What's the Best TV Series to Rent?, page 1

Majorly seconding Arrested Development, Breaking Bad, Always Sunny, Venture Bros, 30 Rock (first two seasons) and X-Files (up until about season...7 or so).

The greatest show I have ever seen, it even kind of ruined other shows for me, is The Wire. You have to give it a few episodes, because it starts a little slow and it doesn't hold your hand. There's a lot of characters and it takes a few episodes to get to know who is who. Once you get into it, you're IN and you'll probably devour the five seasons as quickly as you can.

The most superficial way to describe it is "cop show," but that doesn't do it justice. The good guys have major flaws, the bad guys have redeeming values, parallels are draw between the corrupt systems running Baltimore and the gangs running the street. Every character is completely round and everything (well...almost everything) is realistic. Each season has different themes and the characters find themselves in different positions over time. The characters are so real that you'll be bad for them, happy for them and are upset when things happy to them even though they're fictional.

I can't recommend it enough. The last season is a little lacking, but the rest knock it so far out of the park it's ridiculous.

Other good shows:
Carnivale- A little slow, confusing and according to the creator the series got cancelled before the story really even started. Still, I loved it. It's a story of magic, mystery and good vs. evil set during the Dustbowl.

Firefly- Great sci-fi show, funny and action packed.

Generation Kill- Based on a really great non-fiction book. It's about the first marines going in the current Iraq War.

Burn Notice- Entertainment, pure and simple. No big story arcs, no heavy drama, just a fun show. It's about a burned spy and his friends doing jobs in Miami. Pretty filled with action and Bruce Campbell provides a lot of humor, plus every episode has neat little spy tricks.

Dexter season 4- Dexter is a decent show (though I was bored throughout most of season 3), but during season 4 it went into the stratosphere thanks mostly to John Lithgow. You could probably watch just season 4 and not be confused, though some things won't have the same impact.

Flight of the Conchords- The fictional adventures of a real-life band from new Zealand. Funny and usually the episodes have great songs.

We're basically living in the golden age of television where there's so much good stuff out there.

[edit on 8/4/2010 by SaulGoodman]