WTF guys? This season is the worst by far. Isaac was cool (cause, y'know, Ray Stevenson can't be otherwise), but the writing is just flat-out stupid. And Hannah is annoying. Chemistry? You have to be joking, they have none, everything is forced. Because Dexter being a horndog and falling in love is stupid and contrary to his character anyway. The only saving grace is Jennifer Carpenter's performance.

I'm starting to actually dislike (the character of) Dexter now. I'm torn between wanting

Besides the fact that I almost exclusively watch the Investigation Discovery Channel, I saw this gawd awful program called Bones. The acting was so atrocious, it's offensive to me that people actually might enjoy this program. I watched some episode where some kid is plastering his painting on some sign; then the people in the cabin I was watching it with changed the channel. Then it got changed back and that kid is attached glued to some disgusting corpse, being covered in peanut butter, making incandescently dorky comments. Then he gets kissed by a girl because he's a 'cool, mysterious artist' etc.

I have no interest in ever watching it ever again.

Bones is awful, though I'd say it's only slightly worse than Dexter, which is also awful. I have no idea why there are people here who like it.

It's pretty silly, but then again the show has always been silly (in the early seasons it was sort of a darker humor, now it's more of an over the top action/detective movie kind of thing) and this season just takes it to its utmost breaking point, and I think it's done in a really awesome way. Introducing the Russian mafia into the whole thing is just ridiculous as a concept and Dexter falling in love is odd enough by itself, but with another serial killer it becomes flat out hilarious. But the whole thing is just inexcusably, unstoppably entertaining and shows no signs of letting up. They just let loose and keep going without any kind of restraint. I think it's really great so far.

Weak points? Well Hannah could use some better characterization, as she's basically just there to look hot so far...and being that Ray Stevenson was the best thing to happen to the show in a few years, I wish his performance had lasted at least until the end of the season. And the whole Quinn and the hooker subplot is kind of dull. But overall while the writing has continued its path away from the subtlety and quiet wit of the early stuff, I think this season is great for how insane and balls-out it is. Furiously diabolical good time.

I need a new television show. I love pre-season 10 of The Simpsons, The Boondocks and The Venture Brothers so something like that would rule.
Next contenders: Clerks, Beavis + Butthead(The Daria character makes this show), and the short lived Dilbert series.

What I don't want: Adult Swim what-the-fuckery, Family Guy knock offs, children's shows with attempted adult humour.

Just finished the first season of The Wire. So good.

Homeland's the best show currently airing. Boardwalk Empire is good too.

The first season of Homeland was absolutely amazing, but the second season has left me pretty cold so far. While they're not really in the same category, I'd say both the current seasons of Peep Show and Fresh Meat have been somewhat superior to Homeland from an objective(ly subjective) POV. I mean... Witness....

But yeah, as cliche as it sounds: nothing tops The Wire. Well. Maybe a select few episodes of The Shield and Homicide Life on the Street, but seeing as they both share many of the same writers with The Wire, that's hardly fair.

Meh, I gave up after 8 episodes. As soon as Carrie had sex with Brody I really lost interest and respect for the show, but I held off because I thought it could somehow get it's bearings again. Unfortunately it became pretentiously convoluted and tiresome, there's a problem if the only thing that grabs my attention is a verbal outburst or a character having a sob, even then I grow weary with the outright drama for drama's sake.

My brother says good things about Homicide, may check that out some day. The Shield too.

Latest Boardwalk episode was awesome! Capone!

And I'm enjoying season 2 of Homeland just as much as season 1.

What in the fuck is Legend of the Seeker and why does it have production values that rest somewhere between Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings, and storytelling and dialog that's between Degrassi: The Next Generation and Xena?

Is this a joke? Is this some sort of multi-million dollar joke? How did this last two seasons? Was it funded with Nazi gold?

The awfulness of the storytelling and dialogue are, in my view, perhaps explained by the source... based on the novels of Terry Goodkind. Egads.

Hahahahahahaha

The production values for LotS are way lower than GoT, though, they're somewhere closer to Xena's. And don't you love that bulletarrow-time spam?

I'd say that Season 1 was more well written than this. It seems to me that the writers are meandering along and placing 'unexpected' twists in the story for the heck of it. Also, I don't know if it's supposed to be just the acting but isn't Carrie more annoying now? Man, last week's episode made me want to punch my screen when...

Anyone check out that Coma miniseries from Ridley/Tony Scott? Was curious what that was all about or if it was even worth the time.

EDIT: Ha, based on that one clip of Peep Show darkeningday posted, I will....never attempt to watch Peep Show. Sorry dd Oh, and Nahsil, prepare for a 'right shit' season 2 of The Wire. It's what made me stop watching that show altogether. Though I've been meaning to get back on that horse...

Dislikes 1:54 of Peep Show and stopped watching The Wire after its godly second season?

WHO ARE YOU!??

[insert baseless accusation of Michael Bay fellatio]

Starmere......WHY? I LOVED YOU!

Maybe it was the absolute out-of-context-ness of the Peep Show clip that just created a mental flatline for me. Eh. And the second season of The Wire bored the fuck out of me because the dockworker storyline was simply dull... I didn't give a damn about the irritating guy who was incessantly causing drama and I lost pretty much all interest in everything involving the cops' side of things. The drug dealer/criminal side of that show was really the only aspect that was consistently engaging. But still, everyone always raves about how epic the show gets as it goes on, so I've been meaning to give it another shot. It's well-written and pretty well-acted, I just...couldn't find myself caring that much, if that makes sense.

Shiiieeeetttt.

I mean...am I alone in thinking that the cop side of the show is kind of fucking bland? McNulty just isn't that compelling a character, at least the way he's acted. To say nothing of the other cops, who are even duller. The criminal underworld half of the show, however, is excellent, and it's what kept me watching. But like I said, maybe everything gets better later on. I did like the first season a lot!

You are alone in thinking that.

I'll just sit here in my hut, then.

Really? Why didn't you like Season 6? I really liked the suspense, but the supernatural aspect was sort of silly. However, the really in-your-face style of the killings fit in great.

This new season is almost up, unfortunately. I can't believe it; it went by so fast, and the plot focus is shifting on another killer entirely. I almost feel bad for Isaak.

I cannot stand Season 3 Dexter; the writing was so bad and the new characters weren't interesting. Season 4 was cool but I stopped watching a good number of the episodes in between; Rita was way too annoying at this point to even watch. I like Hannah MUCH more by comparison. It seems like the season was way too short, but remember that the story is all told from Dexter's narration and mental POV. This could very well be a temporary thing, and I doubt the writers will keep Hannah on.

Watched the first episode of the first season of The Wire in class today. We had read a copy of the original screenplay yesterday, so we were watching for comparison. Some of the notes I made on this show:

~ Oh god, such dreadful cop-drama dialogue in the L&O cut-out scenes
~ Oh god, such an interesting drama in terms of street-level drug dealing scenes
~ The cop characters are all insufferable; my initial impressions on the law enforcement characters is that they're all incredibly boring characters.
~ I actually really like the main drug dealers, however.
~ Hopefully, the focus shifts AWAY fom McNaughlty (however the fuck you spell his name)

Is it like this for the rest of the season? If so I simply won't bother watching more.

May I suggest Trailer Park Boys? An excellent dark comedy mockumentary about some petty criminals living in a Nova Scotian trailer park and their efforts to escape the poverty surrounding them. It's over-the-top and crude, but the humor is always well-timed and never done to the point of gratuity. Seven seasons and two movies (though the first movie is pretty dull) should give you plenty of ground to cover.

That being, the first season is slow-to-start (as seems to be the case with most series, especially since this was many of the actors' first major role,) so make sure to watch a few episodes off the bat. Seasons 4 and 7 are some of the best comedic televison I've ever seen.

Trailer Park Boys is pretty great.

Also. Peep Show.

And Dilbert is horrible. Scott Adams wasn't really even involved.

Yes. YES!

Wow, first time I actually see hate for The Wire. On my own very site.

How depressing.

I'm sorry for having an opinion?

Cop dramas don't appeal to me. I get horribly bored whenever I watch one, and as far as I know, The Wire is no different. Don't get me wrong, the acting is great and the DRUG DEALING characters are fantastic; the setting also helps. It's just that... look, I feel like the cop characters have been done a thousand times. Does it get better as the series goes on?

Oh, and some of the cop characters and their dialogue borders on being the very definition of cheese.

I wish I'd kept watching TPB. I saw the first few seasons. It's got some comedy gold in it for sure.

Bitching about allegedly "cheesy" dialogue from The Wire of all shows, yet enjoys season 6 of Dexter?

All I can say to that is:
Apology accepted.

True... couldn't sit through more than three or four episodes of that shit.

I can't believe I was really into Dexter for a while.

That show went to shit in season 3 or 4, can't remember.

Oh Morrigan, you silly-wuss :3

I don't see why your hostility is warranted. You only attack my opinion without presenting any proper retort. Look, your opinion is yours, my opinion is mine. I've only seen one episode of The Wire and my opinion is that all the dialog by most of the cops is just boring. There are many tv shows already about law enforcement, and I keep seeing the same characters over and over again. Now, my question: does The Wire get any better? See, if you would just answer that, then I'd take your word and keep watching, then change my opinion accordingly.

Now, hostile silliness aside, Dexter is a show about Dexter's slow humanization process. I hope that the season unfolds just right so that he... Kinda... Dies, though. I think it'll drag after this, but Isaacs character made the season, easily. I think the dialogue in Dexter (between the characters; his monologues are showing just how flawed and clouded his thinking is becoming, and it's not fun to watch) is great in all seasons, really.

Why would you ask me if "it gets any better"? Everyone in this thread (except Starmere) is saying it's pretty much the best TV show ever. You think they based all that on a single episode?

I asked because I get your opinion; it triggers conversation; and a good answer would give me an idea of why I should watch it.

I don't like cop-dramas; that's just that for me. I've heard the Second Season is all about street dealing though, so I'll check that out as well.

Watch Adventure Time instead, it's also about drugs!

Just finished watching the first season of Luther, and I have to say the plotting for the last two episodes in particular was really, really contrived. Not to get too into spoiler territory, but the climax of the season involves Luther being framed for a big crime and needing to clear his name while evading the police. It just involves so many absurd leaps of logic and contrived plotting and doesn't even bother to hand-wave them, it just acts like they weren't leaps at all and barrels along at a brisk pace, possibly in the hopes that the audience won't notice. It's one of those cat-and-mouse police dramas where the police know who committed the crime from early on, they just have to figure out how to catch the guy and make the evidence stick - so you get plots, counter-plots, traps-within-traps, that kind of thing - except in the last few episodes it was really, REALLY sloppy. Which is a shame, because Idris Elba does a very good job as the main character, and I think the show had potential that was just kind of wasted.

Wow, I'm deeply disappointed. Luther looked absolutely fantastic.

It isn't. Better just skip the series altogether it seems.

I've gotta agree with fsm on Luther. The season finishing two-parter was just very difficult to sit through with its lazy writing. I can't say I was terribly fond of the series as a whole really. Too many unlikeable characters.

The stupid thing is, I honestly was able to think up fairly reasonable excuses for the leaps in logic that would have made most of them fine, or at least not shit all over my suspension of disbelief. It's possible the writers had to dispense with the explanations due to time constraints I suppose, but there's one that's just utterly inexcusable. It basically shows the lead-up to where Luther needs to give a big speech to his erstwhile romantic rival to convince him he's not guilty of the crime he's been framed for, and to convince the rival to help him clear his name. It's one of those "these two guys were at odds for a long time, but their basic decency is greater than their personal rivalry" kind of situations; at that point in the show the rival is pretty much the last person you'd expect to help Luther, so that'd have to be one moving speech from Luther to get the rival to totally change his mind, right? RIGHT? Except the writers decided to just SKIP OVER THAT PART ENTIRELY. Luther has his sidekick kidnap the rival at knifepoint, bring him to this abandoned building where he's hiding from the cops, the guy flips out at seeing Luther, Luther subdues him physically without hurting him and calms him down - and then BAM it's the next scene and the rival is suddenly helping him. EXCEPT THERE'S NO REASON FOR HIM NOT TO BELIEVE LUTHER IS STILL GUILTY AS HELL. Seriously, from this guy's perspective Luther has been unstable and violent the whole time, and his sidekick has threatened him multiple times, once into WITHDRAWING A FORMAL COMPLAINT AGAINST LUTHER FOR ASSAULT. So now the rival is just magically on board? We're supposed to just assume Luther did such a good job convincing him that the rival later tells the police nothing about the incident and in fact BREAKS THE LAW to help Luther, all on Luther's say-so, THAT WE DIDN'T EVEN SEE.

Yeah, you can tell that really pissed me off. It's just sloppy as fuck, and even beyond: it's borderline insane writing, like I can't believe anyone ever gave that approval, much less a group of people.