What TV show got you completely hooked, and why?

Fringe.

Dude, Arrested Development. I got into it about ten years too late avowedly, but it reminds me perfectly of so many people and situations I knew while growing up. (I grew up in the land of Nouveau Riche Before the Bubble Burst… that is, South Florida.) The writing is beyond brilliant as is the pacing and character development. Also, the original soundtrack is very nice! Plus, it’s always nice to watch a show that makes you thankful that at least your family wasn’t that bad.
I signed up for Hulu+ expressly so I could watch all the seasons.

Also, Spaced. Only one season, I still can’t believe it didn’t last longer. I want all of the characters to be my friends… Seriously high re-watch value.

I don’t have any current ones that I love, but I’d recommend Netflix-ing The West Wing and Firefly.

Mad Men. One episode and I was hooked. I had to watch all the seasons in about one month to catch up before the last season came on.
I was hooked because it takes place in the time period when I grew up and brought back a lot of good memories.

Alcatraz.

Lately? Rizzoli and Isles on TNT. Why? Because the writing is very funny. I usually laugh out loud a couple of times per show.

I second Firefly on Netflix. Excellent space western.

@JLeslie I haven’t heard of it. Why Fringe?
@bookish1 Thanks for the recommendations. I’ll look into them.
Thanks @syz. They don’t need to be current. In fact, older ones that are out on DVD are better for our needs. I’ll also look up your recommendations. I’ve heard of The West Wing, but not Firefly.
@chyna Mad Men sounds interesting. We were both born in the 60s. The SO is British, so it may not hold the same appeal.
@ucme Why Alcatraz? I remember seeing a preview for it, but know nothing else about it.
Thanks @marinelife I’ll check that one out as well.
@FutureMemory Hmm, a second vote for Firefly, plus a description. That’s another one to look into. Thank you.

@Pied_Pfeffer It’s from the same “stable” as Lost, has Sam Neill in it & it’s good.

Stargate: SG-1
Person of Interest
Sherlock (it’s on Netflix; not the American version)

I agree with Mad Men! BEST show on television.

Also, if you liked Lost, and are into Sci-fi Battlestar Galactica is great.

Game of Thrones. Decapitation within 10 minutes of the pilot immediately wins my heart.
And the plot is not too hard to follow.

Oh, sorry I left off the why. It is a si-fi like series, but here on earth. I like it because it is very cerebral with interesting characters who care about each other. Humor drizzled in also. It is similar to x-files, but much better in my opinion. I never really got into x-files.

Fringe division is a division of the FBI that investigates unusual happenings that seem outside of this world. Sometimes it is some scientific genious doing some crazy experiment and sometimes it is connected to a tear in the universe and people from the future who can easily travel through time who manipulate events to correct time threads.

Ohhh, loved West Wing as mentioned above. Very well written show. And it is not dumbed down.
Game of Thrones is a current addiction (I’m in withdrawls already), and so is the Borgias.
Mentalist is amusing. (But not so addictive but a decent suspense story.)
The Closer is another well written story. This is its last season. I think its 7 years long. You will love all the characters.

Game of Thrones. The Borgias. The Newsroom. Boston Legal.
Also The Shield, back in the day. Vic Mackie smiling at the young man he chased down, yanking down the kids pants and ripping the bag of dope off his genitals… wow.

@Pandora Oh, West Wing was fantastic. Have you been watching Newsroom?

@Trillian I loved Boston Legal. I didn’t start watching it until it was ending so I bought the entire series. William Shattner is so funny/quirky.

Best series ever, for me: I Claudius. Wonderful acting, nasty characters, suspenseful plot, intrigue and surprises at every turn. I wish they would show it again.

Dexter

My dad watched the first series, and I shunned him.

Now, I’m hooked and never missed an episode since.

@Aesthetic_Mess I agree with Sherlock, the original and best (UK version) is a very good watch…

The first season of Heroes (if you watch past that you’ll be disappointed).

I liked the “normal people with superpowers” approach, thought the story was interesting, enjoyed the suspense and the plot twists and loved the cliffhangers at the end of each episode.

Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. The show is very witty and cerebral and the two actors who play Holmes and Watson are a perfect match for each other. Kind of like two bickering, but loving, spouses. Throw in the house keeper and Holmes’ older brother Mycroft and you’ve got yourself a delicious little mini series.

Sometimes the clues come at you fast and furious, including this nifty little device where words appear on the screen (Sherlock’s thoughts and observations) so sometimes me and my Mom will watch the show 2 or 3 times just to get it all. Plus Mr. Cumberbatch is fascinating to watch.

Mad Men, because it seemed different: no heros saving the day every episode, no drama being solved in one episode, and I liked how they showed the daily grind instead of event after event.

I like Dexter, but only because I’m bored and want to see what happens.

There always seems to be one that hooks me. In the past:
Ally McBeal – great cast, funny writing
Boston Common – Also great cast, good writing
Chicago Hope- Much better than ER, better cast (Clooney! Arkin! Patinkin!)
West Wing (see responses above)

Now a days it is Suits on USA Network.

Never watched any Lost episode when it was airing. Didn’t have time to follow and I’m a bit wary of programs too popular like Lost. I’m a bit snobbish that way. As if I didn’t get hooked on TJ Hooker and Knight Rider and Airwolf! A friend pushed me to watch the pilot of Lost a few years after it went off the air. Liked it! So it became a marathon of watching one episode after another.

What came next? Lost was a tough act to follow. Very tough, what with all that production value! We did Dexter next. Great sound over monologues. Suspenseful. Dexter pulls and ties you inside his head, see? We followed up with True Blood. I can’t say no to vampires, werewolves, shape shifters and witches and Alan Ball. Lol.

Then we did Deadwood. Engaging characters. Excellent momentum. Great production value and the words, cocksucker and fuck every 30 seconds. Brilliant.

Then came that zombie series from Frank Darabont. Couldn’t say no to the guy who did Shawshank Redemption. If he made a show about Pikàchu, I’d watch it.

Then the same friend who recommended Lost pushed for 24. I liked the first season. The second one was even better, imo. So that was where the new Spock actor started, I think. The third season didn’t get to me so I stopped the clock right there.

Next was Firefly. Short but sweet. I developed admiration for the characters and hoping hopelessly for it to be revived. That spaceship was ugly cute!

I second Fringe, I can’t get enough of it! It makes crazy crap like shape-shifters, bald aliens that can change timelines at will and always wear fedoras, and alternate universes totally believable.

And Law & Order SVU. As to why, I’m not entirely sure. I think it might have a lot to do with the character development and side plots, which are great.

For those of you who loved West Wing, a similar type of show called Political Animals is coming to USA this month, and it’s supposed to be really good!

I try not to get completely hooked but sometimes I do. Even so there haven’t been too many “must see” shows for me.
I loved Project Runway when it was on Bravo but then ultimately lost interest. Since I’m a designer I loved watching the design process more than I enjoyed all the drama but there were some funny moments. I especially loved Christian Siriano
I also liked hearing the professionals critique each design. It wasn’t always predictable what they would like or what they would say.

Another show I liked was In Treatment on HBO with Gabriel Burne. I found it fascinating to listen to therapy sessions like a fly on the wall. The progression from week to week as more and more was revealed about each person and as the therapeutic relationship developed was really well written IMHO.

Now I like Boardwalk Empire (HBO). I get a little squeamish when it’s too violent just as I did with The Sopranos, but I still love it. I love the recreation of another era and I think Steve Buscemi is just great as the lead. Overall it is a great cast.

Veep (HBO) with Julia Louis Dreyfuss is hilarious. This series showcases her talent so much better than her last one (The New Adventures of Old Christine) which I never liked.

I am also watching The Newsroom. So far it’s really good, but a few scenes really, really strain believability. If you aren’t looking for realism though, it’s very entertaining. I couldn’t watch more than one episode at a time because all the emotional histrionics tire me out!

I don’t watch TV but ordered the “Dexter” series and “Weeds” from amazon last year. Love them both.
“Weeds” is the funniest show ever and I love Dexters self narrations, a great theme, great writing, great dialogue.

@Kardamom I am so hurt that there are only three episodes a season! It is the best show.

The Wire
Mad Men
Sherlock
The Killing.

Arrested Development
The Wire
Dexter

True Blood, Rome, and Deadwood… all HBO series, and all fantastic. Very compelling, high production quality, great acting (well, True Blood isn’t quite as high on the acting scale, but still good.)

The Walking Dead, Fringe and House. The characters and story lines are interesting.

Breaking Bad.

Heads and shoulders the best on TV.

Suits! I love Gabriel Macht and he is so damn good looking in the show. That’s what drew me in first, then I got vested in the characters = Addicted.

True Blood
Game of Thrones
Both fantastic shows. I love the characters, the story lines and the eye candy!

Game of Thrones
Breaking Bad
Mad Men
The Walking Dead
The Killing (although my viewing was interrupted so I need to buy the series).
Six Feet Under
Cold Feet
24 (for the first few seasons then I was over it)

Breaking Bad. Easily the most addictive show I’ve ever watched. For the first 4 seasons, I didn’t care where I was, or what I was doing, 11PM EST, I had to drop everything and sit my ass down to watch it. It’s a great fucking show. My condolences to Vince Gilligan. And to Bryan Cranston for proving he’s capable of more than Nickelodeon’s god awful rib ticklers like Malcolm In the Middle.

@Ponderer983 I love Gabriel Macht too! I didn’t know he had a series. I’ll blame you if I get hooked! I first saw him in A Love Song for Bobby Long. It was a really good movie but that part didn’t allow him to be at his best lookswise,he was a little scruffy and down and out, yet he was attractive to me all the same.
After I saw him in that movie I watched Because I Said So with Diane Keaton. It was really lame and I watched it only to see him.
I will definitely check out Suits now that I know he’s in it.

It’s not that hard for me to become addicted to TV shows. I still watch TV from the 90’s.

Currently, I love: Fringe, True Blood, Walking Dead and SYTYCD. Falling Skies is really good, too.

Oh, I forgot Homeland. Addictive show. It’s about a soldier who was a POW who comes back from Iraq (I think Iraq, maybe Afghanastan, but I think Iraq) and the audience is not sure if he has been turned into a double agent. The main characters are him and an CIA agent who works to figure out terrorist activity and threats to America, but she is a little mentally unstable, sort of paranoid also, but is it paranoia if they really are coming after us? It’s very good.

@tinyfaery I like falling skies also. Big twist last episode. My husband guessed it.

Game of Thrones (its like several mini stories in one, I like the “imp”)
True Blood( the only in a pandemic of vampire sagas I like)
Deadwood (colorful language- we would keep a count of the word “cocksucker”)
My Partner the Ghost (good British TV)
Moonlighting, with Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis (funny writing)

@Earthgirl Unfortunately it was Because I Said So when I first saw him. I’m a damn sucker for a Mandy Moore movie, but then I saw him and he has this uncommon handsomeness. Suits is on USA, Thursday nights at 10 EST. It’s in it’s second season, so you can always get the first season on DVD and catch up pretty quickly.

Once Upon A Time. It’s fairy tales in real life, where the “happily ever after” never happens. The first season ended a little while ago and I can’t wait for the next season. It’s really interesting.

I love “Scrubs” because it dose such a great job of making fun of “Grey’s Anatomy” which I can’t stand.

But my all time favorite T.V. series is “Combat”. I was capativated by it as a boy and still does. I have every episode of the 5 year series on DVD. I love it because the acting really draws you in so that you can almost feel the human struggles, tragedies and victories. General George Patton Jr said it better than I can, “God help me, I do love it so!”

“Breaking Bad” hooked me.like Blue Meth to crack head.
The show is so clever. There are so many story lines that interweave in unexpected ways I marvel at their creativity. .

@Ponderer983 Yummmmmm!!!! I think I will catch up. Believe it or not, I have never been one of those women who could be called “boy crazy” but Gabirel Macht has the “right stuff” as far as I’m concerned. I had thought I was alone in this but I’m glad to find a fellow fan.

Another show, which I consider to be a sleeper, because it seems like my family is the only one that’s ever heard of it, is Body of Proof starring Dana Delaney. It’s kind of like a cross between a Sherlock Holmes style mystery (only it’s always about medical stuff, because it’s set in a coroner’s office) and Monk.

There’s a lovely will they or won’t they (they definitely should) situation going on between Dr. Megan Hunt (Dana Delaney) and her police officer partner, Peter Dunlap (Nicholas Bishop). There’s also a love/hate relationship between Delaney’s character and her boss, Dr. Kate Murphy (Jeri Ryan, 7 of 9 for those of you who care) who plays Dr. Hunt’s immediate boss (who was briefly having a love relationship with Dr. Hunt’s ex-husband) The cast is rounded out by a fantastic ensemble group that brings sophisticated humor and multi-layered personalities to the show. It’s a drama, but there’s a lot of great insider humor.

People who enjoy mysteries, or doctor shows, or romantic comedies, or shows with lots of inter-related cast members (and side stories) and witty, complex dialogue, will love this show. The women will love Nicholas Bishop, and the men (and this woman) will love Dana Delaney and Jeri Ryan!

This is one of those shows that you need to see from the beginning, because there are some complex relationships coming and going. Rent it on Netflix or watch the series in re-runs from the very first episode. I wept like a baby during the finale.

Quatermass and the Pit because it was simply terrifying and gripping.

Thank you all for the recommendations! This is such a long list to sort through and research that it is a bit daunting. There are 54 television show recommendations so far. In case anyone is interested, the ones recommended the most with five or more votes are:
* Fringe
* Mad Men
* Game of Thrones
* Dexter
* True Blood

@bookish1 and @rebbel I just finished watching Arrested Development. It’s quirky characters were interesting, but the plots were silly. If you liked this, you ought to give Soap a try. Now, that was a good show.

@Pied_Pfeffer : Thank you for the recommendation! I’ll look that up. And as for the plots of AD, they are indeed silly but they speak to me somehow. I don’t think the intention was for the plots to be realistic, but for them to exaggerate and parody reality in a way that still points to truth, kind of like an opera.

@bookish1 If you go for @Pied_Pfeffer ‘s reccomendation of Soap, then you should also check out Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman which was on around the same time. It was quite controversial and very funny.

I am now hooked on Scrubs. I like the whole medical aspect of it, and it is hilarious.

^^ I agree, and Zack Braff is a hottie! The guy who plays Dr. Perry Cox is so funny with his angry rants that liquid often spurts from my nostrils.

@Kardamom Dr. Cox is my absolute favorite. He might be one of my favorite characters in the entire TV universe!
He says things I would say

@Aesthetic_Mess I would love to see Perry Cox ranting about the Republicans, that would be epic.

@augustlan, @Bellatrix, @tinyfaery and @mazingerz88: Thank you for The Walking Dead recommendation. After watching the first two seasons on Netflix this week, it is certainly a show that I would want to pick up again once the new episodes come out.