Best HBO series

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Best HBO series

Postby Lizolinu » Thu Aug 13, 2015 6:14 am

Hello,

What do you think is the best HBO series ever made?

Top 5 for me :

1)Band of Brothers
2) True Detective
3) Game of thrones
4) The Wire
5) The Pacific
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Re: Best HBO series

Postby Shenmue_Dojo » Thu Aug 13, 2015 6:58 am

1. The Wire
2. Deadwood
3. Sopranos
4. OZ
5. Rome
.
.
.
6. Boardwalk Empire
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Re: Best HBO series

Postby Chaos » Thu Aug 13, 2015 8:04 am

There isn't any real order within the tiers, except Six Feet Under should probably just be its own "Six Feet Under Tier"

pure opinion here, so don't get mad at me for my garbage tier please

God Tier
-six feet under
-deadwood
-the wire
-true detective season 1

Great Tier
-sopranos
-curb your enthusiasm
-john adams
-the first few seasons of game of thrones

Good Tier
-boardwalk empire (Would be higher if they kept going another couple seasons)
-rome
-oz

Okay Tier
-true detective season 2
-the leftovers
-big love

Garbage Tier
-Last couple seasons of game of thrones. The last season has gotten to the point where I don't even wanna watch it anymore. I'm really afraid of what they're going to do to the next season.
-True Blood (I still enjoyed it in a guilty pleasure sort of way, but the show is garbage)
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Re: Best HBO series

Postby Rakim » Thu Aug 13, 2015 9:53 am

The answer is clearly Arliss.

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Re: Best HBO series

Postby Sonikku » Thu Aug 13, 2015 10:04 am

-Game of Thrones
-Generation Kill
-Rome
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Re: Best HBO series

Postby OL » Thu Aug 13, 2015 10:07 am

Flight of the Concords
Hello Ladies
Eastbound and Down
Bored to Death
Deadwood

With the exception of Deadwood (which I more so respect for its technical and historical merits, rather than actually enjoy) I've just never been able to get into HBO's drama series. All I've ever seen them as is a bunch of exploitative, try-too-hard junk with over-inflated senses of their own worth. They're like the grand majority of FX's shows, except pretentious.
I should have been able to enjoy Band of Brothers, being a WWII thing and all, but I always found the majority of the characters abrasive and unlikable, so nevermind on that. And because of that, I never even bothered with The Pacific.
I don't personally count stuff like John Adams (since it's more of a specifically-limited series, making it more akin to an HBO movie).
But hey, comedy? That stuff's almost all good. Never watched Curb, but all the others I listed are fantastic.
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Re: Best HBO series

Postby Crimson Ryan » Thu Aug 13, 2015 2:39 pm

OL wrote: Hello Ladies

[-(

You need some True Detective and Game of Thrones in your life..
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Re: Best HBO series

Postby St. Elmo's Fire » Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:43 pm

OL would hate GoT 'cos it does kinda do the "try hard to shock" thing he has a bugbear with. I like GoT for what it is, same with Walking Dead (not HBO, I know), but I don't put them at the same heights as stuff like, hmm HBO favourites...The Sopranos and The Wire are two of my favourites. I think OL should go into The Wire with an open mind 'cos we seem to share a few similar tastes and I think he'd appreciate the rich warm wit and humour that is missing from so many other grey and drab and depressing cop shows. It tells a slow burning but nicely heightening story which on paper should be boring but is made interesting, and it ends depressingly succinctly.
Rome was also a thoroughly excellent series. Only two seasons, but it had a nice arc across it with tons of stuff to be interested in and intrigued by throughout. LOL at how Marc Anthony ended up.
Oz, another great show. Quite horrific and violent a lot of the time, and so casual with it, yet carried a sense of humour and a storyline to loads of the main characters which made the violence and bumsex just natural (...right after the word "bumsex", but you know what I mean...) parts of the nasty prison storyline. Adebisi, what a radge, who bummed loads of men. Jaz Hoyt, who really did end up a certified radge. Karim Saiid, I liked him, even more so when he also decided to be bad.

I also love me some Curb. :D
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Re: Best HBO series

Postby Riku Rose » Thu Aug 13, 2015 6:14 pm

With things like this I only like listing things that I've seen start to finish and the series is over. The next season of Game of Thrones could be the best thing ever shown on TV or could be 10 hours of Peter Dinklage dancing to Gangham Style which ruins everything that came before it, so just seems a bit premature to lump stuff like that in.

Having looked on Wikipedia there are only 6 HBO shows that I've watch all of that're done.

1. The Sopranos
2. Curb Your Enthusiasm
3. Six Feet Under
4. Hello Ladies
5. Eastbound & Down
6. Extras

Shows I've watched some of but not finished:

The Larry Sanders Show
Bored To Death - Season 3 has only just started here
Flight of the Conchords - Only watched the first season
The Life & Times of Tim
Boardwalk Emprie - The show never felt like it was about anything other than the time period. I gave up around season 3 when I realized I didn't like any characters and they kept trying to do that things shows set in the past do by saying something that sounds silly now like. "Oh we don't want women to vote as it will just confuse them", "This man is very sick! Make sure he take lots of cocaine to get better!" or "Wow, how crazy is it that someone can get leave America and be in Ireland in as little time as 2 months!"

Shows I Plan to Watch:

Oz
Deadwood (Just heard the movie is happening so may have to jump on)
Entourage
Rome
The Wire
The Newsroom
Band of Brothers
The Pacific

Shows Still Going I'm Watching:

Game of Thrones
Silicon Valley
True Detective
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Re: Best HBO series

Postby ys » Thu Aug 13, 2015 7:42 pm

I liked Curb Your Enthusiasm and saw practically all episodes. As for the other series, I either haven't seen them or not enough of them to really judge them. I did see a few of the first Game of Thrones episodes but for some reason (a bit to my surprise) the series didn't really catch my attention so I never saw the season finale or later seasons.
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Re: Best HBO series

Postby OL » Thu Aug 13, 2015 7:46 pm

Crimson Ryan wrote:
OL wrote: Hello Ladies

[-(

You need some True Detective and Game of Thrones in your life..


What's wrong with Hello Ladies? For my money, some of the best awkward comedy I've ever seen. Uncomfortable as hell, but so ridiculously funny you can't look away. Not sure of the British view on him (I know you guys seem to cringe at the mention of Ricky Gervais now, for example), but Steven Merchant is great.

Tried GoT; doesn't work for me. Seemed like it could have been good in some respects, but they constantly sully it with, as SEF mentioned, a lot of exploitation junk and a constant focus on who's going to die next (which is seriously the single most pedestrian of shock tactics in entertainment now). They could have made something highbrow and genuinely adult, but it constantly seems to debase itself with adolescent fantasizing and a perpetual "How can I shock them now?" mindset. Never been much for medieval fantasy anyway, with a scant few exceptions.
Wanted to like True Detective too, but what little I saw of it just seemed so... up its own ass. Like they think they're making high art, but it's really just a slow pace, monotone voices, and philosophical dialogue that doesn't actually make any sense. I love Woody Harrelson, so I wanted to like it (and maybe I just need to see more), but as it is... eh, no interest.

And to SEF, yeah, I am open to watching The Wire someday. Literally haven't seen a single second of it, so I have no impressions of it whatsoever, outside of people raving about it. Not always a sign of actual quality to me, but it still seems like something that might be worthwhile. I've never heard anything about it being "shocking," so that's a good sign at least.

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Re: Best HBO series

Postby sand4fish » Fri Aug 14, 2015 2:28 am

I didn't watch that many but among the ones I did, the best IMO are:

1. True Detective
2. The Wire
3. The Sopranos
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Re: Best HBO series

Postby Mr357 » Fri Aug 14, 2015 2:42 am

Silicon Valley
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Re: Best HBO series

Postby myshtuff » Fri Aug 14, 2015 8:58 am

Rakim wrote: The answer is clearly Arliss.


It's really disappointing that the only DVD release of this show is like a best of release and not the full seasons. That show was hilarious.

Curb your Enthusiasm is another great one.
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Re: Best HBO series

Postby Crimson Ryan » Fri Aug 14, 2015 12:34 pm

OL wrote:
Crimson Ryan wrote:
OL wrote: Hello Ladies

[-(

You need some True Detective and Game of Thrones in your life..


What's wrong with Hello Ladies? For my money, some of the best awkward comedy I've ever seen. Uncomfortable as hell, but so ridiculously funny you can't look away. Not sure of the British view on him (I know you guys seem to cringe at the mention of Ricky Gervais now, for example), but Steven Merchant is great.

It was the awkwardness that really put me off. Just so flat and predictable. I've heard from people who've watched it can find it funny because they relate to Merchant's situations, but I'm not one of them.
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