bulletproofheeb

I recently posted about television shows I intend to watch for the first time. But how about some shows that are so good I want to watch them again, marathon style? I’ve got a bunch.

In fact, I have already started a marathon of Middle Man with my wife and a couple of friends. It is a glorious show that should not be in the grey floaty ether of cancelation/hiatus that it is. Based on a comic book, this show is pitch perfect. You know how some people complained that the film version of Watchmen was too close to the original as to offer nothing new? And how some people said the same of Sin City? Well, Middle Man is nearly like that, except the acting and the new stories add so much more to the franchise. The episodes taken from issues of the comic are almost panel for panel the same. Then there are completely original episodes that fit in seamlessly, making for a great adaptation. This is how it should be done. The back and forth is so good that the un-filmed final episode is being released as a comic! Plus the fact that Natalie Morales is really hot doesn’t hurt anything.

• The Prisoner – I can’t believe that I have friends that have not seen this show! The show that Joss Whedon called the best TV show ever made! And yes, it is that good. The production is dated but the craft and quality of this series are still oh so fresh. Gasp as Number 6 is drugged. Marvel as he fights to keep his identity. And furrow your brow as you try to figure out what’s really going on. On the surface it’s about a former secret agent. After he resigns he’s abducted and taken to the village where various agents of some unknown organization constantly subject him to psychological torture in order to find out his secret. If you want the original Lost then look no further. This is where it all started. And nothing is as it seems.
  • Nowhere Man – An unofficial sister show/sequel, Nowhere Man is about a man who has a name (or does he…). Tom Veil is a photographer who comes back from a restaurant bathroom to find that no one from his life remembers him. Not only that, but a single photograph of his has been stolen. He runs off with the original negative. It’s the inverse of The Prisoner. In The Prisoner we have a man with no name trapped in a village. In Nowhere Man we have a man with a name running from the world.
• Arrested Development – Possibly the most clever American “sit-com” ever written. Perfect casting doesn’t hurt either. This is a show so good that, if you like to laugh, you should have already seen.
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles – I know it just ended but between the cancellation and the fact that the only living part of this franchise is now the McG trilogy – well, I just need some of the magic back. Ranking this in amongst the rest of the Terminator franchise, my wife places it at a close 2nd just after T2 while I put it as a close 1st, just above it. It is that good. And it undoes all of T3 while staying in continuity. This show starts slow but once it gets rolling has some of the best drama on TV at the time and best time travel I’ve seen written for TV ever.