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The MacRumors TV Show Recommendation Thread

sammich

sammich

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 26, 2006
4,305
268
Sarcasmville.
Hi fellow MR'ers.

I, like many of you, am an avid TV Show watcher and collector. And every so often a member posts a new thread asking for something new to watch. So I've decided to start this thread in the hopes of collecting what the MR consciousness likes to vege out on.

So before we begin just some rules:
  • Choose your 5 favourite shows of any time
  • Nominate ONE show in your list to be your absolute favourite/recommendation (this will count double in the votes)
  • If you cannot name one, you may add a 6th show to your list
  • You may post more than once, but I will only count your latest 5/6 shows.
  • Please follow the example formats below, otherwise I may not count your vote.
For example, House will count as 2 votes:
House
How I Met Your Mother
Scrubs
Top Gear
The Office​

Or, each vote has equal weighting:

House
How I Met Your Mother
Scrubs
Top Gear
The Office
30 Rock​

That means each vote you cast needs to add up to 6.
I'll try to update the votes once a day at least.

Vote away!
 
sammich

sammich

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 26, 2006
4,305
268
Sarcasmville.
Votes counted up to post 80.
Votes cast: 256. Voters: 44.

IMDb, Wiki__ 17 | Dexter
IMDb, Wiki__ 17 | House
IMDb, Wiki__ 14 | Top Gear
IMDb, Wiki__ 10 | The Office (US)
IMDb, Wiki__0 9 | Arrested Development
IMDb, Wiki__0 9 | The Big Bang Theory
IMDb, Wiki__0 8 | Lost
IMDb, Wiki__0 7 | South Park
IMDb, Wiki__0 5 | 24
IMDb, Wiki__0 5 | Breaking Bad
IMDb, Wiki__0 5 | How I Met Your Mother
IMDb, Wiki__0 5 | NCIS
IMDb, Wiki__0 5 | Scrubs
IMDb, Wiki__0 4 | Archer
IMDb, Wiki__0 4 | Futurama
IMDb, Wiki__0 4 | I'm Alan Partridge
IMDb, Wiki__0 4 | The Wire
IMDb, Wiki__0 3 | Burn Notice
IMDb, Wiki__0 3 | Chuck
IMDb, Wiki__0 3 | Doctor Who
IMDb, Wiki__0 3 | Friends
IMDb, Wiki__0 3 | Modern Family
IMDb, Wiki__0 3 | Mythbusters
IMDb, Wiki__0 3 | Prison Break
IMDb, Wiki__0 3 | Six Feet Under
IMDb, Wiki__0 3 | The Pacific
IMDb, Wiki__0 3 | The Sopranos
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | 30 Rock
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | Bones
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | Community
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | Curb Your Enthusiasm
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | Family Guy
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | FlashForward
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | Frasier
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | Heroes
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | Nip/Tuck
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | Peep Show
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | Rome
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | The League of Gentlemen
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | The Office (UK)
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | The X-Files
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | Two And A Half Men
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | V
IMDb, Wiki__0 2 | White Collar
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | 8 Out Of 10 Cats
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Band of Brothers
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Big Love
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Black Books
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Boston Legal
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Californication
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Coupling
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Criminal Minds
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | CSI
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Curb Your Enthuiasm
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Desperate Housewives
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Dirty Jobs
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Flash Forward
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Flight of the Conchords
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Fringe
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Frisky Dingo
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Glee
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Grey's Anatomy
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Homicide: Life on the Street
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Jeeves & Wooster
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Keeping up Appearances
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Law & Order
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Legend Of the Seeker
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Lie to Me
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Married With Children
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Merlin
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Metalocalypse
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Nathan Barley
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Numb3ers
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Nurse Jackie
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Phoenix Nights
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Rescue Me
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Robin Hood
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Royal Pains
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Saturday Night Live
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Seinfeld
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Spaced
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Star Trek the Next Generation
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Star Trek Voyager
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Stargate
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | The Apprentice
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | The Closer
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | The Equalizer
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | The Inbetweeners
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | The IT Crowd
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | The Mentalist
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | The Mighty Boosh
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | The OC
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | The Ricky Gervais Show
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | The Tudors
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | The Ultimate Fighter
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Treme
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Ugly Betty
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Weeds
IMDb, Wiki__0 1 | Whose Line Is It Anyway?
 
sammich

sammich

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 26, 2006
4,305
268
Sarcasmville.
House
How I Met Your Mother
Scrubs
Top Gear
The Office

Feel free to make some comments here too.

There was a time when I almost gave up watching House, but now it's back on top and just so enjoyable to watch. Every character is good on screen, not least of all 13 :)
 
E

ethical

macrumors 68000
Dec 22, 2007
1,661
1
The Big Bang Theory
How I Met Your Mother
South Park
Top Gear
Grey's Anatomy (new addition to your list)
 
iBlue

iBlue

macrumors Core
Mar 17, 2005
19,180
15
London, England
Dexter
Six Feet Under
The Sopranos
Curb Your Enthusiasm
House
Scrubs

(I was having trouble deciding between House and Scrubs and although they're both based around medicine, they're very different shows. So I won't pick a favourite for the double vote but if I were to do that it would definitely be Six Feet Under. It was a masterpiece from start to finish. The camera work was stunning and the characters were brilliant. A very close second would be Dexter.
 
mysterytramp

mysterytramp

macrumors 65816
Jul 17, 2008
1,334
4
Maryland
Homicide: Life on the Street
The X-Files
House
Doctor Who
The Equalizer

BTW ... Saw the pilot of the X-Files the other night (via Netflix/Wii). It's amazing the show made it to a second episode.

mt
 
sammich

sammich

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 26, 2006
4,305
268
Sarcasmville.
King Mook Mook said:
Jeeves & Wooster (hilarious show, btw, and watch it if you love British comedy)
Keeping up Appearances (another hilarious British show)
Boston Legal (terrific show, even if you don't normally like legal drama, as I find it a drama but more of a comedy)
House
Arrested Development
Click to expand...

King Mook Mook said:
And also, another terrific show is Doctor Who, and if you haven't seen it, watch it! The David Tennant ones are terrific!
Click to expand...

A mix of new and old, and long running shows. Quite a seasoned couch potato are we? :) Keeping Up Appearances somehow appeals to everyone, classic show!

But which 5 are you choosing or are you sticking with 6?
 
0098386

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Spaced
Phoenix Nights
I'm Alan Partridge
The League of Gentlemen
 
velocityg4

velocityg4

macrumors 604
Dec 19, 2004
7,329
4,717
Georgia
Rome
The Tudors
Star Trek the Next Generation
Dexter
Dirty Jobs

For any of the HBO/Showtime series you need to see them in their unedited format not hacked up for regular commercial television.

It's really quite tough choosing a top 5 list as there are so many great series that have been produced by Showtime, HBO, Discovery and History. Those are the networks I mainly watch with the exception of Star Trek repeats and V (though V really is not very good).
 
sammich

sammich

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 26, 2006
4,305
268
Sarcasmville.
Alright added the first round of votes up to the voter before me. Umm, can you do an anchor link in BBcode? This just loads a new page/tab.

Apologies for the unsorted-ness, my C++ is still scratchy.

Note: If you could try and stick to the 5 (with favourite)/6 (without fav) shows rule it would be better cos it would keep the results more uniform. But rules are made to be broken. I can't stop you :p
 
C

capoeirista

macrumors 6502
Jan 21, 2007
448
0
I'm Alan Partridge
The Wire
Flight of the Conchords
Peep Show (Maybe you'd like to take out the 'The' above Sammich, sorry for being a pedant)
Nathan Barley
 
sammich

sammich

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 26, 2006
4,305
268
Sarcasmville.
capoeirista said:
Peep Show (Maybe you'd like to take out the 'The' above Sammich, sorry for being a pedant)
Click to expand...

Sorry, not sure what you mean by the 'The'?

EDIT: oh I got you now.

EDIT: updated again, it's unsorted though. I need some sleep and possibly someone's C++ help later.
 
E

ethical

macrumors 68000
Dec 22, 2007
1,661
1
You mention you're going to be pruning the list when it gets too long... how will you decide what to cut off? Get rid of the bottom X%?

It might be worth only including shows that are still in production/between seasons? There are a lot of really old shows in that list.

EDIT: Also, you've got X-Files twice.
 
sammich

sammich

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 26, 2006
4,305
268
Sarcasmville.
ethical said:
You mention you're going to be pruning the list when it gets too long... how will you decide what to cut off? Get rid of the bottom X%?

It might be worth only including shows that are still in production/between seasons? There are a lot of really old shows in that list.

EDIT: Also, you've got X-Files twice.
Click to expand...

I'll prune them as I see fit. I'll post the entire list on pastebay or somewhere similar when that happens.

There many sources of old shows, and leaving them out just because they are no longer being made wouldn't be right. Something as good as Fawlty Towers needs to get represented as well. Although, chances are that people will list much more recent shows than classic. Would people like me to lift the max number of shows to list to like 10? That way older shows can get represented.

Thanks, I dump the votes into a text file to process, and these little nuances in typing are hard to pick up manually. What's worse is that the string comparison is case sensitive. Sigh.
 
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