what if no one's watching?

[sab]

[Poll #1078555]

And you'll tell me why, and where to nab 'em, in comments? Comments on Chuck (fun, ironic, entertaining!) noted and logged from previous post! But tell me -- is it precious? In love with itself? Tiresomely ironic?

Criteria!

Nothing where the crux of any given episode hinges upon who loves/fucks/betrays who (unless, in the case of Dirty Sexy Money, it's got a Peter Krause voiceover and KENNEDYS and LIONS and PARTIES on the BROOKLYN BRIDGE). Nothing with teenagers who don't have superpowers. In fact, nothing with teenagers that DO have superpowers. Nothing that loves itself so much it thinks it's the second coming of Judd Apatow. Nothing that is "Heroes" or "Lost."

ISO: Something with vaguely apocalyptic undertones. Something with angry and/or reluctant heroes. Something with smart ensembles. Something with funny people in it. Something with character arcs AND monsters of the week. Anything vaguely gay or in space is always an automatic winner. Something with thigh holsters. Something with pathological liars and incredibly awkward hilarious people.

ALSO, please go on and send me toward other, non-2007 series that you think I'll like, AND, preferably, the locations on the series of tubes where one might "acquire" said episodes. SRSLY, if it's not in my userinfo and you haven't heard me babbling about it, I probably haven't seen it. If it's British or Canadian, even better.

Comments

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

Mad Men.

Mad Men.

Mad Men.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Oh. Dude. Of COURSE. Yes. In fact, I don't know how I've come this far without it.

Going en busca de lo, RIGHT NOW.

THANK you, for reminding me that admen in New York are MY SPIRITUAL HOME!

[twentyfivepast.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how many of the above categories it fits into, but Twitch City is excellent and Canadian and full of awkward hilariousness and people who watch too much TV and don't leave the apartment. Ever. And Don McKellar, Molly Parker, and Callum Keith Rennie are in it, which is a pretty excellent trifecta, and McKellar wrote it, and you can download all the episodes here.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Heeeey, I have Twitch City sitting in my book of things to watch, waiting for projectjulie to come back to LA so we can watch it together! It and 30 Rock are lined up for our November viewing. Howzat?

YAY for Don McKellar, oh, oh, crazy lunatic.

[twentyfivepast.livejournal.com]

Excellent! And also Made in Canada is one of my favourite things ever to exist, but only its first season is on DVD for some reason, and I haven't seen it online anywhere. Lame.

And oh, he is marvellous. Have you seen Last Night? It's a great movie.

[helenish.livejournal.com]

We have really been enjoying Journeyman! They're doing some interesting things so far with his relationship - even though they really are in love and it's a good marriage, the time travel causes problems, and little cracks around the edges that don't just go away; it feels real.

It's not that the premise or the stories are so amazing, but somehow, so far, every week, it's managed to add up to more than the sum of its parts. And the opening credit sequence is cool.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm actually downloading the first ep of Journeyman as we speak. I mean, I always liked Quantum Leap... and also Reed Diamond. But seriously, this girl's name is MOON MUDBLOOD or whatever? Really, this is a name?

[ratcreature]

Journeyman is really growing on me. At first I was somewhat bored, but the relationships are great, not just the marriage and his son, but also how they both connect to the others, like his brother and the ex. And I really liked how not all her problems or stress are because of the time travel, like she has a job and commitments and such, the time travel just makes things worse. The time travel plots themselves however still leave me mostly cold, and that's strange, because I love time travel as device.

[copracat]

On second thoughts you should skip Moonlight because there's a "love triangle".

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

Chuck is FUN! chuck is Delightful!

Chuck has people I'd like to hang out with.

Chuck NEEDS YOU!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_abulafia/]

Burn Notice! Burn Notice. Choose Burn Notice. It's witty, in an understated sort of way; it's an ensemble piece; and, it's got an Irish girl. (A former member of the IRA, with whom the lead had a fling, and subsequently a playful on-again off-again relationship. But that's not the main draw! The main draw, as far as I'm concerned, is the main character, who is clever and enterprising and so, so droll.)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_abulafia/]

And this maybe invalidates all of my television opinions in the eyes of the adoring multitudes, but I also happen to think that, between Damages and Mad Men, Damages was by far the more engaging drama, and I say that as a committed hater of lawyer shows. At least on Damages, the unlikeable characters are interesting! (But your mileage may -- in fact, probably will -- vary!)

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Burn Notice is on the list! Along with Mad Men, Journeyman, and Life. The rest have gone the way of the dodo, or something.

I quite liked Damages and found it totally manipulative and twisty and compelling! But I think (here at ep 5) I might like Mad Men even BETTER; somethign about the misogyny and creativity all coming together, also all the smoking, and Elisabeth Moss!

[livii.livejournal.com]

Corner Gas! In its fifth season but hardly anyone knows it outside of Canada but they SHOULD because it is the most consistently hilarious comedy on TV EVER. I don't watch comedies, I don't watch sitcoms except some classic stuff, and I look forward to this show so much it makes me almost cry with glee. It's set in Saskatchewan and everybody is hilarious and it's sharp and fast and also really sweet and lovely.

cdntvonthedl seems to have loads of the episodes available for download, woot! It's a good site too if you're looking for all sorts of Canadian things, which is good.

[raz0rgirl.livejournal.com]

I've seen Reaper, Chuck & Burn Notice on your list, and of the three I'd recommend Burn Notice. Reaper and Chuck are both good but also kind of pedestrian and boring (though Chuck does have Adam Baldwin. And geeks. And Adam Baldwin being frustrated with geeks). Reaper just annoys me that Veronica Mars got canceled. We've seen it before, both in a serious way (Brimstone) and a silly way (G vs. E). And have I mentioned that CW canceled Veronica Mars? (/me = still angry about this and pretty much any new shows on the channel right now except for Gossip Girl, as much as I want to resist it.) Burn Notice is well written, paced well, has a great cast & is a summer show, which means fewer episodes to track down and no filler. Also Bruce fucking Campbell. 'Nuff said.

[jalfred.livejournal.com]

OMG, Burn Notice and Chuck are both so awesome it hurts.

[fourteenlines.livejournal.com]

Oh my God, Moonlight was so bad, I can't believe it's still on. It's dimly possible that it got better, but I don't see how, since it was the writing AND the directing AND the acting from all but the fannishly-recognizable actors (Logan Echolls and Madame de Pompadour and Marshall Flinkman.) Seriously, it seems like a formula that couldn't go wrong...but it went so, so wrong. I barely got through the first episode, and since there's been a notable lack of people talking about it on my f-list, I can't imagine it got any better.

[soundingsea.livejournal.com]

SO: Something with vaguely apocalyptic undertones. Something with angry and/or reluctant heroes. [...] Something with funny people in it. Something with character arcs AND monsters of the week. Anything vaguely gay [...] is always an automatic winner. Something with thigh holsters. Something with pathological liars and incredibly awkward hilarious people.

Have you tried Supernatural? It seems like it fits the vast majority of your requirements. :) No love triangles, no teenagers, no precocious cuteness... just smartass brothers trying to save the world from all the things that go bump in the night. Owes a lot to The X-Files & Buffy. Season 1 is pretty monster-of-the-weeky, and in Season 2 the arc really kicks in.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Eh, every summer when I'm bored I nab some of the previous seasons' Supernaturals and watch them for sort of boredom-stemming filler. I don't care about either of the boys and I think the writing's sort of stupid, but the monsters of the week and the general themes of demons and the supernatural are COOL and SCARY. I've probably seen most of the eps by now (except for the current season) but they just sort of skim over me and I forget them as soon as I'm done watching them. Still! Good for monsters!

[scrubschick.livejournal.com]

I cast my vote for Burn Notice. I really enjoyed the first ep of Chuck and it is still of the good but it seems to have gotten trapped in a formula. Oh, the horror! It's enjoyable but it's not great.

Burn Notice is great. It's smart and funny and occasionally angsty and has Bruce Campbell *rapture* and Sharon Gless, who plays his chain-smoking, hypochondriac mother. Any show with a chain-smoking, hypochondriac mother is worth watching. Good stories, great characters.

As for where to get the eps, I know iTunes has 'em if you want to pay $2 an ep. *shrug* Possibly you can stream them on USA?

[thevaliumsofalj.livejournal.com]

I have a lot of love for Life, Chuck, Reaper, and especially Burn Notice.

chuck is light and frothy - popcorny and fun. :D zack levi as a nerd herd computer guy who ends up getting all of the US's secrets embedded in his brain. his relationship with his sister, his best friend, and sarah - his cia handler) are fun. and of course, yay adam baldwin as a nsa spy man!

reaper is fun and the way the dialogue goes is the way we all talk to each other. Kinda buffy-esque in the way the friends interact. And Ray Wise (Laura's dad in Twin Peaks) is the devil.

Burn Notice I LOVE! it's faboo! spy that got burned by his on org and gets dropped back home with nothing trying to find out wtf is going on.

Life I really love too. Damian Lewis (yay band of brothers!) as a cop that got sent to prison for 12 years for a crime that he didn't commit and when he gets acquitted comes back to work as a detective. it's all about him coming back to life and the job. to survive, he had to fight and he got zen. it's awesome (and he's hot!) :D

Life & Chuck stream at nbc.com (or i can upload it for you :) )

Reaper I have and can get you a link to (or mail you a disc).

Burn Notice - i have some, but not all of the eps.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

I downloaded the first ep of Life and I have big hopes for it; my love for Damian Lewis got me through the whole Forsyte Saga so I imagine it can sustain me through this sort of show. It seems dark and psychological in the ways that I like. PLUS. POSH ROUGH AND GINGER!

[thevaliumsofalj.livejournal.com]

:D did you know that Claudia Black was originally going to play the role of his ex-wife? But, her pregnancy made it so that she couldn't do the role. they're going to have her come back for another role in the future.

5 eps in, it's pretty good :) not too formulaic..