I have a huge man-crush on David Simon's The Wire, which airs on HBO in the US, and this, its fifth and final season, is barreling its way into television history with a tumultuous, incisive series of episodes. The show has pushed into new directions this year, taking on the Media (via a fictionalized version of real newspaper The Baltimore Sun) as well as its usual targets of cops, criminals, and the drug trade, not to mention politicians, lawyers, the homeless, and family. Even better, it's even more piercing than usual in examining the lives of characters who've been with us since the beginning: McNulty, Lester Freeman, Kima, Bunk, Bubbles, and Omar. I very much want to see how Simon & Co. wrap things up, while at the same time I dread the demise of one of my favorite dramatic shows ever.
The third season of Lost was an increasingly confounding series of self-conscious mind games that quickly became tiresome, but the last episode provided hope, and this season has been a breath of fresh air: tight, dynamic episodes that actually tell parts of the story without getting bogged down in mental circling patterns.
These are the only shows I'm recording right now, to make sure I don't miss them; otherwise, the writers' strike has completely devastated the US television schedule, as far as I can see. Are you watching any TV these days, or is it strictly movies and DVDs?
Breaking Bad is by far the best new show on television. It's like Falling Down meets Weeds. Fantastic, engrossing show. It's on every sunday on AMC. WATCH IT!
Furthermore, I wait until these shows have finished their season, then get the DVD set and gorge on them. This type of multi-threaded narrative works better to watch it like you'd read a book, watch for a while, put down then pick up the next day, etc.
I started watching The Wire after the third season came out on DVD, and I finished them ready to get on with the fourth. I'd have to say that it's truly one of my (if not the one) all time favorite TV-series. The characters, the stories, the setting, the light use of music... A true masterpiece of our time.
New series (or others still going) that I'm watching would be Dexter (though season two didn't quite live up to the first one), House MD (mostly because of my "mancrush" on Hugh Laurie since the days of Blackadder), Weeds (I haven't seen season three yet, but as it's still on going I'll include it), and most recently, Pushing Daisies. A weird and funky looking series (especially design wise) about a guy with quite the power... look it up. And it has Chi McBride in it! Thats a winner in it itself^^ (if you've seen him in series like Boston Public, and movies like Undercover Brother and Cradle 2 the Grave, you know what I'm talking about). I know the movies I mentioned aren't that good to say the least, but the character he there plays is somewhat what you can look forward to in Pushing Daisies.
Ditto on the Wire. Awesome series. Only its format is confounding to newbies. I'm not complaining, though. Send the newbies to the DVD sets.
Still watching Lost. The only thing the girl and I can watch.
Sarah Connor the Terminator TV series is surprisingly entertaining. Since the last episode where they some time going back and forth between the apocalyptic future and present day I've elevated it from "not-sucking" to "recommended".
Haha i thought i was the only fan here.my favorite Character is Bunk,especially when Mc Nulty came up with his 'serial killer plan.i couldn't stop laughing everytime he came on screen.
Omar's character has the most entertainement value.
My only complaint is that the first episodes of a few seasons started really slow,to introduce someone or something,but the climaxes made up for that.What a great achievement in show history.Five seasons of high quality .And let's hope the finale will be unforgettable.
The Bunk is one of my favorites, too. But I'm always cheering Omar on.
My heart goes out to Bubbles, and all the corner boys from the old Barksdale crew, and the kids in Prez's class. The fourth season dealing with the school system was extremely heartfelt and affecting.
I have not seen any of the fifth season. I will probably do my customary ritual of waiting until the complete season is on DVD, and then sitting down and watching it all at once, to the exclusion of everything else in life. Then when it's done, I watch it all again.
I don't really do TV, but The Wire is one of the few shows I make an exception for.