Singapore Expats

Rather than revive the old thread starting a new one.

Besides the obvious top choices, obvious being admittedly subjective, such as GOT, Homeland, House of Cards, and the other 'top' ones, looking for more ideas.

Metacritic, IMDB and a couple others I lost the links to have good listings of top 100 shows, schedules for premiers and releases of next seasons, etc. and these help.

Don't be surprised if not everyone agrees with the findings. For example though I watch and will continue to watch GOT, I don't like it as much as the hype around it suggests.

I'm personally tired of the trend of darkness many have, and as a result put off the remainder of the latest season of HoC, stopped True Detective half-way through, and S2 of Fargo is looking much more grim than S1 did but still in rotation and appears to be a good series.

I regularly watch PBS News Hour with Gwen Ifall and Judy Woodruff. Watch Downton Abbey... last show of the season, and forever, this coming weekend. I watch selected games of American football. I pay to watch Big Bang Theory without commercials. I watch Bill Moyers and Nova on PBS from time to time. Otherwise, I have not watched any commercial television. I typically rent movies from Amazon.

Those seem like good options, not sure how I would get them here nut shouldn't be too difficult.

Among the series I'm current watching, or vetting, is Hand of God.

Gave up on Sons of Anarchy after the second-to-last season' sfinal episode and the unnecessary levels and frequency of violence, yet another area of desensitisation the media are leading, or trysting to lead viewers into accepting as a new norm.

For the same reason I gave up on Orange is The New Black because, while not a homophobe, could no longer ignore the blatant desensitization of the subject matter and that the show exists at least in part for that purpose. Anyone can go ahead and disagree with me, you will not change my opinion. I'm with Billy Crystal on this one

Even Louie is getting dark, or weird.

I like some of the B-level series like Terriers, Longmire, How to Make It In America, Alpha House, Ballers.

I gravitate more towards things like Episodes, Better Call Saul. Californication, Nashville although it's more soap opera than real content with some of the music being good, Vikings but again a bit too much violence.

I haven't quite caught onto Portlandia, It's Always Sunny in Philly, The Grinder.

And then of course there is Robot Chicken, which I can't get enough of.

Will add more as I think of them.

Mr. EF likes Breaking Bad, "frightening and intense". I did not get around to watching it. Recently finished watching Atelier. A Japanese Netflix production with English subtitles. In typical Japanese fashion, a heartwarming series with loads and layers of unforced wisdom. What I love about it is that it deals with a topic close to heart, how to live "honestly" and in this case, in a business setting.

We also like to watch Worst Cooks In America. Fun, light-hearted and tinged with a bit of competitive spirit. Another favorite is Undercover Boss. Never fail to jerk me to tears at the end of each episode. For those who think that corporate bosses are heartless, it may help you understand how broken the system (how far removed the corporate executives are from the masses that it hinders their perception) is for causing such demises.

Every now and then, I get to watch Sponge Bob. He makes me smile / laugh. So cute wan.

Breaking Bad is regarded by many or most to be one of the top series and I concur, but it's already pretty old and most have watched it already, some more than once.

Would qualify for a Classics List along with Mad Men, Boston Legal, The Wire, Rescue Me, Homeland, House of Cards, Friday Night Lights, The West Wing, The Sopranos, Californication

Among the A-List are Narco, Better Call Saul, Fargo, Louie, Lillyhammer

Among the B-List are Bloodline, Grace & Frankie, Bob & David, Longmire, Chelsea Does, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Ballers, Episodes, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Masters & Johnson, Nashville, Studio 60, The Newsroom, Alpha House

There is a C-List for Hawaii 5-0, the new one; I guess I don't have the time or tolerance for many of these

Among the Oldies list are things like Cheers, Frasier, MASH, Ally McBeal - most are horribly dated but serve for nostalgic appeal

Then there is the Crap list, such as Lost

Haven't got into the Hipster stuff like Portlandia, Always Sunny In Philly, but I don't rule them out yet; Parks & Recreation is passable, The Grinder is cringe-worthy

I have an Off-the-team list that includes Orange Is The New Black (for the blatant agenda), Sons of Anarchy (too much violence for my taste), and a few others that just fizzled like Veep, True Detective,

There's more but that's all for now. I left them unfinished so as to add as I think of more.

All very subjective and I don't expect anyone to agree with my ratings.

If I bother to revisit this list in a year or so would be interesting to see if I would classify them the same way.

Will have a look at Atelier.

And for the typical ladies, I believe 'Gossip Girls' is the best choice. Its so much fun to watch the whole series. Believe me, I went gaga over the episodes. Started by watching 1 season and ended up following all.

Silicon Valley.
curb your enthusiasm
the x files
parks and recreation
arrested development

I see they all tie together rather nicely.

Auf weidershen pet is the best TV series ever ... especially series 1 n 2

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," in that order. Even perhaps "Firefly" (and "Serenity," the Hollywood film, as the finale). Ignore the BTVS film with Donald Sutherland. But then I'm a Joss Whedon fan. A lot of people are, but some are not. Give BTVS some time if you try it; it'll seem a bit silly and light at first. Season 6 gets quite dark, although the musical episode is pure genius. I think Whedon's shows were the best on U.S. television at the turn of the millenium, the prototypes for the wonderful burst of creative television that followed -- the start of TV's real Golden Age (still going on).

Of a similar vintage, Helen Miren's "Prime Suspect" one-off episodes -- roughly equivalent to a U.S. miniseries -- were superb. The new (2005+) "Doctor Who" is pretty good, but "Torchwood" wasn't as good. (You can try it.) The U.K.'s "Hustle" was rather good, with a "Ocean's Eleven" vibe to it.

sundaymorningstaple wrote:I see they all tie together rather nicely.

what do you mean? do i fit a personality type?

The five show titles (not necessarily the shows themselves) seem to be related in a macabre sort of way.

sundaymorningstaple wrote:The five show titles (not necessarily the shows themselves) seem to be related in a macabre sort of way.

interesting... elaborate a bit more

rajagainstthemachine wrote:Silicon Valley.
curb your enthusiasm
the x files
parks and recreation
arrested development

You start off in a new all idealistic with "take on the world" attitude, but reality sets in and you have to temper your expectations and learn you've been naive because your job does not make you special. You spend a long enough time and suddenly you feel like someone's always trying to hide something, if not an outright conspiracy. Then as the days go by, you learn that everything you do just gets mired in red tape and bureaucracy. Eventually, you just accept that everything is dysfunctional and you really had no prospect of advancing in any way in the first place and you're gobsmacked that nothing has imploded yet.

Let's see... It's just the way it hit me when I first read them.

Silicon Valley. - Playland
curb your enthusiasm - everybody wants to go there and everything you read makes it sound like it THE place to be.
the x files - The secrecy of the various "projects".
parks and recreation - looking at the interiors of places like Google, MS, FB and some others they look like amusement parks and all have tons of recreational "toys" for the developers.
arrested development - To me what I perceive most gaming programmers have - brilliant but somewhat stunted social growth.

Obviously none is true (well, most anyway) but at first reading it's what entered my warped mind.