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What are your favorite TV shows?

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DavidV

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Myself -

I always got a kick out of Rick? - the 'macho' guy with the jewelry and those outrageous polyester shirts.

Rick, aka Orville Wilbur Wright along with TC and Magnum make the show. Not to mention Higgins (or Higgy-Baby) and his meandering war stories, the lads, and the bright red Ferrari. I became addicted to this show and when it started airing twice a day on Channel 15 WGN Superstation (at least in NJ) at 12:00 PM and 3:00 PM.

I remember in one episode Rick started wearing a white suit and impersonating Humphrey Boggart for no reason. Hysterical.

To the unitiated, if you can't catch or tape the epsidodes at that time, Season 1 and 2 were recently released. Watch a few episodes - you'll be hooked!

Edited by Myself
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I saw that episode too, although I saw it in a different angle. The way I saw it Lorelei refused to quite the competition on the grounds that it would be immoral for her to give up just so another could win, Rory was just aligning that idea with the philosophy portrayed by Howard Roark.  I took it just as a cleaver comparison; it never even occurred to me that they might be portraying Roark’s character negatively. I doubt that they would seeing that it would be out of character for them to do so; however, I could be wrong and I will have to give it a second look.

Well, if you have it on tape (I don`t), it would be interesting to read your view after rewatching the episode. I, like you (just the opposite), didn`t even think of the possibility of a positive light on Lorelei`s behavior on this particular incedent, but maybe I am wrong.

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Favorite Television Shows Currently:

Justice League Unlimited: Well written plot filled episodes, iconic superhero characters using their powers to smash evil.

Battlestar Galactica New Sci-Fi show: Humans on the brink of extinction by artificial intelligence they created. Each episode is plot driven. The humans have the lesser of technology and have to rely on their skill, courage, and most important brains. Some aspects of the show bother me a little (The President and Starbuck succumbing to fate and mysticism).

C-SPAN'S Book TV: This depends on the author and subject.

Edited by NorseGod
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  • 2 weeks later...

There was a excellent TV show written by Joss Whedon called "Firefly" They made 14 episodes, and aired 11 of them. The show was cancelled but it is available on DVD.

It's a western set in space. The cast is perfect! For TV it is excellent! The movie version is coming out in Sept called "Serenity" which is the name of the ship. If you like well written shows then you will love this one.

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In no particular order, the four shows I watch most frequently:

Law & Order. I liked it before law school for the drama, insight into the police and legal systems, and (most of the time) seeing justice done. I still like it for that, but now I also like the deeper understanding I have of the legal issues discussed on the show.

Family Guy. Really witty humor. Stewie is one the best characters I've ever seen. It's brilliant how they mix his super smarts with his identity as a kid.

Iron Chef. It's cool watching guys put their knowledge to work under pressure. Plus, the presentation of the show is to die for. I find myself wondering if the commentators and tasters sound as goofy in Japanese as their voiceovers do in English.

SportsCenter. Okay, it's not dramatic or anything, but I like sports. So there.

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West Wing - great writing, fun wit, distasteful politics ... I miss the Sorkin years

My current weekly addictions:

Battlestar: Galactica - wicked awesome scifi

The 4400 - derivitive X-Files meets X-Men series, but, oh the potential

Monk

The Dead Zone

Family Guy

American Dad

Rescue Me

I'm going to give Over There a shot ... the premier was pretty tense. And I'm looking foward to the next season of Nip/Tuck.

If I had HBO, I'd be back into The Sopranos and Carnivale.

Edited by synthlord
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  • 10 months later...

House MD- My all time favorite show.

Smallville- Season's 1-3, after that the show went down hill.

Frasier- Funniest show ever.

"I remember that day...I came home crying because some bullies stole my copy of The Fountianhead and threw it under a bus." -Frasier

"You mean you want us to coast...Niles and I have never traveled the backroad allies of mediocrity before."

Frasier

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Seinfeld

Cheers

Frasier (had a slip in quality though)

Bullshit

The Simpsons

Family Guy

Maverick

Law and Order

Mind Your Language (horribly politically incorrect and very funny; sadly, it was cancelled after only two seasons)

All in the Family (had a slip in quaity as well and sometimes the leftist bias was annoying)

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CSI- If you haven't seen this, you really need to. Grissom is one of the most morally upstanding characters in both TV and movies. And he's not bad looking for an old guy.

House, M.D. - Hugh Laurie does an excellent job as House. This isn't your typical hospital drama either.

Frasier

Law and Order

Southpark

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  • 3 weeks later...

Star Trek 2.0:

I'm new to Star Trek series, which I have been mostly ignoring previously. The interesting thing about this "2.0" that runs on G4TV, is that it features live chat [seems to be moderated and cherry picked from the actual chat] and Spock Market.

Now, ST has plenty of non-Objectivist views on money, property, and other things. However, this Spock Market makes up some of it. It actually is a free market, where you can buy and sell shares. [spock is described on the market as the one who sells special Volcan eyebrows, go figure :confused: ]

Though, Spock has some bad philosophical views [infamous "The needs of many outway the needs of the few"], his analytical view and approach to solving and tackling challenges is always a pure joy to watch.

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I like House, too, but from a medical standpoint it's waaaaaaay out there. Best to think of it as a character drama and ignore most of the medical stuff. Also, you can always tell when the commercial break is coming up, because the patient starts seizing, or bleeding, or dying.

I was re-watching some early episodes of ST:TNG the other day. The Federation has a very weird economy - there's no money and they've "done away with material needs." It was the episode where some people from the 20th Century had been thawed out and were experiencing culture shock. One of them was a Texan, I think.

I like Monk, and Psych is mildly entertaining given my dislike for the continued proliferation of psychic detective shows on CourtTV.

I recently saw a few episodes of the BBC's new Doctor Who series that weren't altogether horrible.

I've seen Firefly and liked it, though the movie was rather dumbed down.

I'm also looking forward to new Futurama episodes in 2008.

And Matt mentioned Iron Chef ("Ion Shoof!"), which never fails to please.

-Q

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Okay, I'll add some of mine, although.. it looks pretty familiar in comparison to the rest of the thread. : )

House-- Well, I hate bandwagons, but this is one that deserves to be jumped on. Likewise, I hate medical dramas, but this is one that deserves to be watched. I like it for these reasons-- great, politically incorrect, humorous, often philosophically relevant writing; first rate acting (usually); good music! (I first started watching the show because I'd seen people praising it on Objectivist forums, but when I watched the first episode I was astonished that "Teardrop" by Massive Attack, which is one of my favorite songs, is the theme song, although I was disappointed that Elizabeth Fraser's amazing vocal parts are absent. Since then I've heard Goldfrapp, and lots of other interesting, underrated musical groups displayed on the show.) This is one show that lives up to the hype.

The Family Guy-- Okay, absurdist, satirical comedy is kind of a cop-out. But the smart baby is funny-- some of the jokes are socially relevant. Some of the subjects are interesting. This one can make me laugh out loud. It's slapstick, but, there are some funny gags sometimes.

South Park-- Essentially, the same thing as Family Guy. The political orientation of this show has been called "nihilistic conservatism." Some things about South Park are extremely offensive, but some are refreshing and funny. I take it in small doses, but I'll watch this show sometimes, and laugh.

(Rod Serling's) The Twilight Zone-- Alright, this one is another exception (which might be a first clue to why I don't watch much TV), because I am not usually a science fiction fan. But there were some interesting stories on The Twilight Zone, sometimes with interesting, individualist leaning social insights.

Twin Peaks-- This was David Lynch and Mark Frost's strange and quirky mystery series. Angelo Badalamenti provided a great soundtrack. There were some phenomenal actors involved in it. Interesting camera work and lighting, etc. The story was sometimes an intriguing, Sherlock Holmes type mystery story-- sometimes a completely loopy, mystical, absurdist/modernist abortion. A real mixed bag, but worth watching, I think, if for no other reason than that it was so unusual for network television.

The Cosby Show-- Great comedy. Benevolent sense of life. Was funny when I was a little kid, and is still funny today.

Seinfeld-- This show was a symphony of comedy. I don't know any other program that put so much effort into weaving such intricate, hilarious situations. The actors on this show really had their timing down. This is how the pros did comedy. Nothing on TV today even comes close to this-- after the extremely disappointing series finale of Seinfeld, a gaping hole was left in prime-time comedy. Thankfully, there are lots of re-runs. These episodes are funny even after I've seen them a few times.

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I watched Twin Peaks basically continuously over about three and a half days. I liked a lot of it, but I remember really hating the ending. It was too surreal and unsatisfying, even for David Lynch.

-Q

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I watched Twin Peaks basically continuously over about three and a half days. I liked a lot of it, but I remember really hating the ending. It was too surreal and unsatisfying, even for David Lynch.

-Q

Not only that, but specifically and repulsively malevolent. I've met a lot of Twin Peaks fans, but I've never met anyone who liked the ending.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Smallville- Season's 1-3, after that the show went down hill.

I've seen seasons 1-4 and I would say that the third season is the best one. The fourth season had some really good episodes, particularly one episode called "Transference" which is my favorite episode of all, but it didn't have a solid story arc.

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It was fun thinking back, trying to remember what I watched way back when. I have enjoyed looking at everyone else's entries. As for House, I used to love it, but the medicine became far to inaccurate and/or unrealistic that I think I'm done at least for now. I may go back and try again. Well, here's my list if anyone is interested:

X-Files - I miss Mulder & Scully.

CSI - I'm completely addicted to this show.

Iron Chef - Yes. Excellent choice.

Family Guy - I never liked the Simpsons, so I was doubtful that I would enjoy this one. I was so wrong. Favorite on the show? Brian with Stewie a close second.

Criminal Minds - Mandy Patinkin plays a really interesting character.

Six Feet Under - Also miss this one a lot.

Dirty Jobs - The host is hysterical. He has a stronger stomach than I.

Growing up:

Dallas - I loved it. I have to admit it. Big crush on Bobby Ewing.

St. Elsewhere - Awesome show.

Charlie's Angels - I wanted to be one.

CHiPs - Big crush on Ponch.

Six Million Dollar Man - Big crush on Lee Majors. (I had a few crushes as you can tell.)

Wonder Woman - Wanted to be her, too.

The Dukes of Hazzard - Yep. You guessed it. Big crush on Bo.

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Sopranos

Deadwood

The Office (only the BBC original)

South Park

I wanted to like Recue Me because I liked The Job so much but it's way too uneven for my taste -- toggling between melodrama and cartoon without enough connective tissue. TJ was much more cohesive. I always wonder if RM would benefit from a half hour cap.

Edited by ell
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My favorites,

Curb Your Enthusiasm, only seen it a few times, but hilarious

South Park, always great except, when they said Atlas Shrugged was garbage

Law and Order, Jack McCoy so awesome

ROME, just a really cool show

Kudlow & Company, free maket defender

MAD MONEY, You can't afford to miss it!

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Ok, some shows that either my wife or I have been addicted to in the last few years:

Battlestar Galactica - yes, highly naturalistic, but very well done SF

"Detective" Dramas

Law & Order (now burned out)

CSI (now burned out)

House (my wife, not me. I can't stand it. Preferr CSI's Grissom to House)

Competitive "reality"

Iron Chef (me)

Whose Line is it Anyway - benevolent improv humor - always funny

The Apprentice (1st season I liked)

"Discovery Channel" stuff

Good East (me)

Dog Wisperer

Absolutely Despise - that much sarcasm contradicts my sense of life, and they are utter crap for kids. I don't care how witty they are.

South Park

The Simpsons

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