What are some good serialised tv shows?!
Question: ive been watching some tv shows such as twin peaks, alias, heroes, 24 and lost recently, and have pretty much finished watching them all. im trying to find some other tv shows that are similar, in the sense of a long story arc, something i can follow for a couple of seasons. what are some good tv shows that maybe arent given so much attention? i have watched shows like supernatural and buffy, but personally i prefer shows that tell part of a story every episode, rather than standalone episodes. im partial to a bit of british tv, sci fi, anything thats similar to those shows i already mentioned. what would you recommend?
Answers: ive been watching some tv shows such as twin peaks, alias, heroes, 24 and lost recently, and have pretty much finished watching them all. im trying to find some other tv shows that are similar, in the sense of a long story arc, something i can follow for a couple of seasons. what are some good tv shows that maybe arent given so much attention? i have watched shows like supernatural and buffy, but personally i prefer shows that tell part of a story every episode, rather than standalone episodes. im partial to a bit of british tv, sci fi, anything thats similar to those shows i already mentioned. what would you recommend?
I know the frustrated feeling of getting to the end of a tv show and not knowing where to go next!!!
Unfortunatley most of the shows that follow a long story arc, that I have come across (and haven't been totally crap) are the ones you mentioned.
Based on the crimey side of things. Veronica Mars wasn't to bad, each epsidoe had its own story line but there was an underlying mystery to each season that was solved as well.
Prison Break is still pretty popular with the 1st season based on a US prison break, the 2nd season on the run and the 3rd on a Panama prison break.
The Unit was also pretty good, again with each episode standing mainly alone with an underlying plot.
Dexter is a mustsee though and the episodes tie together really well. I believe it is airing on showtime in the USA.
If your ok with the standalone episodes, but with shows that really connect with underlying stuff I would suggest, NCIS/NUmbers... big shows you probably already know of but they have a good story line. On the same note there is Third Watch and the animated prequel to 24 --> Day Zero.
On the Sci-Fi side there is Smallville, the original Stargate and Stargate Atlantis, Firefly, Jericho and Torchwood.
On a more drama-y side Las Vegas and Bones offer fairly interesting story lines.
Hope you find something new to enjoy!!!
dexter on showtime is kickass alone with californiacation. good choice with the twin peaks
Lost of course.
Before the creators of 24 did that show, they worked on a show called "La Femme Nikita". It was a darker, twistier spy story, featuring a kick-butt heroine (years before Alias). Anyway, while there were some stories which could be enjoyed on a stand-alone level, pretty much every episode had details relating to a larger picture. In fact, some of the events in the story arc at the end of season 2 were foreshadowed at the start of that season and had elements tracing back to the second episode of the first season!
Also, the majority of stories/episodes were part of over-arcing storylines that played throughout several episodes/a whole season/the entire series. This is especially true after the first season set-up the world in which the show exists. I'd say the third through fifth seasons were the most serialized. (Although, as I stated earlier, all of the seasons have continuing storylines and thematic elements, and there were several multiple-episode storylines, such as Grey/Choice in the first season and Hard Landing/Spec Ops/Third Person to start the second season.)
I highly recommend it, and you can find all five seasons on DVD.
If you are into Sci-Fi, I'd also recommend Battlestar Galactica. It does have stand-alone episodes, but, like La Femme Nikita, most of the episodes have elements that carry over. In fact, each time I sat down to watch it on DVD, I found myself watching multiple episodes because I just had to find out what was going to happen next.
The first two and a half seasons are on DVD now. The third season will be on DVD in March, and the fourth season will start on the sci-fi network at the end of March (recap-type stuff)/beginning of April (the actual first episode).
If you like escapist fun, I'd recommend the first season of Prison Break. The quality greatly deteriorated after that first season (although the second was still decent), but the first was a fun ride. It was very serialized, with the ultimate goal of escaping prison/proving Lincoln's innocence always at the forefront of any stories being told. I can't say that it is as complex as any of the shows you or I listed, but it was fun to watch. The first season is out on DVD (as is the second season, if you don't mind the implausibility/cheesiness that it started to descend into).
Most of the other good shows that I can come up with are more along the lines of Supernatural, in which there is an overall mythology, but each episode can be viewed independently, or ones like 24 and Lost that you already mentioned. I would definitely recommend checking out the first two shows I mentioned (and possibly the third), though.