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EW lists the Best TV Shows of 2016...so far

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S

Sho_Nuff82

Member
Better Call Saul was absolutely fantastic this year. Some of the best TV I've ever seen, and this is with the expectation of being a Breaking Bad spinoff.
 
V

Volimar

Member
DedValve said:
Im confused isnt roots a really old show? I remember my mom having the entire series on DVD years ago when I was a kid.
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It was a mini series a long time ago and a new mini series just came out. I haven't watched it but the old one made me cry as a kid.
 
Grizzlyjin

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Dennis said:
Game of Thrones is so far ahead of everything else that is on TV that I have to laugh at the naysayers.

Episode 9 and 10 of this season makes your favorite TV show looks like amateur hour.
Click to expand...

Those last two episodes have been really enjoyable, but no. Maybe in terms of production values but in writing...just no.
 
B

blainethemono

Member
AngmarsKing701 said:
Also, the lack of Black Sails on this list is an appalling affront to great TV. It may very well be the best show on TV. It's definitely the best show that apparently no one (other than my good friend Trejo) is watching.
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yeah, it sucks. Black Sails is probably the show i've had the most fun watching for the past 3 years

i was definitely impressed by how well-directed the last two episodes of Game of Thrones were, but that doesn't make up for the rest of the season being just as mediocre as the show has been for years now

and even those last two of GoT S6 are nothing compared to the last few episodes of Black Sails season 2. it's just not even close. the character moments and plotting/storytelling are far beyond anything the writers of Thrones have done so far
 
I

inm8num2

Member
My favorites so far:

1. Better Call Saul - exemplary plotting, pacing, and performances
(tie) The Americans - ditto ^
3. Silicon Valley - sharp, hilarious, and satirical
4. Penny Dreadful - beautiful, somber gothic horror
5. Daredevil - action-packed, resonant storytelling
6. Game of Thrones - back on track as characters and plots converge
7. Veep - fearless comedy, pulls no punches
8. Baskets - a tragicomedy w/ the laughs outweighed by deep sadness
9. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Dennis' road rage alone proves the gang still has it
10. Man Seeking Woman - absurd, insightful examination of relationships and insecurities

Honorable mention: Fuller House - stop looking at me like that, it promised cheese and delivered
 
Grizzlyjin

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Jarmel said:
I have no clue how someone can look at GoT's writing and say it's up to Better Call Saul's caliber.
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Or The Americans. Or Black Sails. Game of Thrones finished very strong this season, I'll admit that. But it's a lot of window dressing. The production values were off the charts, on par with films. There was nothing particularly above average with the writing though. The show lacks any amount of subtly. I love foreshadowing, but when you wink at the audience several times about things before they happen, it takes away any of the surprise.
 
V

Vyer

Member
This list is pretty bad. Kimmy is fine, but it's not better than either OJ show and no GoT, Veep or Sillicon Valley is just ridiculous
 
Vire

Vire

Member
I'll never understand the peerless praise for Better Call Saul. I guess being the "B-" version of the greatest show of all time is good enough.
 
R

reKon

Banned
Not having GoT is a laughable. Nothing is touching it on TV - no joke or exaggeration here.
It's the show you HAVE to watch if you're a fan, even more than other favorite shows you may have been watching this season. This season has been that good.

Also, not having Silicon Valley on that list is a crime as it's been also brilliant in humor and story. Why you hating on HBO?
 
S

Sober

Member
Jarmel said:
Have you watched it at all?
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When you come out the gate shitting on people's tastes that don't align with your own, who needs to watch it?

List is perfectly fine. I've watched maybe 5 or 6 of those seasons to end, definitely agree they deserve the praise.

Are there other shows out there that are just as good? Why yes there are. The article just chose to highlight these 10.
 
M

mariachi507

Member
If the Americans continues its trajectory of getting better each season it'll go down as one of the greatest ever. It deserves much better than 9.
 
M

Mindlog

Member
dave is ok said:
This person hates HBO

Silicon Valley, Veep and GOT are all better than most of that list - and Kimmy Schmidt had a pretty lackluster S2.
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Don't worry. Come award season everyone will be back to guzzling HBO and forgetting that FX even exists.

Black Sails would fit perfectly in FX's lineup for the same reason.
 
O

Octavianus

Banned
Chairman Yang said:
It basically IS Rome, with a grounded fantasy setting instead of a historical one, a focus on lots of main characters instead of two, a bigger budget, and more than two seasons. George R. R. Martin was convinced a Game of Thrones TV series could work in the first place because of how well HBO handled Rome, and wanted a show in roughly the same style. I'd honestly be surprised at anyone who loved one show but not the other.
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Yeah I kinda got that.
I guess I'm just not as into its setting as I am with Rome. I'm fascinated with ancient history and GoT simply hasn't been able to grab me in that way.
I didn't find myself caring about the locations or many of its characters and it doesn't help that a handful of said characters are portrayed some pretty lousy actors like Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke.

I shouldn't knock the show on that last bit too hard though as I'm usually pretty forgiving when it comes to acting... I don't know what it is about GoT that makes me as critical as I am about it but I can't help it.
I really want to like it. but eh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I haven't seen Kimmy Schmidt but I enjoyed the other shows on this list.

StoopKid said:
Has thrones reached that point where it's cool to shit on it?
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No but it seems like it's reached that point where some of its fans end up making a fool out of themselves when they find someone who doesn't like it.

Like this:
Dennis said:
Game of Thrones is so far ahead of everything else that is on TV that I have to laugh at the naysayers.

Episode 9 and 10 of this season makes your favorite TV show looks like amateur hour.
Click to expand...
 
D

~Devil Trigger~

In favor of setting Muslim women on fire
Dennis said:
Game of Thrones is so far ahead of everything else that is on TV that I have to laugh at the naysayers.

Episode 9 and 10 of this season makes your favorite TV show looks like amateur hour.
Click to expand...

you dont get it dude

Game of Thrones is popular now, its not cool to think its the best anymore.
 
R

Revolver

Member
I guess I need to give Lady Dynamite another chance. I only watched the pilot with my wife and after it was over we were both like, "what the hell was that?" I really like Maria Bamford and Ana Gasteyer though so I'll give it another go. Kimmy S2 was kind of ho-hum for me after that fantastic first season.
 
C

Chairman Yang

if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
Octavianus said:
Yeah I kinda got that.
I guess I'm just not as into its setting as I am with Rome. I'm fascinated with ancient history and GoT simply hasn't been able to grab me in that way.
I didn't find myself caring about the locations or many of its characters and it doesn't help that a handful of said characters are portrayed some pretty lousy actors like Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke.

I shouldn't knock the show on that last bit too hard though as I'm usually pretty forgiving when it comes to acting... I don't know what it is about GoT that makes me as critical as I am about it but I can't help it.
I really want to like it. but eh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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I totally understand not being grabbed by the setting at first. It's ridiculously well-developed, but if you haven't read the books, it takes time to absorb and appreciate.

Harrington and Clarke are weak links in the cast, no doubt. That said, they do improve a bit over time, and the secondary characters are often supremely well-cast and well-acted (including a decent number of Rome alumni...watch for Caesar and Brutus in later seasons).

I'd recommend giving the show a couple more seasons. I started with the books back in 2001, and found them just decent at first, then turned into a raving megafan once things clicked for me. The same thing might happen for you with the show.
 
O

Octavianus

Banned
Chairman Yang said:
I totally understand not being grabbed by the setting at first. It's ridiculously well-developed, but if you haven't read the books, it takes time to absorb and appreciate.

Harrington and Clarke are weak links in the cast, no doubt. That said, they do improve a bit over time, and the secondary characters are often supremely well-cast and well-acted (including a decent number of Rome alumni...watch for Caesar and Brutus in later seasons).

I'd recommend giving the show a couple more seasons. I started with the books back in 2001, and found them just decent at first, then turned into a raving megafan once things clicked for me. The same thing might happen for you with the show.
Click to expand...

Yeah seeing them was cool. I actually stopped shortly after Caesar
died
That was season 4 I think?
I've definitely given the show a chance. At this point I feel like I should just accept the fact that it's ok for me not to like a thing even when everything about it makes it sound like I should like it... Maybe I'll pick it up again when I have nothing else to watch.
 
C

Chairman Yang

if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
Octavianus said:
Yeah seeing them was cool. I actually stopped shortly after Caesar
died
That was season 4 I think?
I've definitely given the show a chance. At this point I feel like I should just accept the fact that it's ok for me not to like a thing even when everything about it makes it sound like I should like it... Maybe I'll pick it up again when I have nothing else to watch.
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Oh, I thought you only watched a season for some reason. Yeah, then you should probably drop the show. Maybe read the books instead--they feel a lot more historical and give everything a lot more time and detail.
 
B

blainethemono

Member
Octavianus said:
Yeah I kinda got that.
I guess I'm just not as into its setting as I am with Rome. I'm fascinated with ancient history and GoT simply hasn't been able to grab me in that way.
I didn't find myself caring about the locations or many of its characters and it doesn't help that a handful of said characters are portrayed some pretty lousy actors like Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke.

I shouldn't knock the show on that last bit too hard though as I'm usually pretty forgiving when it comes to acting... I don't know what it is about GoT that makes me as critical as I am about it but I can't help it.
I really want to like it. but eh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Click to expand...

Game of Thrones has this really weird vibe to me where the majority of the actors seem to be delivering their lines in a completely unnatural way, as if the director only had time to do 1 or 2 takes and then said fuck it

a few of the actors are immune to this - Liam Cunningham in particular is always great - but the overwhelming majority of it feels overacted as hell and offputting

if you're a fan of more well-written shows like Rome and Deadwood then i think you're good just skipping it and watching stuff like Black Sails and Penny Dreadful instead, tbh
 
R

reKon

Banned
Dennis said:
Game of Thrones is so far ahead of everything else that is on TV that I have to laugh at the naysayers.

Episode 9 and 10 of this season makes your favorite TV show looks like amateur hour.
Click to expand...

It's funny how true it is. They turned it the fuck up. Nothing else is even close right now, lol. I hope HBO continues that high budget rolling for the final seasons.
 
B

blainethemono

Member
this seems relevant

THE BEST SHOW ON TV IS ​CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND - By MATT ZOLLER SEITZ

In the past year, the best miniseries and anthologies alone — The Girlfriend Experience, Horace and Pete, Fargo, The Night Manager, American Crime, and The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story — were all pantheon-worthy, but they were disqualified from consideration here because this contest is for ongoing series with continuing story lines, which requires a more ambitious sort of long-form storytelling.

The ongoing series that I considered a head above the rest include Veep, Bob’s Burgers, You’re the Worst, Black-ish, Silicon Valley, UnREAL, Rectify, The Leftovers, Outlander, Orange Is the New Black, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Jessica Jones, Transparent, Better Call Saul, Bojack Horseman, and The Americans. But if I were to nominate only five, the ones that impressed me the most were Better Call Saul, The Americans, The Leftovers, Orange Is the New Black, and BoJack Horseman. I fixate on them because of their consistent excellence in every department, their ability to shift between wildly different modes with improbable grace, and their constant sense of surprise. Even when you feel as if you’ve gotten to know these series as well as you know a good friend, they throw you curveballs, not just from week to week but from scene to scene.

Better Call Saul, to name just one of my favorites, is an exquisitely crafted, highly atmospheric character study that dares to slow things down and give you time to really live inside of a moment, and it boasts an assortment of major and minor characters that both Preston Sturges and Elmore Leonard might have envied. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s grasp of psychology is comparably sophisticated, and I’d put its ensemble (as both characters and an acting troupe) against Saul’s, fully confident of an even matchup. But I give Crazy Ex-Girlfriend the edge because it explores its characters’ psychology and their world in a way you almost never see, alternating between satirical, sitcomlike interactions and original musical numbers that are not realistic, nor simply dreamlike, but expressionistic. There are many precedents on American TV for the likes of Better Call Saul, great as it is; there has never been anything like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and in my mind, singularity beats refinement of an existing template, no matter how clever and assured that refinement may be.

I keep coming back to the originality of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend as I match it against my other favorites. It does everything, or plausibly could do everything, that most other great shows do, and it also does things it would never occur to them to do, things that are rarely attempted in live-action because audiences insist on consistency of tone. This is why, for instance, I choose it over BoJack Horseman, an extraordinary series that, like CXG, invests sitcomlike situations with a mournful unease. BoJack’s visuals and situations are at once absurd and astonishing — there is a long tradition of this in so-called adult animation, and you can see family-friendly traces of it on Bob’s Burgers, too. But CXG achieves similarly eye-popping, heart-stirring effects in live action, where its performances make it more revelatory.
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E

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
Not putting Game of Thrones on a list of best TV shows.
aEBGtqz.png
 
W

WrenchNinja

Member
This is the same Kimmy Schmidt with the "minorities get mad over nothing" plotline and Tina Fey saying her jokes are too smart for people who criticise her show?
 
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