Yeah, 70’s British TV wasn’t big on the budgets. Not that they’ve gotten that much spendier, but effects technology has improved by leaps and goddamn bounds, so it’s not as obvious anymore.
Speaking of more obscure British TV, the 2-disc series for “Invasion: Earth” is worth a rental. (Not to be confused with the approximately 800 other films and series just called “Invasion.”) You know how most sci-fi stories about malevolent aliens invading the planet run afoul of sheer human ingenuity and pluck?
Not so much, in this one, and it’s what really makes it.
Forget about special effects, that’s not even my concern. In Sandman’s case, I felt like I could literally see the set around the actors. I hated Dogville when it was intentional, and this was really hard for me to get past. Also, in that same vein, a lot of the acting felt like play acting more than the sort of naturalism I favor in TV. That’s just me, though, and like I said I can see how someone could get past all that and enjoy it, or even see it as a feature.
I’m now pounding through the West Wing – you can get the first few seasons for $15 each. No commercials, no week-long or summer waits, it’s been a joy.
West Wing is freakin’ brilliant. The first four seasons are some of my favorite television ever. Then Aaron Sorkin was forced out, and the decline in quality is simply painful to watch. I highly recommend that you stop watching at the end of season four.
Life On Mars (British, all good).
Dead Like Me (premature death, but really good).
Wonderfalls (same creator as above, and sadly an even more premature death).
Gilmore Girls (first two seasons are amasing, after that opinions vary greatly, though I watched up until the end of 6th when the showrunners were forced out).
Buffy (but understand that the show is horrible until the second half of S2, then takes off like you wouldn’t believe).
Angel (takes you on one hell of a ride starting with the second season. Second best “Whedon” show, right behind Firefly.).
Babylon 5 (third and fourth seasons are masterpieces, the rest are so-so and only worth it for select episodes, such as the series finale that can’t be missed. The B5 ‘movies’ all suck with the exception of the excellent “In The Beginning”).
Battlestar Galactica (make absolutely sure you start with the miniseries! It sets up the entire episodic show. Season 3 has a very slow middle, but worth it for the end of it. Quality of season 4 remains to be seen.)
Rome (pure quality).
And I see the rest of what I wanted to add has already been talked about.
I don’t feel like Dead Like Me really came into its own until season two. Which makes its death at that point even more disappointing.
Rome - my wife and I would have marathons with this series and were very sorry to wrap it up at the end of season 2.
Heroes - we never watched it and are really enjoying season 1.
Young Indiana Jones (!)
i watched the first few episodes when it was on and now have the dvd from netflix. it makes me depressed how much i love this show and how there won’t be any more episodes ever.
Let me just point out that there is some insanely cheap DVD television on Amazon right now. My own personal “holy shit” moment was spotting that they’re offering each season of Carnivale for $20 - I was very proud of myself for scoring a used copy of the first season as a Christmas present for $30, and now this…man. But more importantly, season two should be winging its way to me shortly.
Also big (but not as big, due to lower initial prices) discounts on things like Dead Like Me and the Shield. And the complete Angel boxset for $70 (I snagged that too.)
Ditto that re: Amazon – picked up all three seasons of Arrested Development on a deal-of-the-day a couple weeks back for $30 total.
Just wanted to mention that Netflix now has The Kingdom series 2 (/Riget II, although Netflix doesn’t identify it as such.).
Oh, man. I feel simultaneously jealous and apprehensive for people who have never seen the second part of The Kingdom, because wow does that show get completely nuts. There’s a couple of scenes in that second season that I will never forget as long as I live, mostly involving Udo Kier.
I don’t know if this is true or not, but apparently the way that Von Trier got the tone of The Kingdom was that he would have the actors run through each scene quickly a bunch of times, emphasizing a specific emotion - so one run through, everybody would say their lines angrily, another run-through sadly, etc. - and then he would cut them together essentially at random.