Spaced is magically delicious. And it's one of those paradoxical shows where you could happily consume a jumbo bucket of it, if it was there, but you almost feel glad it's a more modest portion, because there's never any risk you'll get sick of it, or that by the time you reach the bottom of the bucket, you'll be trying to force down stale, over-salted, under-buttered kernels just to reach closure--no risk you'll get one of those burnt horrible-tasting mouthfuls that you have to spit out, which kind of sours the whole experience.

If that makes any sense? *g* Elaborate analogy.

Anyway, a rare yay for short BBC series format.

Someone once made me this awesome icon using the Qwantz dinosaur, about how Rodney couldn't play the piano because his little arms couldn't reach the keys. ("Sob.") It's lost now. I miss it SO MUCH. Sigh.

Oh hey, that was me! I probably still have it. Lemme look.

No, no, I'm totally wrong. Mine wasn't the Quantz dinosaur.

We never finished watching Spaced, although I enjoyed what we did watch, but I think you've summed up what's often so great about British TV series (i.e., Black Books, The Office, Extras). It's impossible to get sick of a show when you only get two seasons of six episodes!

And the ep "Epiphanies"--one of my favorite episodes of TV *ever*.

Oooh, you should watch Band of Brothers, it's GREAT.

Also you've reminded me I totally want to get back to Spaced!

Deadwood is awesome!
My Spousal Overunit loves Spaced.
I love Black Books.
I like Laurie but Fry gets on my nerves with his smugitude.

I don't see Justified anywhere on your list - I think it would appeal to you. Check it out, eh?

Excellent suggestion. I just finished re-watching the last two episodes last night and now I can hardly wait until it returns in February!

I've never even heard of it! I'll check it out this week. :-D

Just looked this up. Timothy Olyphant OMG! I am *SO* there. Torrenting now. Thank you!

You will NOT be disappointed. The writing is amazing, the characters are complex and interesting, the atmosphere is dark (and darkly humorous) and it's rife with moral ambiguity. (Too bad you're not using DW - I have some intriguing Justified icons over there!)

I fell wildly, head-over-heels in love with Lost. Most of my fannish friends weren't really there, or had already gotten out of it by the time I got into it, but I adored it.

And I've just started watching Sherlock -- seen the first ep, waiting to watch the next 2. It does seem rather like fannish crack. *g*

I didn't watch Lost for years even though it was J.J. Abrams--it seemed to be such a middle-American hit that I thought it'd be kind of bland. I definitely think I benefited by being able to watch it start to finish--if I'd been watchin some of those middle seasons in real time I think I'd have despaired about where the hell it was all going and probably couldn't have sustained a viewing commitment. It helped to know there was a finite end. Especially with all the flashbacks, becaue that essentially froze the forward momentum again and again and again... o.O !

It was awesome and addictive as it turns out--loads of just brilliantly cracktastic plot twists. An epic that deliberately implodes itself at the end, sucking all its meaning away, leaving after-images of dissipating sparkly stars while you stare and wonder WTF? But more or less in a good way. *g*

I started watching after S4 had aired, so yeah, I got to watch four seasons all in one mad dash, and by the time I finished S4 I was dazed and overwhelmed and totally in love with all of them and with the weird crazy mythology and everything! And the flashbacks, and flash-forwards (and I hadn't even imagined the flashes-sideways in S6 -- which was basically like a canon AU, so they totally worked for me.) Man, I still love that show.

Speaking of canon AUs, have you been watching Fringe? It may be my favorite thing on tv right now. It's Abrams again, and lo, it is awesome.

OMG I had no idea Fringe was Abrams! I watched 2 eps maybe and thought, "I saw this on the X-Files and it was better." But knowing it's his, I'm willing to give him a line of credit. I'll start torrenting S1 again today. :)

*Love* your descriptions of Lost--canon AU, *exactly*! How can you not *love* that?!

The first half of Fringe S1 reads like XF, and there are a lot of monster-of-the-week eps, but stick with it -- once they hit their stride it turned awesome, and S2 was even better, and S3 is AMAZING.

(Also -- more canon AU! Which I love!)

Also, *HELLO* *HUG* *HELLO!*

YAY HI *HUG*!

:-)

I loved Spaced, too. For many reasons, but one of the top 5 was all the XF references. Oh, nostalgia.

Another British series from that era that you might like is League of Gentlemen. The comedy is definitely not as good natured as Spaced, the show specializes in behavioral foibles & extremes & weaknesses & failings & such, but it's interesting in that three actors play the majority of all the characters, with the assistance of make-up & drag. Someone described it as "dense character explorations" and I quite like that verbiage.

1) So glad to see you around these parts again!

2) Excellent list o'tv. I would recommend giving Fringe a second try though, starting late in season one it turned into an entirely different, very, very excellent show. Season 2 was great and this season is even better. Of course, that's just my random opinion.

I was in a laundromat when I saw your first post so I just said "yay!" quietly to the laundromat - didn't try to reply on my phone. So, yay!

I'm kinda sad you didn't catch on to either Psych or White Collar, since those and Glee are about all I'm watching these days - but I like my TV fluffy. I can't stand MI5, which the husband lervs. Yuk. No Angst!

I do feel like I'm missing out on something with both Burn Notice and Leverage. Especially Leverage. I should be watching Christian Kane!

*hugs* Hello! :)

I didn't give Psych much of a go--I bailed after 3 or 4 episodes or partially watched eps, but it's one that I'd be willing to revisit. White Collar as well; I tend to want darker twistier themes, though. Like, with Prison Break--somewhere in S2, I think, they created an opportunity for themselves to go much much darker with Michael's character, but then backed off. That crushed me. :(

Same with Chuck, when he got his kung fu on--I'd be much more rabid about that show (rather than just mildly entertained) if they'd jumped their formulaic tracks and given Chuck a more resilient dark side.

I do think you'd really like Burn Notice and Leverage--they actually are kind of fluffy too, as it turns out, but they gave me just enough edge up front to hook me and reel me in.

(Also, Leverage works the same basic angle as White Collar, in that the main character is an insurance investigator.)

Glee is fantastic--the first half-season completely captivated and slayed me and I gave the box set as a b-day gift to my housemate. I might let the rest of S1 play out and watch it all at once, I think. Just to enjoy it that way.

Sadly, none of the rest of Glee is half as good as the first half-season. However, I constantly forgive it everything because that first season was so good. Some of the writers are really good.

I don't know if this is more than a 'ping' or not, but it is good to hear from you.