Good TV shows In general what are they and where can they be found?

[mini-lion]

evening all, been a very long time since I have been here

My absolute favourite show
-House MD
Tagline:
Genius has side effects.
Plot Outline:
An antisocial maverick doctor who specializes in diagnostic medicine does whatever it takes to solve puzzling cases that come his way using his crack team of doctors and his wits.
-imdb

[xHaZxMaTx]

Also, Brainiac, which Richard Hammond (god bless the Hamster) presents.

I knew I'd heard his voice, before!

[Vidar]

Good Eats on Food TV sort of Beakman's world crossed with Iron Chef.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea

There are also transcripts here:  http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/GEFP/index.htm

I second that one.

Except it's funny and informative. You'll feel smarter AND a better cook after seeing the show.
It doesn't just give you recipes, it explains how food works, and what each ingredient brings to whatever dish you make.
For example, there was a cookie-show that explained what each ingredient does in a cookie (eggs, milk, flour, butter, etc.) And how you can use that information to alter any other recipe to your taste. Don't like crispy cookies? You can make them puffy, or chewy, or cakey with a little manipulation. No other cooking how (I know of) does this.

[Josh Massa]

Good TV shows don't exist anymore. They are all over-dramatized captivatoins of over paid peoples lives. 

[bill]

Good TV shows don't exist anymore. They are all over-dramatized captivatoins of over paid peoples lives. 

Funny, that's what they said 20 years ago.

[superluser]

Good TV shows don't exist anymore. They are all over-dramatized captivatoins of over paid peoples lives. 

Funny, that's what they said 20 years ago.

20 years ago, they were right.

...well, maybe 30 years ago.  And 10 years ago. they were right.  Full House, Family Matters, Friends, Absolutely Fabulous, Home Improvement (at least everything after the first season), Major Dad...

[Caswin]

Star Trek: The Next Generation, and, to a lesser extent, Voyager.

Two hours a day, half the week, on SPIKE. (Meaning, of course, they advertise it as nonstop space battles, explosions and phaser rifles )

If DVDs count, there's lots of great stuff available now.  Looking forward to the release of The Fugitive... in August.  What's that show doing not being on TV Land?  (Of course, I'm also looking forward to Space Ghost and Birdman, so I might not be the best barometer for that.)

[Goatmon]

You know what's turned out to be a surprisingly good show on Cartoon Network?  Shaolin Showdown.  Well, it surprised me the first time I sat and watched it.

That program isn't bad at all, if you can get past the fact that it's imitation anime. 

[Valynth]

You know what's turned out to be a surprisingly good show on Cartoon Network?  Shaolin Showdown.  Well, it surprised me the first time I sat and watched it.

That program isn't bad at all, if you can get past the fact that it's imitation anime. 

Imitation?  I thought they looked perfectly well animated!   You should stop trying to classify every bit of art and just enjoy it.

After all, only the people who dedicate their entire lives to music can tell what piece is in what genre, and even then they can hit opposition from equally qualified individuals.  Art, no matter what kind, will try its hardest to resist classification.  It is only now that we are seeing drawn things develop into the severely blurred genre lines that have plagued other art forms.

[mabfan55]

I have to 2nd the view that Doctor Who is the best thing on the Telly.
Just after seen the new third series ending just yesterday... i was so excited today i watched the last two  episodes on this season again.
Gridlock,Daleks in Manhattan,Evolution of the Daleks,Blink,Utopia as well as the last two The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords were pure gold Doctor Who.
Even thought i felt Last of the Time Lords was a bit rushed.

[xHaZxMaTx]

Currently watching Ice-Road Truckers on the History Channel.

[Zorro]

Currently watching Ice-Road Truckers on the History Channel.

Seconded and don't forget the Dogfights or ...That Crab Fishing thing I can't remember the name of at the moment.

[xHaZxMaTx]

Ah yes, Dog Fights, too.  Deadliest Catch doesn't really interest me, though.

[TheDXM]

CSI is the closest thing to drama I can sit through and enjoy anymore.

One thing I've been wondering though is if the spin-offs are any good, I haven't really checked them out.

[GabrielsThoughts]

CSI New York is so bad the blue collar TV guy's  made a parody called CSI OHIO based on the pilot.

CSI Miami is ok, and CSI: weekends is the best of the entire series...the only problem I have with CSI weekends/lasvegas is the rain, I'm not saying it doesn't rain in Las Vegas, but the odds of it raining more than three days out of the year is astronomical, additionally when it does rain it's more along the lines of sprinkles, barely noticeable and most of the time the water evaporates before hitting the ground... if it rained as bad as it does on the show half of the area would be flooded.

Other things I Dislike about CSI:Weekends Are:

1) they keep playing the episode "Fur and loathing" you know the one where Ricky the raccoon is mistaken for a  Coyote and shot in the desert.

  2)The CSI teams from Las Vegas are dispatched to such far flung places as Ely Nevada, a good 500 miles from Las Vegas and closer to the Reno/Sparks/Taho area, and Silver springs, which is maybe 137miles away.

  3) they do everything...literally everything.

  4) most of it is probably filmed in LA.

[TheDXM]

The series could most definately use a little more... realism, what with being a crime drama and all.

But I won't really get into that since it's like sci-fi geeks whining about how a particular space-faring series (I won't say names if you paid me!) doesn't match up to the realism of another.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Personally I like CSI NY. Along with all the other CSI's.

I'll admit they're not for everyone, and each of the three has their own "flavour", as it were - Caine in Miami behaves differently to Grissom in Vegas, which is different again to Taylor in New York. The fact that they've put the effort into differentiating them makes them worthy of at least a little time.

I particularly liked the end of the first episode of NY. I thought it was rather touching, and nicely done. Of course, much of the rest of the first series was a bit ropey in parts, but it's moved on and up in the world since then. As has Miami and Vegas, to be fair.

[xHaZxMaTx]

My friend's dad is a crime scene investigator - he hates CSI for it's many inaccuracies.

[RJ]

Hmm.... about time I have some input:

Scrubs, Heroes, Top Gear (they got a dog), Boston Legal, Takeshi's Castle, Life on Mars, Robin Hood (the most recent one with the same guy that's on The Ghost Squad), Inspector Rex, Iron Chef, Mythbusters, Dr Who, Torchwood (not as good as Dr Who, but it's just as sparkly), first few seasons of Family Guy, Property Ladder, Grand Designs, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex + 2nd Gig.

As you can see there are no Aussie shows, because they generally fail (although are going a kind of revival, but they still suck). That's drama mostly, and comedy to an extent. But for some okay Aussie shows there's Spicks and Specks and The Chaser's War on Everything.

If you don't know the show, just ask and I'll try to explain it.

That reminds me, there's two shows that I used to like but disappeared suddenly: Surface and Kingdom Hospital. They just got into later and later time slots until they vanished.

[EvilIguana966]

How it's made
It's oddly addictive

The show is interesting at times but it's not nearly detailed enough for my tastes.  Leaves way to many questions and glosses over important details. 

As far as the Discovery Channel goes, I'm definitely a fan of Mythbusters.  Lots of good stuff on History.  As for comedy, I love Scrubs, and I've seen every Scrubs episode rerun on Comedy Central.  I also enjoy watching Law and Order reruns on TNT, and Law and Order: SVU on USA. 

[mabfan55]

I really did not find series 1 of tourchwood that great ... but i heard they got good ideas for series 2 so ill give it a second chance .
Anyone here watch a show called bones?... i think thats good viewing.

[DarkAudit]

Good Eats on Food TV sort of Beakman's world crossed with Iron Chef.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea

There are also transcripts here:  http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/GEFP/index.htm

I second that one.

Except it's funny and informative. You'll feel smarter AND a better cook after seeing the show.
It doesn't just give you recipes, it explains how food works, and what each ingredient brings to whatever dish you make.
For example, there was a cookie-show that explained what each ingredient does in a cookie (eggs, milk, flour, butter, etc.) And how you can use that information to alter any other recipe to your taste. Don't like crispy cookies? You can make them puffy, or chewy, or cakey with a little manipulation. No other cooking how (I know of) does this.

Thirded. When I show up with a batch of The Chewy, I can ask for almost anything in return. 

One of the mods at the GEFP forums compiled a cookbook of all the recipes up to last season. It may still be available for download there. If not, I've got a copy here. Took the previous edition to Office Depot for printing and binding. Only cost ~$15.