Recommend me a tv show

[kcdusk]

I'm looking for a tv series to get into. Something worthwhile, non-CSI related, hopefully with a t2k bent.

Can you recommend me anything? Is the Colony any good? What are the options?

[HorseSoldier]

Colony, seasons 1 and 2, aren't bad but aren't superb. Recognize going into them that it's lower case "reality."

Survivors, from the UK, is pretty good -- apocalyptic plague, not war, but still pretty good post apocalyptic show. (I'm speaking for the new version, I have never seen the 1970s? version, but have heard it's good for 70s TV as well.) And it's Netflixable and watchable on demand through that company, maybe others.

Walking Dead was zombies, but good apocalyptic stuff for all that.

I never got into Jericho, but it's also available on Netflix these days and seemed to be about as close to a show about the Twilight War (or effects CONUS side, anyway) as Hollywood is ever likely to roll out.

[Panther Al]

Jericho was surprisingly good all things considered. Yes, its Hollywood. Yes, it plays loose with a few things. But the focus on a small town, where the info available to (most) of the people there is very limited, and how they deal with food shortages, marauders/contractors, health, deserters (Sorta), and what have you makes me think of what it would be like in any small town off the beaten path of the major military ops in the T2K 'verse.


Heck. More I think about it, it should be the official T2K show: In addition to all the above, you have two US governments, fighting each other, as well as two towns fighting each other, one with homemade mortars (Wojo anyone?), and the other with a scrounged M1 with little fuel and no ammo. Damn. It is Twilight 2000 in America.

[copeab]

Heck. More I think about it, it should be the official T2K show: In addition to all the above, you have two US governments, fighting each other, as well as two towns fighting each other, one with homemade mortars (Wojo anyone?), and the other with a scrounged M1 with little fuel and no ammo. Damn. It is Twilight 2000 in America.

And one of the towns has a nuke. Well, not town, but someone in it ;)

The problem with Jericho is that it only had one full season, plus one seven episode "wrap-up" season, so you're only looking at ~30 episodes.

[Arrissen]

Anything HBO - quality viewing; from scripting, casting, acting, prodution values the lot.

Generation Kill - read the book first - then Nate Fick's book; One Bullet Away - both are accounts focusing on the same USMC platoon in Iraq and the seven part mini series follows both books quite closely. Rudy Reyes, a Scout/ Sniper plays Himself in the show.

Here are some I've really enjoyed, not all HBO and not T2Kish but still good:

Deadwood
Trailer Park Boys
True Blood
Sons of Anarchy
Breaking Bad
Dexter
The Sopranos
Spartacus
Entourage
Californication
Burn Notice
Walking Dead
Parks And Recreation
Carnivale
Burn Notice

[adimar]

A very cool (Literally) TV series is Game of Thrones, a HBO writeup to Song of Fire & Ice.
Note that this seires is currently being showed for the first time so no multi season downloads :( (though the spaceballs instant cassette would have been quite welcome)

Adi

[TiggerCCW UK]

Game of Thrones is pretty good. One of the guys who works for me is in it and I worked on set for a day as an event medic, when they were filming in the paint hall here in Belfast. Very impressive sets!

[Rainbow Six]

Boardwalk Empire has just finished screening in the UK.

By HBO and set in Prohibition Era Atlantic City with Steve Buscemi in the lead role. It's obviously not a T2K setting per se, but with a bit of imagination I think some of the plots / characters could be adapted to fit into a CONUS based T2K game.

First series was 12 episodes, but pretty sure a second is due this year.

Perhaps a bit dated now, but there's also the Sharpe series based on the books of Bernard Cornwell and set in the Napoleonic Wars. With a bit of adaption virtually every episode could be used as the basis for a T2K scenario.

Jeremiah aired in the UK a few years ago. It had a fairly strong T2K theme (again, based on plague rather than War), but like Jericho had the plug pulled on it after one and a bit seasons.

Also, +1 for Game of Thrones.

[WallShadow]

First and foremost, another 2 thumbs up for Jericho. Main characters actually died, and it covered many situations that we would hope never happen between Americans. Oh, and there were several pretenders to the throne of the Presidency, one of which was backed by the megacorp that may have had something to do with the underlying plot.

Firefly, while set 500 years from now in another star system has a gritty "just tryin' to get by" feeling. Survival by dealing with less-than-honorable clients, evading the military government of the area of operation, smuggling/trade--lots of good plot fodder.

While I never watched it, "Jeremiah" dealt with a PA scenario where a bioagent wiped out nearly all the adult population.

[kcdusk]

Thanks guys. Theres a couple of names i'll chase up from here.

[copeab]

While I never watched it, "Jeremiah" dealt with a PA scenario where a bioagent wiped out nearly all the adult population.

I did. During season one, they made good use of being on Showtime with extremely gratuitous nudity. Season two had less, but the story was meddled with to the point there was no third season.

To a large extent, the series was set in a world 15 years after a bioweapon had caused a (semi) Lord of the Flies situation.

[Legbreaker]

I agree that season two was screwed around with far too much. If they'd stuck with the 1st season forumla they'd have had a damn fine post apoc series.

[Targan]

I enjoyed Jeramiah. I'm a huge fan of Firefly/Serenity (own all of them on BluRay).

If you can find the old UK series Threads that is a very realistic and gritty portrayal of life after a nuclear war. Very grim though. Don't expect too many laughs.

[WallShadow]

I enjoyed Jeramiah. I'm a huge fan of Firefly/Serenity (own all of them on BluRay).

If you can find the old UK series Threads that is a very realistic and gritty portrayal of life after a nuclear war. Very grim though. Don't expect too many laughs.

I thought "Threads" was a film, and "The Survivors" was the BBC series about a bioagent that depopulated the world.
I would call "Threads" more than gritty--it made you want to take a bath after watching it.

[pmulcahy11b]

I would call "Threads" more than gritty--it made you want to take a bath after watching it.

It gave both me and my girlfriend at the time nightmares.

[TiggerCCW UK]

Same here Paul. Terrifying film. Its available on youtube;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQo0BQM3OlQ

as is its forerunner The War Game;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58NmAzQzRjk

[95th Rifleman]

I remember threads, it gave me goosebumps. Very much recomended

[HorseSoldier]

I agree that season two was screwed around with far too much. If they'd stuck with the 1st season forumla they'd have had a damn fine post apoc series.

Dark Angel got the same network "fixing" -- how can you screw up Jessica Alba as a kick-ass super assassin in a semi-apocalyptic world? I mean how can you screw up a show where Jessica Alba just sits there watching paint dry? The geniuses at Fox found a way to screw it up and season 2 was a radical departure and tanked the show.

[Rainbow Six]

I agree that season two was screwed around with far too much. If they'd stuck with the 1st season forumla they'd have had a damn fine post apoc series.

I'll have to take your word for it...season one got such low ratings when it was broadcast on Sky One that I don't think season two ever got shown in the UK.

[copeab]

Here are some series I own, which are not T2K related at all, but worth watching:

Dexter: I only have seen own season one, but S1 is self-contained and, had the series not been renewed, would have left you feeling everything important was wrapped up. I only saw it because CBS was desperate for programming back during the writers' strike a couple of years ago and were airing edited episodes on Sundays nights. The first episode hooked me to the series and after the second I ordered the S1 DVDs from Amazon. Never regretted it.

Tales Of The Gold Monkey: Another show that suffered from network interference, but was mainly canceled because it cost too much, despite decent ratings. It's a pulp series, set in the South Pacific in 1938, with the pilot of a Grumman Goose as the main character. A Japanese princess and German secret agent also factor into the series. There are some technical mistakes (mostly involving the Flying Tigers) but mostly forgivable given the genre. There is even one episode which is a remake of a Battlestar Galactica episode ;)

Day Break: One of many shows that followed Lost on ABC over the years and failed. It was pulled after 6 or 7 episodes but was only supposed to run 13 episodes anyway. It was a bit like 24 mixed with Groundhog Day, as a cop was reliving the same day over and over. The series was a little tedious at first, but after he accumulated enough knowledge about what was really going on, the series began to pick up. There was also one twist to his time loop I hadn't seen in previous stories of the type.

[HorseSoldier]

I remember Tales of the Gold Monkey very vaguely from early childhood -- I think it followed Magnum PI in timeslot (?). The cost angle makes sense, since otherwise it kind of seems to have been a nice combo of then very trendy Magnum/Hawaii 5-0 enthusiasm for the far Pacific plus Indiana Jones.

[Legbreaker]

I mean how can you screw up a show where Jessica Alba just sits there watching paint dry?

Mmmmmmmm, Jessica............:p

[Arrissen]

Ha! Tales of the Golden Monkey, I loved that show as a kid. Very Indiana Jones. Baa Baa Black Sheep about the the Black Sheep Squadron and later called Black Sheep Squadron, set in the South Pacific in WWII was classic too.

And yeah Dark Angel was good at first til they stuffed it up. Ahh really good memories!

[kcdusk]

I have Threads, looks ................ old! I actually thought this was going to be something else, the program/movie i thought it was going to be is "The Day after" which is something else i'll look up.

I want to watch Deadwood and The Wire but dont think the wifey is going to watch it with me due to language.

I have seen the first series of Jerico and thought it was the closest thing to T2K we've seen, but i dont think the second series made it to australia.

[Arrissen]

The Wire was really good and yeah it has bad/street language but Deadwood takes the cake in the bad or filthy talk category. Funny as hell bad language though IMO. If Shakespeare had of wrote a western I reckon it would have been like that show! I think they really managed to capture the vernacular of those good ol' times. Very gritty stuff.

Chris Ryan's Strike Back was not too bad. A BBC series about an ex-SAS bloke. They are making another season of that later this year.

[kcdusk]

I've seen Strike Back. Good tv series. But i havent been a fan of Ryans books. Glad to hear theres another series of it coming.

Kidnap and Ransom was a 3 part teleseries that was good too.

[Rainbow Six]

Another one that just sprung to my mind is the reboot of Battlestar Galactica...

[rcaf_777]

There are those who believe that life here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltec’s, or the Mayans, that they may have been the architects of the great pyramids, or the lost civilizations of Lemuria or Atlantis. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to survive somewhere beyond the heavens.

[Raellus]

Another one that just sprung to my mind is the reboot of Battlestar Galactica...

Awesome show.

[kcdusk]

Awesome show.

Really? I've never seen the new one. I always thought it would be a bit campy. Startrek lite. And i never liked star trek. Maybe i need to watch an episode or two.

[Targan]

Really? I've never seen the new one. I always thought it would be a bit campy. Startrek lite. And i never liked star trek. Maybe i need to watch an episode or two.

Wow, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised then. Its nothing like Star Trek Next Gen. The new Battlestar Galactica is much, much grittier than the original. The first three series were outstanding. They've borrowed alot of the feel of Battlestar fighter ops from RL American aircraft carrier ops.

Unfortunately, like so many quality American sci fi series, BSG lost its way towards the end. It never ceases to amaze me how the original writers and creators of a series can produce an outstanding product only to have it completely destroyed a couple of series in by someone high up in a network who think they know what's best for the viewing public. Sometimes this is due to the "lowest common denominator" effect (dumbing down a program so that even the most retarded of viewers can understand what's going on), other times it seems to be inexplicable.

/ends rant/

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Wow, just wow.
You really need to see the first season of the new Battlestar Galactica (BSG). Star Trek The Next Gen is just some pissweak kiddies show in comparison.
BSG is far grittier, more philosophical and far more character driven and after all of that, far more plausible in its plot.
I suppose that's what you get when you have a North Hollywood production...

[Panther Al]

Agreed, the 4th season of BSG wasn't as good as the first three, but it was still much better in my opinion than most of the Sci-Fi out there.

Caprica wasn't too bad either, not the same at all, which I think too many expected it to be, but it gave a pretty good idea of how far humanity fell once the Cylons came around.

[Legbreaker]

Far from campy. Very gritty. A little like "Space: Above and Beyond" in feel.

[Adm.Lee]

My two cents on TV. I stopped watching about the time "Firefly" went off the air, except my wife got me into "Heroes" and "Tales of the gold monkey" on DVD. I tried watching "Baa baa black sheep," too, but couldn't take the anti-history of it.

A month ago, I got some of the music from "Miami Vice" stuck in my head, and it wouldn't go away. The next week, I see the DVDs for season 1 on sale at Half-Price Books for $15. :cool:

I've only watched a few episodes since then, but I am amazed at how vividly I remember some of the scenes. This was a show that I watched only the first 2 seasons, either with my brother or gaming pals. Friday nights, we often gamed with the TV on. I wonder if it was the action or the music that turned me on? I'm pretty sure it wasn't the clothes, I've never liked pastels.

Just to make a tenuous link to T2k, I ran a Merc game that had Miami as the home base for the PCs. Their hiring hall and weapons supplier was "Big Bob's House of Boom."

[pmulcahy11b]

I was kind of sad when Space: Above and Beyond went off the air. Try getting DVDs of that; I've seen them in Half Price Books. Another good one is Tour of Duty; even the Vietnam vets I knew in the Army say it's pretty realistic (except for the lack of wholesale swearing).

[Legbreaker]

What annoys me most about Space is the complete lack of a wrap up, or even the attempt at one. Was left COMPLETELY unresolved! :(
Talk about getting the axe without notice....

[HorseSoldier]

Bump to add -- it's a movie, rather than a show, but if anyone can catch Armadillo, it's very good. It's a documentary about a Danish ISAF platoon in Helmand -- well shot, kept my interest very well (even being subtitled), and compares favorably with Restrepo. Nice look at non-English speaking participants in the Afghan war.

[Raellus]

I'm watching season 1 of HBO's The Wire right now. It's as good as the critics say it is- deep, smart, and very intense. It's well worth the time. Might be hard for non-Americans to keep up with all of the street slang, though. I have to listen extra carefully to catch all of it. Still and all, it's a great show.

[James Langham]

In the UK keep your eyes open for "Our War" a documentary about the UK in Afghanistan with extensive footage by helmet cam.

[dragoon500ly]

In the midst of running a Bablyon 5 marathon to entertain the kids during summer break....always enjoyed the series, for its time, head and shoulders above the other drivel on the boob tube!

[boogiedowndonovan]

Just curious, was anyone watching the V remake?

[dragoon500ly]

Watched the first half dozen episodes and quit...just didn't do it for me.

[Rainbow Six]

Watched the first half dozen episodes and quit...just didn't do it for me.

Pretty much the same here...I'd kinda lost interest by half way through the first series....watched a couple of episodes from the second series (first, last, and one other)...thought the ending was....interesting...but on the whole not overly impressed.

[HorseSoldier]

I'm watching season 1 of HBO's The Wire right now. It's as good as the critics say it is- deep, smart, and very intense. It's well worth the time. Might be hard for non-Americans to keep up with all of the street slang, though. I have to listen extra carefully to catch all of it. Still and all, it's a great show.

Excellent series and, from what I've seen working in urban law enforcement, The Wire is distressingly enough the most realistic police show I've ever seen.

The same general group of people did the HBO miniseries adaptation for Generation Kill, which is another really good one.

[95th Rifleman]

I do miss Space above and beyond, It's hard to get in the UK now.

Invasion: Earth was a good, British TV series, worth a punt.

[kcdusk]

I'm currently watching series 1 of The Wire. I wanted something the wife and i could both watch, well, this isnt it. I'm loving it though! Just hard finding time to watch it on my own.

We are both watching Burn Notice. A bit soft or gimmicky? Hmm, maybe. Lighthearted enough for Wifey to watch. I like the way he explains plans, people, cunning tricks and why they work. Easy entertainment for now.

I was expecting Generation Kill to be 10/10. In the end i gave it an 8/10. I need to re-watch it.

OH! Almost forgot! Just finished reading the first 8 chapters (48 issues) of Walking Dead (graphic novel, or comic, your call). Outstanding! Zombie goodness is good, but the best part is how people are adapting to the new world where old laws and ways of thinking no longer apply. Survival at its best. Very T2K relevant. Please, no spoilers ... cant wait for issues 49-96 to come out in the one big book sometime in the next year. Yes its a comic, but mate, awesome read.

[Targan]

OH! Almost forgot! Just finished reading the first 8 chapters (48 issues) of Walking Dead (graphic novel, or comic, your call). Outstanding! Zombie goodness is good, but the best part is how people are adapting to the new world where old laws and ways of thinking no longer apply. Survival at its best. Very T2K relevant. Please, no spoilers ... cant wait for issues 49-96 to come out in the one big book sometime in the next year. Yes its a comic, but mate, awesome read.

Cool. Then you might also enjoy The Zombie Hunters:

http://www.thezombiehunters.com/index.php?strip_id=1

I recently bought a copy from the very first print run of book one. Excellent.

[kcdusk]

I bookmarked TZH on your recomendation in an earlier post! I'm not really into comics, but i was hoping to read this one on-line.

[Cdnwolf]

In the midst of running a Bablyon 5 marathon to entertain the kids during summer break....always enjoyed the series, for its time, head and shoulders above the other drivel on the boob tube!

Babylon 5 did the opposite of BSG by starting weak and closing strong... the last couple of seasons were the best.