THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

Seeing as I'm running out of things to watch and I know there's plenty I haven't just thought I'd post a thread asking what your favourite/top 10 tv shows of all time are. Maybe it will give others something to try and get into. Can be anything - US/UK, comedy/drama/thriller, one-off series or multiple series etc. Think we had a similar thread on the old forum.

Anyway mine are...

1. Westworld
2. Game of Thrones
3. The Office (US version - way better than the UK version)
4. Happy Valley
5. Bodyguard
6. The Crown
7. The Night Of
8. The Apprentice
9. The Night Manager
10. The Office (UK)


Also enjoyed................Breaking Bad, Skins, Line of Duty, Keeping Faith, Blackadder, FlashForward, The Tom Green Show, Friends, any Sacha Baron Cohen tv show, My New Best Friend, Lost, SAS: Who Dares Wins.

Tough one, I don't normally watch a lot of TV (prefer more interactive stuff like gaming), but I'll have a go.

Firefly - a classic
Silicon Valley - everything the Big Bang Theory should have been
Match of the Day - My most watched TV show, that has to be on here
Ozark - great thriller where you're really invested in all the characters
The Thick of It - Satire at its best, always seems relevant
Father Ted - British comedy at its finest imo
Breaking Bad - I'm still amazed by the difference in Bryan Cranston from the start to end, but it's such a gradual evolution that it's so natural and unnoticeable until you look back
Extras - Ricky Gervais and Stephen merchant at their best, with absolutely amazing cameos (Ross Kemp in particular)
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - 6/10 episodes a season will be meh, and there'll be one or two shit ones, but the good ones are so good it's worth wading through he shit to find the diamonds
Con Man - a web series rather than a TV show, but love the premise and the way Alan Tudyk can take the piss out of himself

Honourable mentions for Westworld (the second season dragged it off the list for me), Heroes (if it had only been one season), Walking Dead (again, later series let it down), Better Call Saul (enjoyable, but not stand-out enough to warrant a top 10 spot), Game of Thrones (starting to drag on and become a bit too clichéd and predictable) and The Simpsons (now quotable in any situation),

From oldest to most recent:

UFO (the TV series)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063962/

Das Boot (the 5hr TV miniseries version)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081834/

Edge of Darkness (the UK TV series)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090424/

House of Cards (the UK TV series trilogy)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098825/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108962/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111960/

The Crow Road
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115145/

State of Play (the UK TV series)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362192/

Spiral
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477507/

Romanzo Criminale (the TV series)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1242773/

Elementary
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2191671/

Fargo (the TV series)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802850/

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P46_ _W _D _L PTS
07/08 29 10 _7 97 PI 1st
14/15 27 10 _9 91 KR 2nd
21/22 26 11 _9 89 LM 3rd
05/06 12 14 20 50 DW 22nd R
22/23 11 12 23 45 lm/MJ 21st R
17/18 11 12 23 45 rn/DM 23rd R
15/16 _9 12 25 39 KR 23rd R
LS: A rocky start, that's all it is.

This is off the top of my head and I KNOW I'll kick myself later for all the good stuff I've forgotten to include. Like SG19 I've added IMDB links, but only to the old or more obscure.

Vic Reeves Big Night Out (still the funniest thing ever, ever)

Bilko (aka The Phil Silvers Show)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047763/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Family Guy

The Simpsons

Edge of Darkness (I could have guessed SG19 would love it too - see his post for link)

Blade on the Feather (one-off Dennis Potter)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080443/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

The Sweeney
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071059/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Shooting the Past (wonderful Stephen Poliakov drama)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0184157/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl

Twin Peaks

Everything ever made by Jonathan Meades.
http://jonathanmeades.co.uk/television.html

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.

Fucking hell. Ill have to come back to you on this.

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For those that like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.

Friends - probably the best scripted sitcom type thing - can still watch it over and over even though I know every line

The Sopranos - changed the game for TV to outdo Hollywood, and none of that stretching a single storyline out over ten episodes - incredible telly

The West Wing - inspiring and beautifully scripted and shot - how real life should be

Filthy, Rich and Catflap - the lost gem - Rik and Ade at their genuine best

The Big Bang Theory - it steals most of its storylines from Friends, but it's still great background telly

Brass Eye - genuine genius at work - terrifying in its power and just funny as fuck

The Thick of it - Armando's finest hour - jaw-droppingly good

Black Mirror - another genius in action - this time managing to take what looks feasible and then use it to fuck with your mind

Yes Minister/Prime Minister - a gentler time to The Thick of it, but beautifully written

Blackadder - series one is passable, series two, three and four are just sublime.

1. The inbetweeners
2. Game of thrones
3. Prison break
4. Viking’s
5. Outlander
6. Bodyguard
7. Lethal weapon
8. Bones
9. Swat
10. Mad dogs

Difficult to pick just ten, but here we go, in no particular order

Versailles, King Louis XIV and his court of debauchery

The Handmaids Tale, dystopian near future set in Gilead, formerly the USA

Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Brit builders in Germany, great cast with Jimmy Nail, Timothy Spall etc

Fawlty Towers, John Cleese at his madcap best

Cold Feet, following the lives of three couples, again great cast with James Nesbitt, John Thomson etc

Lost in Space, the original TV series, loved that as a young lad

Minder, classic British TV with Dennis Waterman as John Coles minder

Game of Thrones, just brilliant fantasy

Moonlighting, the detective agency with Cybil Shepherd and Bruce Willis

Tales of the Unexpected, mostly written by Roald Dahl, short programmes with sinister twists at the end

In no particular order. Except my first choice.

The Wire...
Still the greatest telly ever made. If you haven't seen this I actually envy you for what you're about to see.

Deadwood...
A spectacularly foul-mouthed Ian McShane heads this HBO western. Tragically cancelled halfway through.

The Young Ones (1st series)...
You had to be there to appreciate how radical this was. And guess What? I was.

Six Feet Under...
An astonishing bit of telly set in an L.A. undertakers. Actually runs both The Wire and Deadwood close for best telly ever.

Twin Peaks...
All of them. Every single episode. It's like Throbbing Gristle, but for your eyes.

Survivors...
BBC mid-70's post apocalyptic drama. I love this sort of thing, and this was one of the best. There were no winners here.

Have I Got News For You...
I've always loved it, and never miss it.

Vic Reeves Big Night Out...
See The Young Ones for why this was like nothing that ever went before, or since.

This Is England..
Absolutely heartbreaking telly. Probably the bravest thing I've ever watched from an artistic point of view.

Game Of Thrones...
Everyone loves Thrones, and that's because it's fucking great.




 

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For those that like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.

Some fantastic stuff on this thread - for me in no particular order:

Star Trek - original series, it boldly went and didn't look back
Hill Street Blues - made me both yearn to go to Noo Yoik and scared to go at the same time
The Persuaders - true bromance, Sunday afternoon style in the 1970s, I really wanted to be like Curtis and Moore when I was eight
Twin Peaks - complete television joy
The Old Grey Whistle Test - where you could watch really cool music that wouldn't air on TOTP
The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes - I was the only one in the house who wanted to watch this over the Young Once before we had a video recorder
The Clangers - The Soup Dragon has always been a role model for me
Dr Who - enough said, the OG
Thunderbirds double A side with Captain Scarlet- if anything sums up childhood it's this
Question Time - always enjoyed it since the Robin Day era, shame that so many panelists are point scoring idiots these days - I learned a great deal growing up by watching serious politicians debate respectfully, and my Gran got to ask a question once!