The History Book Club discussion

This is a thread to discuss some of your favorite TV shows of all time (whether they are currently on or not). Tell us what they were about and provide some links if you can.

Monk gets my vote. So sad to see this show go.

It was a show about a brilliant obsessive compulsive San Francisco detective.

http://www.usanetwork.com/series/monk/

Doctor Who, Being Human, Fawlty Towers (and I'm American!!!)

Interesting and what did you like about these shows.

I always felt The Wire on HBO was the best TV show I had ever seen. It showed some of the epic failures and the breakdown of urban areas while at the same time giving all characters a human face.

I do miss Lost a great deal. Breaking Bad has impressed me a great deal over the last two seasons as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_(TV...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking...

Bentley wrote: "Interesting and what did you like about these shows."

Fawlty Towers is a very, very funny series. I still laugh even when I know what is going to happen!

Doctor Who (the post-2000 series) combines humor with sense-of-wonder and a snappy storyline. It's in a science fiction-y universe, however, the writers are able to make it an internally consistent universe.

Being Human has the same characteristic of an internally consistent universe (different than Doctor Who's, of course). It also has the "what's going to happen next" element, mixed in with humdrum everyday life. The first two "series" of Being Human were excellent.

One thing all three shows have is the ability for me to escape my everyday problems for a half hour or hour. Also, I love listening to all those cool British and Scottish accents. It is also interesting to hear how different British English is from American English.

Bentley wrote: "This is a thread to discuss some of your favorite TV shows of all time (whether they are currently on or not).

Monk gets my vote. So sad to see this show go.

It was a show about a brilliant ob..."

I liked Monk also. The problem Monk had (which doesn't seem to happen to British shows) is that the number of episodes was much larger than the number of unique shows --- lots of repetition. The M*A*S*H hit the same problem after the first couple of years.

Interesting, I don't remember a lot of repetition but I don't like it when they change some of the minor characters.

Thanks for the explanations.

Rodney wrote: "I always felt The Wire on HBO was the best TV show I had ever seen. It showed some of the epic failures and the breakdown of urban areas while at the same time giving all characters a human face.
..."

Thanks Rodney for the links.

I love animation Family Guy, American Dad, Futurama, Cleveland Show, The Simpsons and South Park also in the none drawn genre Black Books and the IT Crowd.

Family Guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Guy
American Dad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American...
Cleveland Show http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clev...
Futurama http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurama
South Park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park
Simpsons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpsons
Black Books http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Books
IT Crowd http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_crowd

What can I say I love watching Comedy especially of the drawn variety. I also have a soft spot for British Comedy to many shows to mention here :)

My favourites as a kid growing up were; Rawhide, Combat and 12 O'clock High.

Then later in life; Hill Street Blues, Homicide: Life on the Street, Third Watch, The Wire, Life, Band of Brothers and Pacific.

I love a lot of the BBC crime shows like; Silent Witness, Waking the Dead, Prime Suspect.

The Wire, Over There, The Sopranos, Twin Peaks, Picket Fences, Boomtown, NYPD Blue, Band of Brothers, Generation Kill, Kojak, Sanford and Son, Are You Being Served, The X-Files, My So-Called Life, Lois and Clark, Dinosaurs

Michael wrote: "I love animation Family Guy, American Dad, Futurama, Cleveland Show, The Simpsons and South Park also in the none drawn genre Black Books and the IT Crowd."

Do you have any links to these shows and tell us why you liked them and what they were about.

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "My favourites as a kid growing up were; Rawhide, Combat and 12 O'clock High.

Then later in life; Hill Street Blues, Homicide: Life on the Street, Third Watch, The Wire, Life, Band of Brothers a..."

Can you tell us a little about what these were about.

Bentley wrote: "Michael wrote: "I love animation Family Guy, American Dad, Futurama, Cleveland Show, The Simpsons and South Park also in the none drawn genre Black Books and the IT Crowd."

Do you have any links t..."

Hi Bentley I have edited my post to include links to the shows I have mentioned. But there was one recently watched show I forgot to mention Hestons Feast. I recommend this a must see viewing, what this man can do with food is so out of the box it belong in another dimension!!!

http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/he...

Heres a sample of what he cooks up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4HFu_... *not for the squeamish*

Bentley wrote: "'Aussie Rick' wrote: "My favourites as a kid growing up were; Rawhide, Combat and 12 O'clock High.

Then later in life; Hill Street Blues, Homicide: Life on the Street, Third Watch, The Wire, Life..."

In answer to your question Bentley, below are some hyperlinks to information I found on my favourite TV shows:

Rawhide
Combat
12 O'Clock High
Hill Street Blues
Homicide: Life on the Street and the book that started the TV series:
by David Simon

Third Watch
The Wire
Life
Band of Brothers
The Pacific
Silent Witness
Waking the Dead
Prime Suspect

Gee thanks Aussie Rick and Michael. This will give folks some new ideas.

So many favorites I don't know where to begin, but this is one classic I will always love.
I Love Lucy

this is sitting on my to-read list...
byStefan Kanfer

For me, it is M*A*S*H:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M*A*S*H_...

Ah Mash...a classic show.

It is, although not a huge fan of the last season or two, but overall, one of the greats. I started watching it when I was a teenager and have the DVDs now.

agree that MASH is classic my uncle who passed away loved the show. but on to mine and i know im going to sound super girly

1)the young and the restless (Y&R): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Youn...

2)Make It or Break It (MIorBI): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_It_... (just watched latest episode online last night)

3)Secret Life Of the American Teenager(SLAT):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_L...

4)Hellcats (HC): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellcats
cant wait for new episodes.

5)Law and Order:SVU (SVU): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_%26_...


( ) those are my nicknames for the show. so much easier than writing the whole thing out. those are the shows i live for nothing else really except the news never any time for anything else really cuz those are on at night.

Thank you Krystal for your adds.

No entry since April last year.

I vote for The Wire

Vince wrote: "I vote for The Wire"

A great show, Vince!

I must admit I have yet to tire of watching Seinfeld. Some episodes no matter how many times I have seen them I will always laugh out loud, like it is the first time I have heard some of those lines. Hilarious!

Great adds guys.

I also like The Good Wife and Revenge.

http://www.cbs.com/shows/the_good_wife/

http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/revenge

Bentley wrote: "I also like The Good Wife and Revenge.

http://www.cbs.com/shows/the_good_wife/

http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/revenge"

Hey - i watch the Good Wife - but Revenge only once -

but I still vote for the Wire

I am not much of a television watcher but I watched every episode of this BBC series......Blackadder with the wonderful Rowan Atkinson. I must admit that I laughed out loud. But the last episode which takes place in the WWI trenches is pretty poignant.

This book contains all the scripts......and I laugh again everytime I read it.

by Richard Curtis

Ronel wrote: "My favorite TV Show of all time is 24."

Hi Ronel, I agree, a great show - though I sometimes think it a little too constructed and twisted and I find myself thinking like Jack... "What the @#$% is going on?"

Ronel wrote: "Hi André.

Lasting peace cannot simply be political..."

Terrific citation, Ronel. It can be used for almost any country after a shake up be it through civil war, revolution or what not, when two or more tribes/peoples/religious sections or even political parties try and form a coalition.
Afghanistan comes to mind, sure, but also Iraq, Sudan, Korea, but also the UK and Ireland, etc.etc. ... come to think of it the list is endless...it basically includes the entire planet/all humanity at one time or another...

We just started the Good Wife and it is awesome. 24 is also a great, great show. Sad it left, but Homeland is a good remedy.

Jill wrote: "I am not much of a television watcher but I watched every episode of this BBC series......Blackadder with the wonderful Rowan Atkinson. I must admit that I laughed out loud. But the last episode wh..."

Love...love...love Blackaddder!

One of my favourite shows of all time is Friday Night Lights. I think many people dumped it into the category of either a Football show or a teen show (a la Dawson's Creek, the OC etc) and it never really got the recognition it deserved. In my opinion was one of the most brilliant shows (a few hiccups along the way notwithstanding..season 2). The acting, writing and directing and were fabulous.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758745/

In no particular order, and for no particular reason, these 11 came to my mind:
Those already mentioned are: Blackadder and Dr. Who. Those I didn't notice above are:

Adventures in Paradise http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052440/, which I loved as a kid (I'd watch with my father - a nice weekly father/daughter hour),http://youtu.be/LSuSMrmh1bA

Monty Python, http://www.tv.com/shows/monty-pythonf...

Twilight Zone, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twil...
one of my favorite episodes http://youtu.be/rEWXVx1kfiI and of course: http://youtu.be/UAxARJyaTEA

Life on Mars http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_...

Mr. Bean http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Bean

3rd Rock from the Sun http://www.tv.com/shows/3rd-rock-from...

Alfred Hitchcock Presents http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_H...

the Hour http://www.bbcamerica.com/the-hour/

The Sopranos http://www.hbo.com/the-sopranos/index...

And, my current favorite except for what I consider a script failure with The Reichenbach Fall, Sherlock.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/s...

I could go on, but you'd ban me from goodreads. Isn't entertainment grand?

What a great list, G. It certainly covers many years and I'm glad you mentioned Monty Python since it is another of my old favorites from British television.

When we got Shaw we started watching old 70 and 80 classics. oh and on another channel I <3 Lucy. So im going to add some shows

I find these classics

1)I love Lucy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_Lucy


2)All The Family- follows the bunkers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_In_T...

3)Three's Company- altho i don't like the switch that keeps happening 3 or 4 different roommates. Teri,Chrissy and Cindy. Those change day to day as well as the landlords either the Ropers or Mr.Furley

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three%27...

4)Roseanne My kind of comedy(its from the 90's so I get kick out of it)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roseanne...

5)Switched At Birth-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched... also follos deaf and hearing characters.

Then when i orgnainally posted i'd forgotten about Switched At Birth or maybe it hadn't aired yet. It started in Summer of 2011.yes i realize that these are all American but nothing else is really Canadian

going through the list i did not realize that Sue.Thomas F.B.Eye
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Thom... was
Canadian because she's an American who works in Washigton with Feds. It's about a deaf women who gets hired to work in fingerprinting at the F.B.I headquarters but then when she demands for a better job to the wrong person she gets set up in surveillance because she can read lips.

I hardly ever watch TV anymore, but here are some favorites:

The Odd Couple - still funny after all these years

MASH - a classic

Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister - absolutely hysterical parodies of British politics and funny if you don't know much about those politics.

Fawlty Towers - Perhaps the funniest show in the history of television. John Cleese plays Basil Fawlty, owner of an incredibly badly run hotel.

Krystal and Peter those are great lists. Peter some of those older British comedies are just great. One of my favorites of that genre is Are You Being Served, about the group that works in a department store. Very funny.

One of my all time favorites was (and is ) West Wing. Smart snappy writing. Current issues and lots of practical explanation of how the government worked to keep people pulled in. Heavy material but Aaron Sorkin managed to write in a way that didn't make the average fewer feel uneducated. It was so eye opening for me. I have watched it beginning to end three times now.

Jeannine wrote: "One of my all time favorites was (and is ) West Wing. Smart snappy writing. Current issues and lots of practical explanation of how the government worked to keep people pulled in. Heavy material bu..."

A fun show, Jeannine.

I liked HBO's John Adams. One of the few historical programmes that showed a complex event and the people in it, as shades of grey, rather than black and white stereotypes.

I used to be obsessed with 24. But it went down hill after season 6.

Also enjoy similar shows like The American Embassy, The Agency (CIA-themed), Homeland, and E Ring (about a Special Operations Task Force at the Joint Chiefs)

I am watching Bones and I think that this is a pretty great show. Tags: Forensic Anthropologist, Crime Scene Investigation, Lab work, FBI.
Bones has no unrealistic drama, everything seems very real and although obvisouly most of the cases are made-up for the show - it's still accurate if you want to know about forensics, because it's based on the creator - a forensic anthropologist - 's experiences.

I also like CSI-Miami from a time to time, if it's on when I turn the TV on.

Xena: Warrior Princess is another great show that combines fantasy and bits of historical ancient scene. Basically I adore it because Xena, for once, it mighty, strong-minded and can fight. Good storyline, too.

Interesting post Danna - thanks.

Still like The Good Wife but seems like something is missing since Will Lockhart was killed off. In some ways - it seems darker and more sinister sometimes.

Nashville was good - loved Homeland for awhile - loved West Wing when it was going strong and on television.

Seems like many of these shows have peaks and valleys - liked Downton Abbey too and then they killed off Matthew and that seemed flat afterwards.

I think you get vested in some of the characters and actors and anything upsetting that - topples the show at times.

Has anyone seen the first installment of Ken Burns' The Roosevelts?

Thoughts?

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-roose...

I recorded it. Plan to watch on the weekend.

I missed it on TV but watched it today on pbs.org. Very interested. I can't speak to accuracy but as with other Ken Burns documentaries it's very interesting. The first episode covers all the early years and growing up. Goes back and forth between Teddy, Franklin & Eleanor. Covers their parents and other siblings. I do recommend it.

The photo of Teddy and Elliott in the window as Lincoln's cortège passed by was amazing. That photographer couldn't realize there were two presidents in the photo. So far, so good, as it relates to the program.

I grabbed about 30 minutes and it is good. I like the approach of including TR, FDR, and Eleanor in one program.