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What are your favorite TV shows?

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DavidV

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I love The Amazing Race. :) I just started watching it last season. It's great to see the competition.

My favorites:

Gilmore Girls (great dialog)

Deadwood

The Amazing Race

Will and Grace

Monk

The Apprentice

Shows that aren't on anymore:

Sex and the City

Dawson's Creek

Friends

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I guess I'll respond:

Shows that are still on:

Simpsons

Family Guy (new episodes soon!)

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Law and Order (any and all)

Numb3rs (have only actually seen one episode, but so far so good)

South Park

Reno 911

Chappelle Show

Not on anymore:

Seinfeld

Star Trek: TNG

Austin Stories (anybody else watch this besides me?)

Shows that are on that I'm embarassed to admit I love(d):

The O.C.

Party of Five

Golden Girls

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Those House quotes were hilarious; I laughed out loud a number of times on a few of them.

I really like House, but the only problem I have with it, is that it seems to have followed the EXACT same form for every show. While, yes, House's dark sarcastic humor is funny, it's lack of creativity in other areas are going to keep it from becoming the show that it has potential to be.

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There are two shows that I forgot to mention.

1. TRADERS starring David Cubitt, Bruce Grey, Sonia (Something); produced by Global Television in Canada and Alliance-Atlantis. It was about a middle sized investment bank, run by diverse yet well fused characters. There was the old wise Machiavellian like banker, the young brilliant hot shot, the Academic woman, and the money hungry floor trader, among others. This show in essence was about: not apologizing for making money or the often ruthlessness involved.

It inspired me to go to business school ... where I discovered an Objectivist professor ... when I soon had the courage to take the step to learn how to write fiction and read literature, and learn Objectivism. They currently show it on Canada's Women's Television Network.

2. The next show is still on on ShowTime. It is called Queer As Folk. Though there is a lot of sex, there is much vulgar language, and some of the characters have been unappealing, there is a drama that the writer's are able to achieve. It keeps me coming back every week. One characters is a Nietzschean like ad executive who is the gay Don Juan type ... who has recently settled down. He was once named by Bruce Grey on one episode as "the cross between James Dean and Ayn Rand"; this would be true if A were not A.

But the gem of the show is the character of Justin, the young brilliant painter, charismatic, courageous, integrity driven, and beautiful. Though, he seems to have post-modernist views, his sense of life is certainly Objectivist-like. Give him one interview with John Galt and he would quickly be transported to Atlantis.

Americo.

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Has anybody seen the show Penn and Teller Bullshit on Showtime? :) I was on an orchestra trip the other day and happened to be rooming with another guy who enjoys "educational" tv too. I had no idea what it was at first because I caught the last couple minutes of an episode, but they were giving all these facts so I "stayed tuned". It turns out it was on again and I watched the whole episode. It was the funniest show I have seen in a long time. The topic for this show was recycling. They talked to all these environmentalists and then disproved every fact and theory the environmentalists held. :D At one point it even said something along the lines of "the recycling program is paid for by force; actually all taxes are force." I tried to find some quotes, but couldn't. (Maybe I'll search some more later.) The only problem is its on Showtime, which I don't get. Also, it is riddled with four-letter words, which are actually kind of entertaining, mostly because it's a slam against political-correctness. Anyway, this is definitely an awesome show. It is both extremely funny and informative. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

Zak

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Yeah, Bullshit! is one of my favorites. I don't get Showtime either but Season One and Season Two are available on DVD (Season One is the better of the two).

My favorite is probably the Environmental Hysteria episode. They sent a lady to some hippie festival and got pages of signatures for her proposal to ban water. She never said that the chemical she was banning was more commonly known as "water," and she only selectively described its attributes. She talked about how many people the chemical kills every year, and how there is such a high concentration of it found in every fruit and vegetable in stores. Everybody signed the proposal, eager to regulate, without knowing the entirity of the facts. It showed one guy signing while drinking a bottle of water. It reminded me of the episode of the Man Show where they got a bunch of women to sign a petition under the banner "End Women's Suffrage!"

They also talked to the spokesperson of some rainforest preservation group. They asked her simple questions that you'd think she'd be able to answer (being the spokesperson for the group) such as "Why should the average person care about the welfare of animals in the rainforest?" She couldn't come up with an answer.

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Probably, Law and Order Trial By Jury (Bebe Neuwirth)!

Don't miss it! Bebe is outstanding!

I tried CSI. Specifically, CSI New York. It's OK, but lacks the realism and action of Law and Order. Too much weird production stuff going on. Gary Sinise is great.

All four Law and Orders are worth watching. In my opinion, they are far and away the bsest dramas on prime time TV.

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I remember watching one Bullshit about bottled water. It was the funniest thing i ever saw. At the end of the episode they were at a fancy restaurant and had waterdee come up with the water list. So they had all the people trying these various exotic type of waters with people commenting on the crispness and the quality of the water. The catch, all the bottles of water were filled up behind the restaurant with a water hose. :)

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I don't watch much TV for that reason. All that is on TV now is cop shows and lawyer shows or Medical shows. I generally will watch the History Channel and if the Discovery Channel or Science Channel has something interesting on. I also love catching the old tv shows like MASH and The Cosby Show. Now that is quality tv entertainment. The only show that I am mad i don't watch anymore is Smallville. I might have to get those on DVD eventually.

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I have to mention that I was deeply disappointed by this show. The whole plot is naturalistic crap. The waste of potential there really saddens me.

I concur completely. I loved Battlestar Galactica as a child, and the new series really isn't good art, if it's art at all. The old one had the epitomal villian, even more evil than Toohey. Baltar wanted to destroy all humanity, and knew what that meant explicitly. He was unrelenting and always a serious threat. The "new" Baltar is a sniveling, lustful, confused coward who couldn't talk his way out of an animal cracker box.

They really horribly mutilated the story in many other respects, in the interest of ... what, I don't know. Making BG more "believable" and "realistic", I suppose? Didn't anyone tell them that art is supposed to be a recreation of life as it should be, not life as it is? In the original Cylons were simply an alien race and the mechanical ones were created by the aliens. It wasn't just another "revenge of the machines" theme like the new one. I don't even want to say what I think of Starbuck being female... that whole character is just so disgusting now I can't stand it.

All in all, its a travesty that completely destroys the theme of the original show. The whole goal of the new one is to show how everyone, even heroes, have flaws -- rather than to set up heroes that one can idolize and declare "I want to be like that." In the old one, I wanted to be Apollo. In the new one, Apollo is a politician looking for compromise and balance, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

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I'm guessing there probably aren't many smurf fans on here. :(

Shows I loved growing up:

G.I. Joe (the REAL American Hero)

Knight Rider (One man CAN make a difference, Michael. Talk about a great show showing the use of technology, the ability to win without guns, and how to get women with a cool car and a big belt buckle.)

He-Man (What more can be said?)

Looney Tunes (There's nothing better than stupid slap-stick humor)

A-Team ("I love it when a plan comes together")

Another show that I really liked, but didn't last long was Freaks and Geeks. I'm not really sure why it didn't last, cause everyone I knew loved that show.

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I'm guessing there probably aren't many smurf fans on here.  :(

Shows I loved growing up:

G.I. Joe (the REAL American Hero)

Knight Rider (One man CAN make a difference, Michael.  Talk about a great show showing the use of technology, the ability to win without guns, and how to get women with a cool car and a big belt buckle.)

He-Man  (What more can be said?)

Looney Tunes (There's nothing better than stupid slap-stick humor)

A-Team ("I love it when a  plan comes together")

Another show that I really liked, but didn't last long was Freaks and Geeks.  I'm not really sure why it didn't last, cause everyone I knew loved that show.

I haven't seen the shows you mentioned in much more than a decade. But when I was a child, yes I liked the Smurfs. An episode that comes immediately to my mind is the one when Cupid show up and make Gargamel fall in love with Hilda.

G.I. Jose, I loved when I was younger. I also loved my old toys. I sometimes think that watching this show formed my sense of life that prepared me to welcome Objectivism so easily. So early I felt myself an American though I lived in Canada. I always wanted to be Duke and his troops but my older brother always made me be Cobra Commander and the guy with the metal face. It is interesting that the guy with the metal face used to be my favorite because he was a conflicted character. I wonder whether having to be Cobra led to my later "admiration" of mafia gangsters.

How could you not love Knight Rider. The sense of life of that show is just overwhelming. A car that talks, wow!

He-Man: Perhaps a clue to my sexuality. :)

Looney-Tunes: I love Bugs Bunny. I always loved his cockiness.

And yes of course, The A-Team. I think Hannibal was my favorite. If I remember, he had a James Bond type of Attitude, when it came to getting the job done.

Americo.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I finally saw HOUSE. Dr. House is a joy to watch. Funny as hell ... has me shaking my head all through, yet smiling. The new tension with him and the billionaire chief is very amusing ... the show will suck if House loses in the end.

By the way, how did house get his cane?

Americo.

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  • 2 months later...

I used to have favorites, but since I discovered Joss Whedon, his shows have just overshadowed them all. I love both Firefly and (what I have seen so far of) Buffy, and I will probably watch Angel some day soon as well.

Joss Whedon is the best plot writer I know of and he executes very well, with ingenious, witty dialogue. His shows are always full of heroes, whether rebels on the run from a totalitarian Alliance in Firefly, or a vampire slayer and her friends. Whedon seems to be a master of creating convicing and realistic conflicts that are more than just "good guy vs bad guy." While he is not at all a philosopher, he is a thoughtful guy and anything he touches usually has philosophical themes (ones which are often implicitly, if not explicitly, pro-reason and pro-selfishness).

Also, Sarah Michelle Gellar plays Buffy. She's beautiful as a vampire slayer.

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drama:

Charmed

The Shield

cartoons:

InuYasha

Full Metal Alchemist

Zatch Bell

.hack//Legend of the Twilight

Paranoia Agent

Samurai Champloo

One Piece

Fooly Cooly

Grim/Billy/Mandy (comedy, if new)

Mew Mew Power

Winx Club

Most of these change, but I am a long-time fan of InuYasha and Charmed.

One of the reasons I watch cartoons a lot is that my TV does not work well and they show up better than many other shows. Also there is less of the insipid altruism you see in most other shows.

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