What's the best show currently in production?

[Diakonov]

I don't watch TV very often, but I like:

Louie
South Park
30 Rock
The Office (although it's been slowly going downhill)

There's a new show called Ringer that just began, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.  The first episode was pretty sweet.

[Klep]

According to the Emmys it's Modern Family Modern Family Modern Family Modern Family Modern Family Modern Family Modern Family Modern Family Modern Family.

[mostapha]

Doctor Who
Mad Men
Archer

That's literally all I watch, though the right people have been suggesting that I take a look at the BBC Sherlock series, and I might do that if it's available on iTunes once this Dr. Who season is over. 

Details:

Doctor Who

I got into this late…I didn't start watching until Season 5 of the reboot (first w/ Matt Smith), and I did so thinking it was good "starin' tv," meaning that it was great to stare at when I didn't really care what I was watching but wanted something that was written and shot passably (and wasn't a BS crime drama).  After I finally realized that there was more to it than that, I went back and archive binged the reboot…and love it.  Unfortunately, the current writers and producers seem to be missing out on some of the really insanely interesting stuff that happened under Davies.  Specifically, the Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit are perhaps the best single plot arc of TV that I've watched.  Though presented in a thoroughly normal and almost trite way, the ideas therein rival some legitimate scholarship on related topics.  Throughout Davies/Tennant's tenure as Producer and the Doctor, ideas constantly come up that I've used in legitimate high-level discussions of philosophy and politics, specifically relating to the decline and replacement of Enlightenment thought and how anti-religion reactionary bullshit and strict adherence to radical empiricism in political and economic treatises and practices have affected the development of the Nation-State and lead to the current state of the world, not to mention giving me more linguistic tools with which to discuss religion without giving someone a reading list. 

Any TV show that has that lurking under the surface is worth putting up with–until this season–lousy special effects and layers upon layers of inside jokes that take a while to get. 

Plus…it's just awesome. 

Mad Men

It's just a TV show about alcoholic anti-heros, a douche bag, and a collection of women mostly better described as idiotic sluts, but it's a really good one.  Mostly, I like it because it makes it really easy to identify with a daytime-drinking, chain-smoking, serial polyamorist that I'd probably beat the crap out of in real life, which is at least interesting.  It's well-written, well-produced, and gorgeous, especially considering that I kind of think that the Modernist design style was abysmal; Mad Men remains one of very few examples of the Modernist style that doesn't piss me off in some way. 

I also adore the series's treatment of women in the era of the rise of Feminism for a number of reasons.  Primarily, I appreciate the contrast between Betty and Peggy/Jane.  Betty stands as the pre-Feminism ideal of a woman in an era where everything she'd been taught for her whole life was pronounced "wrong."  The problem is that she's a complete moron, and I like seeing the interactions between her and the other characters if for no other reason than that I identify with the characters that hate her; she reminds me of more than one of my ex-girlfriends more than I'd ever like to admit.  But at least I'm not the only one.  Conversely, Peggy is so incredibly asexual through most of the series that she seems to exemplify what one side of the Feminist movement was going for–the idea that women can succeed based on merit–with only cursory slips into the whole "I'm not actually equal yet and it's your problem because you're my boss" argument that I tend to label writing mistakes and ignore, at least in terms of her character.  Jane–on the other hand–abuses the freedom she's been granted to her own ends.  She is the polar opposite of Peggy in just about every way: hyper-feminine to a fault with a mindset that was exclusively allowed to males previously. 

The presentation of Betty's fall combined with the continuing battle between Peggy and Jane's ideologies and behaviors mirrors the central debate of Feminism that seems to still weigh heavily on society and confuse women fifty years later. 

Archer

It's hilarious.  That's really about all there is too it, but it's the best comedy series I've seen in a long time. 

Who would have thought that smashing together the last 60 years of technology in a way that makes absolutely no sense at all and replacing James Bond's character flaws with even more character flaws would produce something worth watching? 

Other

I'm seriously considering picking up Davies's Sherlock on BBC as mentioned above and possibly Walking Dead.  I went to a WD panel at Dragoncon a few weeks ago with friends who actually watch it, and the actors they had on the panel (Laurie Holden, Steen Yeun, Chandler Riggs, Madison Lintz, Andy Rothenburg, and some little blonde zombie chick who's name I can't remember) were really impressive.  They're freaking hilarious and very well composed…and based on that extremely limited interaction and running into her in one of the hotels a couple days later, Madison Lintz comes across as very close to the type of person I'd want my daughter to be if I ever have one.  And I like seeing what seemingly good people manage to do with themselves. 

Oh…and Mythbusters is impressive, but I don't follow it.  Adam Savage might be one of the most intelligent people I've seen IRL who wasn't specifically an academic.  Unfortunately, the show gets old after a while…I kind of just binge it once or twice a year when I'm bored, and it's not fiction, so I don't think of it in the same vein as the rest of TV. 

[nataz]

I reaaaly like justified, especially the second season featuring Margo Martindale. She absolutly deserved the emmy for best supporting actress. Looking forward to the next season. FX in general has surprised me the past two years. The aforementioned Justified, SOA, Sunny, Wilfred, louie, The league, and Archer are all at least entertaining enough for me to tune in weekly, and at their best are some of the best TV I've seen in years. Who would have thought? 

I also liked HBO's boardwalk empire when I could watch it all at once on HBO on demand. I think the slow pace would have annoyed me if I had to wait a week between episodes (ala - game of thrones).

[LotusHead]

Terra Nova seems pretty good so far. Lots of room for story, action, etc.  No Jar Jar Binx, etc.

[DubDub]

Terra Nova seems pretty good so far. Lots of room for story, action, etc.  No Jar Jar Binx, etc.

Really?  I'm getting so tired of instantly-recognizable-tropes, like: the angsty rebellious son, the adventurous rebellious girl who's a love interest for said rebellious son.  There were many more such cookie-cutter characters on display.

I realize that it was only the pilot episode, and that they had to grab the audience's attention, but I feel as if there are only so many places to hide mystery in a show; the plot, the backstory, the setting, the characters.  Hiding none in your characters right off the bat seems to me to be a mistake.  If we know exactly how each character will act in every scene from the very beginning then the show becomes a very transparent series of scripted scenes.  Cheapening the characters cheapens the plot reveals as well, because they become obstacles put in the protagonists' path by the writers, as opposed to obstacles arising organically from the world the characters are living in.

Maybe this criticism is unfair, to Terra Nova again because it's just the pilot episode, but also generally: if they hadn't used the rebellious-son trope I might have recognized and complained about the dutiful-son trope instead.

What I would have done instead:
#1: The little girl, Zoe, gets left behind, because security forces grab the backpack as Jim is running for the portal.  She shows up halfway through the first season as a fully grown badass young woman (through the plot device of time travel) with an axe to grind.
#2: The rebellious son has something to actually rebel about, since as of the pilot he thinks his sister is left behind forever, he and some buddies still go OTG, but they all bite it to a combination of dinos and Taylor's son.  This tragedy solidifies Taylor's fascistic control, but Jim is suspicious of the bullet riddled corpses with a note saying "They saw." (Meaning, the stuff at the waterfall.)

[LotusHead]

Terra Nova DID play everything safe, granted. But I still think there's room to grow. They can't all be BSG/Firefly!

[Meddling Mike]

Anybody watching New Girl? So far, it's my favorite new series this season.

Yeah, Terra Nova didn't strike me as anything special, but I also agree that there's room to grow. I liked the fact that they took the time to write explanations for some of the plot holes. In particular the whole separate time stream thing. It soothed my inner "Simpsons Comic Book Guy"; that said, if it's a one way trip how do they even know that the portal works at all and specifically that it goes to a specific time period in the past? Why is such an in demand physician living with her 3 children in a one room hovel? Nathaniel Taylor mentions that with enough money you can buy a good life in 2149 and asks her why she didn't opt for that. Maybe a one room hovel is considered nice given the overpopulation problem?

I felt like they dropped a few nice breadcrumbs with regards to Nathaniel Taylor. Son he claims is dead isn't dead, not sharing information with the rest of the colony, etc. So far he seems like the only character with any real depth.

I was 100% with you on the angst filled teenage son, his resentment for his father doesn't seem justified. Like, he went to prison, but he went to prison for trying to defend his family, seems like a strange thing to accuse him of being a bad father for. Also, wtf was up with the complete lack of an escape scene from the prison? You see he has this adorable little laser thingy the wife snuck him, but that's all you need to break out of prison on short notice in 2149 apparently? Seems like lazy writing.

[Klep]

Right now of shows that are either on-air or between seasons I'm watching Doctor Who, Archer, Burn Notice, Futurama, Sherlock, Pan Am, Terra Nova, and Castle.  Of those I'd probably have to pick Archer as the one with the highest consistent quality, but it's sort of cheating since Doctor Who is almost as good but has to fill twice as much time.  Pan Am and Terra Nova are only just getting started, but both have strong potential.  I'd say that Pan Am is more likely to live up to that potential though, as it did nearly everything right in the pilot.  Terra Nova, on the other hand, has to dig out of the one-note archetypes it's created for its central characters and also avoid falling into the trap of its own mythology.  If The Future starts becoming a setting in Terra Nova, you'll know things are getting dire.  Castle and Burn Notice are what they are: not special, but consistently entertaining.  Futurama confused me because this past season was so much worse than the previous one.  I hope that they're able to settle down and return to more consistent quality in future seasons.  And lastly, Sherlock went hit, miss, hit in its three episodes. I'm definitely looking forward to more, but at this point it's too inconsistent to be considered for best-in-production.

[mostapha]

Anybody watching New Girl? So far, it's my favorite new series this season.

The one with Zoe Deschanel (sp?)?!  Apart from the fact that her characters are always walking anti-woman clichés done so badly that she pisses off the chauvinistic male inside me because she's too dumb/annoying for how pretty she is and she pisses off feminists who don't understand that her characters are supposed to be caricatures of the worst women in existence…it looked like every other single-people sitcom ever without the cast chemistry that led to success for Friends and Seinfeld.  

Terra Nova DID play everything safe, granted. But I still think there's room to grow. They can't all be BSG/Firefly!

Right.  

And the fact that people still watch and compliment lazy shows is why so much of TV just re-hashes old tropes and safe plot lines.  

That being said, I'm not actually a fan of BSG, mostly because somehow the alien attack that lowered humanity's population by 5 orders of magnitude somehow lead to the survival of only the unconscionable dicks and outright sadists.  But I also didn't watch the whole series straight through, so I'm probably missing something.  I might do that if I have the free time after I finish the reading lists my girlfriend and my best friend have given me over the past week (about 4,000 pages in total split between '70s fantasy and academic literature). 

As a corollary, Joss Whedon seems not to really appeal to a wide audience: the few people that love him love him, and everyone else mostly just doesn't hate him.  I've liked everything I've watched of his, but I've also never been so attached that I follow something to its conclusion: I stopped watching Buffy after a few seasons, I only watched Angel in passing, I've only seen isolated episodes of Firefly, and I didn't actually make it through Dr. Horrible without skipping songs…and only got around to watching it at all when a girl kind of didn't give me an option.  Heck…I zone out periodically during Serenity. 

Frankly, I have a pretty good opinion of him for a writer/director/producer/etc. who has never made a show or movie that I actually looked forward to a new installment of. 

There are a lot of other well-done shows, though.  Breaking Bad really impressed me with where it's gone, even if it's a bit overly melodramatic for its own good.  

And the Pirate-king arc that's going on in Archer is priceless.  It's not quite "Terms of Enrampagement," or the episode where Pam gets kidnapped (hey, you guys!  check out his little spots!!) but it's good. 

[ELD]

Breaking Bad is absolutely amazing.  Started season one, and we finished it in 3 days.  Actual entertainment for adults.  I am in awe of how they, in a non-pretentious way, make exceptional use of foreshadowing and symbolism.  The episode where they foreshadow with talking about chemical reactions is exactly what I'm talking about.  Rust, being a slow change that goes unnoticed until it's too late, as a symbol of cancer, decaying relationships and abandoned dreams.  Mercury fulminate, being explosive radical change, possible dangerous, and yet possibly useful is put to a planned purpose, mirroring later events and outburts.  Just tremendous to be able to think about a show the next day and have stuff to talk about, compared to most of the TV out there.  Definitely added to my list. 

[Joblin Velder]

Breaking Bad is absolutely amazing.  Started season one, and we finished it in 3 days.  Actual entertainment for adults.  I am in awe of how they, in a non-pretentious way, make exceptional use of foreshadowing and symbolism.  The episode where they foreshadow with talking about chemical reactions is exactly what I'm talking about.  Rust, being a slow change that goes unnoticed until it's too late, as a symbol of cancer, decaying relationships and abandoned dreams.  Mercury fulminate, being explosive radical change, possible dangerous, and yet possibly useful is put to a planned purpose, mirroring later events and outburts.  Just tremendous to be able to think about a show the next day and have stuff to talk about, compared to most of the TV out there.  Definitely added to my list. 

I just like meth.

[Meddling Mike]

Breaking Bad is absolutely amazing.  Started season one, and we finished it in 3 days.  Actual entertainment for adults.  I am in awe of how they, in a non-pretentious way, make exceptional use of foreshadowing and symbolism.  The episode where they foreshadow with talking about chemical reactions is exactly what I'm talking about.  Rust, being a slow change that goes unnoticed until it's too late, as a symbol of cancer, decaying relationships and abandoned dreams.  Mercury fulminate, being explosive radical change, possible dangerous, and yet possibly useful is put to a planned purpose, mirroring later events and outburts.  Just tremendous to be able to think about a show the next day and have stuff to talk about, compared to most of the TV out there.  Definitely added to my list. 

It's really an amazing show, breaks my heart to think there are just ~18 more episodes coming. That said, if the vision for the show concludes in six seasons then I can still support that. I hate when networks will keep a show going long past it's prime to make bank [cough]Simpsons[/cough].

Anybody watching New Girl? So far, it's my favorite new series this season.

The one with Zoe Deschanel (sp?)?!  Apart from the fact that her characters are always walking anti-woman clichés done so badly that she pisses off the chauvinistic male inside me because she's too dumb/annoying for how pretty she is and she pisses off feminists who don't understand that her characters are supposed to be caricatures of the worst women in existence…it looked like every other single-people sitcom ever without the cast chemistry that led to success for Friends and Seinfeld. 

I read this a couple of times and I do not know what you are trying to say. What is an anti-woman cliche exactly? You think the character is misogynistic towards other women in an way that has been greatly overused? Maybe you're trying to say that the character is an overused female stereotype? If it's the former I'm not really seeing it, if it's the latter I guess I can see it a little bit with the way she was handling the breakup a bit. That said, I thought that it was valid and worked into the story reasonably well as the breakup causes her to look for another place to live where she meets the supporting cast. I thought this also tied in nicely to the end of the pilot episode. Also, wouldn't a male chauvinist want female television characters to fit into the mold of dumb/attractive? That said, my own perception of the character was more quirky/socially awkward than dumb/annoying. I'm also not sure that she's supposed to be considered exceptionally attractive. I recognize that the actress is attractive, but I think they deliberately try to make her less attractive. Sort of like Liz Lemon on 30 Rock, Tina Fey is very attractive but Liz Lemon is not supposed to be. I also don't think that she's a caricature of the worst women in existence. I found the character pretty likable myself. I also liked some of the work done by the supporting cast. I thought the banter with the three guys was very funny and real. I laughed my ass off when they told him to put a dollar in the douchebag jar for taking his shirt off.

[Prospero]

Yankees playoff baseball.

Would you like some extra salt, Red Sox fans?

[Delha]

Been enjoying New Girl as well, and agree w/ Meddling Mage about the main character seeming built to be awkward more than anything else.

The show's certainly not one I ever plan to buy box sets of, but it's been holding up as an amusing enough show to just sit and laugh over with the g/f. It's still been funny to us, as opposed to going downhill after the pilot, which is more than I can say I was really expecting. Maybe I'm just satisfied because I didn't set the bar very high in the first place. Shrug.

[Meddling Mike]

Would you like some extra salt, Red Sox fans?

Yeah, just set it down over there by the Stanley Cup.

[Meddling Mike]

For the other new shows I've been stretching out:

2 Broke Girls:
Supposedly this thing is doing quite well in the ratings, personally, I don't see it. I'm not getting any genuine LOL moments out of it, the jokes are EXTREMELY formulaic and you can see them coming from a mile away. There are really only two relevant characters on the show and nobody else. None of the secondary characters have any depth to them whatsoever.

A Gifted Man:
This is ok, but I wonder about how it's going to work for an extended period of time. The whole seeing the dead ex-wife thing sort of reminds me of how Rescue Me started off, but eventually that grew in different directions, he started to see other people and he also had a fairly amusing set of events going on in his life. So far AGM is basically just his ex's ghost guilt tripping him into charity work at the expense of his business. I'm not sure how long they can realistically extend this conflict. I think at some point either his business tanks or he stops listening to Ghost Wife. Some decent secondary characters though, the sister, the "shaman", the secretary are all interesting characters beyond the Dr. and his ex.

[bluemage55]

No one watches How I Met Your Mother?  It's basically the spiritual successor to Friends for a new generation.

Also, The Guild is an awesome show for gamers, even if it's technically a web original rather than a TV show.

[Prospero]

This will be an awesome answer, hopefully soon:

http://twitter.com/#!/NewYorker/status/120599846745931777

That blew my mind.  One of the only television shows that I've watched.  Awesome, awesome, awesome stuff...

[Meddling Mike]

No one watches How I Met Your Mother?  It's basically the spiritual successor to Friends for a new generation.

Also, The Guild is an awesome show for gamers, even if it's technically a web original rather than a TV show.

I love that show. It's sort of my guilty pleasure. It's pretty predictable, I think Ted is an awful main character, but it's just awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF1b1pf9DRY

Anybody watching "Up All Night" I wasn't really too impressed by the pilot episode, but since then I think each subsequent episode has been better than the previous one which makes me think it's just a slow starter and it's hitting it's stride. It's funny, my fiancee and I have been asked a few times if we are watching the show for research as we are expecting in February.

[ReubenG]

A new show that has caught my attention is Person of Interest.  I have always liked J J Abrams shows, and this one has really drawn me in early, the plot is very interesting and I like the character development. 

I too enjoy How I met your Mother, though I fear it is nearing the end of being any good.  Typically happens to most shows when the characters most veiwers want to get together finally do, and then all interest is lost and the show struggles...I fear How I Met Your Mother is heading this way.

[Meddling Mike]

A new show that has caught my attention is Person of Interest.  I have always liked J J Abrams shows, and this one has really drawn me in early, the plot is very interesting and I like the character development. 

I too enjoy How I met your Mother, though I fear it is nearing the end of being any good.  Typically happens to most shows when the characters most veiwers want to get together finally do, and then all interest is lost and the show struggles...I fear How I Met Your Mother is heading this way.

I have Person of Interest waiting for me on the DVR. I really enjoy Fringe, so I will usually give his work a test run. I know the early reviews on it haven't been anything amazing.

Who do you think is getting together in HIMYM? Robin and Barney? If so, they have done that dynamic before and I'm not necessarily sure that's where they are going with it. That said, I do think the show is planning to wrap up soon. Jason Segel's contract keeps him on the show til 2013 at which point he's stated he will be leaving. (http://www.aoltv.com/2010/06/25/jason-segel-plans-to-leave-himym-in-three-years/) It's probably no coincidence that that is also where the number of seasons HIMYM has been green lighted for ends. I really hope they don't try to do the show without Marshall.

[Yare]

Sherlock - 2010

Wanted to emphasize this one. Not bad at all. At only 3 80-minute shows, you can easily blow this one on Netflix instant play.

[bluemage55]

Who do you think is getting together in HIMYM? Robin and Barney? If so, they have done that dynamic before and I'm not necessarily sure that's where they are going with it.

Based on the fact that the bride asked for Ted in the season premiere glimpse at the wedding, I would venture a guess that this only makes sense if Ted is pulling double-duty as best man to both Barney and Robin.

[ReubenG]

Who do you think is getting together in HIMYM? Robin and Barney? If so, they have done that dynamic before and I'm not necessarily sure that's where they are going with it. That said, I do think the show is planning to wrap up soon. Jason Segel's contract keeps him on the show til 2013 at which point he's stated he will be leaving. (http://www.aoltv.com/2010/06/25/jason-segel-plans-to-leave-himym-in-three-years/) It's probably no coincidence that that is also where the number of seasons HIMYM has been green lighted for ends. I really hope they don't try to do the show without Marshall.

After seeing the first of the season, I told my wife Barney and Robin are getting married.  When they were together the first time they were both younger more individualistic people, the timing wasn't right.  The story line seems to be shaping up to them now learning that there is more to life than the individual (Barney having the deisre to be with one woman rather than all women, and Robin seeking comittment rather than fearing it) and thier relation will be able to work and not be determental to each other.
 

[Meddling Mike]

You could be right, but it just seems a bit too on the nose. I guess we'll find out!

[The Wolf]

American Pickers - The only way this show could be better is if it was about people finding Magic cards at Tag Sales.

[DubDub]

Masterpiece Mystery's Inspector Lewis series is one of my favorites.  An hour and a half with no commercials chock full of wit and intrigue?  Sign me up.

Next week's episode is an adaptation of Linda Atkinson's 'Case Histories' (not an Inspector Lewis episode, unfortunately), which is the motivation I need to actually read the copy of 'Case Histories' I had been neglecting.

Edit:  That should be Kate Atkinson for those scoring at home.  A clear indicator of the extent to which I had neglected her books.

[forests failed you]

Hockey Night in Canada