Series Madness

Since tomorrow is officially the "Christmas Season", I thought I'd put my dubious expertise in TV addiction to good use. If you or someone you know likes great TV, I figured I'd recommend some of my favorites that have officially ended so you can purchase the whole damn thing if you want.

Band of Brothers: HBO's awesome 10-part miniseries following Easy Company from D-Day through the end of WWII. Absolutely amazing and addictive. It's also now available on Blu-Ray.

The Wire: For five seasons, HBO's Baltimore-centric series was top of my weekly watching. From the first season that was a cops vs. drug dealers through the last season that focused on the dying newspaper industry, the writing was the best on TV. I think I've done a previous blog on it last year. One of it's great qualities is that major characters in later seasons were present in prior seasons in bit or nearly cameo parts. Second viewings lead to many "Oh look, there's X. Cool." And many of the characters themselves are positively iconic. Omar Little is one of my favorites.

Farscape: Tragically canceled after only four seasons (despite having been renewed for five after season 3), John Crichton's exploits across the galaxy were science fiction at it's finest. Deep mythology, tragically flawed characters, and some of the freakiest Muppets you've seen combined with great writing and humor. It was just recently released in a complete series collection. I want it. Badly.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Yes, it's goofy and cheesy, but it thoroughly kicks the ass of all the recent vampire-related drivel. Season 6 kinda blew despite the brilliant musical episode "Once More, With Feeling". It's one of my few favorite series that actually reached a planned conclusion, so you get a feeling of closure.

Angel: A darker spin0ff of Buffy, it got better as it went along. It's last season was it's best and it's series finale absolutely kicked ass.

Lonesome Dove: I missed this when if first aired back in the late '80s, but when I finally saw it, I loved it. Recently remastered, it still holds up.

Fawlty Towers: The best British comedy series I've ever seen. John Cleese's post-Python hilarity. The Rat episode is a classic and always cracks my mother and myself up.

Black Adder: My second favorite British comedy series. I used to watch these all the time during college on whatever Comedy Central was back in those days. Rowan Atkinson is truly great in all four seasons. The first series isn't my favorite, but it's still quite funny. The subsequent series are much better. Available recently in a complete series set.

The Shield: F/X's rogue cop series was spellbinding from first episode to last. Vic Mackey and his Strike Team of crooked cops in a crime-ridden L.A. district was nigh on Greek tragedy over the course of seven seasons. Once the Armenian money train plot kicks in, all else is tainted by it. The guest roles by Glenn Close, Forest Whitaker, and especially Anthony Anderson made a great drama even more riveting.