[MoriartyL]

I'm looking for a good TV show to watch where the main character is likable, and all the characters act like real people who live in the real world. Can you recommend anything that fits those criteria? I don't care when or where it's from, as long as it's good and in English.

Edit: Oh right, I forgot to mention one other thing: I'm not looking for a show about cops or detectives. I've had enough of that for a while.

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

I'm looking for a good TV show to watch where the main character is likable, and all the characters act like real people who live in the real world. Can you recommend anything that fits those criteria? I don't care when or where it's from, as long as it's good and in English.

Edit: Oh right, I forgot to mention one other thing: I'm not looking for a show about cops or detectives. I've had enough of that for a while.

Have you ever seen Doctor Who? Not all of the things are real world things, but keep in mind it's a form of Science Fiction. But the people in it do act like in the real world, as far as I can tell.


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[MoriartyL]

I love Doctor Who. Not remotely what I'm looking for, as they all talk quippily (If that's not a word, it ought to be.) with lots of exposition and technobabble, and do science-fiction-y things all the time (like turning into gods and back again, sometimes) with slightly-flimsy motivation. That's not like real people and not like the real world. So yeah, I love that show, and I can't wait for Steven Moffat to take over next year, but that's not really what I'm in the mood for right now.

[MoriartyL]

See, here's the thing. I just watched the first season of Lie to Me, and while it suddenly got much better toward the very end most of it was fun but unbelievably artificial. And that bugged me because it's supposed to be a show about how people really act, but no one in it was acting like a real person. They were all acting like TV show characters with their exposition-heavy dialogue and sitcom-like quips and wooden acting. And the plots were very artificial-seeming, too, because every episode followed the usual procedural clichés: every single person they talked to gave them an extremely unsubtle clue, they never got led down wrong paths, they never misinterpreted anything, they dealt with issues that in the real world less highly-paid people would deal with easily. I enjoyed the show, but it was too neat and artificial and clean for what the premise of the show (detecting lies using real methods) seemed to hint at.

So now I've got an itch for something more realistic. It doesn't have to be a straight drama: Battlestar Galactica would probably scratch the itch, except that I've seen it all already. And there must be some realistic comedies, no? So anything that would focus on a likable non-cop/detective realistic character or two would be what I'm looking for.

[Maquisard]

Arrested Development.

[stepurhan]

Realistic comedy. - Outnumbered from the BBC. Parents coping with their children. Scenes are laid out in general beforehand with some direction of how the scene should go but only a partial script so the children behave like normal children and the adults have to react to what they come out with.

[MoriartyL]

I'll check both of those out. Thanks.

[Hammerite]

Originally Posted by stepurhan

Realistic comedy. - Outnumbered from the BBC. Parents coping with their children. Scenes are laid out in general beforehand with some direction of how the scene should go but only a partial script so the children behave like normal children and the adults have to react to what they come out with.

Seconded. It's awesome.

On those same lines, maybe you could try 'Peep Show'?
It's a bit of a grower and the clips on YouTube don't do it justice - but it's worth a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkrGOhLJuhY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq0DA...eature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOe5n...eature=channel

[MoriartyL]

I'm watching Arrested Development and Outnumbered. Both are excellent, so thanks for recommending them. I'm only a few episodes into each, but there have already been plenty of hilarious bits in both.

I also started watching the Israeli series B'tipul (There's an American version called "In Treatment", but I preferred to see the original.), which is really interesting. It's a show about therapy. Each episode's a half hour long and just has two actors (the therapist and the patient), and the episodes cycle between the days of the week, where each weekday he meets with a different patient. It's really realistic, really messy, and it's such a simple premise that I'm surprised no one's done it before.

So these three shows will keep me busy for a while. Thanks again.

[AndreaDraco83]

Chances are that you've already seen it, but I've recently started to watch Battlestar Galactica and it's really, really wonderful. Even if it's sci-fi, it depicts human emotions, ethics and beliefs with the uttermost believability, and it is both compelling and incredibly profound.

[booB]

Mad Men. It's a drama about an ad agency from 1960. It's extremely well-written and the characters are well-fleshed-out.

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

+1 for Mad Men. It certainly is dramatic, but has much in the way of historic and real-life complications of the times. First, go out and rent the first 2 seasons on DVD.

BattleStar Gallactica? No, not realistic (though I love it).

[tabacco]

For what it's worth, Arrested Development gets better as it goes on. Mitch Hurwitz does an amazing job at callbacks and in jokes

Other good shows:

Burn Notice - I think at one point Marek described it as a classier version of the A Team. Not exactly realistic, but not wholly unrealistic either. Bonus: Bruce Campbell is a regular cast member. Still airing, even!

It's long ended, but The West Wing - Both a drama and a comedy, and I think the first 4 seasons (before Aaron Sorkin left) were great.

Speaking of Aaron Sorkin, the first season of Sports Night is good as well.

[UPtimist]

I'm not sure if it fits with what you're looking for but I really recommend Flight of the Conchords. I think that the characters are realistic, and while it does have the music parts (if you haven't, you'll see), the show is just outright hilarious. One of the best comedies ever, but it doesn't do it like the usual sitcoms.

[Hammerite]

I second that one too.

Also 'The Thick of It' is a political comedy created by Armando Iannucci that satirises political spin realistically.

[MoriartyL]

Wow. Um, the point of the last post was to say that I've found what I was looking for. I don't want to watch more than three shows at once. But to address some of these suggestions:

I have seen Battlestar Galactica, and in fact said so earlier in this thread.

I have seen some of Mad Men, but I couldn't really get into it because the main character was neither likable enough for me to root for, nor despicable enough for me to root against (as I did when watching The Sopranos). Mad Men is the reason I asked for a show with a likable protagonist.

I've seen all of The West Wing, though not Sports Night.

Flight of the Conchords has actually been recommended to me before, but I haven't tried watching it because I tend to not like the current styles of music.

The Thick Of It looks interesting, so maybe I'll watch that when I'm finished with Outnumbered.


To reiterate: I'm not actually looking for any more suggestions. I've gotten what I was looking for.

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

I love Doctor Who. Not remotely what I'm looking for, as they all talk quippily (If that's not a word, it ought to be.) with lots of exposition and technobabble, and do science-fiction-y things all the time (like turning into gods and back again, sometimes) with slightly-flimsy motivation. That's not like real people and not like the real world. So yeah, I love that show, and I can't wait for Steven Moffat to take over next year, but that's not really what I'm in the mood for right now.

They act and speak more realistically than in all those soaps and talk shows they have on TV these days, if you ask me.


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[Hammerite]

Originally Posted by Jazhara7

They act and speak more realistically than in all those soaps and talk shows they have on TV these days, if you ask me.


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Your post just reminded me of this:

2.00 EastEnders
Characteristically uplifting seasonal edition of the popular soap. Zoe downs a pint of bleach and falls beneath an underground train in full view of a group of horrified schoolchildren, while Steve accidentally backs his Mercedes over a pregnant cat, which bursts, spraying guts and dead kittens all over the windows of the Queen Vic in the middle of Christmas dinner.
Producer Scrooge McSorrow
Subtitles... 888

From here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/de...as.features111

[UPtimist]

Great page... Anyways

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

Flight of the Conchords has actually been recommended to me before, but I haven't tried watching it because I tend to not like the current styles of music.

Pfft, doesn't matter. The music isn't really like that, and most importantly: that's not the point. It's not all music, and the thing that's important in it are the lyrics. My dad for example loves the show, and he most certainly doesn't listen to the current styles of music...

It's just too great a show to miss!

And besides, you'll have watched the recommendations at some point, so you'll need more to watch, right? (And maybe someone else will find it helpful, too )

[Hammerite]

I was cynical about 'Flight of the Conchords' because of the music as I generally can't stand things where people spontaneously break into song and dance, but it does it really well and is now one of my favourite TV programmes ever made.