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idun
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http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/03/14/classic-tv-dramas_n_6868676.html?icid=maing-grid7|uk|dl16|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D337039

This article asks if anyone would confess to not watching one episode of any of the following ten. And it did amuse me, as I scored 1/10.

The only one I have watched was Sherlock, from the top 10. Of things not in the top 10, I have seen House and The Fall, but not The Killing, which I think I might try and watch, the others don't really interest me.



I remember putting on the very first episode of Game of Thrones, and it was on quite late at night and there were these very creepy white faced children, and I don't like that, scares me when there are creepy kids or dolls, so I turned it off.

I haven't watched lots of other things, including Kings of Anarchy or the addictive,  Breaking Bad, which friends have watched all in one go and been 'hooked', which is, as they have explained, what it is about anyway.

I have watched two series of the american House of Cards, in french though, excellent they were.

I watch tv, but I do like Docs best, I suppose.

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Breaking Bad was excellent and a must watch as is OZ. I have finished season three of House of Cards a few weeks back. Quite liked The 100 as well because I like a bit of SF stuff. The series Bosch is also good and I liked it because I read the books (by Michael Connelly). The problem is that some of these series are only available via streaming. Boardwalk Empire is another good series. I Read somewhere a while back that whilst the Jack Reacher film as a bit of a failure (whose bright idea was it to cast Tom Cruise as Reacher) that they are going to have another go but as a TV series.
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I watch a fair bit of TV in UK, none in France apart from when in hotels overnight.

However, apart from 1 episode of Downton Abbey (partly filmed in Basildon Park NT house that I watched soon after visiting there), which I thought was poor, and two episodes of Missing, which was OK but I didn't watch more, I only know the names of a few of the others - probably mentioned on the radio, TV etc.

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We've seen Sherlock, House and the West Wing.

The West Wing is primarily a vehicle for the liberal media in the US to try to educate the population that not everything is black and white in politics and that simple solutions to complex situations don't work - very entertaining but occasionally bordering on being sanctimonious.

Sherlock - occasional annoying bits (from a stylistic point of view only) but generally excellent.

House ... very good but the formula started becoming a bit strained the longer the show lasted.

I have seen odd episodes of some of the others but never got into them. "Lost" was extremely over-hyped IMHO - and from what I have read it seems to have been a one-series storyline that then was recommissioned for a second and subsequent series which seem to have completely lost the plot somewhere along the way. After a couple of episodes of the first series I really couldn't care what happened - all the cast could have been eaten by poor-quality special-effect giant lobsters and I wouldn't have cared at all. 

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1. Sopranos - got and seen all 6 series (86 episodes)

2. Mad Men - never seen it.

3. Broadchurch - never seen it.

4. The Wire - got and seen all 5 series (60 episodes)

5. The Walking dead - do me a favour !

6. Sherlock - never seen.

7. Game of Thrones - seen it up to season 4, got a bit bored of it.

8. Lost - watched the pilot and that was more than enough for me.

9. Downton Abbey - no way !

10. Luther - watched but mostly on the strength of Idris Elbas performance in The Wire.

11. The West Wing - caught the odd episode but it didn't grab me.

12. Peaky Blinder - seen all.

13. The Missing - suffered it to about episode 5 or 6 then gave up.

14. House - OK in the beginning but it got too hackneyed.

15. 24 - ditto, up to about season 5 but to got too formulated.

16. The Fall - watched all and looking forward to the upcoming second series.

17. Mr Selfridge - never watched.

18. Breaking Bad - nope, reading the plot ut me off.

19. Nordic dramas but only if in English, can't be doing with subtitles.

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1. Sopranos - Watched it all. Twice. 2nd favourite of all time.

2. Mad Men - All to date. Just the second part of series 7 to be aired yet.

3. Broadchurch - Both series watched

4. The Wire - Watched it all. Twice. Best series ever, imo. Genius!

5. The Walking dead - Never heard of it

6. Sherlock - Seen all so far

7. Game of Thrones - Seen all. Itching for new series

8. Lost - watched all episodes but it's still rubbish!

9. Downton Abbey - Seen 'em all.

10. Luther - Yes, all watched.

11. The West Wing - Watched all. Twice. 3rd fave.

12. Peaky Blinder - Not seen it yet

13. The Missing - ploughed through it but don't know why.

14. House - I'm a surgeon. It's compulsory viewing. Realistic? Get real!

15. 24 - seen them all.

16. The Fall - First series good; second series not.

17. Mr Selfridge - never watched.

18. Breaking Bad - Tried 1st 2 episodes. Might try again.

19. Nordic dramas - All series of The Killing, Borgen and The Bridge.

I'm surprised the list didn't include:

Deadwood

Six Feet Under

Prime Suspect

ER

Life on Mars

Engrenages
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Not surprising from the man with multiple satellite dishes and recorders, have you ever watched any French TV?

Here speaketh the man who has recently fallen off the wagon, by getting a Sky box and who no longer watches enough French TV.

Even though I do now Watch UK TV I never Watch series, in fact never have done, it seems a sort of addiction really, I dont want to have to be in front of the box at a certain time to see the next episode, OK I know that many of you record. The same goes for soap operas, I regularly watched Brookside in my early 20's then broke the habit and have not watched one episode of any soap of any description for 3 décades, there's no point, I wont know any characters or what the story line is.

On the other hand I have 3 fixed rendez-vous's in the week for sports classes and a more flexible one on Sunday mornings which are far more of an addiction than me ever wanting to see anything on the television.

I will look forward to the latest book or film in a series that I have enjoyed but the books I do in my time and the films I only Watch if they are on, I never know what is going to be on the television that to me would  be restrictive.

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I watched Deadwood, but missed quite a lot of the first episodes, excellent cast and I enjoyed it. Strange how, after winning many awards, it was just cancelled, I did wonder if the Hearst family got it stopped....... I suppose that I'll never know.

I often wonder what we mean by soap operas. I love watching Monkey Life and Monkey World, a doc, certainly, but an everyday story of apes really, so is that a soap. And I was brought up on Mrs Dales Diary and The Archers, aren't they soaps too?

There are sometime things for me that were a must watch, Rome being one of them. I remember I, Claudius too, and we didn't even have a tv then, but I used to watch it at a friend's who was also as enthusiastic as I was about it.

I unashamedly like Dr Who. And to my amazement, enjoyed Merlin, didn't think I would, but did.

I remember a good friend writing to me about a great new series that had started, Eastenders, my friend had a very stressful job and thought it was great, a big glass of wine and watch that and she felt relaxed. Never got away with it myself, and she doesn't watch it now, but we all have our reasons for watching stuff don't we.

Personally I think I would be losing the plot if I ever watched something like Big Brother, or The Only Way is Essex, but lots do, we are all so different aren't we.

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I rarely listen to the Archers these days, but heard the start of it on the other day. The older Grundy's sounded the same, but I think that it was supposed to be Pat Archer, and she had lost her NE accent? Very confusing really and I switched to Classic  FM instead.

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[quote user="Chancer"]

Even though I do now Watch UK TV I never Watch series, in fact never have done, it seems a sort of addiction really, I dont want to have to be in front of the box at a certain time to see the next episode, [/quote] We're the same. Last night there was a new series starting, but we both said that there was no way we'd commit to the next 6 weeks at that time.

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Don't you even watch documentary series either?

The most memorable I watched was a couple of years ago about bird flight, I remember the program, just not the name, absolutely amazing program, but over several weeks. I now have a respect for budgies that I never ever in my entire life, thought I would have.

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Why not just record it? The problem I find is a lot of stuff is on at 21:00 GMT so thats 22:00 CET for me and by 22:30 I am off to bed. I just set the recorder to record the whole series then watch it when I want to watch it. Alternatively with American series they are often on weeks before the UK so I just download them to watch. Trouble with that is spoiler alert. My mate likes The 100 and I have seen the whole of season three already so I have to be careful what  say. I like The Big Bang as well and thats in front of the UK.
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We record everything we want if it is on after 10pm our time, or if we are going to be out.  Then I have lots to keep me sane while doing things like the ironing!  I'm quite happy to say I scored 10/19 on the list.  Like JSKS I am BURSTING for Series 5 of Game of Thrones to be screened.

Chrissie (81)

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Until spending evenings on the wooly one's sofa, I could safely say I have never watched any.

However, as he was addicted to any American series showing on French TV, I had to watch a lot of House (mostly in French!).

But then I discovered Sherlock, and was really hooked on that.

We acquired DVD set for Mad Men, and avidly watched all available series that way.

My brother lent us every series of Breaking Bad, but we just didn't get it, so sent it back un viewed after series 1.

Enjoyed series 1 of Broadchurch, but less so series 2. (UK tv accessible now in BananaWorld!)

Like you, idun, I much prefer a good documentary. That said, we were hooked on Wolf Hall and on the new series of Spiral. And I do enjoy Big Bang Theory.

Angela
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[quote user="Loiseau"]I had to watch a lot of House (mostly in French!).[/quote]

You did find the button to change the audio from French to English, didn't you?

(Although I agree that we found that some episodes of American TV series were broadcast only in French - usually for some reason the 4th of a chain in an evening - haven't a clue why). And "Stargate" always seemed to be broadcast in French only.

Mind you, it was a bit strange to hear the French-dubbed "Montalbano" ...

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[quote user="Hoddy"]If the Archers counts as a soap, I confess a life-long addiction, although I've been losing interest lately.

Hoddy[/quote]

The new editor has been on a re-casting spree and half the younger cast all sound the same. It's often not possible to figure out if it's Charlie, Tom, or some other passing through character unless the context makes it clear. Same with the younger women - all drama school characterless voices. And somehow, a serious flood affecting only Ambridge when the rest of the country is comparitively dry just doesn't work on radio.

But anyway...

1. Sopranos - watched a few episodes of a few series... meh

2. Mad Men - watched and enjoyed the first few series on BBC but then it switched to a pay-for channel.

3. Broadchurch - saw some of both series... meh. Not as clever as the writer thought it was.

4. The Wire - tried hard but couldn't warm to the first series

5. The Walking dead - just another zombie show... watched a couple of episodes but... meh

6. Sherlock - seen them all, first couple of series great but the last one... meh

7. Game of Thrones - watched the first series on DVD, read first 4 books, will catch up with the rest of it one winter (and winter is coming...)

8. Lost - saw the first series and liked but it's not been on fta since, probably will never watch

9. Downton Abbey - a lovely period costume comedy with bits of drama, probably seen all episodes

10. Luther - saw an episode, didn't appeal

11. The West Wing - adored it, have watched it several times. Particularly good distraction if in hospital for long periods

12. Peaky Blinder - didn't watch, didn't appeal

13. The Missing - didn't watch, might do if it is repeated

14. House - watched some episodes of several series. Good but got too soapy

15. 24 - dvds, watched all series. Mindless amusement.

16. The Fall - watched both but second series not a patch on the first

17. Mr Selfridge - didn't watch, didn't appeal

18. Breaking Bad - haven't seen it at all but would try it out

19. Nordic dramas - love them, and Spiral (Engrenages) Not keen on Montalbano.

Am currently very fond of Person of Interest (S3, TF1, not in VO which is annoying), am enjoying Indian Summer, not bothering with Banished. Loved Les Revenants but don't believe the new series (filming now) will be as good as the first. I love The Good Wife.

I do like tv - it's popular culture and though I watch no soaps (can't stand manipulative melodrama with nasty people and bonkers plots). Few series stand the test of time but I think The West Wing is one of those - my desert island choice.

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[quote user="Pickles"][quote user="Loiseau"]I had to watch a lot of House (mostly in French!).[/quote]

You did find the button to change the audio from French to English, didn't you?

(Although I agree that we found that some episodes of American TV series were broadcast only in French - usually for some reason the 4th of a chain in an evening - haven't a clue why). And "Stargate" always seemed to be broadcast in French only.

Mind you, it was a bit strange to hear the French-dubbed "Montalbano" ...

[/quote]

Can you really do that now on an ordinary tv, switch language as you are watching a program they are showing???? If so, that is amazing![:D]

I must admit, I have watched some things in french that I cannot abide in english,  I don't think I'd like House of Cards in english, at all.

I too like The Good Wife.

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