Binge-worthy television
"Binge-worthy" is my definition of TV shows that once you start watching, you just can't stop… So, in no particular order:
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- CreatorAaron SorkinStarsJosh CharlesPeter KrauseFelicity HuffmanCasey McCall and Dan Rydell are sports anchors and best friends on "Sports Night", a nightly cable program.Because it's wildly creative, is full of quirky characters, terrific dialog and outstanding performances and mostly because it's just good fun.
- CreatorRichard WarlowStarsMatthew MacfadyenAdam RothenbergMyAnna BuringThe streets of Whitechapel are the haunt of Detective Inspector Edmund Reid and his team of officers, who aim to maintain law and order in a place once terrorized by Jack the Ripper.It's dark, gritty and littered with characters that show we all have flaws and most of us don't hide them as well as we think we do.
- CreatorBarbara MachinStarsTrevor EveSue JohnstonWil JohnsonDrama series following a team of detectives who investigate unsolved murders using modern technology.I don't know what it is, but there's something about police procedurals that just doesn't seem to lend itself to that "binge-worthy" factor. So perhaps it's just THIS cast and THESE characters and the fact that all the cases they work are cold. I honestly don't know. What I can tell you is that the show went an unprecedented 8-9 seasons in Great Britain and that there is just something about it that is so compelling that, like a great book, it's hard to put down. Oddly enough, as I see it, it's the pilot itself that's the weakest episode.
And for the trivia minded: Trevor Eve is the real-life father of the gal who played Carol Wallace on Star Trek Into Darkness. One of the episodes of WTD shows him with his very young daughter who could actually HAVE BEEN his very young daughter! Just an FYI.
; - ) - CreatorJoss WhedonStarsNathan FillionGina TorresAlan TudykFive hundred years in the future, a renegade crew aboard a small spacecraft tries to survive as they travel the unknown parts of the galaxy and evade warring factions as well as authority agents out to get them.If you need an explanation, you'll never be a Browncoat.
Joss Whedon at his finest. - StarsEssie DavisNathan PageHugo Johnstone-BurtA female sleuth sashays through the back lanes and jazz clubs of Melbourne in the late 1920s, fighting injustice with her pearl-handled pistol and her dagger-sharp wit.Quirky, creative, extraordinarily well-researched and acted and just keeps getting better every single season. One of Australia's finest exports.
- CreatorRockne S. O'BannonStarsBen BrowderClaudia BlackAnthony SimcoeThrown into a distant part of the universe, an Earth astronaut finds himself part of a fugitive alien starship crew.Possibly some of the best science fiction ever seen on TV. It never settled for less from itself or it's viewers and it has the most memorable characters in the history of TV Sci-Fi.
One of the first shows to come to us out of Australia and I remember searching for it almost hysterically because I knew it was out there, wanted desperately to see it and couldn't find the network it was on. So I actually missed the first few episodes.
It was so unique and so groundbreaking that I see it as being the show that laid the groundwork for the BSG reboot that everyone regards so highly. And maybe BSG deserves all that regard. But for me, it will always be the crew of Moya cruising a distant part of the galaxy with one lost human on board. The best action, the best romance, the best humor and the truest of friendships ever seen on TV from such wildly varied backgrounds. It was bold and glorious genius laid out for us to feast on from week to week. - CreatorDavid MilchStarsTimothy OlyphantIan McShaneMolly ParkerA show set in the late 1800s, revolving around the characters of Deadwood, South Dakota; a town of deep corruption and crime.The "Ripper Street" of the American Wild West. It takes you into that world, doesn't let go and shows you how blurred the lines between good and bad really are.
- CreatorAaron SorkinStarsMartin SheenRob LoweAllison JanneyInside the lives of staffers in the West Wing of the White House.Another Aaron Sorkin (Sports Night) that was breathtakingly brilliant in it's first four seasons and requires complete attention to keep up with the banter and the issues it raises.
Additional: I'm only counting seasons 1 - 4 because Aaron Sorkin left at the end of 4 and it radically altered both the tone and the superiority. - CreatorEric KripkeStarsJared PadaleckiJensen AcklesJim BeaverTwo brothers follow their father's footsteps as hunters, fighting evil supernatural beings of many kinds, including monsters, demons, and gods that roam the earth.Season 5 is possibly the best single season in the genre and TV as a whole. You can't get there without going through seasons 1-4 but the season 5 finale is off the charts brilliant with the courage to give you the ending you knew had to come and never wanted to live with. I cried, I laughed, I loved those boys and the beauty of the ending (before it was rewritten to include a season 6 opening that the creator of the show never intended and wasn't going to be there for) is unparalleled in it's fearlessness.
Additional: Season 5 was obviously my favorite and in all honesty 6 - 10 I only watched half-heartedly. Having said that, it's possible that the show has gotten some of it's mojo back in some of season 10 and all of season 11 as I've seen of it so far. - CreatorJohn LoganStarsJosh HartnettTimothy DaltonEva GreenExplorer Sir Malcolm Murray, American gunslinger Ethan Chandler, scientist Victor Frankenstein and medium Vanessa Ives unite to combat supernatural threats in Victorian London.I can't think of another series that is as breathtaking, difficult to watch and utterly compelling than Penny Dreadful. It's a masterpiece of "period television" with the supernatural winding throughout it like a snake. Once you're in it's grasp, it will never let you go.
- StarsJack DavenportGina BellmanSarah AlexanderSix best friends talk about all aspects of sex and relationships on their never-ending quest to find true love.Steven Moffat at his most hysterical… Possibly one of the funniest shows ever made about the nature of relationships with one of the best casts in the business. If all you know of Moffat is Doctor Who, Sherlock or Jekyl (which is a BRILLIANT take on the Jekyll & Hyde story) you MUST absolutely MUST see what he can do with comedy!
It leaves Friends and Seinfeld in the dust… and yeah, I'm willing to take the heat on that call. Coupling is just that good. - CreatorRob GrantDoug NaylorStarsChris BarrieCraig CharlesDanny John-JulesThe adventures of the last human alive and his friends, stranded three million years into deep space on the mining ship Red Dwarf.It's Monty Python madness in space! Not a show for the masses perhaps but with virtually no budget and ridiculously awful sets, this show manages to be one of the most beloved, consistently funny and wildly outrageous shows in history. It may technically be Sci-Fi because it's set in space, but in truth it's just a head-long leap into over-the-top crazy with the best results in the world.
- StarsRachael StirlingJulie GrahamSophie RundleIn 1952, four women who worked at the wartime code-breaking centre, Bletchley Park, reunite to track down a serial killer.A surprising entry but included because the stories are outstanding as is the cast and also because it manages to keep you guessing on the edge of your seat with incredible ease and grace. It has astonishing depth and is a wonderful example of great storytelling.
- CreatorJonathan GlassnerBrad WrightStarsRichard Dean AndersonMichael ShanksAmanda TappingA secret military team, SG-1, is formed to explore other planets through the recently discovered Stargates.Because, in many ways, it's the flagship of modern day science fiction. It managed to be truthful, honor the US Air Force, tell compelling stories with terrific villains and still throw in a laugh or two, often at it's own expense. We brought these people into our homes each week and came to love them and their adventures as if it was ALL really happening. Star Trek may have actually come first but Stargate SG-1 remains first in the hearts of many in spite of Gene Rodenberry's work. For this fan, SG-1 will always still be out there, fighting the good fight. You can't really ask for more than that.
- CreatorJoss WhedonStarsSarah Michelle GellarNicholas BrendonAlyson HanniganA young woman, destined to slay vampires, demons and other infernal creatures, deals with her life fighting evil, with the help of her friends.Call me crazy but this show remains to this day, "The Little Engine that Could". Joss Whedon was incredibly unhappy with what was done with the movie screenplay and I would imagine was thrilled by the opportunity to put it out there the way it was meant to be. There was NOTHING this show didn't take on and I don't just mean "monsters" one and all. It had depth, humor, pathos and an intelligence and insight that went far beyond the HS kids whose lives it put up on the small screen. Shows don't make it for as many years as "Buffy" did without getting a lot of things very, very right. Besides, how can you not love a show called "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"… seriously?! ; - )
- CreatorTom KapinosStarsTom EllisLauren GermanKevin AlejandroLucifer Morningstar has decided he's had enough of being the dutiful servant in Hell and decides to spend some time on Earth to better understand humanity. He settles in Los Angeles - the City of Angels.This show is the best television the US has put out in YEARS. It has complex characters, a plot with both depth and meaning and it requires the viewer to PAY ATTENTION! Because if you're not paying attention then you've missed something important. There is no moment, no action or comment that isn't relevant to the storyline. Often in multiple ways and means. It's generated some of the most heated and intelligent discourse to be found on the boards of IMDb and is possibly the best binge-worthy show on my list.
- CreatorJ.H. WymanStarsKarl UrbanMichael EalyMinka KellyIn a not-so-distant future, a human cop and an android partner team up to serve and protect.Brilliant, touching, intelligent and intriguing. Karl Urban, in an effort to get the show a second season, said he won't come back to TV again if not in this show. It was a fair assessment. They worked 17 hour days, 6 days a week and it shows. I'd place this virtually neck in neck with Firefly for shows that were too good to be true and too good to last. Dear God, doesn't anybody but us geeks get it when TV is miraculous?!
- CreatorNoah HawleyStarsAmber TamblynJeremy RennerHarold PerrineauDarkly comedic drama focusing on the dysfunctional cops and staff of an infamous NYPD precinct.I like Jeremy Renner, a lot. So I took a look at his venture into serialized television that only managed to make it through one season. Which is just a damn shame. Most of it was cast spot on perfectly and the show managed to combine interesting mystery with wildly funny human quirkiness. There were characters in that show that we'll NEVER see the like of on television again. I know it didn't work for a number of people and for any number of reasons and I still don't care. I love the show. Enough to sit and watch it again and again and again. Which is why it's on my list!
- CreatorDavid MaplesStarsMary McCormackFrederick WellerPaul Ben-VictorU.S. Marshal Mary Shannon must hunt down witnesses for federal cases in the witness protection program while also managing a rather dysfunctional family and her own personal life.A show I love so much it's crossed over to more than one list! I'm aware that a lot of people didn't like it for whatever ridiculous reasons, (OK, to each his own) but I found it one of the best cast, ensemble pieces of TV ever put out there. I admire Mary's prickly sensibilities, Marshall's zen wisdom and Stan's "I AM THE MAN" cool, calm demeanor to be the epitome of binge-worthiness. Add in a periphery of supporting characters and you get a perfect "Bloody Mary" with all the requisite spices and veggies added in…. and NOTHING beats a great Bloody Mary! It's a cocktail and a food group! So In Plain Sight makes the list because it best compares to the best cocktail of them all. ; - ) Go ahead and call me crazy…
you know you want to! - CreatorSteven Long MitchellCraig W. Van SickleStarsMichael T. WeissAndrea ParkerPatrick BauchauA specially gifted man, with the ability to instantly master any skill, escapes from a secret testing facility and travels the country taking on different jobs and helping strangers while hiding from his kidnappers.I'm adding this as I finish up binging on S/4 which was the show's last season. I remember being really pissed at NBC who cancelled this along with Profiler, as they were both shows I enjoyed enormously but The Pretender in particular is a show that, more than almost any other I can think of, deserved to have had the time to wrap up it's "spider's web" of story lines. Turns out it was very, very smartly filmed. They were careful with their use of tech as they seemed to know it would be the thing that dated them the most and they poured a lot of time and effort into the creation of fascinating characters you couldn't help but become involved with. To this day I believe that "Emma Peele" (The Avengers) and "Miss Parker" (of Pretender) are the two smartest, most bad-assed, hottest women in the history of TV. They are also two of the most complex. Rewatching The Pretender really, genuinely caught me off guard because it isn't a show that leaps to the front of the mind when you think "Binge". But it turns out that maybe it deserves to be after all.