Power Cycling Battlestar Galactica
Some of you know I've been getting over a nasty virus. Lucky for me I have a Netflix account and decided to "power cycle" through the first season of Battlestar Gallactica while resting up. What I mean by "power cycling" is that I watched the whole season in about a week. It's one thing to check out a series from week to week, but speeding through it like that is a completely different experience. I came up with the term "power cycle"---call it what you like--it's a great way to get through an illness, but it also breathes incredible depth and clarity into the characters and stories.
BA is just another reason why we need to support the WGA strikers. The writers barely see a penny from the sale of a single DVD, let alone a package of 3-6. The success of "FireFly" after it was prematurely cancelled by FOX on DVD promoted millions of dollars to be poured into Whedon's "Serenity," a most excellent movie version of the series. Dexter and The Wire are a couple of other shows to cycle through fast and furious. You won't be disappointed.
"The success of “FireFly” after it was prematurely cancelled by FOX on DVD promoted millions of dollars to be poured into Whedon’s “Serenity,” a most excellent movie version of the series."
that was the best documented reason for supporting the strike that i've heard in a long time.
I've heard so many people say BG is the shit. It made me sorry I didn't watch it from the beginning, because I do like the space scifi thingies, but the first one with Pa Cartwright seems to have sucked, IIRC. And come to think of it, I didn't have Sci Fi channel until my cable thinger broke and opened up the expanded cable for me...at no extra charge... :)
So now I can rent the show, eh? I'll have to give it a go.
I think The Wire is one of the best works that have been aired on TV in the last few years.
Haven't seen Dexter, not on HBO and i don't like to watch stuff that is stripped of it's language by the censors.
I’ve been getting over a nasty case of to much to eat over the Holodaze.
Power Cycling... I can dig that.
That's how I watched the first two seasons of BSG and Dexter and it changes the viewing experience. Shows like that with a strong story arc across the season benefit from this kind of viewing. The Wire is next on my list...
cathode
The new Battlestar Galactica is NOTHING like the old series. It has REAL acting and a great plot, and has been promised to be over LONG before fans are sick and tired of it. It's a great show. One of the best of the last 3 seasons to be honest. I own Season 1, 2, and 2.5 on DVD. "Power Cycling" through them does make it flow better.
Firefly was a great series, and Serenity an awesome movie. Don't understand Fox reasoning for cancelling, but look how many shows they've cancelled and brought back that excelled. Anyway, just my opinion.
cathode @ 5:
Hi folks....
Great coined word "power cycling"....
I believe that's how I got through "Rome" and "Weeds"...
Excellent way to either blow an entire afternoon & evening if your not feeling well or just for the hell of it...
I've been doing some Power "Recycling"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4FAKRpUCYY
I second the plug for "The Wire." It takes several episodes for it to ramp up, but collectively, its four seasons (number five coming) make up one of the handful of masterpieces of modern TV.
It's equally as good as "The Sopranos," and even better than Bergman's "Scenes from a Marriage" and Fassbinder's "Berlin Alexanderplatz."
I power cycled through Weeds the series too!
Now I'm power cycling through my weed.
I did a power with Lost. My neighbor got the first 2 seasons on DVD and I went through about 48 or whatever it is episodes at a rate of 3 or 4 a day. it took me less then 2 weeks to clear both sets. I just got season 3 and I'm glad I didn't have to watch it on regular TV because I never remember to tune in week.
First off, John. Hope you're feeling better soon.
Secondly I do that all the time... I like your term for it but I like to put whatever the name of the show is right behind "Tour de-" ... It makes for hilarious conversation when you get to say something like "I'm on the 2nd leg of the Tour de Stargate: Atlantis."
"Power Watching" also works well.
Seeya's
curtilingus @ 10:
Don't make me jealous now....
I do love that show though and I'm---
waiting, waiting for the new season...
Dexter has some of the best writing and character depth on TV. It's addictive.
Oh miss kitty! No, no, no: BSG is really a very good show. Give it a whirl! Romance, great character development, mystery, conspiracy, action, tension, and every now and again a really stellar-looking space battle. Two thumbs up!
Funny to even see this post as I have been powering through The Office (American version) today. Man, what a painful and funny show. Sometimes I cover my face like I am trying to shield my eyes from a seeing really bad car accident, but then I peek through my fingers anyway.
:)
Bonkers @ 15:
That's what I meant by 'the shit'. Like bad=good..Ya know? That it was great...I've never heard anything bad about it and romance, great character development, mystery, conspiracy, action, tension, and every now and again a really stellar-looking space battle-that's what I look for in my Scifi space stories.
My brother has gotten The Office and it slays him. I think if he knew Carrell and other people on the show were big old Daily Show alums, he'd crap himself. Poor wingnut. :P
miss_kitty @ 16:
Ack! "THE shit". (note to self: work on reading skills)
[slapping hand to forehead and having a snicker at myself]
Well, good! I know you will enjoy BSG immensely then. Also, if you have not done so, follow some of the other posters' recommendations and check out Firefly and Serenity. Just outstanding, fun sci-fi.
Are there Browncoats on this site?
Hail To The Chimp @ 18:
Depends on who's asking...
[squints warily]
;)
Man... that clip.
Exodus I and II were better than most movies I have ever seen. That whole sequence right there is some of the best Sci-Fi action I have seen in any format in a long time.
The Wire is easily the best cast show on TV. The show is above criticism, acting, writing, directing all are amazing.
Shiva H Vishnu @ 3:
Dexter is on HBO, same rules as HBO.
Galloping Cat @ 14:
I enjoy Dexter, but to say it has some of the best writing and character depth of TV is to set it up for disappointment.
It is a unique and entertaining show, but I felt both seasons were very predictable and some of the acting the first season was enough to make me cringe (particularly Dexter's sister during season one).
I had a horrible bacteria infection last month that my body is still recovering from, it's called Yersenia, and it sucks real bad... I'm a skinny person to begin with but I've never been able to see my torso bones before now... My body is slowing returning to normal, but if not being able to digest food for 3 or 4 weeks, extreme exhaustion, quickly losing all your body fat (well that one doesn't count if you need too!) and then it taking months for you body to regenerate doesn't sound like too much fun, make sure your meats are fully cooked, and stay away from steak Tar Tar! Hope you feel better soon!
The term "power cycle" already has a common definition: it means to turn the power off and then back on again; it's something you end up doing to reset---with any luck---a piece of electronics equipment. How about "saturation viewing"?
Hail To The Chimp @ 18:
War's over. Ain't nothing but folk these days.
That's how I went through my The West Wing boxed set, and just this weekend, the Lord of the Rings (Expanded Edition) trilogy.
If you've got the time, a great way to catch up.
Watching the Wire is like reading a book. That's the best definition I can come with for that series. It's so dense and simply amazing.
Love BSG, a great drama series which happens to take place in space. Only shows I wont miss on TV are BSG and the Office and I'm not sure I'll keep on watching The Office when it airs when it comes back. BSG I can't wait to see again in March, been way too long a wait.
Hail To The Chimp @ 18:
Major...even tried for a while to raise money for an animated series (my forte) with the original cast.
i own a video store.
your netflix comment is offensive to me.
support your homegrown businessman.
Funny you should bring this up since i have recently been doing this with
Heroes (Which is a lot better than i thought it would be.)
The Wire (Best show i ever saw nit to mention it is about my hometown.)
Homicide: Life ont the Streets (The predecessor to The Wire.)
The West Wing (A smart fantasy about Western Democracy.)
The Sopranos (Fascinating as watching a snake.)
Prison Break (Beyond all sense of reality but a lot of fun.)
Six Feet Under (Story about a struggling disfunctional family who happen to own a funeral home.)
I highly recomend it, but i suggest doing more than one at once for the sake of sanity.
I will just add that Dexter is most excellent and the characters on that show are second to none. The writing is beyond good.
I recently journeyed to 5 video stores to find the first volumn of season one of the Sopranos, then i had to do the same to find the second volumn of season one of Six Feet under. That is when i turned to netflix.
Oh and whoever said Dexter is on HBO is wrong...Its on Showtime, and they have been showing some pretty solid shows of late....Dex, Weeds, Tudors........
I've done that with the first season of Dexter -- best way to watch it. Otherwise I always miss one, or wait too long between episodes. Good show. Sometime I'll have to do that with Lost and BSG.
Another favorite I blew through and loved (though it's older, and not expensive production) Space: Above and Beyond. Well, *I* had fun powering through it anyway! Probably not the best ever, but good nonetheless. Also did that with super-campy (what is it with Australians and camp?) Farscape, but stopped caring after a while... about midway through season 3. Same with Rome and Dresden Files -- lost interest when watching back to back. Been meaning to revisit another older series called Boomtown too on such an occasion. Guess I've been too healthy... ;)
Course, none of those would compare to the richness of story in BSG or the Wire. Seems like I'm forgetting another one like that...
i saw one episode of galactica and it was the asshole fighter pilots fighting with a fat working class guy because he didnt have the same political opinion that they had.
i switched it off.
it was to real.
How relevant. I'm currently "Power Cycling" through Firefly and then I'll watch the collector's edition of Serenity I got for Christmas. I finished "Power Cycling" Battlestar Galactica a week before Christmas since I knew I'd be buying Razor with some giftcards. I watched Dexter a few months ago (and loved it) but despite all the recommendations I haven't seen the Wire. I'll have to look into that one next.
as for dexter
all the episodes are on tuduo.com
all
A yes, it was the Tudors... thanks! Easier to follow back-to-back like that. If you really want to watch that much of the King... gettin' busy... while you're sick. Hopefully the second season will be as good without Sam Neill's excellent Wolsey; the first season sucked me in but was a bit ragged in story.
Hail To The Chimp @ 18:
I'm a proud contributor to the Ariel Ambulance Rescue Fund. :D
Ron Moore, the producer of BSG, had some great remarks about what's at stake with the WGA strike. (Shorter version: "Hey, guys, we want you to produce extra content for teh Internets, but we don't want to pay you for it.")
Rome is another great series to power cycle through.
I love 'power cycling' through TV shows on DVD. That's really the best way to watch a show, especially if it's serialized. There's a good handful of series I can't even watch week-to-week anymore since I've been spoiled by the marathon DVD viewing.
Ok, John Amato.
Before leaving Maryland for Nevada my roommate purchased and "power cycled" through Battlestar Gallactica and i totally ignored all of it. I just watched the first episode on Netflix. Never thought i would.
I will be watching the second.
Battlestar Gallatica, The Wire, Dexter, Penn and Teller's Bullshit, Weeds, Rome, Carnivale, Real Time With Bill Maher and a few others are the only reason I turn the television on.
"Cycling through" The Wire (s3 and 4 - best TV show ever) and Reno 911 (s2 - Patton Oswalt is AWESOME in this!) at the moment. Power cycling rules. It's the only way to watch TV.
crshedd @ 29:
If you're so sick you can barely get out of bed, the last thing you want to do is make 20 trips to the rental store. I did the same thing recently and I was lucky to get to the mailbox.
I agree totally. Back up the writers 100%... and Battlestar is an excellent show, one of my all-time favorites. Since we're promoting shows here, besides BSG, of the newest programs coming out soon on DVD, I highly recommend "The Riches", brilliant characters and funny; for pure drama, "Damages", a tightly-wound legal procedural with great twists; and the funniest thing on TV, "30 Rock".
Check out my BSG Videos on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=vogt48
mrs. skippy and i are currenlty power cycling entourage, and i'm waiting for disc 2 of the fourth season of the wire.
i never named it before, but i've been power cycling tv series thru netflix for years now. the 'l' word, driftwood, rome, dexter, and some great british series as well including wire in the blood. plus some revisiting of old friends, like black adder.
it's the best way to watch a show, because then you get to see the character arcs and story lines and other nuances.
i heart netflix!
I watched the 1st 3 seasons of Lost this way.
Mostly b/c I didn't watch the 1st 2 seasons of Lost before friends got me hooked midway through season 3. So I stopped watching season 3, then downloaded all the episodes after it was over.
It's clearly the superior way to watch shows that actually involve some level of 'subliminal plot points' like Battlestar or Lost.
I've been "power cycling" a lot of shows lately due to a lackluster fall TV schedule and the writers' strike, and BSG was one of them. My brother and a work colleague had been trying to get me to watch BSG for a long time, but it didn't really pique my interest because I remember how cheesy the original show was. I finally broke down and rented Season 1 and was immediately hooked. I love that fracking show!
Babylon 5.
Babylon 5.
Babylon 5.
I power-cycled through the entire first season of Friday Night Lights *and,* thanks to my DVR, all nine episodes aired of season 2 so far from about Dec. 17th through Christmas Day (night). I'm a total geek, so never have I so loved football players and cheerleaders and absolutely *hated* Texans at the same time before (Note: I still do not consider The Shrub or Darth Cheney to be Texans).
I'd have power-cycled through something in the SF/Fantasy genres, but I'm all caught up on BSG, Supernatural, Smallville, Reaper, Moonlight, B5, etc. And I'm even in one of the EPK featurettes on the Serenity DVD for about 25 seconds because I went to their Comic-Con panel and sat a couple of rows behind the video cameras.
So it's non-genre stuff for me. Power-cycling through season 4 of The OC since there was waaaay too much on at 9pm on Thursdays that year and The OC drew the short straw due to the previous season sucking. Boy, Autumn Reeser single-handedly resurrected that show so that it could go out with a dignity that Mischa Barton was incapable of bringing to it.
Oh, and I'd say that I'm power-cycling through season 3, part 2 of Entourage, but I think that 8 half-hour episodes doesn't count. You'll know the writers' strike has made me desperate if you hear that I'm power cycling through seasons of One Tree Hill. But even then, I wholeheartedly support the strike and I'd just watch my Buffy, Angel and Gilmore Girls DVDs again if I had to.
Aaaaaand I'm power-cycling through my stack of movies. Live Free or Die Hard was *eeeexcellent* since the whole thing was a sneaky, subversive attack on the administration's data-mining and internets consolidation -- and delivered via the last moderate (ie: common sense) Republican superstar yet! Yipee-ki-yay!
if only we could've 'power-cycled' through the last eight miserable years of the bush administration....perhaps that's how children will learn from the unimaginably large quantities of fu**ups and sheer incompetence of this, the worst president ever!
Keith Olberman has a power-cycle of 2007's special comments on his nightly program last week. I recorded it and will share it with the entire family over the holidays.
You all watch too much TV
I've been power watching old episodes of M*A*S*H recently and it's amazing how applicable it's Korea/Vietnam anti-war analogies are to Iraq.
And THE WIRE rocks, so does BG, and also check out BURN NOTICE and PSYCH.
BTW, 30 ROCK is the funniest show on TV currently, sorry THE OFFICE you're number 2.
kudos to the writers. Solidarity forever. I like the "power cycle" phrase
hi john, fevers and aches from the flu up here in canada, hope you feel better soon.
i abandoned cable/satellite and now i view things like bsg on dvd in full power cycle mode. as a mostly unemployed actor, i am behind the writers 100%. but i do have a bone to pick with ron moore from battlestar. on the razor commentary track, he talks about a scene where all of the background players shout out the line "so say we all". it is a moving and powerful moment in the show. thing is, ron moore did to all of the poor background players what scifi and the producers wanted to do to the writers.
i'm an actra apprentice member (canada's sag) and a lot of us do most of our work as background players. we fill in the scenes and populate your screens doing little bits of business and we always pray for a little bit of a break. under the rules of the guild, we get paid a base rate. as soon as a line is spoken, that rate goes up and the performer gets a credit (which doesn't necessarily appear on screen). i got my apprenticeship in 2000 by winning a part through an audition. thing is you need six credits to become a full member and access benefits (that you pay into regardless).
anyway, back to my complaint...in the commentary, mr. moore complains that he had to do a song and dance with the union to get permission to have the background to speak their line and to not pay them their due or give them credit. since i got my first part it has been hellishly difficult to advance. the guild discriminates against apprentices and productions routinely screw us out of credits. shows like battlestar tend to use a lot of continuity players, background folks that stay from episode to episode because it gives visual continuity and in a complicated set and situation it is good to work with people that know the drill.
i guarantee that a lot of those folks on razor bit their tongues and felt screwed over. thing is, having been in that situation, you don't want to say anything because you want to get called again. the squeaky wheel often gets jettisoned as a trouble maker. i can also guarantee that the majority of those folks would have been thrilled to get the credit for the line, toward their apprenticeship and for their resumes and would have gladly foregone the extra cash. working bg players are incredibly loyal to the series they work on. i'm just really disappointed at ron moore, i thought he had more class but i guess some shoes don't go on other feet. makes it harder to support his call to support the writers when he's taking advantage of performers. cheers all.
The term "power cycling" originally referred to turning off an appliance--like a computer, or router--and turning it back on again.
I'm in the process of powering through a wonderful series called "Dead Like Me". It was only 2 seasons long, but it's an amazing show. The writing is first rate. It was on Showcase I believe.
Prior to my finally discarding television entirely in favor of the internet (about three years ago), I hadn't watched a series that was still in production for a very long time; preferring to wait for them to enter syndication so I could do as you describe, watch a years worth of shows in a matter of four or five weeks. Definitely a good way to view them.
Wow, I never realized so many others were doing this! I agree that watching a series every day instead of every week gives you a completely different perspective. I discovered this in the 80s and 90s when I used to tape sitcoms without watching them, carefully putting each on its own tape. Once I had 12 episodes on a tape, I would power through all 12. Wings, Frasier, Seinfeld - they were all great to watch this way!
Now I am in "hog heaven" since there are DVD sets of most series and it is easier than ever to do the power thing. I recently went through all the Avengers with Mrs. Peel (I see there is another set from before that, hmm) and right now I am doing Mission: Impossible Season 2 and, um, Leave It To Beaver Season 1.
One subtle effect I've experienced is that if the show has a specific mood or motif, that starts to seep into your everyday life due to the saturation viewing. So now, when I get in my car to go to the grocery store, I hear those Mission:Impossible drums as I put in the key, check the mirror, etc. It's pretty dumb.
Hail To The Chimp @ 18:
Are there Browncoats on this site?
Depends on who’s asking…
[squints warily]
24 Trucker Doug Says: Hail To The Chimp @ 18:
Are there Browncoats on this site?
War’s over. Ain’t nothing but folk these days
@24 - Have you learned nothing from the last seven years..................LOL Rewatch FireFly and Serenity. Go on that Browncoat cruise as well. Time for reprogramming.
I have difficulty supporting one elevated class of writers while ignoring others. I'm sorry, but if these writers are so good they should be able to independently secure deals with the networks - and to be honest, most network television is pure pap. You won't find an iota of sympathy amongst writers who do not belong to said insider's union.
Great viewing all in one sitting is to watch any season of The Closer, "Thank yewww so much!"
Fracking A
"I am a leaf on the wind - watch how I soar!!!!!"
"I am a leaf on the wind - watch how I soar"
Fracking A
So say we all!
I'm a BSG fan too, though I thought Season 3 was spotty at best. And I would really like to see how Ron Moore explains having some of the regulars revealed to be Cylons (I won't reveal who they are so as not to spoil it for anyone here who hasn't gotten that far yet), particularly one who was around during the first Cylon War.
"I am a sore on your ass-smell my wind."
Frickin Bush
I'm only on Season 2.5 (I watch it on DVD) but I agree Battlestar Galactica is one of the best shows on TV right now. Among other still ongoing series, I also enjoy Big Love and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
I've still yet to work my way through Deadwood and Rome and the last season of Sopranos, also quality shows.
I love 'power cycling' through a series. That's why bittorrent file sharing is such a gift for those of us who can't afford DVD sets, who can't afford all the cable channels and who can't spare the time to search video stores. Download a bittorrent client then go to a few of the big bittorrent database search engines like the following and binge 'power cycle' away...
Mininova - TV Shows
Sorry, I watched the first season of Battlestar Galctica on Sci-Fi. I really wanted to like it but, sadly, I found it cliched, overacted, unnuanced and poorly written. It's the Chuck Norris/Steven Segal of scifi series. I love quality science fiction but this just isn't it. (love the opening theme music montage though)
We also power cycled through most of Battlestar Galactica, The Wire, Firefly, and Deadwood. I can't do Dexter though. Just can't tolerate the psychic dissonance. And I don't want to dream methodical murder scenes.
Battlestar Galactica, The Wire, Deadwood (rip)...
The reasons that broadcast television should be shut-down and turned into taco joints.
I would also be very wary of bittorrent d/ling. It's easy to score your IP and many people are finding suit notices from the MPAA or the record industry in their mailboxes. They look for big money because with torrents you are participating in the upload as you d/l so they factor in what you may have cost them by passing it along to others. The burden of proof in a civil case just being who makes a better case.
These kinds of suits are a growth industry in Germany at the moment (especially focused on porn d/ls as nobody wants to fight that in an open courtroom) and have recently spread to great britain. The US variant seems to be focused on movie and music torrents.
The Wire
We (My friends and I) call this "Whooshing" a series. Like a very fast version of "watching" a series. I recently whooshed "The Sopranos", and walked around talking like a gangster for two weeks. It's a surreal experience.
...that's the only way I get to watch anything that was on showtime/hbo (don't forget "Dead Like Me") or that disappears before I get a chance to watch it...
It's how I got hooked on "Lost"
I tried 'Power Cycling' Crooks and Liars, but when my shrink saw the results, he seriously discouraged me from continuing, by threatening to withhold my meds, unless I quit.
Ick. Locked in a sickroom with nothing but "Battlestar"? ICK! That show lost me during the pilot. I literally turned it off and bailed completely during the "trial of the president" sequence when people were walking around on a supposedly alien world in American style courtrooms with suits (WITH LAPELS!!) and ties (TIED IN WINDSOR KNOTS!!!) and drinking from water coolers (with the blue five gallon Sparkletts-style jugs!!!!), and using cell phones...well...for this fan of art direction and costuming, I felt it was a big crappy cheap cheat. Really, look at the clip provided above. The guys ducking all the explosions in the warehouse area at the beginning are wearing wooly hats and jackets like a couple of Jersey dock workers. The admiral is using a handset on his ship with a coiled cord like a CB radio or old style phone. Why? Even "Star Trek" 45 years ago with its cheap props and limited budget made a better attempt at giving us visions of so-called "alien worlds" and their cultures and styles. I don't care about their overall story arc, I saw it all 30 years ago.
If you want to watch a fairly decent, and really fun sci-fi series, try the new "Dr. Who" episodes on BBC America.
It is the greatest Sci-fi show since Babylon 5.
My son bought me the first two episodes of Babylon 5 and now I MUST purchase the rest...
Just think how much better Babylon 5 would have been with today's CGI...
The writing is what makes shows like this so good. The CGI is fantastic but empty without good writing and acting.
I meant the first two SEASONS of Babylon 5...not episodes...silly me!
Babylon 5 was just LOTR in space (with muppets). They are fighting the "shadow" with a bunch of gay elf-like beings led by "Lorien", Captain Sheridan faces the "shadow" in a place called "zahad-doom" (khazad-dum anyone?), where he falls to his "death" only to be sent back to fight the shadow until his task is complete.
The guy who wrote the series famously penned each episode himself but Im pretty sure "penned" was just his way of saying "cribbed from tolkien" while smoking pot.
well, those might be spoilers, I wouldnt read that. heh.
LOTR??? wtf?
What about HBO's Rome?! Rome and Battlestar were clearly the 2 best shows everyone avoided talking about over the last 3 years.
These 2 heavily serialized shows are something special for the grown-ups to appreciate the very high level of craftsmanship that you can see best by power cycling through them.
Rome apparently was too much work for American cable viewers. Rome is the most complex, beautiful, pagan and shocking series I've ever seen. The interplay between history and personal drama was unique and gutsy as was the whole idea to recreate ancient Rome on the biggest outdoor set ever made instead of boring CGI work. Watch it on a large screen sometime and you just go 'wow!' The acting was as incredible as the amazing sets and the stunning costumes. But again, Americans can't seem to cope with the idea of something as big as Rome, or British accents or real actors like Stevenson and Walker. Rome was also a lot more fun than the dreary Sopranos. When you watch the Rome box sets from seasons 1 & 2 you see the real arc of the characters and what the series was really all about. Too bad HBO has given up on offering adults something special, like Rome, when now thanks to DVDs, people are finally discovering how great Rome really was.
The new Battlestar Galactica has been the only US TV show to deal head-on with issues like 9-11, Iraq and terrorism in a big way. Real, adult, gritty, amazing artwork and cinematography that is as gutsy as the writing and acting. BSG has been the only TV show to constantly reinvent itself and the characters year after year. Just when you think you have it figured out, the writers and producers would surprise you again and the show goes off in a very different direction.
With the end of Rome and BSG, there is nothing worth watching anymore. Back to renting old movies I guess.
It's a great time to do this with The West Wing, by the way. I had never seen the show until last year and have been powering through the series and recently was enjoying the strange experience of observing two primaries at once.
Battlestar is one of my favorite shows of all time.
I liked Rome 1 (haven't seen season 2, but I will eventually). It just... tried too hard. It wasn't too complex at all, but the sex scenes were often pretty forced. And I'm all for sex, believe me, but it got in the way of the storytelling at times. Still good acting (especially Caesar and Titus Pollo), and mostly good writing. A lot of the same flaws as the Tudors, actually, and they are both still above average, IMHO. However, the atmospheres are so rich it's like eating a brownie smothered in fudge with your eyes... I'll revisit them both.
And knocking BSG because one of the early scenes had someone with lapels on jackets... oh, come on now. At least give the 2nd season a chance. Besides, the various Dr. Who's that you like certainly have lapels! (Occasionally stuffed with celery, as I recall.) The "production value" of the original Dr. Who was... um, not the best. Still it charmed...
Speaking of the UK, I'll heartily second Wire in the Blood. Bloody addictive is what that was! Sort of the opposite of the CSI type police drama. Excellent. I haven't gotten far enough into Life on Mars (70s era police procedural with a twist) to tell yet, but it seems at least OK.
C&Lers seem to have pretty good taste. I wonder if any of the other UK shows are recommended (outside of older things like Prime Suspect that already make it to PBS here in the USA)? I used to watch an interesting series called something like 1000 acres of Skye, but it seems to have disappeared from the face of the planet! Dang, I wouldn't mind renting the season of that, if I could find any info at all.
Here's to hoping I get a good paying job that would actually afford me "sick time" so I can start watching TV or movies again!
Watch The West Wing when you need a dose of fantasy and want to dream about what a real president is supposed to be.
And Firefly is the greatest SciFi not Babylon 5.
Firefly was the balls. Anybody who's already watched all of the shows and the movie many dozens of times can watch "Chuck." Adam Baldwin drops lines from "Full Metal Jacket" and the "Firefly" world all the time. Shiny.
John-
Others have mentioned this, but I heartily recommend 'Rome'. It's the perfect power cycle experience. I went through both seasons over about 10 days - best TV I've seen in years (got rid of my box and cable, I only watch DVDs on my computer).
The cool thing about Rome is the historical commentary option. When you choose this, dialogue boxes appear on screen which explain historical/mythological/military references in the script. The terrific story line and characters are thus supplemented with some useful history lessons.
Too bad BSG turned to rubbish in the latter part of season 2 (something even Ron Moore admitted in his commentaries) and never really recovered. Then again, the first part of season 2 was basically the rest of season 1 -- after that they kinda lost the plot. Some good scenes afterwards, but most eps were way below par. The recent "Razor" movie was okayish but an obvious case of too little too late.
But it's still miles better than the overhyped crap that is Dr Who, which was never that good to begin with. Face it, the only decent eps are the ones written by Stephen Moffat, and those could be standalone shows in their own right without all the DW baloney. And don't get me started on Torchwood.
The Wire? I watched s1 and was bored to tears. Sorry, but if this is such a great show, how come the final ep of s1 was so awfully predictable? Considering I love Homicide..., this was a major letdown.
Firefly: great series. Serenity? Pile of dung. Sheesh, when will they learn that Whedon is a TV guy, not a movie guy? I expected Star Trek: Undiscovered Country and I got Star Trek: The Movie mixed with ST: Nemesis. Including ridiculous central figure who was a blatant script invention. And how stupid were the studio that did that movie? Throwing money at a guy who'd never made a decent movie, then hype it to oblivion by having hundreds of advance screenings to fans, and then realising that they'd have to postpone the movie because it was scheduled to come out the week before the last Star Wars movie??? Don't they have calendars? Did they somehow manage to forget that the last SW was gonna come out that season?
Dead Like Me: great series, but I knew it wasn't gonna last when the second season managed to completely ignore the rules set up in the first season.
Deadwood: I'm still majorly pissed at HBO for allowing the maker to abandon it to focus on a piece of self-indulgent crap. Now we don't have the final season that was clearly planned for.
I absolutely recommend Boomtown: a fantastic series that everybody seemed to ignore when it was on, and that was unceremoniously canceled early in s2, but not after the network had screwed with the show.
BTW: Lost is the shiznit. Incredible show. I happily forgive them for the crappier eps, because when they're great they're out of this world. I haven't got a clue where they're going with it, but I'm in full confidence of the guys making it.
Whereas Heroes: those guys are just stumbling around in the dark, occasionally coming up with great stuff and then just dropping the ball. The s1 season finale was so bad...
And watching the full s1 of BSG in one week is "power cycling"? I once watched an entire season of Buffy + Angel (Buffy s7 and Angel s4 IIRC) in the "correct order" (i.e. by original broadcast date, because of the cross-overs between the series) in about 4 days. Which is a seriously bad idea, as it turned out: I ended up dreaming about vampires and monsters and slayers for a couple of days afterwards. ;-)
I also once watched the firs half of Everwood s1 in about a day or so: I'd ignored the series until I kept hearing from people it was great. Watched the first ep, got hooked and just watched the rest in one go. I'm still kicking The CW for canceling it. Yes, it didn't have great ratings. But the series that replaced it was canceled after three eps -- something I'd predicted after not managing to get through the pilot months earlier.
And how near-perfect is the first season of Veronica Mars. Season 2 and 3 never reached those heights, but they were dizzyingly high in the first place.
swarmofkillermonkeys @ 87:
"Bodies": an incredible medical drama.
"The Cops": I absolutely loved this cop show.
"Coupling": just about the best thing I've ever seen on sex & relationships.
"Cracker"
"Extras"
"The Office"
any documentary series by Adam Curtis
"Cold Feet"
"This Life"
And a whole bunch of stuff I'm forgetting now.
Yeah Rome was good. Cancelled for budget reasons.
Extras
Flight of the Conchords
HBO still manages to rule despite the Deadwood f up.
Hehe. Ok, so I wasn't going to be the first so suggest that Veronica Mars was actually a pretty good show to "power" through (enough multi-episode plotlines). I'm certainly not a teenage California girl, but that show was pretty dang sharp. I think perhaps "colorful, cute, and witty film noire" should be a new category...
Thanks for the suggestions, never heard of Everwood, The Cops, Bodies, Cold Feet... I'd forgotten entirely about Cracker; gotta love Robbie Coltrane!
Because I work away lots in the wilderness and just got a full time TV a few years ago I got to power cycle- Seinfeld, Startrek-Voyager, Lost, a few sitcom type-shows and a few others plus lots of PBS gems (sweet Lidia's Italy cooking show). It realy is a good way to watch some of these shows. And no commercials. Battlestar is on my list.
I also was stuck in a cabin for about 3 weeks once with nothing but a whole box of Conan the Barb. books and read them all in random order. It was kinda spiritual in a freaky sort of way but I needed a bit of handling when I got out to civ.
Pay the writers cause they are the brains behind the good shows. They deserve the extra $$$ for sure.
Tom The Patriot @ 85:
Dead on. This is why I thought they were even bringing up Galactica here at Crooks & Liars. This is the only show that addresses the very issues we discuss here at C&L. Torture, religious fanaticism, martial law, freedom of the press, etc. etc. are all part of the show. Fascinating stuff for a political or historical junkie like I am. Those writers and producers are really kindred spirits.
I know it's easy for people to knock space sci-fi shows but honestly, this is a political drama that just happens to be set in space. And as far as the lapels and old style phone cords? That was adressed early on in the pilot miniseries.The Galactica is an OLD ship. And honestly, with so many decades of cheesy Star Trek style sci-fi, isn't it better to have a show where people aern't dressed in silver jumpsuits spouting idiotic tecnobabble?
Couldn't agree more - I would rather watch a series all at once. And thanks for the "Firefly" reference - one of the greatest sci-fi shows on tv ever.
Aha! Finally after searching for way too long (BBC's website is more than a little sucky) I found the other series I'd been looking for: McCallum. Good "morgue" show, with a different flavor that the US ones, with plenty of witty dry gallows humor. Worth a shot if you like that kind of thing; you'll get the accent in an episode or two, no worries there. Get that Wire in the Blood and Cracker, and you have a thoroughly enjoyable, dark and miserable time!
Also to correct, it appears that the fun little character story was actually called Two Thousand Acres of Sky not what I said above. Sort of a play about "small towns" but I found it more interesting than, say, Ballykissangel. Not many would get into that though.
Someday, the WGA will return and make new quality stuff -- and not have the studios cancel it, right? Right?! So I don't have to keep plundering the BBC for forbidden TV booty? (Arrr!) Course I actually liked CBS's Smith too, so what the heck do I know...
miss_kitty @ 2:
Yes, start with the min-series.
ConcernedCanuck @ 6:
indeed. Some of the sad people posting on this forum appear to have watched the old campy version thinking that it's the new version! At one point, that old BG was one of the most technologically advanced and expensive shows on TV. It's funny to go back and watch it now.
I have no sympathy for the writers. I watch them picket our offices all day (well, they don't really walk that much, and they take long breaks, and most of them don't show up until 11 and then leave at 4, and get catered lunches) and I yearn to throw things off the roof at them. Because they are soft, lazy, and entitled.
resa @ 99:
But note that the mini-series is really just a set-up (and it's fun looking out for the Firefly ship to pass by in one shot). Don't watch it and stop there: the real juice is in the actual series. Completely blew me away at the time, because I'd never expected this.
>The writers barely see a penny from the sale of a single DVD, let alone a package of 3-6
And the copyrighted music videos you post on your web site generate even less money for the artists.
All my friends think I'm a dork for watching BSG. I probably am, but I could care less. Oh, and I love me some Boomer.
I have to correct this whenever I see it. Sry.
I have to agree with the guy about 20 posts back. Rome and BSG were the 2 best series on TV. I would add Band of Brothers to that as well. Deadwood had lots of promise (the last season soured me, as did the way Bullock just grit his teeth, look angry but never did anything for 3 seasons.) What makes these 3 series so good, is that the stories are drenched in realism.
BSG puts me off sometimes with it's insisting on placing it's characters in moral conflict every chance it gets it seems, for the purpose of creating drama; but this is easily tolerated for the promise of discovering the mystery of the overarching sci fi story.
I'll be keeping an eye on 'Caprica' this season, though I have a feeling this will be more of what I didn't like about BSG and less of what I did. But I'm eagerly anticipating the upcoming new HBO BoB series 'The Pacific'. And even more in the future, HBO's 'Game of Thrones'...a fantasy with the feel of a historical-realism.
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