Good TV shows?

[boedicca]

Anything else that is good besides Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and Breaking Bad? Why is most television trash? Why can't it all be quality?

I think TV today is better than it has ever been

Better written and better acted than most movies. All because it is no longer controlled by the major networks

1998-1999 was the high water mark for movies. The Matrix, American Beauty, Fight Club, The 6th Sense, Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, Talented Mr Ripley, Office Space, The Mummy, Three Kings, Man on the Moon, Dogma, Ghost Dog, Big Lebowski, Private Ryan, Truman Show, Something About Mary, American History X, Galaxy Quest, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, etc.

That was also the beginning of the new Star Wars movies featuring JarJar Binks, and other lame franchise flicks, spelling the impending decline in movies. But Sopranos debuted on HBO, after being rejected by several cable stations.

I don't like many of the TV shows mentioned in this thread, and others I've never seen but there's something to be found for everyone it's safe to say. There's never been a better time to be a writer for TV.

What you call a high water mark would have been a low water mark compared to movies made in the 1950s. Take the lists of Best Movie Oscar losers in the 1950s; they thoroughly outshine recent Oscar winners and all the movies on your list.

 

[Treeshepherd]

Anything else that is good besides Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and Breaking Bad? Why is most television trash? Why can't it all be quality?

I think TV today is better than it has ever been

Better written and better acted than most movies. All because it is no longer controlled by the major networks

1998-1999 was the high water mark for movies. The Matrix, American Beauty, Fight Club, The 6th Sense, Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, Talented Mr Ripley, Office Space, The Mummy, Three Kings, Man on the Moon, Dogma, Ghost Dog, Big Lebowski, Private Ryan, Truman Show, Something About Mary, American History X, Galaxy Quest, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, etc.

That was also the beginning of the new Star Wars movies featuring JarJar Binks, and other lame franchise flicks, spelling the impending decline in movies. But Sopranos debuted on HBO, after being rejected by several cable stations.

I don't like many of the TV shows mentioned in this thread, and others I've never seen but there's something to be found for everyone it's safe to say. There's never been a better time to be a writer for TV.

What you call a high water mark would have been a low water mark compared to movies made in the 1950s. Take the lists of Best Movie Oscar losers in the 1950s; they thoroughly outshine recent Oscar winners and all the movies on your list.

I like my old movies, as I said yesterday in the old movies thread.

 

[longknife]

Thank goodness for cable tv. Don't remember the channel offhand but it shows some awesome old Westerns on Saturday morning. The really great ones.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Besides documentaries?
Orange is the new Black
Lillyhammer
Brooklyn 99
American Horror Show
Anthony Bourdain, both No Reservations and Parts Unknown
Trailer Park Boys
Quick Draw

 

[2aguy]

I was surprised at how good Arrow, and The Flash are...true, they aren't shakespeare, but they are fun and enjoyable.......The Blacklist....has gone downhill too fast....the only interesting character is James Spader....the rest are uninteresting and distracting in their stupidity on the show.....

 

[ABikerSailor]

For entertainment? I like Elementary, Supernatural, Grimm, 2 Broke Girls, Big Bang and 2 1/2 Men.

For learning? Good Eats, How the Universe Works, From Tactical to Practical, and just about any documentary on PBS that looks like something I'd be interested in.

PBS had a good show on the NRA last night.