Greatest Live-Action TV-Show Nomination Thread

[Pharass]

Since I've nothing else to do at the moment, I thought I'd host another tournament (provided anyone is interested). As you can see, the focus this time will be on live-action TV-shows. I thought about doing just a "greatest TV-show" tournament, mixing live-action shows with animated ones, but finally decided to concentrate on the former and let someone else do a tournament centered on the latter. Here are the rules:

We'll start out with 60 entries and each member may nominate up to 12 shows. Later I may change both the number of entries and the number of shows that can be nominated, if I deem it necessary.
The show can be in any genre or format (ongoing series, mini-series, etc) provided that it originally aired on television.

That's basically it. You may start nominating:

1. The Wire
2. Doctor Who
3. Freaks & Geeks
4. Babylon 5
5. Downtown Abbey
6. Coupling
7. Press Gang
8. Sherlock
9. The Daily Show
10. Six Feet Under
11. Deadwood
12. Misfits
13. How I Met Your Mother
14. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
15. Angel
16. Parks & Recreation
17. Louie
18. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
19. The Twilight Zone
20. I, Claudius
21. The Prisoner
22. Edge of Darkness
23. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
24. The Octopus/La Piovra
25. Arrested Development
26. Monk
27. Married... With Children
28. Titus
29. NewsRadio
30. The Wonder Years
31. Cheers
32. Twin Peaks
33. Battlestar Galactica (2003)
34. Firefly
35. The Adventures of Brisco County Jr
36. Spaced
37. Boardwalk Empire
38. Slings & Arrows
39. Modern Family
40. My Name is Earl
41. Prison Break
42. Burn Notice
43. Dark Angel
44. Walker, Texas Ranger
45. That 70s Show
46. King of Queens
47. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
48. Everybody Hates Chris
49. Sarah Connor Chronicles
50. Human Target
51. The Shield
52. Malcolm in the Middle
53. Seinfeld
54. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
55. The House of Cards Trilogy
56. The Shadow Line
57. Night Court
58. Community
59. Tales From the Crypt
60. Boy Meets World

[Dr. Insomniac]

The Wire
Doctor Who
Freaks & Geeks
Babylon 5
Downton Abbey
Coupling
Press Gang
Sherlock
The Daily Show
Six Feet Under
Deadwood
Misfits

[Avaitor]

How I Met Your Mother
Buffy the Vampire
Angel
Parks and Recreation
Louie
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
The Twilight Zone

[Pharass]

Added the following shows to the list:

I, Claudius
The Prisoner
Edge of Darkness
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
The Octopus/La Piovra
Arrested Development

[Spark Of Spirit]

Monk
Married... With Children
Titus
NewsRadio
The Wonder Years
Cheers

[Foggle]

Twin Peaks
Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Firefly
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
Spaced
Boardwalk Empire
Slings & Arrows

[Dr. Insomniac]

And maybe we should all try to get acquainted through all of these shows whether it be from rented DVDs, Youtube clips, or the shameful torrenting to make sure we don't put a series in last place simply because we never saw it. Was always a major flaw in many Greatest threads, and I'm hoping to avoid that.

For example, I'm watching a bit of Slings & Arrows to see what it's like, and it already has a certain charm.

[Foggle]

And maybe we should all try to get acquainted through all of these shows whether it be from rented DVDs, Youtube clips, or the shameful torrenting to make sure we don't put a series in last place simply because we never saw it. Was always a major flaw in many Greatest threads, and I'm hoping to avoid that.

Good thinking. Maybe we could post two or three recommended episodes for each of our nominated shows to give people a feel for what they're ranking?

For example, I'm watching a bit of Slings & Arrows to see what it's like, and it already has a certain charm.

It's such a brilliant series. Really, really funny.

[Daxdiv]

Modern Family
My Name is Earl

[Dr. Insomniac]

Well...

Doctor Who: Blink, The Deadly Assassin, Eleventh Hour
Freaks & Geeks: Kim Kelly Is My Friend
Babylon 5: Passing Through Gethsemane, pretty much all of Season 4.
Coupling: Naked
Press Gang: Monday - Tuesday
Deadwood: Sold Under Sin
Misfits: Episode Six
Sherlock: Study In Pink
Six Feet Under: Life's Too Short
Downton Abbey: Show's repeating on PBS next week, so you'll get a chance to see it in full.
The Wire: The thing about the Wire is that each episode is more like a chapter than something you can watch by itself. Recommending which episode is like recommending which ten minutes of The Godfather to watch. That said, the first 3 episodes give you a good introduction.

[Foggle]

The Wire: The thing about the Wire is that each episode is more like a chapter than something you can watch by itself. Recommending which episode is like recommending which ten minutes of The Godfather to watch. That said, the first 3 episodes give you a good introduction.

That's pretty much what Twin Peaks is like. There are a few episodes that standalone, but those ones aren't very good.

Anyway,
Twin Peaks: Pilot (US version) will give you a damn good feel for the series. It starts off kinda' weird/lame, but it gets pretty engrossing and excellent before long.

Battlestar Galactica: I'd recommend starting with the Miniseries, since it's a very plot-based affair like Twin Peaks, but I also understand that not everyone will care to sit through a 3 hour episode for a tournament like this. If that's the case, then you should check out 33 and The Hand Of God from the first season, as they're both excellent and fairly easy to jump into.

Firefly: Ariel and War Stories are both very exciting and well-written/acted.

The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.: Bounty Hunter's Convention is by far one of my favorite episodes ever produced for any TV show.

Spaced: Battles is goddamn hilarious.

Boardwalk Empire: You can't really watch this show out of order. Just watch Boardwalk Empire (the pilot episode).

Slings & Arrows: If Madness In Great Ones and Playing The Swan can't hook you, nothing will.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Monk

I thought you said that you weren't that big on Monk before (back when I created a thread for it on the old board).

[Spark Of Spirit]

So we should hopefully put a big gap between rounds if that's the case.


Monk - Mr. Monk & The Airplane

It's the first season finale, but it gives you a good dose of what the show is like, and it's probably one of my favorite episodes.


Married... With Children - The Hood, the Bud and the Kelly

Normally I wouldn't recommend a two parter, never mind an episode from a show's later season, but the slapstick and one liners are too great to ignore. This one never gets old to me, what makes it so funny is how it escalates as it goes along as witnessed here.


Titus - Mom's Not Nuts

I, uh, chose this one for a lot of reasons. But I don't want to spoil why.


NewsRadio - Autobiography

Phil Hartman at his best. The rest of the cast is funny too (even though Andy Dick is an acquired taste), but it's Phil that makes this episode so good.


The Wonder Years - Pilot

It's obvious why.


Cheers - pretty much any episode

It doesn't really matter.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Monk

I thought you said that you weren't that big on Monk before (back when I created a thread for it on the old board).

If I did, I was wrong. Monk is awesome.

[Avaitor]

How I Met Your Mother- The pilot. Trust me

Okay, besides starting at the beginning, "Girls vs. Suits" was my first episode, and has one of the best moments in the series. And you're not convinced after watching "Slap Bet", you should just turn in your life card, because you shouldn't exist.


Buffy the Vampire Slayer- "Passion", "The Prom" "Once More, With Feeling"
Angel- "I Will Remember You" "Smile Time", "A Whole in the World"
Parks and Recreation- "Sister City", "Ron and Tammy", "Flu Season"
Louie- "Heckler/Cop Movie", "Bully", "Duckling"
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia- "Dennis and Dee Go on Welfare", "The Gang Gets Invincible", "The Gang Hits the Road"
The Twilight Zone- Just check out Dalek's list