Favorite "Pure" TV Show
 

What's your favorite pure* TV show? Break it down into as many genres as you like

*for this thread I'm talking live-action shows not based on something from another medium like books or comics




Here's some of mine

Comedy: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
This is my show that I could just keep cycling through on Netflix (until they took it off :x) The Gang gets themselves into so many absurd situations that lead to the funniest exchanges and lines of dialogue. Classic show, probably my all time fave.

https://78.media.tumblr.com/e121da36...axzfo1_250.gifhttps://78.media.tumblr.com/7415a10c...axzfo2_250.gif

Sci-Fi: The X-Files
This show still holds up pretty well, but I feel the longer it went on the more it was bogged down by its own mythology, which kept getting more and more convoluted. I wouldn't be against a reboot with a more streamlined story and a stronger vision of where it wanted to go at the outset. I appreciate the fact that they revived the series for another couple seasons but honestly they waited a bit too long, and they're still building on the rocky foundation that is the built-up continuity.

https://media.giphy.com/media/emT8BiBY0zRXW/giphy.gif

Procedural Crime Show: Law & Order: SVU
The best of all the L&Os, undoubtedly. If I turn on a TV and this is on I'll probably just watch it until something else comes on.

https://media.giphy.com/media/l378fd...4rDi/giphy.gif

Drama: Breaking Bad
I was surprised by how much I liked this show right off the bat. I was too young to get into The Sopranos and I still haven't checked out The Wire so this show kind wins in the drama category by default, but it's still a great show. The showrunners did a great job of creating tension in each episode. A lot of humor in the show too, which I appreciate.

https://media.giphy.com/media/AQbiUzxhIlM6k/giphy.gif



Anyways that's all I have for now, I've been putting off some paperwork so I should probably get back to that

Action/Martial Arts: Lastman
Kinda cheating since its animation but its a show

No adventures, no lessons learned, no fancy superpowers, no recycled animation, no explaning your powers just balls to the walls fighting. Whether it be based on martial arts, shootouts, or monster fighting Lastman as it all

https://78.media.tumblr.com/4d22f635...h38ho2_500.gif

Comedy: Parks and Recreation

Nick Offerman just cracks me up and his character Ron Swanson basically kills me everytime I see him

https://78.media.tumblr.com/18143291...to3_r1_540.gif

Sci Fi: Doctor Who. Its got Sci Fi Time Travel a lot of Aliens

https://i.imgur.com/O72oq70.jpg


Drama/Action: Sons Of Anarchy. Oneof the best Drama's ever this show hooked me day 1
https://i.imgur.com/aPkrKiH.png

Full House
Frasier
Everybody Loves Raymond
Scrubs
The Sopranos
Breaking Bad
Tim & Eric

I'd also like to include The Howard Stern Show, though I dunno if you'd count that as it doubled as a radio program.

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul
Firefly
Oz
Friends
Popular
The Office (USA version, if eligible for this list)
Sex And The City
Eastbound & Down
Desperate Housewives
Brooklyn 99

These are shows I gave 10/10 on IMDB.

I'm not quite sure what this question is really asking, so I'm going to translate it this way:

Television shows that are damn near perfect from beginning to end.

Veronica Mars
Friday Night Lights
Firefly
Cheers
The Middleman

The X-Files
Star Trek (TOS, Enterprise, TNG)
Cowboy Bebop, even though it's anime.

I will say that watching X-Files burned me out on watching TV shows with long runs/too many seasons/dropped plots. 4-5 seasons is the max for me at this point for anything, with maybe TNG being the exception.

Angel
Buffy
Lost
Fraiser
The Big Bang Theory
Dollhouse
Keeping Up Appearances
One Foot in the Grave

Love Keeping up Appearances one of the best British shows ever. Damn that bucket woman

Oh man, I almost forgot about that show, I love it so much

Oh man, some of the absolute best absurdist comedy television of all time. I think Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! is my favorite show of theirs but I need to check out Bedtime Stories too. Have you seen Master of None on Netflix? Tim is pretty funny on that show

That counts; I just wanted a thread focusing on live-action shows developed for television, not based on other media, but that works since it's merely an American adaptation of a British show. A pretty good one, at that.

Not necessarily shows that are perfect, I definitely think a few episodes of the shows that I listed are stinkers, just shows that are original creations for TV because I wanted to celebrate the medium.

When you take away all the advertisements and commercial breaks and editing for prime time broadcast on cable, television shows can be a wonderful art form and I think too often TV gets sh!t on for being mindless entertainment (which, granted, a lot of it is) but it's capable of some really great things too.

Agreed.