television!

[jazzfish]

I have a vague desire to drown myself in television. Which of these, o lazyweb, would you recommend? (ETA: I've seen none of these except the BSG pilot)

• Babylon 5
  
• Farscape
  
• Battlestar Galactica
  
• Avatar: The Last Airbender
  
• Something else entirely

(No poll because I'm more interested in the Whys.)

Not that this will be happening anytime soon: the next four months or so are kinda busy. But once we get settled I may do something like 'i made my wordcount for the week so i get another episode of X.'

Comments

[desfido]

As this is a Lazyweb request, I'm not going to bother reading the responses before writing my own, as I feel like being lazy in writing a response -- however, I did vaguely glance at some of them.

I have watched all of FarScape at least twice with most more (at least one of those viewings occurring during one of my extended bouts of illness over the last year), Avatar once (this summer), and am currently working my way through the episodes of B5 that I haven't seen (prior to this, I had seen all of S1 multiple times, the first half or so of S2 a time or two, some bits from season 4 a time or two, mostly from the end, and some random episodes from Season 5 somewhere between one and four times; I started w/ the beginning of season 2, and now am at like ep 7 or so of season 3). I saw the miniseries of BSG, and the first 2 or 4 eps or so, plus a random additional ep or two; I liked what I saw, and yet have never really bothered to catch up.


So, there's your context for the multiple choice part of the exam.

I therefore feel absolutely confident in saying that of the three series I've seen reasonable chunks of, they are all good, and all remain compelling. To more directly address your "Does B5 seem dated?" comment, while some special effects and whatnot seem dated, many of the issues do not, nor do the characters, and several of them seem *disturbingly* relevant; in fact, one thing *I* find interesting is that I now feel that my original reading of the correspondences of the major powers is probably closer to how many people new to it would view it than they would have at the original airings or when I first saw them (briefly, I feel that in many ways, the Centauri Empire is closer to being a stand-in for the US than the Earth Alliance). Many of the issues are still quite relevant.

Frankly, that kind of applies for some of the other shows as well -- I think that some of the first season FarScape effects are a bit weak (as are, frankly, some of the stories).

Basically, of the three I know well enough to comment on, Avatar is the one which is at the most consistent level of quality. FarScape and B5 both have some real stinkers, especially towards the beginnings of both. However, somewhere in the second half of the first season of each they get pretty damn good on the whole (where one will draw the line in that range seems likely to vary, while the fact that it'll be somewhere in there seems unlikely to vary).

I assume your inclusion of B5 is partially prompted by the recent posts on Making Light. Frankly, the discussion there is worth reading, and will likely be far better appreciated if you have the context of actually having seen the eps. So, I think that's one really solid argument for prioritizing that series.

Also, to my knowledge, B5, 'scape, and Avatar can all be streamed in their entireties on Netflix while BSG can't (well, except for the miniseries for Farscape); if it can, I may finally watch that one myself.

All three are high quality w/ good (voice) acting, interesting arcs and individual episodes, great characters, and at least some compelling visual style elements. So I really don't think you can go wrong. Farscape is probably the most morally complex and emotional, but they all actually go to some darker and unexpected places compared to a lot of other series.

I saw someone mention Dead Like Me. That's quite good as well, and well worth considering. But it's not the same sort of show as any of 3 I know well enough to comment on (which I'm going to abbreviate as T3IKWETCO from now on).

All of T3IKWETCO have some epic-ish aspects to the plot. DLM has a much... smaller perspective on things. That doesn't mean DLM is worse, or better, or anything. Just, if you're in the kind of mood where you'd be reasonably likely to get the most enjoyment out of T3IKWETCO, you're not likely in the kind of mood where you'll get the most enjoyment out of DLM and vice versa. Fuller's other shows, particularly Pushing Daisies, I could sort of see some "mood overlap". But not really DLM.

If, however, you *do* want some random other shows which are watching in their entirety, I'll list some shows which I feel I know enough of to reasonably suggest, even if *I'm* still working through some of them; if you care for me to elaborate more on them, I'll do so, presumably at a time when I'm writing up more on T3IKWETCO, since I have a lot more to say on each of them. In fact, I may finally get around to fucking posting again, just so I can fully comment out what I consider important about T3IKWETCO, since I have a feeling it's either going to be too long or awkward as a comment.

Random other shows to consider: Veronica Mars, The Wire, Wonderfalls, Boardwalk Empire.

If you go into more of why you are considering the ones you are (which perhaps you have, in the other comments, which I'll see after I read them :P ), I have plenty of other shows I can suggest. Because, well, I've watched far too much TV over the years, even if I haven't seen that much for the last half year or so :P .

[jazzfish]

Yeah, this is pretty much exactly what I was hoping to get, so, thank you! (It's also taken me a bit to digest.)

I think the thing to do is to start with Avatar, and then /probably/ try Farscape but more likely see what other people near me are interested in coming over to watch all the way through.

Other notes:

I included B5 because it has a big honking story arc, and because I played the card game for my last few months in B'burg and it intrigued me. The "i should watch tv" idea in general probably came from the ML posts, though.

I don't Netflix, at least not yet, so streaming isn't all that relevant.

I'm unfamiliar with Boardwalk Empire but it looks incredibly awesome. Is it still ongoing?

And for some reason I had written off VM. Possibly because of the ending? Possibly because of problems in later seasons? I don't remember. Meh.