Your top three TV series of all time are?

Tom Ligon · Post by **Tom Ligon** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 4:42 pm

Quincy was the original CSI. I think at the time it was the only television program to have plots based on actual science. Jack Klugman.

Now we have three CSI's, two NCIS's, Body of Evidence, two detective shows with amateur assistants, blah, blah. They all pretty much copy Quincy.

Twelve O'Clock High, based on the movie: WWII bomber pilot drama, in black and white. A lot of vets adored it. They had their own squadron of B-17's and a Mustang they used for filming, plus they used actual WWII footage.

chrismb · Post by **chrismb** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 5:26 pm

Tom Ligon wrote:Oh, hell, I'll bite.

"Connections".

I was waiting to see if there were any real geeks here to give that a plug!!

Right on, TL!

Giorgio · Post by **Giorgio** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 5:40 pm

Tom Ligon wrote:Now we have three CSI's, two NCIS's,

I can say that CSI is probably the biggest amount of crap that I have ever seen in my life.
I was obliged to see three episodes in a raw and I felt the extreme need to rip out my eyeballs and sterilize them.

Thank god the torture lasted only for one afternoon, but I still have nightmares each time I hear that name.

Skipjack · Post by **Skipjack** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:13 pm

I really love "Mythbusters". It is probably the only TV- show that does never upset me (because it does not have a plot, but still features characters, if that makes sense).
Most shows with a script have some stupid writing every now and then, where characters behave unbelievably stupid, to bring about drama, only to be then saved by some stupid coincidence or something.
I hate that.
Last show had that feeling was the BBC show "Outcasts". I really tried to like the show, It is hard sci fi and I wished there was more like that, but I just could not. I mean, these are the people that were chosen as the survivors from earth on another planet and they really sent the greatest idiots that they could find?!!
I mean really, everyone, without exception was a complete idiot.
A show like that cant work. The topic appeals to geeks and science freaks and these people are usually smarter than average. So your audience will not fall for stories that requires every character to behave as if their IQ was below average...

Tom Ligon · Post by **Tom Ligon** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 4:04 am

As a writer, I can't stand sitcoms. The premise of the "situation comedy" is that the characters and situation cannot change. Since change in the characters is the essence of good storytelling, it is essentially impossible for a sitcom to tell a good story.

All the dramas have basically the same plot structure ... wrap it up about 7 minutes before the end of the hour after finally figuring out the key clue a couple of minutes prior to that. And the characters themselves rarely change their basic nature much.

At least with something like mythbusters, they don't know what they are really going to find, in spite of whatever prejudices they might have. You get to see the warts and mistakes. The most valuable lab course I ever had was technically the worst ... none of the experiments worked. Just like the first try in real life. Mythbusters shows us this, and you see the discovery change the "characters."

EricF · Post by **EricF** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 11:04 pm

I'm gonna have to go with

Stargate SG-1
Babylon 5
Big Bang Theory tied with South Park

seedload · Post by **seedload** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 1:21 pm

Tom Ligon wrote:As a writer, I can't stand sitcoms. The premise of the "situation comedy" is that the characters and situation cannot change. Since change in the characters is the essence of good storytelling, it is essentially impossible for a sitcom to tell a good story.

I think Larry David gets this, and he chooses to make a joke out of it, which is brilliant. The characters in Seinfeld and The Larry David show never change no matter what the circumstance which is part of the joke of the show.

That is why Seinfeld made my top three - although you could have substituted Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Tom Ligon wrote:All the dramas have basically the same plot structure ... wrap it up about 7 minutes before the end of the hour after finally figuring out the key clue a couple of minutes prior to that. And the characters themselves rarely change their basic nature much.

Which is why "The Wire" made my top three. Brilliant in that it doesn't follow this formula. It is a continuum. Characters change. Events happen. People die. Corners change hands. Political figures change. Police organizations shift. And, in the end, we are right back where we started.

Tom Ligon · Post by **Tom Ligon** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 3:15 pm

Early on I hated "Seinfeld" because the characters were such miserable human beings. Of course, it turned out Jerry Seinfeld thought the exact same thing, and convicted the characters of that crime in the final episode.

Which still tells me the storytelling was sacrificed in favor of cheap laughs. But at least the show was genuinely funny at times. Too many sitcoms depend on the laugh track (never a real audience for decades now) to tell the audience when the writer thinks you should laugh.

ladajo · Post by **ladajo** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 7:35 pm

I really like Mythbusters as well, I gonna have to re-think my top three...

krenshala · Post by **krenshala** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 11:49 pm

Myself, I like Mythbusters for the reasons listed above, however, a coworker can't stand the show because of, as he puts it, their lack of using the scientific method.

MrE · Post by **MrE** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 2:24 am

Babylon 5
Stargate SG1
Star Trek TNG+Voyager

Diogenes · Post by **Diogenes** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:20 pm

Doctor Who's Elisabeth Sladen dies aged 63

Doctor Who star Elisabeth Sladen, who was also in spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures, has died aged 63.

Sladen appeared as Doctor Who assistant Sarah Jane Smith in the BBC television sci-fi series between 1973 and 1976 opposite Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13137674

TallDave · Post by **TallDave** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 7:25 pm

EricF wrote:I'm gonna have to go with

Stargate SG-1
Babylon 5
Big Bang Theory tied with South Park

SG-1 was a lot of fun. I loved the idea of the U.S. military vs. alien tech in a fairly even match -- that early scene where the shoulder-fired heatseeking missile takes out a small alien craft really sold me on the series. They made some interesting assumptions about how the Goa'uld cultures would evolve technologically. I did think they missed some chances to more explicitly define moral societies as those with liberal democratic values, though it was sort of implied in many instances.

I've heard good things about BBT, maybe I'll check that out sometime.

Skipjack · Post by **Skipjack** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 7:33 pm

BBT is the only real comedy show that I watch frequently.
The current season is not quite as good as the last ones were though.

Scupperer · Post by **Scupperer** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 12:38 am

You know, I really should have mentioned Holmes on Homes. He's one of the only DIY tv guys who actually goes into the science of construction and demonstrates why and how things fail and how to fix them. Unfortunately, I'm knowledgeable enough in the industry to even catch him in a few mistakes, but overall, it's great TV for the scientifically minded.