Unopened Boxsets that I liked the look of from the Pilot: The ILX Television 51 Show Countdown Extravaganza!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know Planet Earth isn't intended for kids, so this is just a data point, but I was watching some obviously American ("crossword puzzle", brownstones, etc.) animated young children's TV show which had been dubbed with regional british accents.

I've never even heard of Breaking Bad. It's on my list now.

17. How I Met Your Mother
16. Thick of It
15. West Wing
10. Battlestar Galactica
9. Friday Night Lights

So far, those from my list.

Um, not that I have an actual list but you know.

i need to do the dvd set thang with breaking bad. everytime i catch one i want more. and see what i've missed.

and the wire...*sigh*. i don't know when i'll ever watch all this stuff. i only saw the first season of the wire.

Voted for these:

47. Da Ali G Show = my # 23
41. Gilmore Girls = my # 15
35. Friday Night Lights = my #1

5 shows i voted for placing so far:

BSG (i actually had it way down at #21)
The Thick Of It (#12)
Futurama (#8)
Gillette Soccer Saturday (#6 lol)
Planet Earth (#5)

highest placing for a show unlikely to appear - Six Feet Under (#9)

I've never even heard of Breaking Bad.

Bryan Cranston's won two straight Emmys for it!

It's like Mad Men but with meth.

Shows that placed so far that I'm prety sure I don't like. (Others, I'm either ambivalent about or never heard of, though a lot of them don't look very promising to me, judging from clips above):

40. Wonder Showzen
34. Jackass
32. Family Guy
31. House M.D.
30. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
24. Futurama

Show I wish I'd thought to nominate (and would have given it a couple points, probably instead of "Da Ali G Show" or "Monk," the latter of which I bet nobody voted for either):

King Of The Hill

Show I ranked #14 but I'd rank higher if I voted now (since I've been working my way through it via Netflix, and I like it more and more):

Veronica Mars

I ranked Mars lower than I should have because I caught some season 3 eps on E4 a few weeks back. I was watching a season one episode this morning and remembered just how good it was in its prime. Och well.

("crossword puzzle")

do you not have these in the UK??

britishers make up for the extra 'u' in words by nixing the word 'puzzle' altogether.

It's Always Sunny has not gotten its due here. Funniest US show of the decade. Isolated clips don't really work, but I'll give it a shot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6crpNju6fuk

^^ real talk

(even tho I'd vote Curb or 30 Rock for "funniest" prob)

i'm not sure what i just watched but i'll look for torrents after the football.

stuff thats made it for me:

1. Venture Brothers
4. Its Always Sunny
7. Dexter
19. Firefly
21. Aqua Teen Hunger Force
24. Family Guy
25. The Simpsons

would have voted oz but i had this weird thing where i thought only the last season (which gets penalized for the ending imo) was in the 2000s. im stupid.

ok so xhuxk and i are fighting the monk fight alone then.

yea can't believe how many people don't appreciate it's always sunny! tho i'm not sure that clip does it justice at all

greatest show ever imho

nah

greatest show ever except you voted something else #1

I used to live in Philly; really wanted to like it. Even recognized some of the scenery. But the few early episodes I saw didn't seem funny at all - just dumb and obvious. I dunno, maybe it got better later.

always sunny can be fun to watch but the constant overacting pulls me out of it

from my experiences most shows get better after their first couple episodes of boring hello these are the characters in x setting with y story.

if someone else can think of a more representative clip, go for it, but I think the show is best appreciated through a nice condensed watch, esp the s2-3 peak. Season 5 has been amazing so far, though. (xhuxk, s1 is my least face. devito really ties it together.)

the one where they do an intervention on devito was pretty awesome

I always thought they could have saved Deadwood if there were more promos involving cats:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47D9-U8hn5I&feature=related

only greatness of the first season was charlie gradually getting caught up in the high school drama. it doesn't really take off until the second season.

I'm on my phone, someone please post the top/power bottom discussion from Sunny, if I had to convince someone to watch it I would pull that up. And I'd you want to get into the show I suggest The Nightman Cometh as the first episode.

I think my favorite clip is the one where Sweet Dee does stand-up.

http://i38.tinypic.com/33wum2t.gif

It's Always Sunny didn't really start to gel until around the 3rd season imo. It probably took a while for them to build the network's support. I mean I can't imagine them pitching scripts on cannibalism, fucking their mothers, and hunting the homeless during the first season as a bunch of nobodies.

ok i don't think i've seen past s1 yet so i'll withhold judgement

And this seems like a good enough place to share my theory: one must watch three episodes of a show before making a final judgement. I watched the first two eps of The Wire and True Blood and lost interest, once I happened to watch the third episodes I got hooked. You don't need to watch three EPA of every single show out there but if someone whose taste you generally respect recommends something try to give the show at least three eps before dismissing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63shyc9ILhA

i think the 3 episode rule is fair (although i guess i should've stuck it out to the end of the last FNL episode i tried to watch to be able to say i gave it a shot)

xp loved the bad real estate broker routine

I definitely watched at least three of Philly. But yeah, I probably never made it to the second season. So who knows; maybe I'll try again sometime. And I admit, I get impatient quick -- there are tons of shows out there, and I don't want to waste my time with something that's boring me. (Then again, I managed to come up with 25 shows I liked this decade for my ballot, and I barely even watch TV, except for stuff I order from Netflix! So I can't be that impatient, I don't think.)

"one must watch three episodes of a show before making a final judgement."
I think a series that requires this should have it count against them a little.
The Wire should be held to a higher standard than "It's Sunny..."

I will say that most of the choices near the top of my ballot (from Friday Night Lights on down) were shows that I really couldn't wait to see the next episode, to find out what was going to happen next. I really seem to love shows that suck me in, and need to be watched in order, from the beginning -- Not just ones I catch if I happen to be in the room. Though a couple of those made my ballot's lower rungs.

And I was sucked into The Wire before 3 episodes, btw.

My ballot, thus far, including shows that I am absolutely positive won't show up in the top 20 in bold:

1. xxx
2. xxx
3. xxx
4. xxx
5. xxx
6. Gilmore Girls
7. xxx
8. xxx
9. xxx
10. xxx
11. Angel
12. xxx
13. xxx
14. xxx
15. xxx
16. Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!
17. Look Around You
18. xxx
19. Party Down
20. How I Met Your Mother
21. Stella
22. That Mitchell And Webb Look
23. xxx
24. xxx
25. Wonderfalls

Oops. Stella should've been bolded, too, obvs.

I don't think the Six Feet Under fans need to fret. I'm sure it'll place somewhere in the top 20.

Wonderfalls is another show I really wanted to like (had a neat concept, I thought), but gave up after a few episodes.

It's not about "standards," it's about not making a snap judgment. Lots of people start watching a new show from the very beginning, and there aren't a lot of shows where I would pick the pilot as an episode to convince someone that a show is worth watching. They tend to gain a bit more footing a few episodes in, and that goes for high-brow and low-brow fare.

it only had 13 episodes (only 4 of which were originally aired), so it wouldn't have been very far to go to keep up with it --- i just rented it recently and loved it, but just couldn't find room on my ballot for it and already had Pushing Daisies on there anyway

xpost

TV shows are a weird medium as far as accessibility and points of entry -- most of them peak somewhere in the middle, but you have to at least have seen some of the early episodes where it was still finding its footing to understand what's going on