Best All Time Epic/Drama TV Series

[CouchCoach]

I remember people talking about the ending of St. Elsewhere; it was pretty split between those that thought it was great and those that were pissed off about it.
China Beach never gets the cred it deserves. Nor does The Shield; I was shocked how quickly it was forgotten.

The ending made sense of some of the episodes earlier in the last season but not until they played the gotchya.

 

[quickccc]

Breaking Bad.

Never binged that many seasons at once.

All but the last season which I quickly purchased as soon as it was available.

Breaking Bad was extraordinary in how they introduced and developed characters that were so ingenious and popular, such that they could easily have successful spinoffs of their own,
ala Saul Goodman (Better Call Saul) .. or Gus Fring .. or even Mike Ehrmantraut.

And I am so much crossing my fingers for a Gus Fring spinoff so very breaking badly ... !! Such a cool as ice Biadasz dude !!!
I swear I hated seeing his " departure. "

There are incredibly rare TV shows that present characters capable of that kind of spinoffs.

 

[DFWJC]

GOT, Sopranos, Breaking Bad
for starters

 

[DFWJC]

Was Roots a regular series, or are we counting miniserieseseses?

it was a mini series for sure
great though

 

[quickccc]

GOT, Sopranos, Breaking Bad
for starters

Is there a Sopranos spinoff in mind for the near future ?

 

[Creeper]

Other Blasts from the Past:

Never missed an episode of Kung ** when it was on TV. Everything stopped for that show. I even read the books! Still trying to figure out how to perform the "helmet of death"!

 

[Runwildboys]

it was a mini series for sure
great though

I know the original was a miniseries, I just didn't know if maybe he was talking about another series of which I was unaware.

 

[Runwildboys]

Never missed an episode of Kung ** when it was on TV. Everything stopped for that show. I even read the books! Still trying to figure out how to perform the "helmet of death"!

Do not lose focus, Grasshopper.

 

[ESisback]

Do not lose focus, Grasshopper.

Show him how to focus, Master Hooters!

 

[Runwildboys]

Show him how to focus, Master Hooters!

If you can focus there, you can focus anywhere!

 

[rynochop]

I need to watch a lot of these listed. Some series that have literally made me nervous/ edge of seat are Breaking bad, Ozark, Homeland and some early Walking dead

 

[Creeper]

I need to watch a lot of these listed. Some series that have literally made me nervous/ edge of seat are Breaking bad, Ozark, Homeland and some early Walking dead

Homeland was okay, but Claire Danes' made her character too insane to work for the CIA. I could throw a lot of shade at the CIA, but they do not hire just anybody and there are plenty of brilliant people who do not need powerful drugs to function.

 

[quickccc]

Per IMDB, Roots' genres are biography, history and drama. The Fugitive? Adventure, crime and drama. Perry Mason? Crime, mystery and drama. Columbo? Same as Perry Mason. Bonanza? The site designates its genre as western.

It is true that a series like Battlestar Galactica can be justifiably labeled as science fiction. However, I wholeheartedly agree with IMDB's classification of the series' genres as action, adventure and drama, as much as I am with all the other series' designations mentioned.

Apologies for the rant. I watched the reimagined BG and believe it is one of the best drama series ever made for television--especially the first two seasons. It would be hard for me to see it get pigeonholed within something it is much more than.

Admittedly I've never had the pleasure of catching up to the 2004 version of Battlestar Galatica,

I'm only familiar with the 1978 Lorne Green version.

 

[DallasEast]

Admittedly I've never had the pleasure of catching up to the 2004 version of Battlestar Galatica,

I'm only familiar with the 1978 Lorne Green version.

The original Battlestar Galactica series had some good memorable episodes. It was initially created to compete with Star Wars on the big screen but was fast tracked to television. George Lucas even sued the series that he claimed had copyright infringements.

I loved Lorne Greene on Bonanza. Perhaps that was the main reason why I saw him as Ben Cartwright on the show. The show had a definite western theme beneath its storytelling.

John Colicos was a real caricature of a master villain. A human duping an entire race of artificial intelligent beings every week into stalking the remaining human race into extinction. Baltar was never developed much beyond that created for the original movie, where he met a very fitting demise.

Greene, Richard Hatch and continually typecast Dirk Benedict were the core of the show. Most episodes were basically Adama, the father, being fatherly from a distance to his blood son, Apollo, and his extroverted 'adopted son' Starbuck. I constantly wished Herbert Jefferson (Boomer) and Terry Carter (Tigh) would get more chances to get out from underneath their shadow. Anna Lockhart was (at least temporarily) a breath of fresh air as far as a main character getting some decent screentime of her own.

I still believe they did Marsen Jensen wrong. Her character Athena was minimized to practically nothing each episode. In my opinion, she was a very good combo of actresses with stunning looks.

The bridge crewperson, who was always coordinating the Vipers during Cylon attacks, was extremely one-dimensional but those hair loops of hers were definitely Princess Leia knockoffs, lol. The show's special effects budget was so bad that they basically re-used four or five shots of the Vipers operating in space. Very monotonous. Oh yeah. I almost forgot about BOXEY. I really REALLY wanted both Boxey AND Muffit the robot thrown out of an airlock so many times...

The re-imagined Battlestar Galactica of the 2000's got totally rid of the wishy-washy nonsense of its predecessor. The special effects were fresh and innovative, although I know some critics did not like all the shots panning in-and-out of ships in space (I thought it was great!) Every single main character and supporting character were unique individuals and received great dramatic dialogue.

Each episode was tense for numerous reasons. They were cutthroat. There was no dancing around life-and-death, making things superficial. These Cylons were genocidal to the extreme. Oftentimes, the HUMANS being hunted were just as brutally hardcore.

ALL the humanoid Cylon models were fantastic. Well, maybe the one always wearing the bad suits was too one-dimensional, haha. Even Lucy Lawless played as one of the models.

Edward James Olmos WAS Adama. He was a combo Captain Ramius from The Hunt For Red October and Moses wrapped into one. James Callis made Baltar into an eccentric but multi-faceted character. Same with Grace Park as Boomer. Too many actors to give props to, The show decided to not dwell as much on the Council of the Colonies as it did in the original series and focus almost totally on Mary McDonnell as President of the Colonies. She was outstanding in the series' final season in particular. Even a minor supporting actress like Kandyse McClure (Dualla) had the same bridge responsibilities as the crewperson I mentioned earlier but with way more flair. And McClure's eyes are to DIE for.

Tricia Helfer? Cylon model number six? 'nuff said. You will know if you ever watch the series.

What made the show a little extra special to me was the re-imagined Starbuck. I became a Katee Sackhoff fan for life from jump. Without getting into spoiler details, she and Olmos had some of the best back-and-forth dialogue in a scene during the first two pilot episodes:

~Starbuck destroying Cyon ships right and left~
Starbuck (in her Viper cussing and laughing/I'm paraphrasing): "The Cylon war is long over! Come get some, <expletive>! YEEHAW! (hears her comm and finally answers it) Good morning, sir!"
Adama (calling from the Galactica bridge/calm and collected): "Good morning, Starbuck. Listen. What do you hear?"
Starbuck: "Nothing but the rain, sir!"
Adama: "Grab your gun and bring in the CAG."

Great scene. Great show.

 

[gtb1943]

The original Battlestar Galactica series had some good memorable episodes. It was initially created to compete with Star Wars on the big screen but was fast tracked to television. George Lucas even sued the series that he claimed had copyright infringements.

I loved Lorne Greene on Bonanza. Perhaps that was the main reason why I saw him as Ben Cartwright on the show. The show had a definite western theme beneath its storytelling.

John Colicos was a real caricature of a master villain. A human duping an entire race of artificial intelligent beings every week into stalking the remaining human race into extinction. Baltar was never developed much beyond that created for the original movie, where he met a very fitting demise.

Greene, Richard Hatch and continually typecast Dirk Benedict were the core of the show. Most episodes were basically Adama, the father, being fatherly from a distance to his blood son, Apollo, and his extroverted 'adopted son' Starbuck. I constantly wished Herbert Jefferson (Boomer) and Terry Carter (Tigh) would get more chances to get out from underneath their shadow. Anna Lockhart was (at least temporarily) a breath of fresh air as far as a main character getting some decent screentime of her own.

I still believe they did Marsen Jensen wrong. Her character Athena was minimized to practically nothing each episode. In my opinion, she was a very good combo of actresses with stunning looks.

The bridge crewperson, who was always coordinating the Vipers during Cylon attacks, was extremely one-dimensional but those hair loops of hers were definitely Princess Leia knockoffs, lol. The show's special effects budget was so bad that they basically re-used four or five shots of the Vipers operating in space. Very monotonous. Oh yeah. I almost forgot about BOXEY. I really REALLY wanted both Boxey AND Muffit the robot thrown out of an airlock so many times...

The re-imagined Battlestar Galactica of the 2000's got totally rid of the wishy-washy nonsense of its predecessor. The special effects were fresh and innovative, although I know some critics did not like all the shots panning in-and-out of ships in space (I thought it was great!) Every single main character and supporting character were unique individuals and received great dramatic dialogue.

Each episode was tense for numerous reasons. They were cutthroat. There was no dancing around life-and-death, making things superficial. These Cylons were genocidal to the extreme. Oftentimes, the HUMANS being hunted were just as brutally hardcore.

ALL the humanoid Cylon models were fantastic. Well, maybe the one always wearing the bad suits was too one-dimensional, haha. Even Lucy Lawless played as one of the models.

Edward James Olmos WAS Adama. He was a combo Captain Ramius from The Hunt For Red October and Moses wrapped into one. James Callis made Baltar into an eccentric but multi-faceted character. Same with Grace Park as Boomer. Too many actors to give props to, The show decided to not dwell as much on the Council of the Colonies as it did in the original series and focus almost totally on Mary McDonnell as President of the Colonies. She was outstanding in the series' final season in particular. Even a minor supporting actress like Kandyse McClure (Dualla) had the same bridge responsibilities as the crewperson I mentioned earlier but with way more flair. And McClure's eyes are to DIE for.

Tricia Helfer? Cylon model number six? 'nuff said. You will know if you ever watch the series.

What made the show a little extra special to me was the re-imagined Starbuck. I became a Katee Sackhoff fan for life from jump. Without getting into spoiler details, she and Olmos had some of the best back-and-forth dialogue in a scene during the first two pilot episodes:

~Starbuck destroying Cyon ships right and left~
Starbuck (in her Viper cussing and laughing/I'm paraphrasing): "The Cylon war is long over! Come get some, <expletive>! YEEHAW! (hears her comm and finally answers it) Good morning, sir!"
Adama (calling from the Galactica bridge/calm and collected): "Good morning, Starbuck. Listen. What do you hear?"
Starbuck: "Nothing but the rain, sir!"
Adama: "Grab your gun and bring in the CAG."

Great scene. Great show.

Having dealt with the military for over 30 years I believe I can safely say that in real life very few of those on BG-2003 would have survived a week in real combat.
No discipline or self control; drunks and lame brains. That is not how you survive when it all hits the fan.

 

[Bigdog]

I like some of the shows that some of you guys came up with. MASH, Hill Street Blues were some of the best. I also liked Black Sheep Squadron but it was only on for 2 years. Some drama shows for today would be Chicago PD and Chicago Fire. SWAT is another that I think is good but it is in its last year unless something changes. Burn Notice was a good drama but it got a little cheesy towards the end. I also thought the A-team was good one too.

As far as mini series Roots is one of the best and if anyone has not seen it, I highly recommend it. The mini series North and South is another one that I felt was good. Another mini series that i recommend is Grant that is on the History Channel. As one commentary said Washington might be the father of our country but Grant was the Savior of it. Leonardo Di Caprio produce it I believe.

 

[gtb1943]

I like some of the shows that some of you guys came up with. MASH, Hill Street Blues were some of the best. I also liked Black Sheep Squadron but it was only on for 2 years. Some drama shows for today would be Chicago PD and Chicago Fire. SWAT is another that I think is good but it is in its last year unless something changes. Burn Notice was a good drama but it got a little cheesy towards the end. I also thought the A-team was good one too.

As far as mini series Roots is one of the best and if anyone has not seen it, I highly recommend it. The mini series North and South is another one that I felt was good. Another mini series that i recommend is Grant that is on the History Channel. As one commentary said Washington might be the father of our country but Grant was the Savior of it. Leonardo Di Caprio produce it I believe.

Sadly so many shows end badly; stay on the air too long.

Grant was crticial to the war but savior of the country? might be putting that a little strong

To be blunt if there was one savior of the country during the civil war it was Lincoln.

 

[Bigdog]

Sadly so many shows end badly; stay on the air too long.

Grant was crticial to the war but savior of the country? might be putting that a little strong

To be blunt if there was one savior of the country during the civil war it was Lincoln.

I didn't say it but a historian in the documentary of Grant. Lincoln relied heavily on Grant according to the mini series and it is said that Grant basically saved the Union although it is one sided since it is about Grant. The documentary also discussed his presidency which marred with corruption and it is said that the problem with Grant was that he was to trustworthy of others who took advantage of that trusts. He did put down the Klu Klux Klan when it first started to rise but due to politics,he could not do it the second time accoridng to the mini series

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Stunned that "Wiseguy" did not make any list here...

It's generally accepted the first season was the best–But the others are "good TV".

But that first season, especially the "Sonny Steelgrave" arc is as good a season of TV as there ever has been–Extraordinarily good at a time where there wasn't nearly the emphasis on high quality crime shows.

 

[ESisback]

Stunned that "Wiseguy" did not make any list here...

It's generally accepted the first season was the best–But the others are "good TV".

But that first season, especially the "Sonny Steelgrave" arc is as good a season of TV as there ever has been–Extraordinarily good at a time where there wasn't nearly the emphasis on high quality crime shows.

I loved that show—the garment industry with Jerry Lewis; the record company with Tim Curry; Kevin Spacey as Mel Profitt; or how about The Mud People, with real life politician Ted Thompson?