Favourite TV show

[La Furia]

The best part of the Big Bang Theory is that when they make a porn version of it, they won't have to change the name.

[gingerless]

i really don't understand why people like the big bang theory. the characters are so shit, the acting is horrible and the highlight of the show for most poeple is puff cheeks blubber girl. the terrible jokes don't help either...

[yusuf]

as a sitcom its ok and entertaining but the jokes arent very intellectual and the show has lost its intellectual zing as it has gone through the seasons and mainly they have tried to replace it with mostly sexual jokes.......but what do u expect from the man who brought us 2 and a half men

[Fourteen]

Chuck Lorre? That guy must be racking it in.

[La Furia]

Much like 2 and a Half Men it's funny in small doses but it's the same joke over and over again. Amazing that shit makes as much money as it does.

As far as American shows go the network stuff is all garbage nowadays, everything worth watching is on cable. Even/especially dumb sex comedies, because they get away with a hell of a lot more - see Californication.

[LoveLaudrup]

Just finished watching the first season of The Wire and thank God, I still have another four seasons to go.

This is what television should be like: Realistic, gritty, full of ambiguous characters and with a constantly evolving story line. This show is like a GPS that shows you one linear route to your destination but as you drive it takes you all kinds of places and you find that there's no linear path... or an actual destination. No actual destination? No, hear me out. It's good because things don't end up as you'd like them to all too often in life and that's the whole point of it. For years I've been fed up with this or that TV show about cops, busting gangs and criminals. We all know how it's going to end in those shows, even before we get past the intro: Bad guys are going to get busted. Maybe there's going to be a few bumps in the road that we did not see coming but we still know how it's going to end.

So the bad guys don't get busted in this show? Well, that's for you to find out. I'm not going to say no, because that's not correct. I'm also not going to say yes, because that's also not entirely correct. What matters is that the ending is seamless, perfect and feels natural. It feels just right.

Did I lose you? This TV show is mainly about a crew of policemen, narcotics and homicide detectives trying to pin a case on a ring of drug dealers in Baltimore. The people in the crew have to work with limited resources and they don't always get along. Because they're human, driven by egoistical urges and needs. Power. Money. Status. Most do what they do because of their moral convictions, sure but there's often more to it. Meanwhile, the black gang portrayed in this season are shown as ruthless, yet protective, highly intelligent, yet shaky, warm-hearted, yet cold-hearted. Again, a realistic portrayal of human beings. Of a human organisation.
Point is that these two otherwise polar organisations are not the exact opposites we're familiar with: Cops vs. Criminals. Good vs. Evil.

No. They're the same. You'll end up both liking and hating people in both camps. In my opinion, the biggest villains in this show were senior officials in the police department. Schemers who wanted to shut down what we (the viewers) think is morally correct. Why do they want to shut it down? Aha, yet another realistic portrayal of us humans: Politics. Politics leads to power. If you buckle up and do as you're told then you will gain personal power. You will be promoted. Failure to step in line will result in a humiliating degradation (the line "Where do you least want to end up?" from the show comes to mind). The hierarchy in the Baltimore Police Department is at least as unforgiving as that of the drug ring.

If someone snitches among the drug dealers then there's going to be paranoia in the upper circles and someone is bound to get shot. If the cops take a guy down to the station and they don't get what they want from him, then there's going to be some frustrations... and they just might beat the living shit out of the detainee to get something. Hearing noise and screams from the interrogation room seems to be nothing out of the ordinary down at the police department.

This show is brilliant in that it tries to, and succeeds in, breaking up the ying and yang aspect of crime television shows/movies.

Besides the highly realistic portrayal of the characters in the show (which I have nothing but praise for) the acting is extraordinary as well. Most of the actors in this show are low profile and aren't known from much else. It's perfect. It's TV right after my head. The writers are also having a blast and you can tell they've read up on their material. This must be the first show of it's kind where I actually learned a lot from watching it. I learned about police procedure, thug life, politics and several innovative techniques to keep cops off you (or in the case of the cops, to stay on their targets).
The writing was great. There were so many times where I thought I could see an event miles ahead and then something complete different, yet highly plausible happened. After the first few episodes of going through that I found myself thinking "this is what I usually would think is going to happen... but I'm not going to think that....", constantly going over the possibilities for what might happen at crucial moments in the plot: What might fuck up. What I was hoping for would happen. Meanwhile you were under constant pressure. When you watched scenes with the cops you were constantly reminded that at any point some powerful figure might close down the detail because people were getting too wise. When you watched scenes with the drug dealers you were constantly reminded that at any point they might get shut down and an important figure might get killed.

Seriously. This right here. This is television I have not seen since The Sopranos.

I'll end with this quote from one of my favorite characters in the show (who I actually started out hating):

"It's the game out there. Either you play. Or you be played." - Omar.

[yusuf]

WOW

[LoveLaudrup]

WOW

It's that good.

[gingerless]

wall of text crits you for 99999 damage.

YOU DEAD

[Fourteen]

Excellent review, LL, I might have to properly watch it from the start now. Seriously though, become a Film/TV critic.

[XaviMessiGirl]

Boardwalk Empire

[UberNjufer]

i really don't understand why people like the big bang theory. the characters are so shit, the acting is horrible and the highlight of the show for most poeple is puff cheeks blubber girl. the terrible jokes don't help either...

honestly that show is for slow people,one of the worst i've seen

[Dervyx]

last weeks episode of The Big Bang Theory was amazing

+

[Sergio]

Right now, Skins (not the shitty US version).

[impeh]

ive been watching NCIS and 'The walking dead' a fair bit, tis good friday night tv!