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

So here we go:

51. The Inbetweeners
http://danblythe.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/the-inbetweeners.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvTgvEzpSzQ

Oh shit, I forgot to put in the votes. 11 votes, 1140 points

Let's look at #51 as a practice run and from now on, everything will go swimmingly (I hope).

results! awesome! so this is some British show, I guess?

Yeah, it's basically l0u1s jagg3r: the early years.

Wow. Already I'm surprised. What up, show I've never heard of?

hahaha, it is, except it's funnier than that makes it sound.

xpost

Ok, let's hope this all goes properly from now on-

50. Breaking Bad (7 votes, 1160 points.
http://www.uncrate.com/men/images/2008/03/breaking-bad.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpQoavGLWIo

Ooh, (hopefully) small request: if it's not too much trouble, can you add whose vote was the highest for each show? If that's a hassle, don't worry about it. But I'd be interested.

Ummm... I can add in who gave #1s to each show but I didn't take note of all that other stuff. Maybe if I can be arsed I'll go back after the list is done with highest votes for the top 50.

i predict i will only have seen a full episode of less than half the list

Yeah, it's basically l0u1s jagg3r: the early years.

i have always, always had this at the forefront of my mind seeing clips of this.

fyi all youtube clips are basically the first thing i found unless they were shitty fanmade bullshit or i knew what i was looking for.

and even then some shows have fuck all on youtube so shitty fanmade bullshit does make an appearance or two.

people need to be discussing the shows as they come up, and i would if i'd ever seen more than one episode of either of the first two.

I liked the first season of Breaking Bad, but it was super short because of the writers' strike, and I never got around to watching the second season. So, ummm...I guess you probably don't want to use me for a blurb.

inbetweeners v.funny

Right. The Inbetweeners has its own thread, and is basically knob gags and teenagers to trying to get laid and "your dad's gay" and "I want to shag your mum" gags. It is fucking hilarious. The end.

I got very bored with Breaking Bad after about three episodes.

xposts

The Inbetweeners - a UK comedy that is actually funny.

The Inbetweeners was the best show for simple nob gags of the decade, imo. They kept it simple, no morals or 'ooooooh we are teenagers doing the drugs and the sex and the stuff the daily mail will write about saying we are destroying the youth'. Just good nob gags etc.

lol xpost.

Breaking Bad was the bleakest motherfucking thing on telly this decade, incl. the 4th season of The Wire. I only watched the first season though, so I don't know what the second one is like. The scene where they have to melt a dude's body in acid is especially fucking brutal to watch.

Ailsa/Ahoy hoy OTM.

I figured that from the ads, and what I'd read about it on here, that The Inbetweeners was going to be a teenage comedy about dick jokes and people's dad's being gay, and had no interest. But it's pretty great. That's about all I got, I really must watch more of it.

All of Inbetweeners is on youtube btw, or it was last time I looked.

I think that was when I gave up on it, because I didn't find it brutal, I just found it "oh look, we have Malcolm in the Middle's dad melting a dude in acid" and I thought if this doesn't engage me, it is time to give up.

xposts, no, that's pretty much all you get. There's a decent sense of general bastardy mateyness as well, but it's mostly just dick jokes.

49. State of Play (8 votes, 1170 points.)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51G4DTWRTXL.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqUXs7inXyA

And with that, I'm gonna go eat. I'll post 48 in about half hour.

i very nearly gave up on breaking bad after the third episode with the bathtub incident, but i'm glad i stuck with it. it is certainly bleak. something about that level of poverty/desperation in ostensible lower middle class suburbia is depressing to me and at times it's almost like dancer in the dark with the button pushing/combination of circumstances in which they find themselves.

perhaps seeing people that look and otherwise live like me in those situations is what made it heavy going for me (i'm white btw), but i think saying it's bleaker than season 4 of the wire is pushing it.

whatevs, highly highly recommended.

not seen state of play, but the film was ok

ps. thanks samuel!

I'll stick my neck out and I say I gave the highest placing for both The Inbetweeners and State of Play (both in my top 10)

(I haven't seen the film of State of Play because I liked the TV series so much)

...liked it so much that I don't want to see Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck doing it differently, that is.

film has rachel mcadams which is a deal maker for me

not sure if i'd use the term poverty in describing BB.
xposts

The second series of Breaking Bad is infuckingcredible, one of the most tightly plotted things I've ever seen, and considerably bleaker than the first if you can believe it. Unfortunately I didn't start watching it until after my ballot was cast, so it didn't get a vote from me. Would've been top ten easy.

many xposts

yeah, i guess not, xp

realise this might be wishful thinking, but would love no spoilers of season 2 of bb, which i will be watching over the next month.

God, I hate to think what was at number 52.

52 was a ilx fan favourite, or so i thought. :D

Go on, tell us!

i'll show the full list after #1 has been announced.

good idea, leave some suspense

Oh aye, I never thought, if you turn round and go "52 was The Wire" or whatever, then it'll get all the spluttering out of the way too early.

yay inbetweeners! and i didn't vote for breaking bad (only caught half the first season, keep meaning to catch up on it) or state of play but i'm glad both made it.

how many are you posting today sam?

48. The Venture Bros. (7 votes, 2 #1 votes by J0hn Spa3th and jjjustin, 1180 votes)
http://shillhopelaw.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/venture20bros2.png?w=300&h=283
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p_PQvywLPI The venture bros

Gonna do 10 a day so it finishes on Friday.

Google proofing names of people when they didn't send their ilx screenname obv. Or maybe I just shouldn't give out #1 votes.

Yay, glad Venture Bros made it. I'm not holding out too much hope for my beloved Samurai Jack though.

I've heard enough people singing the praises of The Venture Bros. lately that I started watching from the beginning recently. I have to assume that it gets much better and more compelling as it goes on...

Yeah, it's quite a slow burner. The characters kind of creep into your affections without you realising.

Gonna do 10 a day so it finishes on Friday.

sweet. i'll be internet-less friday onwards for a few days though so i'll miss out on all the righteous anger when Friends inevitably tops the list.

cheers for doing this btw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv-LKUtiOxU

I almost wonder if it wouldn't be a better idea for an American audience to check out Jam and then work backwards through the Chris Morris stuff? Jam kinda pummels you with Morris' perspective and sense of humor without as much Brit-centric cultural/political stuff, and if you make it through the extremity of the pummeling, it's probably a decent gauge of how much you'll like his other stuff.

Keeping in mind, of course, that Jam is one of the most fucked up (yet brilliant) things I've ever seen on television.

Jam <<<<<<<<< Blue Jam

My Top 25:

1. The Sopranos (1999-2007)
2. The Wire (2002-2008)
3. Saturday Night Live (1975-)
4. Lost (2004-)
5. Mad Men (2007-)
6. Generation Kill (2008, mini-series)
7. Arrested Development (2003-2006)
8. Deadwood (2004-2006)
9. The Office (2005-, U.S.)
10. In Treatment (2008-, U.S.)
11. Flight of the Conchords (2007-)
12. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006, TV documentary mini-series)
13. Six Feet Under (2001-2005)
14. True Blood (2008-)
15. Angel (1999-2004)
16. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
17. Firefly (2002-2004)
18. Big Love (2006-)
19. Law & Order (1990-)
20. Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993-)
21. The L Word (2004-2009)
22. The Simpsons (1989-)
23. Battlestar Galactica (2004-, '00s version)
24. Clerks: The Animated Series (2000)
25. Blind Date (1999-2006)

my ballot would have been

1) AD
2) Frisky Dingo
3) The Thick Of It

and then I wouldn't have really cared much

oh wait 4) Jam although sic is correct in observing that Blue Jam is MUCH better, to the extent at which it's actually my favourite show ever in any medium

i never got around to jam/bluejam. i guess i should considering i love teh morris, but i just don't find myself caring. tell me otherwise lj.

torrent-download all 18 episodes of Blue Jam pronto before I come round to your house and inform you your television is full of lizards

it's like some dude with the best music taste ever and one of the keenest comic sensibilities of his time decided to combine all of this into some kind of freaked-out-but-coherent hour-long DJ set, and repeated the process 16 more times (one episode is aborted after 15 minutes due to Diana funeral sampling controversy)...the level of craft that goes into the sampling, repeating, mashing and timing is, erm, stunning

and the comedy is next-level stygian

that sounds like a headache.

dude it's a fucken trip and i love it profoundly, if ya wanna ignore it w/o empirical then be my guest

it's like some dude with the best music taste ever and one of the keenest comic sensibilities of his time decided to combine all of this into some kind of freaked-out-but-coherent hour-long DJ set, and repeated the process 16 more times (one episode is aborted after 15 minutes due to Diana funeral sampling controversy)...the level of craft that goes into the sampling, repeating, mashing and timing is, erm, stunning

and the comedy is next-level stygian

― joekin' phoenix (country matters), Tuesday, November 10, 2009 9:57 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

lol i thought i clicked on the smashing pumpkins -- pisces iscariot: classic or dud? thread and was like "wtf are u on about????"

nah, i will actually download it.

xpost

In what way was that not an apt description of Pisces Iscariot?

jam is the natural heir of monty python

with all the awfulness that entails

xxp yea i was like "damn i guess i need to give that album another listen"

so yeah we forgot Banzai :[

noooooooooo.

28. How I Met Your Mother - a show I associate with ILX as I never hear it mentioned in my day to day life but see it on here all the time. Looks funny, I'll maybe try to watch some.

and I did, last night. It was quite funny. It featured Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years looking disconcertingly hot.

was it the pineapple one or the threeway one? she's hot on both. and both are v. funny. oh man i love winnie cooper. and the fact that she's a giant geek just makes her that little bit hotter.

also yeah, himym rules and i heartily recommend watching more.

the tricycle one

i know of the tricycle from the bro code...

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-tv-series-of-the-00s,35256/

been watching Its Always Sunny...

It's funny. The characters are all fucking horrible people and I hate them though. The coffee shop girl is incredibly cute. Not really sure of Danny DeVito's point in it all yet.

So whatever happened to the '90s TV poll? Is that still gonna happen?

Anyway, my wife and I started watching Breaking Bad via Netflix a couple nights ago. We LOVED the pilot, and the first half of the next episode "The Cat's In The Bag" -- figured this was going to be our new favorite show. But then the murder subpolot in that episode sunk into a a half-hour of apparently "edgy" shock and blood grossout bullshit that refused to resolve itself, since one mistake kept leading to another like The Cat And The Hat or something. It wasn't funny, wasn't shocking, just stupid. Now we're wondering if the show's already jumped the shark. But we'll give it a couple more episodes before we give up.

i think voting closes on the 90's one this sunday

The '90s poll is here, Chuck.

This poll made me discover Its Always Sunny In Philly, which I loooooooooove. Keep meaning to download Oz as well, and maybe finish The Sopranos...

xxp, i nearly quit breaking bad at exactly that point for essentially those reasons, but i'm glad i didn't. there is more violence, but nothing as preposterous and sadistic as that. it grows into a very powerful show, and it does put you threw the wringer, but the bike lock/bathtub thing are depths is doesn't plumb again. stick with it.

xp Chuck: It has a filler episode or two per season, and a couple minor characters remain resolutely minor. But it really is the best drama running these days, and season two is better than one.

I thank the voters on this poll for introducing me to Breaking Bad and Wonder Showzen. I'm perfectly happy to watch series after they close or are cancelled, and those of you with good taste sorting through all the dross make my TV sloth possible.

couldn't disagree more about the Breaking Bad bathtub sequence, but then again I am a horror stan & a cretin.

My biggest problem with the bathtub sequence is that it was so obvious what was going to happen as soon as the guy pulled the corpse up the stairs. There was nothing surprising or interesting about it at all -- it just seemed completely lazy. But then, I'm not a horror movie fan at all, so maybe it wasn't for me. And I'll definitely take people's advice and stick with the show for a while anyway.

I personally loved the body disposal storyline, it's what first made me sit up and take notice of the show. I do have quite a black sense of humour (which is kind of essential for Breaking Bad), but the way they depicted it as a really really nasty household chore was very original, and I loved that they devoted so much time to the minutiae of it, which shows what a fucked-up situation these people have got themselves into. Far more honest than just ignoring over the fact that our heroes are now responsible for a corpse, as I think most shows would do. It may have been obvious what was going to happen, but the way they depicted it wasn't at all.

But yeah, even if you weren't into that carry on - series two is just exceptionally good.

I just found a link about Supernova while cleaning out my bookmarks. Did anyone see it? How bad was it?

Watched one episode, which was pretty dire despite a good cast. I've got a friend who really likes it (enough to have bought the box set), but he's Australian.

i remember vaguely enjoying it but not enough to recommend downloading it 3 yrs later. also not sure it deserved two series. basically 'ok if v. bored and have nothing else to do and dont wanna watch another friends repeat on e4' type bbc programming (i.e. basically all their comedy this decade except psychoville/monkey dust/thick of it/amstell on nmtb)

i am curious because the premise is basically about my career

Sepinwall and his best of the decade

ha, i like the phrase "everybody gets a trophy!" and i go with the sentiment

love that Andy Richter Controls The Universe clip

pretty certain i deleted the vote spreadsheet a while back. ps. planet earth should have actually come first, i fixed the results so a little known show that no-one talks about called 'the wire' won. wonder if anyone has watched it since this prank.

― 80085 (a hoy hoy), 01 March 2010 14:08 (11 minutes ago)

sayin

Since this poll came out I've watched all of "State of Play" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
Thanks ILX.

If you liked State of Play you should watch the House of Cards trilogy, really terrific (and streaming on Netflix too)

i really need to get hold of that.

this is great. i'm gonna use this thread as my 'stuff to watch' list for the next few months, as i'm not up to speed on hardly any of it. angel can fuck right off tho.

― antastic mr ox (darraghmac), Monday, November 2, 2009 8:02 PM (3 years ago)

finally getting around to d/l'ing most of this stuff atm, psyched

I owe enbb a pint, that gay theatre episode was gold

ok so weird because just yesterday I thought of the whole "I'm leg disabled" part and couldn't stop giggling to myself. The whole ep is just great start to finish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_fBOxdrVdU

it's a classic

I've caught mad men on and off since then and anyone voting for mad men needs their ballots pulled from consideration.

Pure shite.

Would a 2010-20 poll have anything to touch the wire? Twin Peaks maybe.