View Full Version : Best Writing on TV
bikebuddha
04-28-08, 05:28 PM
Here are my nominees for the best writing on TV.
30 Rock (oh Tina Fey, send a little talent my way)
The Office (which I first thought of as a pale imitation of the original but has since grown considerably)
The Daily Show/Colbert Report (During the strike I sent these guys a joke a day but they were so confident about getting their writers back they ignored my obvious talent)
Lost
Battlestar Galactica
(interestingly I think both shows have benefited from announcing that they would be ending)
The Boondocks (say what you will about the show I think its tightly written)
Cromulent
04-29-08, 09:18 AM
Here are my nominees for the best writing on TV.
30 Rock (oh Tina Fey, send a little talent my way)
The Office (which I first thought of as a pale imitation of the original but has since grown considerably)
The Daily Show/Colbert Report (During the strike I sent these guys a joke a day but they were so confident about getting their writers back they ignored my obvious talent)
Lost
Battlestar Galactica
(interestingly I think both shows have benefited from announcing that they would be ending)
The Boondocks (say what you will about the show I think its tightly written)
The Daily Show and Colbert for sure. 30 Rock is awesome. I'm not as big a fan of The Office as I think I'd like to be. Battlestar Galactica is amazing in every way except that I can't get into it. Frak me but I've tried. I know how good it is, I just wasn't there from the start and don't have the energy to catch up.
A show that ranges from stunning and brilliant to corny and weird is Doctor Who. Sometimes that even happens in the same episode, but mostly it depends who's writing a particular episode. "Blink", "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood" were great episodes last season. "Evolution of the Daleks" was mindbogglingly weird bordering on silly.
Heroes is like that as well - one week it's awesome and the next it's complete crap and you have no idea where they're going (or too good of an idea of where they're going). I'd actually like to forget the whole short second season happened.
One show I thought was done brilliantly, but I don't know if it's coming back, was "Pushing Daisies".
Chuck is pretty good too.
BSG - Ranges from mediocre to brilliant
Dexter - Was excellent, too bad it's heading back to Showtime for its second season
Battlestar Galactica is amazing in every way except that I can't get into it..
Netflix it.. you can start with episode one and watch them when you feel like it.
Aside from BG, there is little on the tube I want to see. When there is, I prefer to get it off Netflix. No commercials, no reruns.
As to the thread, I thought Monk was pretty good until they got rid of Sharona.
I loved CSi Vegas, which is unusual, I don't often like shows like that.
I liked the writing on Babylon 5. Any show that quotes Santayana and has lines like "Vir, you moon faced asassin of joy!" can't be all bad. I liked The Adventures of Brisco County Jr enough that I bought it. The first couple years of Frasier and Will and Grace were fun and witty. My wife is a big fan of Sex and the City, and I have to admit, some of the episodes are pretty good.
Piece of Cake is classic. The book is even better, but so intense I couldn't finish it.
I got my wife The Darling Buds of May as a Xmas present one year. It is a very old Brit comedy. Also Catherine Zeta Jones first gig.
Over the years the Brits have done some very nice shows. You missed a lot of them, but they out there, waiting to be found.
Carry on.
FatguyRacer
04-30-08, 08:44 AM
BSG - Ranges from mediocre to brilliant
Dexter - Was excellent, too bad it's heading back to Showtime for its second season
Love the BSG. Cant miss TV for me and the misses.
Firefly was great while it lasted.
BTW - Dexters 2nd season has come and gone on Showtime. That'll be season 3 up next.
It not brillant, but I laughed my ass off the whole way thru The L Word.
Love the BSG. Cant miss TV for me and the misses.
Firefly was great while it lasted.
BTW - Dexters 2nd season has come and gone on Showtime. That'll be season 3 up next.
It not brillant, but I laughed my ass off the whole way thru The L Word.
Firefly. Yes. I'm a big fan of Joss Wheadon's work, though he doesn't necessarily do the writing on all his episodes. Buffy & Firefly were well written, but unfortunately, are now only with us on DVD and comics.
Dexter. 2nd season or 3rd - either way I do not subscribe to Showtime. :(
Maelstrom
05-05-08, 02:16 PM
Firefly. Yes. I'm a big fan of Joss Wheadon's work, though he doesn't necessarily do the writing on all his episodes. Buffy & Firefly were well written, but unfortunately, are now only with us on DVD and comics.
Dexter. 2nd season or 3rd - either way I do not subscribe to Showtime. :(
Download it, I can't get showtime at all (not even an option)
Dexter is/was/could be the best show on tv. I hate most other tv shows, they are all fluff. Book is equally good, but different.
Heroes I enjoy, less for the writing, more for how it is a throwback to my roleplaying days.
I don't enjoy much else, I hate office, 30 rock is dull at best, I liked lost...but his style has gotten to me (whatever his name is, the filming and writing annoy me now)
Personally I think more big name shows could learn from showtime etc. Close them down while they are on top, instead of running the into the ground
I agree with Cromulent - loved Pushing Daisies and hope it's coming back.
Also 24. One of a kind, there are some twisty minds behind it.
Lastly, a show that was so turned in on itself that nobody could understand it, but the writing was fantastic: Day Break.
bentleys
05-08-08, 02:32 PM
lost definitely has some of the most thoughtful writing. literary references everywhere. also.. the wire.
Peek the Geek
05-10-08, 11:24 PM
I'll definitely agree with The Office and Lost. The stuff they come up with on Lost is amazing---leaves me in a constant state of WTF!?! From what I've seen of 30 Rock it looks really good, but my DVR is working overtime on Thursday nights and is unable to pick up 30 Rock as well. I've got it in my Netflix queue.
I've gotta disagree with The Daily Show, though. True, the writing used to be great, but now it's just Jon Stewart making faces and talking in what he thinks are funny voices. Colbert's show, on the other hand, is brilliant.
The office. I dont know if this counts but...south park also.
Ih8lucky13
05-11-08, 06:34 PM
Piece of Cake is classic. The book is even better, but so intense I couldn't finish it.
Carry on.
"A Piece of Cake" was extremly well written, luckily I watched the televised version before I read the book.
I liked the presentation, but the book blew it out of the water.
i remember that show...it was very good!
i always thought "curb your enthusiasm" has great writing, Six Feet Under and Sex and the City.
timothy002
05-12-08, 12:55 AM
yeah, it's very great, like it
The only shows I bother to TiVo (that aren't on Noggin) are Galactica and House.
House is so rigorous with the formula, you can predict when the twists are coming, but so was Columbo, and I'll watch that anytime, too. They both work because the writing's top notch and the character is fascinating.
cyclokitty
05-25-08, 07:41 PM
Arrested Development. I love Buster.
Absolutely Fabulous. I love Bubbles.
The O.C. I love teen angst-played by adults-melodrama. (Although the writing was pretty bad.)
Why does nobody mention "The Wire"? It has to be one of the most well made TV series I've ever seen. I think every American wanting to understand the problems our inner cities face should watch that series. It is a refreshing contrast to the shallow, boorish standard of cops show dramas out there. The police are flawed in their own characters and as a force. And we see the crooks as clever, well organized protagonists.
PDXracer
06-23-08, 01:26 PM
Newsradio and Family Guy ....
House, I mean you gotta love a Dr. hooked on Vicodin, right?
and yes The Wire. I have no idea why this show never won an emmy (other than those
who vote for these things are morons), but it has consistently had some of the best
writing on TV over the course of it's run (5 years? ) .
Marty
Prodigy4299
08-27-08, 04:54 PM
West Wing. End of discussion.
Jax-Navigator
08-27-08, 08:52 PM
Battlestar USED to be awesome, but it lost its way. Too many "head" characters (Head Six, Head Baltar, that dead cat, Tighs dead wife, Adama's dead wife, Roslyn seeing that dead Priestess), the fact they stopped bothering with the little things like how they used to keep track of the number of Vipers they have.
I'm also going to go with a British show called "Top Gear", excellent show.
and yes The Wire. I have no idea why this show never won an emmy (other than those
who vote for these things are morons), but it has consistently had some of the best
writing on TV over the course of it's run (5 years? ) .
Marty
I cannot agree more.
This was easily one of the greatest series ever produced and many episodes were written by very accomplished novelists and screenwriters. I think the reason it never won an Emmy is that it wasn't clever. I enjoy clever shows (from 30 Rock to Dexter), but in a lot of ways I think being clever is an out that allows people (writers and viewers) to not have to deal with the real complexity and messiness of society and the human condition. I guess Emmy voters would rather be entertained than forced to think critically about their world. I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with that either, I just think that as compelling as it is, watching The Wire takes a lot more mental work than watching most of what's on television. It's like a novel that you watch. For some reason, critics tend to value and reward that characteristic in movies (even if audiences don't always agreed), but not in television.
timmhaan
08-28-08, 10:17 AM
I cannot agree more.
This was easily one of the greatest series ever produced and many episodes were written by very accomplished novelists and screenwriters. I think the reason it never won an Emmy is that it wasn't clever. I enjoy clever shows (from 30 Rock to Dexter), but in a lot of ways I think being clever is an out that allows people (writers and viewers) to not have to deal with the real complexity and messiness of society and the human condition. I guess Emmy voters would rather be entertained than forced to think critically about their world. I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with that either, I just think that as compelling as it is, watching The Wire takes a lot more mental work than watching most of what's on television. It's like a novel that you watch. For some reason, critics tend to value and reward that characteristic in movies (even if audiences don't always agreed), but not in television.
good thoughts - i agree with you.
while shows like lost are good, the tricky and surreal plot lines are more like a puzzle to create (for the writers) and to guess at (for the viewers).
the wire is great because it's very blunt with it's honesty.
good thoughts - i agree with you.
while shows like lost are good, the tricky and surreal plot lines are more like a puzzle to create (for the writers) and to guess at (for the viewers).
the wire is great because it's very blunt with it's honesty.
Yes, and as I think more about it I shouldn't say that the Wire takes more mental work than these shows, maybe a different kind of mental work, or perhaps more emotional work.
The one thing I really liked about the Wire was the way the show matured over the course of it's run.
there were less obvious hooks to keep viewers interest needed by season 2 or 3, by then the writing and
story line were more than sufficient to hold viewers attention.
Marty
TexasKid
09-14-08, 09:45 PM
Men
The Office
Both shows are hilarious!
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