Small screen suggestions?

[mrissa]

I watch a bunch of TV to get me through my workouts, and right now I don’t have a default thing of the right length that I’ve got momentum on, so I thought I would take the opportunity to ask for recommendations. I’ll list a bunch of things I’m in some sense “currently in the middle of,” and you can either suggest other stuff you think I might like or else ask what I like about the things I’ve listed. I am not current on anything: I watch DVDs or Netflix, so “current season” stuff will be spoilers for me.

Oh, and: I am a tough sell for sexual violence. It’s not a hard, fast line for me–for example, I watch Criminal Minds–but it’s pretty easy to hit my “this is no fun any more and I’m taking my marbles and going home” threshold on things like a certain popular soapy historical drama this season.

Shows I’m watching: Arrow, Avatar: The Legend of Korra, The Bletchley Circle, Elementary, The Good Wife, House of Cards, Inspector Lewis, The Killing, The Mentalist, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Ripper Street, Scandal, Sherlock, White Collar.

I am not at all limited to English language stuff, but the pacing of 22-minute episodes has to hit me right–some anime does and some doesn’t. Almost no live-action English-language stuff does. 55-minute shows can work, but they frustrate me because they’re pretty much exactly the wrong length for what I need for workouts. 40-to-44 are great, as are the 80-to-90 blocks.

Thoughts?

Originally published at Novel Gazing Redux

Comments

[bummble.livejournal.com]

If you're watching Lewis, I take it you have seen the series that it is a continuation of, Morse?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I have not yet! It's on my list to try. Possibly even tomorrow. But Endeavour is a prequel, so I'm in the odd position of watching the prequel and the sequel but not the original so far.

[sillylilly-bird.livejournal.com]

I LOVED Bletchley Circle! And I love Mireille Enos!
The only broadcast TV I watch is PBS, and that's only sometimes. I'll add more when I can access my Netflix [am at work].

Stuff I'm watching/have watched/am rewatching w/o commercials [YAY!!]
Murdoch Mysteries
Archer
Burn Notice
Secrets of the Dead series - actually LOTS of documentaries - mostly science, history, crime, archeology
Grimm
Person of Interest
Homeland
Lost Girl
X Files
Buffy/Angel now complete on Netflix
Pretender
I've heard excellent things about Wallander
The IT Crowd is hilarious
Coupling is another good British one
Black Books
Hex

[sillylilly-bird.livejournal.com]

Definitely add Morse into the queue. Good stuff.

[bummble.livejournal.com]

I like Lewis a lot, I'm not too fond of Endeavour; the stories dragged a bit too much for me.

Morse is probably a bit draggy and dated as well sometimes (I seem to recall some lovely '80s outfits, ahem) but it's still the one closest to my heart.
And I love how the relationship between Morse and Lewis evolved, and how it is sort of mirrored / echoed in Lewis.
There are some absolutely heartbreaking moments in Morse (in a good way).


Ah, and this post made me finally google the series I've been meaning to look up: Prime Suspect, with Helen Mirren.
I remember that one as very very good, but of course it's been ages since I watched it.

On a much sillier, but quite entertaining note, perhaps the Jonathan Creek series?

[bummble.livejournal.com]

I really like the British Wallander series!

I did not like the original Swedish series at all - but that probably also had something to do with needing to read the subtitles when it's in Swedish, which interfered with my knitting.

The British Coupling I thought was quite funny (and we will not say a WORD about the US remake.... *shudder*).

[sillylilly-bird.livejournal.com]

The Prime Suspect series' are brilliant. They hold up quite well.

[sillylilly-bird.livejournal.com]

I hadn't even known there was a remake... WHY?????

I got the recommendations for Wallander from 2 different people who both understand Swedish, so the subtitles weren't an issue for them....

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I loved Wallander (the British version) until the moment I did not. I just had a moment of No. It was just a moment where it crossed over from grim--and oh, the whole thing was grim! it was a Swedish mystery series! it was supposed to be grim!--into No. And then I was done.

Shame. I could really use another series. And I loved it while I was loving it, I really did. But there we are.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I like watching things in the Scandinavian languages and stretching my understanding a bit, so I will probably try that.

[bummble.livejournal.com]

Ah, good, thanks!
I'll see if I can find them then.

As for more recommendations; I'm never quite sure who will like it and who won't, but maybe The League of Gentlemen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_League_of_Gentlemen)?

It's sort of crude (very crude actually, nothing 'sort of' about it) and quite horrific at times (one of their inspirations were the Hammer horror movies apparently) but I thought it was quite funny and times, and sometimes even oddly moving (but maybe that is mostly because I have a weakness for men in drag, no matter how crude...).

[bummble.livejournal.com]

I completely understand, I've had that with other series.
Sometimes I just... stop watching, can't be bothered, without being able to put my finger on it.

Ooooh, how about Luther?
Idris Elba being all broody in the lead. A bit grim as well, and quite violent quite often (and really, the plotlines are a bit silly at times), but it does suck you in!
The female boss-of-Luther (I don't know Dutch police ranks, let alone British ones) from the first season was one of my favorite supporting characters - lots of great acting in the supporting roles overall, actually.

[jenett]

I just finished Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries last night (well, season 1) and loved them. (Though the ways in which they are different from the books.)

I am fairly certain you've seen Foyle's War, but if you haven't, highly recommended. I also went through all the Poirot episodes on Netflix this fall, and found them very soothing. (High production values, and they have a rhythym to them.)

Midsommer Murders has the advantage of also being interesting without being at all demanding, and there are a bunch of seasons on Netflix. (Murders and other crimes in English villages. There's some degree of Look, How Quaint, but the scenery's lovely, and I have an obvious fondness for that particular genre of mystery.)

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. We seem to watch television which is orthogonal, as I mostly watch short comedies. I should note that The Muppet Show is available on DVD and is in the 40-minute episode range. My only current drama is Hannibal which is magnificent but does not in any way strike me as a you show.

It's probably the wrong episode length, I haven't checked, but Parks and Recreation is a delightful witty sweet show in which they keep setting up situations which look as though they will be comedy of embarrassment and then everyone does something sensible and funny instead. It should be started with season two, as season one was when they thought they were making a clone of The Office, and then they realized that wasn't working and basically scrapped everything and started over.

Again, I haven't checked the episode length, but have you already seen Twin Peaks? It is a classic for a reason, and the reason is that it is completely insane but also wonderful. Television from literally twenty years ahead of the time it originally aired.

[guppiecat]

I really like Gilmore Girls for this. 45min and stunningly good writing.

MASH without the laugh track is also worth a try.

If comic stories are OK, the DC universe has some great shows ... Batman Beyond, Justice League, Barman The Animated Series, they're all surprisingly good.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

I love Lewis! I'm currently deciding whether I want to keep going with Person of Interest--but the first two seasons were great. When Netflix gets Sleepy Hollow, I think you should try it--it's completely ridiculous in many ways, but I find the two leads utterly adorable.

There was a BBC series with Diana Rigg as a rich mystery-solving widow in the 1920s. Mostly I liked the clothes, but the mysteries were OK too.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Mrs. Bradley's Mysteries! Netflix has exactly one of those. I adored it. I would watch all the rest of them that I could get. For the clothes and the Diana Rigg, but yes, for the mysteries too.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

M*A*S*H is sadly in the 22-minute range. More like 24-26 because commercial breaks were shorter then, but still: I have tried watching it, and I do love it, but the pacing is all wrong for my workouts, alas. We have all the DVDs, though. Classic for a reason.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I do love The Muppet Show, but the pacing of a variety show is not at all workable for workouts, alas.

It looks like P&R is the wrong ep length, but that's useful to know about seasons; I might try it for not-workoutness.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Oh, Netflix. I'm sure I saw more than one episode! Streaming is lovely, but when it means they can't get the rights and don't bother replacing the DVDs I am irritated.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I love love love Foyle's War. Love. I have every hope that there will be another set now that they are doing Foyle's Cold War basically.

Anime

[nojay.livejournal.com]

Which sorts of anime do you enjoy? Romances, giant robots, screwball comedy, slow puzzle stories, scenery porn? I can recommend some recent series which you can maybe track down on Crunchyroll or Netflix if I have an idea what you like and what you've already seen.

Re: Anime

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Giant robots, swords, sweet stories of horrible people finding each other (okay, that's mostly just His and Her Circumstances), random magic, screwball comedy without too many panty jokes....

I have liked Twelve Kingdoms and Fruits Basket and Honey & Clover and Evangelion and Kenshin and Full Metal Alchemist and...stuff that everybody knows about mostly? I think? alecaustin will know. Oh, I love Last Exile. I need to watch LE Silver Wing.

[eeyorerin]

I am quite enjoying Leverage on Netflix streaming. There is violence but I have not seen sexual violence. I think each episode is around 42-44 minutes.

I am also enjoying old-school Mission Impossible; all seven seasons are on Netflix as well. Those episodes tend to be around 48 minutes, though.

[shark-hat.livejournal.com]

All old English mystery series because my mind has gone blank on anything else: the 1980s Miss Marple (with Joan Hickson); Campion; the Inspector Alleyn mysteries? The Holmes series with Jeremy Brett- they did all the short stories and I think there's only one that isn't good (Sussex Vampire; they did really odd things to the plot to make it more of a spooky sexual psychodrama for some reason). I think that of the two available Lord Peter Wimsey versions it's supposed to be the Ian Carmichael one that's better, but I'm not sure. They're all 45 minutes or longer per ep.

Oh, how about Spaced? I think it's 24-minute episodes- anyway, it was made for the lesser UK amount of ads. Sitcom, Jessica Stevenson [**hearts**] and Simon Pegg wrote and starred, it's geeky and sweet. (I think everything else I love is the wrong length, doesn't seem to fit with your other preferences, or isn't available in the US. Though if you *do* have a multi-region DVD player, maybe have a look at Dinnerladies, which is a mostly-female-cast ensemble sitcom- BBC, so 27 minutes.)