What are your currently airing top TV shows?
By Tesa
@xphile777 (427)
United States
January 5, 2007 10:09pm CST
I can't come up with a Top 10 list of shows currently on the air because I don't believe there are 10 good shows out there, let alone the best 10. However, on my short list of series worth watching are:
1. Dexter tops the list. I haven't been bored one minute by it. It has the best writing and has a unique perspective. I haven't loved a serial killer this much since Chris Keller stalked the pods of the HBO prison drama Oz.
2. 24. Before the premiere of last season, people were asking if 24 had run its course. Then Season 5 came on like a hurricane and blew away its critics. The way the show constantly reinvents itself while keeping the same premise is a feat no other current show is achieving.
3. My Name is Earl has the distinction of being the only sitcom that's actually laugh-out-loud funny. That's because calling this show a "situation" comedy is a misnomer. It's a character comedy, and that's where the best comedy comes from; not from watching the boring antics of unfunny characters.
4. Iconoclasts on The Sundance Channel is a fascinating documentary series (not a reality series) watching famous people who know each other, for the most part, interacting, with the audience as the fly on the wall.
5. Oz. The only reason I have Oz at the No. 5 position and not at the top is because it ended its run 4 years ago, yet it still beats the hell out of every series currently airing. It's been currently re-airing on HBO2 and HBO On Demand. There are only two series worth owning on DVD, and this is one of them. The other one is ...
6. The X-Files. This series that explored (and probably jump-started) the public's fascination with the paranormal, aliens and conspiracy theories was the best-written series of its time and raised the bar on television production values. It's still a smartly entertaining ride 5 years after its end.
7. Little Britain. (BBC America) Monty Python meets The League of Gentlemen (another excellent British comedy). Two comedians play a variety of strange, eccentric and downright hilarious characters in a plethora of skits.
5 people like this
9 responses
@korek222 (701)
• Poland
9 Jan 07
yep i must say you know what is good :)
Dexter is really a brilliant show , so is "My name is earl" although i'm just finishing watching first season of it :)
For me it's Prison Break and Jercho among with Dexter , Day Break and Monk. As far as i know they are very successful :)
2 people like this
@xphile777 (427)
• United States
9 Jan 07
Unfortunately for Daybreak, it got yanked just 3 weeks into its first season. I saw part of the premier. I had intended on watching the series, but kept forgetting about it. However, the main reason I wanted to watch it was for Mitch Pileggi, formerly of The X-Files. Oh, well. I hope he'll drop his contract with Warner Brothers TV and get a gig on Dexter. I want to see him in something really good, like The X-Files was.
I tried to get into Jericho, but I just don't care for the characters. I liked Prison Break for the first 3 eps I watched, but then it, too, escaped my interest. I haven't watched Monk, but I'm sure it's a good show. I'd like to see a Dexter/Monk crossover episode, where Monk works with the Miami PD. But I guess Monk would have a breakdown around the blood that Dexter works with, or would clean up a crime scene and destroy all the evidence. ;)
@korek222 (701)
• Poland
10 Jan 07
wow i never expected such a long reply :)
bringing monk and dexter together would be really a good idea unfortunately it is impossible :(
About Prison Break - you should try watching few episodes more - the more you watch the more you want to see what will be happening next!
Also i would suggest you a new series called - "Psych" - it's about guy with super memory who sees thinks which other overlook :) and it has a huge bust of humor there :)
2 people like this
@cajundharma (641)
• United States
10 Jan 07
Yeah, poor Mitch has been in some real clunkers :-( Tarzan, that show about the ski resort. It's a shame because he's such a good actor. Nick Lea too, that pilot he did for the show Drive, they recast his part. Ivan Sergei's too, which is a shame, they were great together in once a thief and I was really looking forward to seeing them work together again.
1 person likes this
@96vidalias (344)
• United States
12 Jan 07
I haven't seen most of the shows you mention because I don't get HBO, Sundance, or BBC America. My favorite show now would be The Daily Show. Even though I am way out of their demographic I enjoy (and understand) most of the humor.
I also like Earl. It was heartening to see a show with a different premise succeed on the network.
On Discovery Health I always love a good bariatric surgery show and Dr G medical examiner or very rare birth anomalies like primordial dwarfism.
I believe the previous commenter was right, you would like Monk. The crimes they solve are not the cleverest. At the end you often say, "Oh come on. Why wouldn't they just shoot him?" or "The police are just now thinking of that? The audience thought of it 45 minutes ago." But it is fun to watch Monk's compulsions and phobias.
Another favorite is Knitty Gritty. Vickie makes knitting edgy with projects like cel phone cozies and guitar straps. Recently a guest made a scarf that was a mobius strip. Pardon my spelling; I don't have umlauts.
1 person likes this
@xphile777 (427)
• United States
12 Jan 07
I've watched some eps of Dr. G and enjoyed them. I occasionally watch Discovery Health, although it's my least-watched of all the Discovery channels, mostly because they tend to have some really depressing stories on there (even when there's a "happy ending").
I enjoy the commercials for Monk more than I do the series. Just saw a new one tonight where Monk has a "nightmare." He's walking down the street in a perfect, clean, orderly city when the unthinkable happens: He steps in gum. He then comes to at his desk, where he's been asleep and dreaming. You have to watch it to apprciate it.
Knitty Gritty sounds fun in a perverse sort of way. I have absolutely no talent and no patience when it comes to knitting, sewing, etc., but I do enjoy watching shows on those subjects. It my version of a guilty pleasure.
1 person likes this
@cpamanda (693)
• United States
8 Mar 07
We just recently bought TIVO so I am becoming a tv junkie. It is bad. Although everyone said I never rested enough and what better way to rest, than to veg in front of the tv. For me I would say
1. Grey's Anatonomy 2. What About Brian 3. Jericho 4. Numbers 5. NCIS 6. Desparate Housewives 7. Law and Order 8. Las Vegas 9. Seventh Heaven (although they should have ended last season) 10. Cash in the Attic (a new show I recently discovered)
@xphile777 (427)
• United States
13 Jan 07
Cool! :) Tell me about your favorite TV shows. I haven't had the opportunity to see Indian TV, so I'd like to hear what your favorite ones are. That way I could learn a bit about them.
@coolcatzz (1587)
• Canada
15 Feb 07
Thats hard to only have 10 because I am a tv junkie. Watch way too much of it.
1. CNN
2. Nancy Grace
3. Oprah
4. Dr. Phil
5. Rachael Ray
6. Days of Our Lives
7. Law & Order SVU
8. Nanny 911
9. Pretty much all reality shows
10. Regis and Kelly
@Leif_Morris (61)
•
8 May 07
Well I havent turned on my television for days because it is simply not worth watching. The best shows are on the internet nowadays. Has anyone heard of a show called Pure Pwnage. They have just released episode one of their second season and it is bloody hillarious.
Also anime can be found on the internet aswell a sshows that were first class that were cancelled because people just wernt watching them like Invader Zim. I-loveded you Zimmy, I loved-ed yoooooou
@randomosity_prevails (1110)
•
14 Feb 07
You asked for currently airing shows, but have included The X-Files, so I'm assuming if it shows re-runs somewhere, it counts ;). My top ten (in no order) are: 1. The X Files // 2. ER // 3. Modern Toss // 4. Daria // 5. South Park // 6. Garth Marenghi's Dark Place // 7. Red Dwarf // 8. Top Gear // 9. The Young Ones // 10. Lost.
Interesting that only four of those shows are currently airing on terrestrial television. That's assuming that Lost is brought back for the 3rd Season!
