Community -- this is a smart show, disguised as a dumb sitcom. For instance, when the group loses their scapegoat, one of the characters cites, "we lost our George Castanza, our Cliff Claven, our Turtle...or Johnny Drama...or E...man, that show was sloppy." Had to look up the reference, but now that I know, I laugh on the inside.

Our when Abed "pantses" Troy, he mentions that it was on his list of things to do in his first year of college, "...of course, it would have been better if you had the full hearts boxers". Troy: "well I hope getting pantsed was on your list". "Yes it was." (Puts a check on his piece of paper. Also, it is revealed that he has on the full hearts boxers.)

Community has been one of the few consistently very good shows this year along with Modern Family.

Community has been one of the few consistently very good shows this year along with Modern Family.

Agreed.

I hadn't watched sitcoms on regular basis for years until those two shows came along.

I've been enjoying Justified and Southland. The latter is sort of like The Wire Lite in terms of quality, perhaps like a cross between Cops (which I hate) and The Wire in terms of content. There was a nearly cinematic scene involving a cop protecting a witness that took me back to some of the most intense moments in LA Confidential. Justified keeps peeling back to the layers to reveal offbeat, fascinating characters played by highly competent actors. Every last one of them can keep up. Both shows are very refreshing after the horrendous CSI-type programming that took over during the mid-2000s and sapped what little faith I had left for humanity.

Justified is indeed a great show.

Add Caprica to that list which while a bit slow has been pretty good so far too and I'm hopeful that they get enough time to really get it going.

Has anyone seen the prequel to Ashes to Ashes? Is it any good?

Caprica is indeed pretty good. I was expecting a sort of live-action exploration of a Ghost in the Shell-type world based on the pilot, then it slowed and got a little dull. It did pick up several episodes ago, but I think they spent too much time trying to create human drama that wasn't entirely convincing. It really flowed effortlessly in BSG.

Has anyone seen the prequel to Ashes to Ashes? Is it any good?

Brilliant to say the least.

Has anyone seen the prequel to Ashes to Ashes? Is it any good?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars_(TV_series) is well worth seeing

cool, thanks I'll have to track it down and give it a spin. It will perfect to watch after A2A S3 finishes up.

Castle.

adventure time

i loled so much, i might be out of lols

Lost

Hey me too.

Glee

In adhering to the one-syllable theme -- Chuck.

Castle -- they really need to do more episodes where people don't have an alibi, and yet are innocent. Some people just aren't that social. In fact, they could do a whole episode where all the suspects are gamers or something. Or forum-readers. On a forum about alcohol.

Has anyone seen the prequel to Ashes to Ashes? Is it any good?

We're well through season 3 in the UK - which is going to be the the last one. I've dipped in and out over the last two seasons, but this one is a real belter and I'm well and truly hooked.

The other one I'm hooked on is the remake of The Prisoner, with Ian McKellern as No. 2

Speaking of UK tv shows, I am hooked on MI-5. I think I am on season 6 at the moment.

Speaking of UK tv shows, I am hooked on MI-5. I think I am on season 6 at the moment.

Nearly fooled me - MI-5 is the US name for the series. In the UK it is called Spooks - and yes, it is a must-watch. It isn't quite as tough as the original series, particularly when one operative had her head pushed into a deep fat frier.

You are correct, I've downloaded a few seasons and it's called Spooks. It may be my favorite show at the moment. When you say "original series" are you saying there was another series by the same name or are you talking older seasons v. the new seasons?

You are correct, I've downloaded a few seasons and it's called Spooks. It may be my favorite show at the moment. When you say "original series" are you saying there was another series by the same name or are you talking older seasons v. the new seasons?

Older seasons vs new seasons. Reks is right of course - it is total twaddle, but fun twaddle. The ex-head of MI-5, Stella Rimington (1992-96), was on the radio recently as was asked about Spooks. Utter rubbish, she said, because any real operation runs over months and years, so the idea that everything happens at breakneck pace over a day or two is very far from reality - but she still watched it herself.

In spite of all that it is still a must watch, even if all the recent plots revolve around terrorism and Al Quaida, rather than regular bad guy/drug running/etc plots.

Oddly enough, one of the lead guys in seasons 1-3 was played by Matthew MacFadyen. The day before the London Marathon my wife and I went to see Noel Coward's play (a farce) Private Lives, with --- Matthew MacFadyen and Kim Cattrall. Absolutely hilarious. Cattrall kept a perfect plummy English accent 99% of the time, with only the odd word slipping into American.

Concur with Spooks being enjoyable twaddle. We managed to get some american friends hooked on it. Their take on it was that there was a 'real' sense of danger, as from time to time the lead characters died (unlike US series), but you never knew where or when it would happen - hence the sense of danger. Add in some fairly dry humour, some observations on the expedient nature of politicians, inter service rivalry between 5 and 6, the nature of the "special relationship" and some plausible topical themes and you have a fun watch.

One of the things I love and hate about it is that just about every character is expendable.

Thinking about enjoyable, and often pretty hairy, twaddle - do you guys across the pond get Dr Who? If so hang onto your seats - the new Dr reincarnation is superb. Latest series running now in the UK. And they keep upping the budget, so the quality is near pretty close to cinematic.

If you want to watch latest series coming out of the UK on the BBC - check BBC iPlayer - TV Channels . Everything is there from all BBC channels for the previous 7 days at least.

You need a UK IP-address to be able to access the i-player.

Other great series would be Foyle's War and Wire in the Blood. Very different from anything US based...