Recommend new t.v. shows

[Midnight Hope]

Hi guys,
Lord Pounder and I have found ourselves without a working television at the moment and we are relying on streaming media to watch our programs. We had been watching several shows which ended up getting cancelled or finished up over the last while, which include:

New V
Lost
House M.D.
Heroes
The Event

Other than those we still watch a few shows at the moment:

2 Broke girls (Has gone downhill – mindless dinner viewing)
How I met your mother (Jumped the shark but we want to see the ending!)
Big Bang Theory
Game of Thrones
BBC Sherlock

I also watch Glee, much to Lord Pounder's disappointment!

Another thing that I like is Downton Abbey. Oh and Mr. Selfridge, but both are on break at the moment.

So we are asking you, the people of SD.net, to recommend some new shows for us to watch that aren’t likely to get cancelled in the next season. Many thanks.

[JLTucker]

Veep is arguably the best comedy airing at the moment. I have no idea how you'll acquire that legally, however. If you enjoy The Thick of It, you should enjoy that.

[Thanas]

If you liked House, you might like Elementary. New interpretation of Sherlock Holmes, but compared to House it has better characters and actors (with the exception of Hugh Laurie himself, but House was creatively dead after season 3 IMO).

[Iroscato]

Get yourself some Doctor Who in your system, if you haven't already. That's all I got

[weemadando]

Girls - definitely has at more seasons coming as one is in production
Archer - still going strong.
Justified - should have another season or two in it.
Sons of Anarchy - has 2 seasons left apparently.
Breaking Bad - only 1 season left, but damnit it's worth it.

[Gandalf]

I'll echo Breaking Bad, because it's all types of awesome.

Also, I'll recommend Parks and Recreation. It's a documentary sitcom, with the talking head mechanic like The Office uses. If you ignore the horrific first season, it actually grows into an amazing show.

[Meest]

BBC America has a good lineup these days, the whole Saturday block of Doctor Who, Orphan Black and the Nerdist are good all around, also Copper is another surprise on the same channel. For lighter viewing Burn Notice and Grimm are the ones I recommend, in terms of a bit above the standard network garbage.

[spaceviking]

How has no one mentioned Mad Men yet?

[Dread Not]

Bah, you're already watching the two shows I'd recommend the most: Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones. Downton Abbey is great to watch with an SO. It's some of the best drama I've discovered in years, and it's one of the few dramatic series in recent years that has managed to truly hook me without any nerd appeal or large amounts of swearing, nudity, sex or violence. And Game of Thrones is great too, both for its writing, and the said nerd appeal, swearing, nudity, sex and violence.

The new Season of Arrested Development comes out on Netflix on May 26. I'm giddy with anticipation but at the same time worried about how their new approach to structuring the episodes will work.

I'm also a big fan of Peep Show, though the new season likely won't air for a while, and I'd say the last couple seasons dipped in quality a bit.

[Midnight Hope]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

For some reason neither myself or Lord pounder have been able to get into Doctor Who. We can't quite pinpoint what the problem is for us but we have given it a few goes over the years.

We decided to take a look at Breaking bad first because there has been so much about it, and when it was mentioned on here we decided to finally give it a go. The pilot was fantastic, I think it is one of the best pilot episodes of a series that I've seen in years. I am glad we have a few seasons to catch up on!

Other than that we will begin looking at the other shows suggested and hopefully find more we like.

[Thanas]

I have recently watched the end of S1 of Breaking Bad and don't really know whether I should continue. It hasn't really blown me away at all and just kinda petered out at the end IMO. Anybody can confirm if it gets better?

[Stark]

It has it's ups and downs depending on your tolerance for dramatic conceits.

[Thanas]

Do you think the second season was significantly better than the first?

[JLTucker]

Each season is worse than the one before it. Don't finish Breaking Bad. The writing is atrocious and the creators think cool camera work > story.

Skip Girls as well. I wouldn't mind asshole characters if the show was funny, as it's marketed as being, but it's not. It's more sad than anything.

[spaceviking]

I think Breaking Bad really hits its stride near the end of the second season. I don't know what show JLTrucker is watching.

[JLTucker]

I think Breaking Bad really hits its stride near the end of the second season. I don't know what show JLTrucker is watching.

I'm watching a show where the main character becomes intelligent in one episode and a bumbling buffoon in another to advance the story. I'm watching a show where a camera on a Roomba is innovative and certainly pertinent to the story. I'm watching a show where a character finds important information while taking a contrived shit in someone's house. I'm watching a show where a guy gets his face blown off and manages to survive long enough to give us a stupid character moment while his cohort didn't. I'm watching a show that sucks.

[Stark]

Do you think the second season was significantly better than the first?

What I've heard is that it dips and then gets better again, but it depends on how much you're willing to go along with the writing. I found it declined quite quickly but I'm told some of the later seasons improve again.

[Flagg]

I have recently watched the end of S1 of Breaking Bad and don't really know whether I should continue. It hasn't really blown me away at all and just kinda petered out at the end IMO. Anybody can confirm if it gets better?

I got halfway through season 2 and decided I didn't like anyone or care what happened to them so stopped watching.

[Gandalf]

I have recently watched the end of S1 of Breaking Bad and don't really know whether I should continue. It hasn't really blown me away at all and just kinda petered out at the end IMO. Anybody can confirm if it gets better?

The end of season one was affected by writer's strike stuff. Season two is a bit middling in places. Once you hit season three it's probably the best show on TV.

[bobalot]

If you liked House, you might like Elementary. New interpretation of Sherlock Holmes, but compared to House it has better characters and actors (with the exception of Hugh Laurie himself, but House was creatively dead after season 3 IMO).

The ending of House season 3 was great. What followed was a television atrocity.

I recommend giving Defiance, Archer and Legit a go.

[Dread Not]

I have recently watched the end of S1 of Breaking Bad and don't really know whether I should continue. It hasn't really blown me away at all and just kinda petered out at the end IMO. Anybody can confirm if it gets better?

The end of season one was affected by writer's strike stuff. Season two is a bit middling in places. Once you hit season three it's probably the best show on TV.

Those Terminator twins made season 3 one of the goofiest things I've ever seen on a show that's supposed to be taken as such srs bsns. I also stopped giving a shit about most of the characters around that point. Before that I was already pretty soured from the reveal at the end of season 2 not even remotely living up to the buildup.

All of the things I liked most about the series were best in season 1. Walt's cancer treatment was one of the most memorable bits of the series for me and really sold his fear of going through with it. They made the best use of Walt's resourcefulness and knowledge in chemistry, and I found season 1 had some of the best uses of dark comedy.

[Tolya]

House of Cards. It only has one season (second one in the making) but boy... it's a helluva show. With Kevin Spacey.

Also, Revenge is quite good, also Homeland.

I definitely second Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy. Definitely the best shows going right now.

I second skipping Girls. The first season was kinda entertaining, but the second one is just more of the same neurotic whining, with the main character also being the show's producer/writer working through some personal self-acceptance issues. Yeah, and it's not really funny. It's sad.

[JLTucker]

I have recently watched the end of S1 of Breaking Bad and don't really know whether I should continue. It hasn't really blown me away at all and just kinda petered out at the end IMO. Anybody can confirm if it gets better?

May I ask why you had to be blown away to continue it? Did you judge it alongside the hype it has received over the years?

[Thanas]

People were telling me Cranston put in a fantastic performance and that the show was pretty smart. I found his performance okay. Not great, good yes, but not fantastic. I also found the overall storyline of S1 to be pretty bland and slow-moving. Shows I watch either have to have good quality consistently or great quality in a few episodes. Breaking bad is just....bland.

[Dartzap]

I'd agree with that. I think I managed up until mid series 2 before giving up. Its bland and full of bastards who have minimal redeeming qualities. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for having arseholes in tv shows, but they tend to be better when they get to bounce off of non-bastard characters.