Overlooked TV Series | The Boneyard

Overlooked TV Series

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I'll start with just a few:

Life
Lie to Me
Eli Stone
Dead Like Me
 
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Just started catching up on demand with back episodes of Copper on BBC America. It doesn't suck.
 

junglehusky

Molotov Cocktail of Ugliness
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I started watching the Danish series Borgen - political drama. Pretty good so far, I'm 3 episodes in. They have select episodes available for US viewers here, but if you want to see the whole series you'll have to find alternative sources (wink, wink).
 

Waquoit

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We just finished binge-watching Veronica Mars. Where was I when this first came out? I'd take that show over crud like Boardwalk Empire any day of the week.
 
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On the major networks....I have gotten semi-hooked on Grimm.

Parenthood is another good one.
 

EricLA

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For current shows, Grimm is cool - different. I also like Suits a lot and have been enjoying Necessary Roughness lately...
 

Husky25

Dink & Dunk beat the Greatest Show on Turf.
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I don't watch anything new on NBC, CBS, ABC, or FOX anymore until at least the 2nd season due to the cowardess (in relative TV terms) of chickens**t TV executives in the cable era. If a show doesn't get its ratings in the first couple episodes, they either put it in a death slot or outright cancel it. My wife and I got into a cop show quite few years ago with Ron Livingston (Office Space, Swingers, Band of Brothers) and Rosemary DeWitt (Cinderella Man, Bit part in Mad Men), whose slot kept changing. Then FOX (IIRC) said it was taking 4 weeks off for the World Series, and it was cancelled on hiatus.

Southland is another good example. It was dropped after one season by CBS because it was considered "too dark". Thank god Fox picked it up. The fact that it was "relegated" to FX was a blessing in disguise.

I'm more likely to watch a show from the beginning if its on TBS, TNT, USA, AMC (However The Killing is painful. I gave it a 3 episode chance) or HBO. Breakout Kings was enjoyable and I still like watching repeats of Leverage. I was getting into Luck (HBO), but they stopped filming due to perceived cruelty to the horses. I'm into season 2 of Homeland, and I will begin DVRing Breaking Bad from the beginning as well (Marathon starting on Friday).
 

Husky25

Dink & Dunk beat the Greatest Show on Turf.
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How exactly are The Wire and CYE overlooked? They are routinely mentioned among the best shows both on this board an in the minds of the "experts."
 
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For top shelf guys comedy....check out The League on fx
 
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Southland is great! Was dropped by NBC and picked up by TNT a few years ago. The move to a pay network made the show better.
 

cohenzone

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Southland is great! Was dropped by NBC and picked up by TNT a few years ago. The move to a pay network made the show better.

Interesting observation. My son produces TV shows that are on boutique networks like History, H2, Nat Geo, Military Channel, TWC. (Pretty interesting shows, actually). I've learned a lot about the interplay between the networks and the producers. It can make a very big difference with what network a producer deals with in both content and presentation. Some try to micromanage and others give the producer a lot more freedom, so long as the sponsors are happy.
 

Husky25

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Southland is great! Was dropped by NBC and picked up by TNT a few years ago. The move to a pay network made the show better.
I thought it was CBS that dropped it, but I didn't IMDb it. Turns out it was NBC. The given reason was because, "It was too dark for Network television." I do remember that. I think the real reason is because - as Adam Carolla would say - network execs are chickens**t and don't want to take a chance if a show is not an immediate success.
 

Husky25

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Interesting observation. My son produces TV shows that are on boutique networks like History, H2, Nat Geo, Military Channel, TWC. (Pretty interesting shows, actually). I've learned a lot about the interplay between the networks and the producers. It can make a very big difference with what network a producer deals with in both content and presentation. Some try to micromanage and others give the producer a lot more freedom, so long as the sponsors are happy.

That's really what it comes down to doesn't it? Advertising dollars. Hienz looks at the overnights and sees a dip and threatens to pull their ads. So the execs, without even watching, also see a dip and pull the plug on a perfectly good show, without regard to content or time slot (I.e. Friday Night Lights).

That is not to say that I think TV Execs are not wholly cut-off-nose-to-spite-face vindictive in their own right. I was listening to the Jay Mohr a podcast last week with Chris Titus (He had a sitcom a few years back). He was explaining how his show was doing well, it was not Friends, but it was not Suddenly Susan either and one of the execs suggested that a main character have an affair. Titus thought it was not in the character's nature and went against the show's theme. So he fought against it. As the story goes, they went back and forth and it got heated to the point, up to the point of Titus yelling, "I'm not doing it." To which the exec simply replied, "Okay." At that point, all lead in advertising for Titus slowed to a strickle and they moved the show's time slot to opposite West Wing, the most popular drama on TV at the time and thereby killing Titus...
 

cohenzone

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That's really what it comes down to doesn't it? Advertising dollars. Hienz looks at the overnights and sees a dip and threatens to pull their ads. So the execs, without even watching, also see a dip and pull the plug on a perfectly good show, without regard to content or time slot (I.e. Friday Night Lights).

That is not to say that I think TV Execs are not wholly cut-off-nose-to-spite-face vindictive in their own right. I was listening to the Jay Mohr a podcast last week with Chris Titus (He had a sitcom a few years back). He was explaining how his show was doing well, it was not Friends, but it was not Suddenly Susan either and one of the execs suggested that a main character have an affair. Titus thought it was not in the character's nature and went against the show's theme. So he fought against it. As the story goes, they went back and forth and it got heated to the point, up to the point of Titus yelling, "I'm not doing it." To which the exec simply replied, "Okay." At that point, all lead in advertising for Titus slowed to a strickle and they moved the show's time slot to opposite West Wing, the most popular drama on TV at the time and thereby killing Titus...

One of my son"s more interesting experiences, actually a good one, was a series he did for the History Channel about the exploits of the carrier Enterprise in WW 2. It was sponsored, naturally, by Enterpruse Rent A Car. It turns out that the car company's founder had named it after the carrier which he had served in for a brief time. He was apparently quite vigilant in screwing episodes. Fortunately, he pretty much liked what he was seeing.
 

Husky25

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One of my son"s more interesting experiences, actually a good one, was a series he did for the History Channel about the exploits of the carrier Enterprise in WW 2. It was sponsored, naturally, by Enterpruse Rent A Car. It turns out that the car company's founder had named it after the carrier which he had served in for a brief time. He was apparently quite vigilant in screwing episodes. Fortunately, he pretty much liked what he was seeing.

I think I saw that series. I am a regular viewer of the History Channel, and now History2, and I am a junkie for most things WW2. I have no idea why, I just am. I'm glad your son is having success in that business. I was in entertainment for a very brief time (albeit in the non-production end). It's an unforgiving industry.
 

cohenzone

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I think I saw that series. I am a regular viewer of the History Channel, and now History2, and I am a junkie for most things WW2. I have no idea why, I just am. I'm glad your son is having success in that business. I was in entertainment for a very brief time (albeit in the non-production end). It's an unforgiving industry.

His H and H2 shows have been Universe, which is actually doing some season 9 shows, pretty good run, History of the World in 2 Hours, Life After People, Battle 360, Rocket City Rednecks and some others. He has an Emmy for a History Ch. special called "A Distant Shore" about the African American D-Day vets.
Before he had his own company, he freelanced a lot for the History Ch and before that worked for a company that had a lot of TV documentary exposure on HC and other such networks. On the freelance end, he produce 3 segments of the 8 segment series on the American presidents. That was cool for him because he got to interview, among others, Jimmy Carter, Walter Cronkite, James Baker and David Gergen. He even got to tour Carter's peanut farmland.
 

cohenzone

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One of my son"s more interesting experiences, actually a good one, was a series he did for the History Channel about the exploits of the carrier Enterprise in WW 2. It was sponsored, naturally, by Enterpruse Rent A Car. It turns out that the car company's founder had named it after the carrier which he had served in for a brief time. He was apparently quite vigilant in screwing episodes. Fortunately, he pretty much liked what he was seeing.

I have to proofread better. He didn't screw episodes, he screened them.
 

Husky25

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I have to proofread better. He didn't screw episodes, he screened them.

After Reading what HFD writes on the football board, it gets quite a bit easier to sift out when other posters make lesser typos and realize what is trying to be said.
 

cohenzone

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After Reading what HFD writes on the football board, it gets quite a bit easier to sift out when other posters make lesser typos and realize what is trying to be said.

Gotcha. I find the Cesspool more readable and friendly than the football boards.
 

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