August 8, 201213 yr Someone on another forum I'm on brought up an interesting topic. Television shows without a single bad episode. Most shows have a few duds, but not all of them...what would you say was a show without any duds?
August 8, 201213 yr Author I certainly would say none of the 6 episodes of sherlock had flaws, but that's hardly fair. I can't think of a bad episode of Boardwalk Empire. I can't think of a bad episode of Bones, but I'm sure there have been some. Dexter has been pretty consistently awesome (the english version of) Life on Mars New Girl Person of Interest Lost (in the alternate universe where the show was cancelled after 1 season) Pan Am Dollhouse was going great until they had to speed everything up Lone Star Journeyman Eli Stone My Name is Earl Sleeper Cell Most of those were either planned to be short lived shows, or were cancelled before they had a chance to bomb
August 8, 201213 yr Most of those were either planned to be short lived shows, or were cancelled before they had a chance to bomb That seems to be the key... Firefly
August 8, 201213 yr Breaking Bad (what the fly episode off budget?) Girls (10 episodes) M*A*S*H (likely some duds, but can't think of one EDIT: at least until Radar left) Rat Patrol (likely some duds, but can't think of one) The Andy Griffith Show (likely some duds, but can't think of one) The Dick Van Dyke Show (likely some duds, but can't think of one) Freaks & Geeks (18 episodes) The [british] Office (14 episodes) No Soap, Radio (4 episodes) Arrested Development (at least so far) Seasons of The Simpsons First season of Twin Peaks Four seasons of The Wire The Prisoner? H.R. Pufnstuf? Lidsville? Long list of series that may not have stood the test of time so well, but possibly had 'no duds' from the past perspective including Mary Tyler Moore, Soap and first Bob Newhart. How many duds did Roseanne or Taxi have? Is Seinfeld gaining or losing duds over time? Edited August 8, 201213 yr by blessingx
August 8, 201213 yr Top of my head.... The Office (English, haven’t seen American version) The Wire The Sopranos Breaking Bad Seasons 1-4 (with the exception of the fly episode) Luther Seinfeld Family Guy South Park The Inbetweeners Fawlty Towers The Royle Family Blackadder Friends Edited August 8, 201213 yr by johnwmclean
August 8, 201213 yr +1 The inbetweeners. Liked the movie too and it seems US is coming with their own version http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798695/ I would add Wilfred too but its dark humor it's not for every one. Battlestar Galactica is one of my favorite series of all time but I think there was a few episodes so-so. Every Bones episode I watched were boring, just another criminal csi show style. Edited August 8, 201213 yr by Spychedelic Whale
August 8, 201213 yr Actually, even though Dollhouse had better episodes and worse episodes, I would hardly say any of them were 'bad', so I'll stand by ... well, everything Whedon has ever done: Buffy Angel Firefly Dollhouse Fawlty Towers Twilight Zones (not just the original series, I like prety much anything put out under this name) Outer Limits (ditto) At this point I should add my qualification: notice, they did not say, 'mediocre'. They said, out and out, 'bad'. That said, I'm not sure I've seen any other shows in their entirety. Saturday morning cartoons, perhaps? Batman Castle (yes, it's just a procedural, but damn, it's the best procedural I've ever seen) Driftwood Veronica Mars Mongrels Archer Deadwood Sports Night Liquid Television (yes, really) Aeon Flux (technically, not its own show) Beast Wars Backyardigans (what can I say? I love childrens' television and movies) Reboot Pee Wee Herman's Playhouse (yes, really -- stands on its own) ...which puts me in mind of: I'm surprised no-one has said Six Feet Under yet. (haven't seen it, myself)
August 8, 201213 yr Can a show be 'dud-proof' if the duds (bad jokes/skits/episodes) are (x percent) anticipated, played with & repeated by creative team and thus enjoyed with the initial successes? If so... Police Squad (IN COLOR!) SCTV Edited August 8, 201213 yr by blessingx
August 8, 201213 yr Comedies: Fawlty Towers Black Books Stella (The State had some duds but not Stella) Arrested Developement (3rd season was rushed, but no episode was a dud) Party Down Dramas: Sherlock (So far) The Wire Breaking Bad (only seen 3 seasons)
August 8, 201213 yr The Shield Breaking Bad (though I'm not sure yet on this season... seems like Walt is swinging to the dark side really fast?)
August 8, 201213 yr With guardrails on its structure, suppose the original Law & Order never really had a dud.
August 8, 201213 yr Someone said South Park. I think they've had some clunkers, but the rest of the shows are such great commentary on our time that it makes up for it.
August 8, 201213 yr RE black books: The episode where Manny remains one of my favorite tv episodes to this date. Edited August 8, 201213 yr by Tari
August 8, 201213 yr Author Rake Billable Hours Wire in the Blood Foyle's War Wallander (both versions) That's impressive. Not only have I not seen any of these shows, I've never seen them referenced anywhere before.
August 8, 201213 yr I agree with the Fawlty Towers suggestion, except that the birthday episode is awful. It's the one exception in twelve.
August 9, 201213 yr Anyone want to nominate any shows from the below? List of television series canceled after one episode Technically these all qualify, right? List of television series canceled before airing an episode . Edited August 9, 201213 yr by blessingx
August 9, 201213 yr This thread delivers. I don't watch a huge amount of tv, and most of my faves have already been covered, but I will add these: Extras Father Ted Corner Gas And I haven't seen the second season of Game of Thrones, and maybe it's too popular a show to even mention, but I thought the first season was, at worst, consistently not bad.
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