Game of Thrones has been the best thing on TV in recent times. Loved the Mighty Boosh, but the Luxury TV thing doesnt quite make the grade to be considered funny. About olden day tv, normally I would advise never to go back...I love the Red Hand Gang & The Littlest Hobo as a kid, seen them recently hoping to recapture some youth..terrible viewing..an inner child wept that day lol BUT The Water Margin. Still excellent, has to be my favourite tv of all time. Sadly the gf doesnt understand and its banned from the tv! lol
From the US, got to be Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Sopranos, The Wire, Eastbound & Down, Community, South Park, and The Sarah Silverman Program. The UK's slimmer pickings, but Match of the Day (no mentions yet?) Fresh Meat, Boosh, Inbetweeners, and Peep Show are all up there. And of course this is all mainly in the fiction realm. Am leaving documentaries, one-offs, and reality out of it - though there's plenty of good watches amongst them.
I'd say The Simpsons started to decline in quality in the late 90s, so it's been a while since it was really great, but seasons 3-8 are probably the best thing that has ever been on TV. I've had to watch them again recently because there were so many jokes I didn't understand as a kid. Check out the cultural references on Wikipedia for the episode "A Streetcar Named Marge": Though "Oh, Streetcar!" is based on A Streetcar Named Desire, the title of the musical alludes to the theatrical revue Oh! Calcutta! Besides Blanche and Stanley, characters from A Streetcar Named Desire who appear in "Oh, Streetcar!" include Stella (played by Helen Lovejoy), the Young Collector (played by Apu), and Mitch (played by Lionel Hutz). The musical's closing song, "Kindness of Strangers", is a reference to Blanche's last line in the original play: "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." However, the song is very cheery in tone, intentionally missing the point of Blanche's line, which is meant to be ironic. The episode contains multiple references to Ayn Rand's novels and Objectivist philosophy. Maggie's daycare center is called the "Ayn Rand School for Tots", and Ms. Sinclair can be seen reading a book called The Fountainhead Diet, a reference to Rand's novel The Fountainhead. On the wall of the daycare is a poster that reads "Helping is Futile", an allusion to Rand's rejection of the ethical doctrine of altruism. Another wall sign reads "A is A," the law of identity, which plays a central role in Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. The Maggie subplot uses the musical score of The Great Escape and contains several other allusions to the film. At one point, Ms. Sinclair punishes Maggie by sending her to a playpen called "The Box", a play on "The Cooler" from the 1963 film. Maggie even bounces a ball against the wall of the playpen, as Steve McQueen's character Virgil Hilts does throughout the film while he is in confinement. In the scene when Homer, Bart and Lisa pick up Maggie from the daycare center, babies are perched all over the building, staring at the family and quietly sucking on pacifiers. This is a spoof of the final shot of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. Indeed, a cartoon-version of Hitchcock can be seen walking his dogs past the daycare, a reference to his own cameo appearance in the film. The episode also contains an allusion to the opera scene in Citizen Kane, in which Homer plays with a shredded playbill while he watches his wife in the musical. The ironic musical numbers at the end had me in stitches. As did this bit: [video=youtube;q4T5E0bdoNs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4T5E0bdoNs[/video]
Meades' Jerry Building is brilliant as a performance piece; which is surprising when he practically reading an essay out. Have you read his novel? It's called ..."POMPEY"
Had a re-think, since I acknowledged Jonathan Meades and I'll now also include anything James Burke presented, way back when, like The Day The Universe Changed. Back upto date, Episodes, from early last year, which I hear is going to have a new series. The Trip, with Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan, which was notable for the fact that I actually found Coogan funny, at last. Brydon was hilarious. Two Greedy Italians was superb. Zen was utterly brilliant [and they cancelled it - thanks BBC, you made me feel like cancelling the direct debit on my licence fee]. The recent Sicily Unpacked [note all the Mediterranean themes] The Story of Science, with Michael Mosley, That's a few, and there are others, but I still prefer radio, on the whole.
This is the best TV show, bar none. [video=youtube;gyZDZCGQJf8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyZDZCGQJf8&feature=related[/video]
Curb your enthusiasm. That's the show about the guy who thinks everyone should have exactly the same opinion as him, isn't it? And is pretty condescending, to anyone who doesn't?....
South Park has consistently pushed the boundaries and I think pips Family Guy and American Dad for outrageousness. The best thing I've seen recently is Life's too short but I have to cast my favourite vote for Red Dwarf.
