Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

Which TV shows have a first season story line that is just so incredible that it has to be watched by anyone unfamiliar? This is what I think so far:

1. 24
2. Lost
3. Oz
4. OC

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

1st to say The Wire.

-Al

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

1st to say The Shield.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

I know there's a thread about this about 4 posts below, but Boston Legal. 3rd season is complete garbage compared to the 1st one.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

I'm loving Jericho, but it's not on the 24/Lost level.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

West Wing

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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1st to say The Shield.

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Stabn - you know I really gotta watch this series. Heard nothing but great things.

-Al

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

Rescue Me

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

The Joe Schmo Show (fake reality TV....hilarious)

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

Sopranos.

I think this thread will just have people listing their favorite shows, which in OOT are usually the same for everyone.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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The Joe Schmo Show (fake reality TV....hilarious)

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This show was so awesome. The actors were so bad it was hilarious.

DN

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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The Joe Schmo Show (fake reality TV....hilarious)

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This show was so awesome. The actors were so bad it was hilarious.

DN

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Throw in the "eat the fake dogpoop challenge" and you have a masterpiece

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

Battlestar Galactica
Arrested Development
Firefly

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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The Joe Schmo Show (fake reality TV....hilarious)

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This show was so awesome. The actors were so bad it was hilarious.

DN

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Throw in the "eat the fake dogpoop challenge" and you have a masterpiece

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Has anyone else seen this or are Deez and I the only ones...I know its ratings were not very big.....I think it was on Spike or FX a couple years back.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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Sopranos.



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clear winner

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

Veronica Mars
Dead Like Me

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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The Joe Schmo Show (fake reality TV....hilarious)

[/ QUOTE ]

This show was so awesome. The actors were so bad it was hilarious.

DN

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Throw in the "eat the fake dogpoop challenge" and you have a masterpiece

[/ QUOTE ]

Has anyone else seen this or are Deez and I the only ones...I know its ratings were not very big.....I think it was on Spike or FX a couple years back.

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Both Joe Schmoe's were great. Probably one of my top 3 favorite reality shows ever.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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1st to say The Shield.

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Stabn - you know I really gotta watch this series. Heard nothing but great things.

-Al

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Its good. I like the feel of the wire more but some days there is nothing better than a new Shield EP.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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The Joe Schmo Show (fake reality TV....hilarious)

[/ QUOTE ]

This show was so awesome. The actors were so bad it was hilarious.

DN

[/ QUOTE ]

Throw in the "eat the fake dogpoop challenge" and you have a masterpiece

[/ QUOTE ]

Has anyone else seen this or are Deez and I the only ones...I know its ratings were not very big.....I think it was on Spike or FX a couple years back.

[/ QUOTE ]

Due to this thread, I am going to rent the DVD for this show. I recommend that everyone do the same.

The dog poo episode was so awesome. I also loved the pool one, where the gay guy had to wear floaties. I'm cracking up just thinking about this show.

DN

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

Murder One - Great first season. They changed the format the second season and it didn't work.
Under Suspicion - Unfortunately not available on DVD, but if you can ever see it, it's great, plus, knowing they weren't coming back, they did write an ending, so it's a great one season show.
The Honeymooners - Despite what everyone thinks, it only lasted one season as a show, though it appeared many times as a sketch on The Jackie Gleason Show. Perhaps the greatest single season show ever, though with an asterisk.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

Sports Night

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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I know there's a thread about this about 4 posts below, but Boston Legal. 3rd season is complete garbage compared to the 1st one.

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You could say this about every David E. Kelley show.

The first (and second) season of The Practice is actually excellent, and doesn't have much of the trademark DEK "quirkiness" that becomes to quickly grating. I've only seen Boston Legal a couple times, but it has always struck me as pretty by-the-numbers DEK.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

Twin Peaks

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

Veronica Mars
Third Watch

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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1st to say The Shield.

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Stabn - you know I really gotta watch this series. Heard nothing but great things.

-Al

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Its good. I like the feel of the wire more but some days there is nothing better than a new Shield EP.

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I dunno... I LOVED the 1st season of Shield. I mean, I thought it was the greatest 1st season of any show I'd seen. Then the subsequent seasons weren't nearly as good, and some of the plotlines were just dumb. I stopped watching after the middle of the 3rd season.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

LOST
X-Files
24
ER
HEROES
24
WEST WING
Rescue Me
Sopranos
Entourage
etc etc

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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[ QUOTE ]
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[ QUOTE ]
The Joe Schmo Show (fake reality TV....hilarious)

[/ QUOTE ]

This show was so awesome. The actors were so bad it was hilarious.

DN

[/ QUOTE ]

Throw in the "eat the fake dogpoop challenge" and you have a masterpiece

[/ QUOTE ]

Has anyone else seen this or are Deez and I the only ones...I know its ratings were not very big.....I think it was on Spike or FX a couple years back.

[/ QUOTE ]

Due to this thread, I am going to rent the DVD for this show. I recommend that everyone do the same.

The dog poo episode was so awesome. I also loved the pool one, where the gay guy had to wear floaties. I'm cracking up just thinking about this show.

DN

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i'm in too.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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1st to say The Wire.

-Al

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I should have the last disc at home waiting for me. I can't tell you how excited I am. It's hard to use perspective when I'm so caught up into something, but I don't think I've enjoyed a season of a show more.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

Nip/Tuck is awesome, and should be watched in order.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

Great shows with great first seasons:
- The Sopranos
- The Shield
- Arrested Development
- The Wire
- Freaks and Geeks (best show ever to only last one season)

Shows where the first season is much better than later seasons:
- The OC
- The Practice (DVD comes out in a couple months)
- Deadwood
- Rome
- West Wing (excellent for about three seasons)

Great shows with not-so-great first seasons:
- The Simpsons
- The Office
- Entourage

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

This can't be a "list your favorite show" thread for me, because season 1 of Buffy was fairly [censored]. Also, West Wing and most others were both much better in the second seasons, imo.

I think the best choices so far are The Shield and Veronica Mars, if you're talking about watching ONLY the first season. But everyone knows this already, and I'm just talkin'.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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1st to say The Wire.

-Al

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I should have the last disc at home waiting for me. I can't tell you how excited I am. It's hard to use perspective when I'm so caught up into something, but I don't think I've enjoyed a season of a show more.

[/ QUOTE ]

Dude - Idol is on tonight. Priorities!

The Wire is amazing television and I don't care if this is my 100th post in OOT stating this, cause it's just so true.

-Al

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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HEROES


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How can that be a mandatory to watch first season? Most of us are watching it even through most of the EP's have sucked. That isn't a mandatory must watch by any stretch of the imagination.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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1st to say The Shield.

[/ QUOTE ]

Stabn - you know I really gotta watch this series. Heard nothing but great things.

-Al

[/ QUOTE ]

Its good. I like the feel of the wire more but some days there is nothing better than a new Shield EP.

[/ QUOTE ]

I dunno... I LOVED the 1st season of Shield. I mean, I thought it was the greatest 1st season of any show I'd seen. Then the subsequent seasons weren't nearly as good, and some of the plotlines were just dumb. I stopped watching after the middle of the 3rd season.

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I agree with this assessment. It becomes much too "24-like", although Anthony Anderson and Glenn Close were good additions in the 4th season. I am about to start watching Season 5.

I hope it doesn't get too crazy, where I have to stop watching halfway through the season and never look back, as I did during the 4th season of 24.

DN

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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- Freaks and Geeks (best show ever to only last one season)



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Meh, I disagree.


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Great shows with not-so-great first seasons:
- The Office
- Entourage

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Are you serious?

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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Great shows with great first seasons:
- The Sopranos
- The Shield
- Arrested Development
- The Wire
- Freaks and Geeks (best show ever to only last one season)


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I completely agree with this list, esp. Freaks and Geeks.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

The first Season of The West Wing (the first two actually) is superb, not a single hitch.

Season three was almost as solid, and then it started to go down in season four, then it flew way past rock bottom on season 5, so much so that the pretty good quality of season 6 was pulled down to merely 'acceptable' by the shear suckiness of s5. And then 7 was a decent sendoff but only in that it managed to climb out of writing crap and walk close enough to the edge of the previous quality to see how great it used to be.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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HEROES


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How can that be a mandatory to watch first season? Most of us are watching it even through most of the EP's have sucked. That isn't a mandatory must watch by any stretch of the imagination.

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HEROES is like the best tv show on this year

only show i look forward to every episode beside the 2nd half of LOST so far

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

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Shows where the first season is much better than later seasons:
- Deadwood

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The second season of Deadwood is phenomenal. That is largely because of the first two episodes, but the rest is at least on par with the first.

Re: Mandatory First Seasons to Watch (TV Shows)
 

Curb? I haven't watched it in a while but remember really enjoying the 1st season.

-Al