h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Burn Notice Sooo good for veryungrim watching.

Oh, we all knew it was [SPOILER DELETED] but were waiting fior the twist that it wasn't. Apparently, though, the actors weren't tiold what was going to happen until just before their scene, a la Mike Leigh.

I didn't like 'Spiral' - although admittedly I didn't try very hard to get into it. Possibly because it came on the heels of 'Forbrydelsen' (I'm trying to popularise the Danish name ) and I was all crimed out.

Given that the last Scandinavian television here was Pippi Longstocking, I'm not holding my breath for anything more recent

We don't have tons here either! Wallander started the (mini-)wave. My Swedish friends assumed I must be talking about the three Kenneth Branagh episodes, but we've now had several Swedish series.

There's also the Stieg Larsson effect, obviously, and the general popularity of the Scandiwegian Noir genre - kicked off, I guess, by 'Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow'.

I read Miss Smilla last year, and I've been thinking about it in this thread... it's like I'm remembering a TV show rather than a novel. That's pretty impressive writing then I think, the images must have been strong.

The Shield - American cop drama starring Michael Chiklis. I watched all seven seasons of that myself earlier this year (I only watched a few of them when they were shown on telly)

Fringe is good if you'd like something a bit X Filesy with a story arc.

Eureka's quite entertaining (a small town of scientific geniuses)

Justified - rural American cop thing.

A must see though, for me, is Sons of Anarchy, the tale of an everyday biker gang starring Katie Segal and Ron Perlman. I need to finish season 3 as four has just started.

I think I've seen a couple of eps of The Shield, but it was on at an odd late time so I lost track of it.

Good list, thanks.

Justified is on here at the moment. I like it, the stories and writing are great, but it's also got this contrived posing thing going on. Didn't rate very well here because of that I suppose.

S recommends The Mentalist.

I say you try some Torchwood or Doctor Who

Warehouse13 looks good, but I have only seen a few episodes and in no particular order.

If you like comedy try Scrubs

mini

Re Ms Smilla: I was roughly in the area of Copenhagen it's set in the other week. Same Island, anyway. There was a noticeably large Greenlandic presence.

'The Shield' is like 'The Wire' in two dimensions, rather than three... always just stopping short and just showing 'what is' rather than shedding any light on 'why'. But it's still excellent.... superb acting, wonderful characters. Vic Mackie is a wonderful, terrible, brilliant creation....

If the 'Shield' passes the 'grim' test, I think 'The Wire' would as well. That's not to say it's not depressing as hell in places, but it's got such a ring of authenticity to it....

Ed.... I gave 'Spiral' another try when they started repeating the first series recently. I think it was hard to watch the uncompromising nature of the cops in that series after the relatively positive picture of the po-lice painted by 'The Killing'. It's hard to go from the Sarah Lund intuitive jumper-wearing school of coppery to the Spiral school of suspect mistreatment, when even the character nicknamed 'Tintin' is dishing it out....

And yes, you really do have to watch 'The Wire'....

Oh, I'm all for the police mistreating suspects.

...for fictional porpoises, that is.

Ach...you always knew I was a secret Fascist.

Rome. You have to stick with it, though. I didn't get beyond the first half hour first time round, I just thought it was silly. I was wrong.

And Pride and Prejudice (the one with Colin Firth).

I have the complete boxed set of MASH to watch still ...

Mol

Hi Kea, I would recommend watching some of the streamed drama shows on Aznv.tv but, judging from previous conversations, I doubt your internet connections would be up to the task.
If your rental shops have a good Japanese stock, try the series 'Yama Onna Kabe Onna' (if it has English subtitles). It's very funny.

I do have a pretty good dvd rental service.

But yeah, BB here sucks.

You have got to go for 'The Shadow Line'. Best drama of the year for me. To do with the police and the criminal underworld..and the shadow line where they meet.

Superb in every way..utterly riveting..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0111dqc

No one has mentioned one of the best shows of all time. I guess it speaks for itself: Dexter http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0773262/ (into its sixth season - every episode can be viewed online).

Blackadder.

Yes!

The Wire, as has been mentioned many times before.

Battlestar Galactica, OK the 4th season is lame. Anyhow there is a wonderful greyscale where the characters are not Good or Bad, but most often both. Problems are not solved in 42 minutes and lead individuals do die. Even if you don't are in to Sci-Fi give it a try.

I like Firefly and Serenity. There are parts of Babylon 5 that are worth spending time on, like seasons 2-4 and maybe a couple of the movies like the Beginning and the Gathering.

Aside from the Danish 'The Killing' all 20 brilliant episodes and the brilliant 'The Shadow Line' I'd say 'Damages' was unmissable, starring Glen Close as the female lead. The most ruthless lawyer imaginable..but of course she has a heart which is going to make things interesting.

I'd get all 3 series of Damages like a shot.

Only myself and Ann O Maly were watching though on h2g2.

It happens a lot to me here. What I think is completely brilliant doesn't get watched here. Luckily these things do in real life...it must be a hootoo thing.