Amph Favorite television seasons.

As BF2K1 said, I bought into it because it was exactly the sort of boneheaded, self-destructive course of action that McNulty was known for. Plus, it wasn't populated by a bunch of one dimensional stereotypes, which is more than can be said for the newspaper subplot.

 

Yes but, the whole point was the crediblity the series established. The crims were complex and likeable. The cops didn't care for right or wrong - they were lazy, or corrupt, or interested in their own careers, or it was about ego (like McNutty). The stories weren't impossible but this comes along and it's just... I'm sorry, what? He's faking a serial killer?

 

Oh, I absolutely love Harry Groener as Mayor Wilkins. Easily the best villain of the whole series. I wish we could have had him for longer. But don't forget, it was Season 2 that introduced him.

But why Season 2? Every character, EVERY one, gets a complete arc through the series. And each of the actors puts in a top notch performance in doing so for the calibre of actors they were at the time. The writers room also delivered one of their tightest seasons with almost no filler as there was something in every episode that played a part in the overall arc. And the guests they had introduced us to in Spike and Dru, Ethan Rayne, Oz, expanding Jenny Calendar; and expanding the Slayer line with Kendra (which allowed us to get Faith in Season 3) isn't matched in any of the other seasons. And as I said, the episode "Passion".

 

You know, I tend to like first seasons pretty well, but I agree with KW about The Wire. I used to think season 2 was my least favorite but I'm rewatching it now and I think 1 might actually get that distinction. Which of course isn't to say it's bad at all. I just find the expansiveness of latter seasons to be much more interesting than the strictly street level stuff. Really season 1 is just like a big long overture.

I also haven't really ever rewatched all of Lost Season 1, even though I've seen the rest of the seasons about 5 times. It's mostly because the first season is way, way too long. I always wound up watching the brilliant beginning and the end, but there's a lot of stuff in the middle I've seen once, maybe twice.

 

STTNG and Friends - series 3 for both

 

The Office season two definitely deserves credit. I'd also go with seasons two and three of Seinfeld. They tend to be somewhat underappreciated in favor of the middle seasons, but this run is actually my favorite of the series -- it's figured out how to do things, and is still relying more on the grounded situations, character interaction, and wordplay than on the bigger, more cartoonish stuff. It's just as funny, but it's a little more relatable in concentrating on turning real life situations up to 10 rather than turning real life situations up to 11, 15, or 20. The little foibles of daily interaction are the comedy, rather than a launching point for farce. The Chinese Restaurant, The Jacket, The Pen -- they're full of top-ten episodes.

 

Probably, though the best thing they did that season was breaking R&R up so quickly after getting them together.

 

I really like the first 6 seasons of Lost.

 

I have only watched each season of The Wire once, and I watched the first three four to five years ago. I'd say it's time for their first rewatch, but I know I have, *ahem*, obligations first. You can all count me as another one of the droves of people that love season 3 the most. Having watched each season just the once, I would rank The Wire like this: 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, all of them very close to each other. A major part of the reason 3 is rated so highly is because of that "expansiveness" you mentioned, not just with all the different theaters of the show, but also the characters have so much room to stretch out. They've been created, introduced, established, built-up and developed... and now it's time for them to play.

I'm a guy who loves seeing beginnings, but that's probably just a quirk of mine. As such, I rate LOST and Wire's first seasons very highly. LOST season 1 is my favorite from that show. I know for you, however, LOST 1 has the massive drawback of not having Ben Linus.

Another first season I really love is BSG's. My favorite is season 2- mainly for its tentpole arcs in the beginning, middle, and end of the season- but on a recent rewatch of the series, I found that what we would otherwise call the "filler" episodes of season 1 were much better done than the filler in later seasons, even 2. I don't know how much of this attributable to the fact that in later seasons the story is obviously much more progressed and developed, thus making viewer attitudes toward filler much less forgiving. Although, the character development in the quieter episodes of season 1 still connected to the larger story, while that of later seasons' had a bit of a disconnect- I mean, good lord, Woman King, anyone?

edit: btw, I watched all five seasons of Friday Night Lights this year. That's another show with a season 3 that ranks as my fave.

 

Have you ever listened to the RDM podcasts? For that episode he, explains how there was supposed to be a whole Sagiteron subplot running through seasons 3 and 4 that ended up getting dropped, leaving that episode out there as something of a non sequitur. I would argue that it was dropped for good reason, as the plot-line just wasn't very good.

 

yankee: I did not know any of that. Sagittaron was the religious colony, right? I don't know, maybe it was a crime that storyline got dropped, because as the show began to end (beginning with 3 and especially with 4), it went down some decidedly mystical and spiritual paths. I know a lot of viewers were shocked by how much faith figured into the finale, and I was like, "Were you paying attention?" This storyline with Sagittaron may have helped with that.

 

Yup, the devoutly religious colony, which comes up in that episode. There was was supposed to be a whole subplot about how they've always been discriminated against, and there was even supposed to be something far bigger about how they were treated on New Caprica. It got dropped, and it was only really alluded to with respect to Dr Robert. The thing I always found confusing about it (Sagittaron being devoutly religious) is that initially it was Gemanon who was portrayed that way -- the black Quorum member who knows all the scriptures and Corporal Venner. Seemed like they shifted that aspect to Sagitteron later on, maybe (just my guess) so they could involve Dualla in the doctor plot. Though she did talk about a rift with her parents due her joining the military in an earlier episode (Final Cut).

There was also supposed to be more dealing with Helo and the reputation he was building as the fleet contrarian, and also that he got stuck administering Dogville as a direct punishment for his actions with the Cylons and the virus.

Regardless, I'd definitely recommend watching the episodes with the podcast commentary turned on, alot of pretty interesting stuff, even if it doesn't answer every question you might have (in my case, how the concept of the Final Five evolved over time).

As for the finale, I'm with you - they've been talking about God's plan since then end of the first season at least.

EDIT: Incidentally, I thought the best part of the Woman King was the scene with Helo and Athena, where she basically tells him to just shut up and "fit in".

EDIT2: The Battlestar Wiki entry for the episode summarizes the whole thing quite well. I'd forgotten it was supposed to play a major role in Baltar's trial.

 

Glad you watched FNL Nick. And you're right of course; the main reason I haven't watched all of Lost season 1 again is the lack of Ben.

 

Severance season one. Perfect season that got better and better as the season went along and ended with one of the best finales in recent memory.

 

The Wire season 4 send tweet

 

Daredevil seasons 1 and 3 and the first half of season 2.

 

I'm not much of a sitcom watcher, but I watched Married with Children throughout its lifespan on FOX. I also watched the first dozen or so seasons of both the Simpsons and Futurama.

 

Off the top of my head, 24 Season 5. One they won the Emmy for and Jack Bauer shot the Bad guy's wife in the kneecap.

 

Season 3 of the Wire.

Season 1 of Battlestar Galactica.

Season 3 of Game of Thrones.

Only season of Station 11

Final season of the Americans

 

The Wire - Seasons Two & Four

LOST - Season Five

The X-Files - Season Five

 

The Wire - Season 3

Mad Men - Season 3

Veep - Seasons 2 and 3

 

Seasons 2 & 3 of "Mission: Impossible". They had the classic team in place (Jim, Rollin, Cinnamon, Barney & Willie), had gotten the format settled in, and did some of my favorite episodes, particularly "The Seal" (with Darrin McGavin and the guest cat burglar) and "The Execution" (great episode with a very tense finish).