Anyone remember series The Navy Log? Late 50's/early 60's I believe, came on after Phil Silvers.

I'll second earlier votes for the best miniseries: Lonesome Dove.

My wife and I recently finished watching the last of the series, from the begining, in weekly stages.
I was ok with it, but it isn't by any stretch something I'd rave about. I find it depressing. It does do a decent job showing what my opinion of big city operations, but that's depressing too. Even the main character, Jim McNulty is a disaster. He can't control his emotions well, he has all sorts of issues inclding alcoholism. Not my kind of show that I want to watch for an evening of mindless entertainment where I don't want to have to think about societal issues.

My favorite so far is the now long gone series 24.
After that, I really like Burn Notice. It's fun. Lots of humor. Lots of stuff that requires suspension of disbelief, but that's ok with me. I'm watching for fun, not scientific proof that this or that can actually happen. And Fe steals the show.
Both of the above listed have way more real action and far less dragging, emotional, drama than The Wire.
Mark D.

Thank you, Mark, for responding to my original post. It took me until the end of season 2 to really be convinced that "The Wire" was worth watching. I had a tough time with all the violence and bleakness. But once I was hooked, it just got better and better. True, McNulty is a disaster. So was Raskolnikov. But that is what makes a great novel, even a great TV novel. I'm also going to give "Justified" a try one of these days, next time I get down to my local DVD rental place.
-John

this was a good series and I give my vote to M. A. S. H.

Well my vote is "Downton Abbey", the BBC series about the ultra rich in Britain about 1912-1920. 'Lost' as a second choice. It is all a matter of personal taste, of course, "Madmen" is a particulary good series with John Hamm, Christine Hendricks and the others - but frankly it made me so uncomfortable I stopped watching it. Not because the series wasn't good, but because I was about 12 years old when the series was set, and it brought back too much painful childhood stuff, I guess.

John

Sopranos...especially the episode 'Long Term Parking'.

Why are you late?

'The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive.'

One thing I noticed about "The Wire" is how many of the characters in there, most of whom I had never really noticed before, are now becoming evident in other shows that I see. This means these partuclar actors are staying VERY busy, because I, very honestly, see little television. All that which I watch, other than the 10:00 news for 20 mintues a night, is done on Friday night in a roughly three hour window. It all comes in via netflix.
Those actors show up time after time.
Even the character "Bubbles" on The Wire has been pointed out to me by my wife in two other shows in the past month or so.
Mark D.

I do like Mad Men, though I have to wait for each season to be released on DVD before I can watch it. (No cable at my house.) I was born in 1947, and I remember the years being depicted. My gripe about Mad Men is that it's obviously a soap opera -- but it's a soap opera made respectable somehow, possibly in the way it makes people uncomfortable. "LOST" had promise, and I especially liked the Dharma Initiative stuff, since I attended the Univ. of Mich. in the 60s. But most Lost fans were very disappointed with the last season. I sure was. I have it on DVD but I find it unwatchable. Personal taste is over-rated. There is more involved. My standard of comparison is basically literary: the names I dropped at the top of this thread. Would "Notes From Underground" make you uncomfortable? Not many people seem to read it these days.
-DocSlop/John/AC8KU

[quote="jatroberg"]Well my vote is "Downton Abbey", the BBC series about the ultra rich in Britain about 1912-1920.
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I wasn't particularly interested in Downton to start with but it has grown on me and I am almost understanding all the British brogue except for some of the soft-spoken female lines. I keep thinking they're up to 1920 now and surely there must be a radio on one of those "Louis XV" tables in that castle pretty soon. At least they had a Victrola in one episode.

My wife looks at me like I'm crazy---she won't watch it. I understand series 3 will start this fall on PBS. Gotta get my recorder ready!

Old shows:

Dark Shadows
The Time Tunnel
The Avengers
My Favorite Martian
Kung Fu
Addams Family
The Prisoner
Keeping Up Appearances

New shows:

Person of Interest
The Big Bang Theory
Cougar Town

All great shows but you all missed two Taxi and Soap. The real question here is why don,t most of these show up on the so called old time TV programs?
Stan Ski

Stan,
You brought back a "Soap" memory. Remember when Jody hid Bob (the dummy) in the refrigerator. Chuck comes running downstairs yelling "Has anyone seen Bob? His bed hasn't even been slept in!". He opens the refrigerator door, slips him on, and Bob says "Brrrrrrrr, The light really does stay on". I still get a kick out of that.

Soap brought down a lot of barriers on TV. And it was a funny show to boot.