruby and moved to Dog River from Toronto. Brent's parents, Oscar Leroy (Eric Peterson) and Emma Leroy (Janet Wright), are lifetime residents of Dog River. Oscar is always up to something, much to the dismay and embarrassment of his wife Emma. Dog River's police force, consisting of veteran Davis Quinton (Lorne Cardinal) and rookie Karen Pelly (Tara Spencer-Nairn), keep the peace in the small town, which proves a very simple task, and the officers have an overabundance of free time. Finally, Brent's best friend Hank Yarbo (Fred Ewanuick), who is constantly unemployed, spends his time 'hanging out' with Dog River's residents and drinking coffee at the Ruby (which he never pays for).

It's just a simple, clever, funny show.


Oscar is my favorite character. I love grumpy old guys.

 

Enough of this British nonsense, watch The League on F/X. Good ol' American programming about America's favorite sport. Comes on right after Sunny in Philadelphia. It's incredibly funny.

You can watch the first couple of episodes here and get caught up:

http://vod.fxnetworks.com/fod/play.php?sh=theleague