I feel as if I've sampled or currently watch most of the good shows on TV, but then someone always recommends something I was completely unaware of.

In this thread, recommend a few of your favorite shows, past or present, or post some of your favorite shows so others can recommend based on your tastes.

Some of my favorite all-time shows:

Deadwood
The Wire
Mad Men
Sopranos

What should I watch and why? (Lesser known the better obv)

Arrested Development - funniest show ever, watch it in chunks and then rewatch all 3 seasons when youre done

Life - Good cop show that prob should still be on the air
Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia - funniest show on network TV
Dexter - new and interesting
Curb - Larry David is funny as hell plus great supporting cast
early Entourage - very fun show
Peep Show - fun show if you like british humor

Twin Peaks - outstanding serial from early 90's. David Lynch, hot chicks, solid mystery, way ahead of its time

Friday Night Lights - huge gap between first impression and actual quality. excellent writing, excellent acting, hot chicks

I always tout Freaks and Geeks. Its an awesome comedy that was ahead of its time (no laugh track, real life situational high school humor, awesome soundtrack)

At the very least its interesting to see them all from a historical perspective considering this show launched the careers of the entire Apatow crew who pretty much run Hollywood's comedy scene right now.

It's weird that after listing these 4 heavy dramas, that people in this thread instantly started recommending comedies to you. Arrested Development couldn't be further from Deadwood or The Wire (though all are excellent shows).

If I were you, I'd get started on The Shield. It has everything you want and is super entertaining and easy to watch. I think it's among the best TV series of all time. So start with The Shield, then get into Breaking Bad. Come back in 3 months when you're done with those and we'll ship you some more recommendations.

breaking bad

What I am watching right now and why;

Sunday

Mad Men; Best show on television. Great acting, better writing. I feel like I am getting a glimpse into an era I barely know and missed by two decades. There are so many nuances to the characters, plot, settings, etc that I feel it is more than TV, it's art.

Californication; David Douchovney as the cynical, womanizing and otherwise awesome writer Hank Moody. Lots of hot women, all sorts of precarious situations and a ton of DD being what every man wants to be, all as a facade for the man's inner pain. Or something like that. Very funny, very well done, way better than expected and it's only getting better in its third season.

Bored to Death; New this year, I've liked it a lot so far. The plot isn't what makes this show good, it's the acting of the main character (struggling writer, part time PI, whatever) and his cohorts; the always funny Zack Galifinakis as a struggling comic artist and Ted Danson as a baller magazine owner. Frequent marijuana use, witty dialog, and a likable, yet somewhat melancholy mood (that Jason Schwartzman creates so often) make this a hit in my book.

Monday

Big Bang Theory; laugh track comedy, but pretty good. The Sheldon character is what makes the show work, he's hilarious and interesting. It's not great, but definitely worth watching.

How I Met Your Mother; My favorite laugh track comedy. They rarely advance the titular plot, but each character brings their own hotness/comedy that makes the show work really well. The main character detracts from the others, but it's still very funny. The gay Neil Patrick Harris as Barney, a womanizing narcissist is DEFINITELY the highlight.

Tuesday

Nothing.

Wednesday

Modern Family; The story of 3 branches of a family. Pretty much every possible quarky family member you'd expect from a TV show based on a white family is present here. The writing does a wonderful job of getting the most out of the characters, usually by adhering to stereotypes. There are some cringeworthy moments, but all-in-all it's solid comedy and easily worth your 30 minutes.

Lost; I'll let others elaborate.

Thursday

Community; The highlight of this new season. What looked to be a disjointed group of members, with a cast too big to be weaved into 30 minutes a week has turned into a lovable, hilarious show. Almost every character can be all but absent from an episode and it won't detract from it whatsoever, which allows for the show to be different every week. There are only a couple story archs that we've seen thus far, so the show has been mainly based on funny situations.

tosh.O; Comedian Daniel Tosh comments on popular viral videos. Just watch it, it may be the funniest thing on TV.

The Office; Start with season one. I don't really have to explain why, it's great.

30 Rock; Give it two episodes and you'll fall in love. So many great characters, AWESOME writing. Best sitcom on TV.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia; Just hilarious. Others will explain.

Seen Shield and Breaking Bad (And Arrested)

I've watched a ton of shows, but I'm sure I'll find something new by this.

I think I might start with Life. Looks promising.

Six Feet Under - gets lost in the HBO shuffle because The Sopranos and The Wire are so good. Heavy drama, someone dies at the beginning of every episode, Peter Krause and Michael C Hall are both great, easily best series finale imo.

We have a very similar schedule.

Monday - House, Lie to Me, How I Met You Mother, Big Bang
Tuesday - Big Break (terribad golf reality show but I'm a sucker for it.) Tuesday TV is the worst.
Wednesday - Modern Family, Glee, Ultimate Fighter, Real World/Road Rules challenge (also crap, don't recommend, but fights are funny yo!), Top Chef
Thursday - Office, 30 Rock, Community, FlashForward, Fringer
Sunday - Dexter, Californication, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mad Men

I'm the only human being alive who loves TV and has never watched a full season of LOST.

Has anyone watched John from Cincinatti? Maybe I'll try that finally, dunno why I was turned off by it for so long. Milch is a genius

LOST, easily the best show on tv

+1 to Arrested Development. Absolutely the funniest sitcom of all time, in addition to having a great story. It's quite amazing how many people have never even seen it (and fyi my avatar is an AD reference).

As for current TV (that nobody has mentioned yet), check out The Soup. It's basically Joel McHale (Community) showing a bunch of clips (often taken out of context) from reality TV, talk shows, and news shows, and then making fun of them. I know it's an E show, but I think it's hysterical, even if you're not into the stuff they make fun of (which I'm not). Plus, added bonus, it's probably the only comedy show I can think of that doesn't have an off-season.

Another recommendation (that nobody has mentioned) is Better Off Ted. It's a sitcom on ABC that aired over the summer and returns for season 2 on 12/8, so you have plenty of time to catch up before the season premiere. The basic plot is it's a workplace comedy about a new age type corporation (I don't think they ever actually say what the company does specifically) and all the crazy products they put out. It's very unique in that they actually advertise the company's fake products throughout the episodes, which often tie-in to something in one of the main storylines. It's not as good as the top-tier sitcoms, but I think it's very underrated and certainly the best sitcom you'll find on Tuesday nights.

Edit: Should also mention that for all Arrested Development fans who have never seen Better Off Ted, the show does star Portia de Rossi.

It's very strange. Not many episodes might as well check it out. There are some brilliant scenes, some incoherent scenes, everything in between.

Also, Twin Peaks should be #1 on your list if you haven't seen it

Generation Kill. Another HBO miniseries about soldiers in the Middle East, which you can watch on demand at the moment. You almost can't go wrong with HBO.

right now....

Monday
House
Big Bang Theory
How I Met Your Mother
Heroes (gone downhill though)

Tuesday
NCIS

Wednesday
Glee (Very good so far, underrated show)
South Park
Mythbusters (I think that's on this day, right? I keep forgetting)

Thursday
Office
Flash Forward

Friday
Smallville
Numb3rs

Sunday
Family Guy
American Dad
Simpsons
Cleveland Show

too many shows to watch lol
Chuck/Lost are good when they come on, Law and Order SVU
I've heard good things about V, haven't had a chance to watch it though
I also love Big Brother/Hell's Kitchen when they're on, I just have bizarre tastes lol

Old school but Hill Street Blues is the ****. By the same guy who did NYPD Blue but its actually good.

Also, for a good legal show, the first season of Murder One was damn good. Subsequent seasons sucked (I heard, never watched) but fortunately the first season is self contained.

Oh and Homicide: Life on the Street, ofc.

X-Files since you recommended Fringe in Threadzilla (thanks for the recommendation btw)

HSB and Murder One are both on hulu iirc.

THISSSSS

I watched all of Twin Peaks about a year ago and wasn't really that into it - it was entertaining, but it didn't grab me like a lot of other shows have.

Community = awesome show, I didn't start watching it until a friend recommended it and I am now very glad I did. Hilarious.

FYP

I watch about half of these shows, and 30 Rock & Big Bang Theory are 2 of my favorites (I also like HIMYM a lot as well). For comedies, I liked the earlier seasons of Rescue Me & Nip/Tuck, & It's Always Sunny is hilarious. Also, +1 to Better Off Ted, hilarious show. Not sure how you watch Community tbh (seen a few eps & thought it was pretty bad).

I was the same up until a couple months or so ago. The first 3 seasons were good (starts to fall off a bit after that imo).

I've never seen an episode. I'm out of the loop on a lot of things like this though. Perfect example: I'd never heard "Paper Planes" until I saw Slumdog Millionaire. Didn't think that was a big deal, but I guess it was everywhere for about a year prior.

2nd this. A friend of a friend writes for this show and one of the plot lines involves a belt buckle that my friend made that advertises the company. Think about it for a sec, and it's pretty damn funny. I don't want to spoil too much, but that episode has some really funny stuff in it.

as a huge fan of shows like wire and sopranos i recommend Sons of Anarchy on tuesdays on FX

also, i've never seen an episode of lost and I tv

understatement

haha, glad to see i'm not the only one who still watches these things religiously

is the cleveland show any good? i watched the premiere and though 'meh' and haven't seen it since. i also realized i haven't seen any of the new seasons of family guy or american dad, and i'm not sure why cuz i liked/loved these shows in the past, are they still delivering?