All-time favorite TV dramas

[Backlighting]

For me it's Columbo, Mission Impossible, The Fugitive & 24.

[caroljane]

For me it's Columbo, Mission Impossible, The Fugitive & 24.

Those are not dramas, they are detective/thriller series. Great but not categorically dramas.

The best drama running now is a scifi one - Game of Thrones. The best I've seen in years, in any genre.

[Selene]

The British Broadcasting Corporation has been a producer and broadcaster of television drama since even before it had an officially-established television broadcasting network in the United Kingdom. As with any major broadcast network, drama forms an important part of its schedule, with many of the BBC's top-rated programmes being from this genre. Several BBC productions have also been exported to and screened in other countries, particularly in the United States PBS network's Masterpiece Theatre strand and latterly on the BBC's own BBC America cable channel.

and here I thought this would be easy to define!

[caroljane]

The British Broadcasting Corporation has been a producer and broadcaster of television drama since even before it had an officially-established television broadcasting network in the United Kingdom. As with any major broadcast network, drama forms an important part of its schedule, with many of the BBC's top-rated programmes being from this genre. Several BBC productions have also been exported to and screened in other countries, particularly in the United States PBS network's Masterpiece Theatre strand and latterly on the BBC's own BBC America cable channel.

and here I thought this would be easy to define!

Adam, you're quite right to hone in on definition - I was coming from the CBC/BBC "TV Drama" idea and I think LV was just thinking of "non-comedy series".I was too hasty to categorize.

But Game of Thrones still rules!

[Backlighting]

The British Broadcasting Corporation has been a producer and broadcaster of television drama since even before it had an officially-established television broadcasting network in the United Kingdom. As with any major broadcast network, drama forms an important part of its schedule, with many of the BBC's top-rated programmes being from this genre. Several BBC productions have also been exported to and screened in other countries, particularly in the United States PBS network's Masterpiece Theatre strand and latterly on the BBC's own BBC America cable channel.

and here I thought this would be easy to define!

Adam, you're quite right to hone in on definition - I was coming from the CBC/BBC "TV Drama" idea and I think LV was just thinking of "non-comedy series".I was too hasty to categorize.

But Game of Thrones still rules!

OK, I'll play.

So what are your "non-comedy" tv shows?

[Reidy]

All-time fave is Dynasty. Nowadays when I have access to a tv I always look for SVU reruns and usually find them. The New York Special Victims Unit was in the news recently in the Strauss-Kahn story. Until then I'd had no idea they were real.

[Selene]

LV:

Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format. Wiki link here

Combat! is an American television program that aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. (The exclamation point in "Combat!" was a stylized bayonet.) The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American soldiers fighting the Germans in France during World War II. It stars Rick Jason as platoon leader Second Lieutenant Gil Hanley and Vic Morrow as Sergeant "Chip" Saunders. Created by Robert Pirosh, Combat! ran for five seasons. The first four were filmed in black and white, with a move to color for the final season. Although the series ran for five seasons, King Company never fought its way out of France, despite the fact that the real U.S. Army fought there for less than a year. Wiki link here

Have Gun Will Travel For Intro: Click Here (Note: LOUD MUSIC!) Have Gun — Will Travel is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from 1957 through 1963. It was rated either number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings during each year of its first four seasons.^[1] It was one of the few television shows to spawn a successful radio version. The radio series debuted November 23, 1958.

Have Gun — Will Travel was created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and produced by Frank Pierson, Don Ingalls, Robert Sparks, and Julian Claman. There were 225 episodes of the TV series (several were written by Gene Roddenberry), of which 101 were directed by Andrew McLaglen^[2][3] and 19 were directed by series star Richard Boone. Wiki link here

_________________________________________________________________________

The Twilight Zone may not qualify because some were comedies, but I think it should.

This is just a start.

Good thread.

Adam

Edited June 25, 2011 by Selene

[BaalChatzaf]

For me it's Columbo, Mission Impossible, The Fugitive & 24.

Those are not dramas, they are detective/thriller series. Great but not categorically dramas.

The best drama running now is a scifi one - Game of Thrones. The best I've seen in years, in any genre.

+1. And the novels are also excellent.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[BaalChatzaf]

LV:

Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format. Wiki link here

Combat! is an American television program that aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. (The exclamation point in "Combat!" was a stylized bayonet.) The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American soldiers fighting the Germans in France during World War II. It stars Rick Jason as platoon leader Second Lieutenant Gil Hanley and Vic Morrow as Sergeant "Chip" Saunders. Created by Robert Pirosh, Combat! ran for five seasons. The first four were filmed in black and white, with a move to color for the final season. Although the series ran for five seasons, King Company never fought its way out of France, despite the fact that the real U.S. Army fought there for less than a year. Wiki link here

Have Gun Will Travel For Intro: Click Here (Note: LOUD MUSIC!) Have Gun — Will Travel is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from 1957 through 1963. It was rated either number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings during each year of its first four seasons.^[1] It was one of the few television shows to spawn a successful radio version. The radio series debuted November 23, 1958.

Have Gun — Will Travel was created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and produced by Frank Pierson, Don Ingalls, Robert Sparks, and Julian Claman. There were 225 episodes of the TV series (several were written by Gene Roddenberry), of which 101 were directed by Andrew McLaglen^[2][3] and 19 were directed by series star Richard Boone. Wiki link here

_________________________________________________________________________

The Twilight Zone may not qualify because some were comedies, but I think it should.

This is just a start.

Good thread.

Adam

I really liked Have Gun. Paladin was one of my favorite characters both in T.V. (Richard Boone) and on radio (William Conrad). What a set of pipes Conrad had! I think of him as a Caucasian version of James Earl Jones vocally speaking.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[syrakusos]

I take a wider view: drama, comedy, documentary. (I allow for docu-dramas and dramatic comedies.) Conceptual categories are conveniences. They have objectivity - a fire engine and a lipstick are both red, but context counts when your house is on fire. So, for me, science fiction, crime, westerns, etc., are all genres in which you can create drama, comedy or documentary. For instance, Third Rock was science fiction comedy. It is really hard to create a consistent future or to recapture the sensibilities of the past. Broadly, all fiction is modern fiction, only acted on a different stage.

We just finished Firefly. (More on that in the Firefly Topic.) Skipping or missing a few in the middle, we worked our way through most of Battlestar Galactica to the end. We have recently enjoyed The Man from UNCLE - sad but true confession from an Objectivist - and (getting worse), cute as The Avengers was, it never satisfied. We tried Dallas and never finsihed the first disk. Charlie's Angels was also uninspiring. But speaking of "Charlie" we watched the entire run of NUMB3RS often enough to know the dialog on some episodes.

The two series we own are The West Wing (complete: all seven seasons) and NCIS (many; mostly season 2 and 4). They are worth owning.

My standards - UNCLE, Avengers, and Angels notwithstanding - are the ones I got from Ayn Rand: action based on values, integrated with plot, in the context of a theme, projecting a positive sense of life.

Edited June 25, 2011 by Michael E. Marotta

[Selene]

Big Love wiki link

Deadwood is an American Western drama television series created, produced and largely written by David Milch.^[1][2] The series aired on the premium cable network HBO from March 21, 2004, to August 27, 2006, spanning three 12-episode seasons. The show is set in the 1870s in Deadwood, South Dakota, before and after the area's annexation by the Dakota Territory. The series charts Deadwood's growth from camp to town, incorporating themes ranging from the formation of communities to western capitalism. The show features a large ensemble cast, and many historical figures appear as characters on the show—such as Seth Bullock, Al Swearengen, Wild Bill Hickok, Sol Star, Calamity Jane, Wyatt Earp, E. B. Farnum, Charlie Utter and George Hearst. The plot lines involving these characters include historical truths as well as substantial fictional elements. Milch used actual diaries and newspapers from 1870s Deadwood residents as reference points for characters, events, and the look and feel of the show. Some of the characters are fully fictional, although they may have been based on actual persons. Deadwood received wide critical acclaim, particularly for Milch's writing and Ian McShane's co-lead performance.^[3] It also won eight Emmy Awards (in 28 nominations) and one Golden Globe.

This show was great! One of the best ever put on television post 2000. Deadwood Home Page

Six Feet Under received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for its writing and acting, and consistently drew high ratings for the HBO network. Six Feet Under has frequently been described by critics as one of the greatest television series of all time as well as having one of the greatest series finales of all time.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]} It won numerous awards, including nine Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Peabody Award.

[Selene]

Dragnet was perhaps the most famous and influential police procedural drama in media history. The series gave millions of audience members a feel for the boredom and drudgery, as well as the danger and heroism, of real-life police work. Dragnet earned praise for improving the public opinion of police officers.^[1]

Actor and producer Jack Webb's aims in Dragnet were for realism and unpretentious acting. He achieved both goals, and Dragnet remains a key influence on subsequent police dramas in many media.

The show's cultural impact is such that even after five decades, elements of Dragnet are known to those who have never seen or heard the program:

• The ominous, four-note introduction to the brass and tympani theme music (titled "Danger Ahead") is instantly recognizable (though its origins date back to Miklós Rózsa's score for the 1946 film version of The Killers).

wiki link

[BaalChatzaf]

Dragnet was perhaps the most famous and influential police procedural drama in media history. The series gave millions of audience members a feel for the boredom and drudgery, as well as the danger and heroism, of real-life police work. Dragnet earned praise for improving the public opinion of police officers.^[1]

Actor and producer Jack Webb's aims in Dragnet were for realism and unpretentious acting. He achieved both goals, and Dragnet remains a key influence on subsequent police dramas in many media.

The show's cultural impact is such that even after five decades, elements of Dragnet are known to those who have never seen or heard the program:

• The ominous, four-note introduction to the brass and tympani theme music (titled "Danger Ahead") is instantly recognizable (though its origins date back to Miklós Rózsa's score for the 1946 film version of The Killers).

wiki link

Just the facts, ma'am.

Ba'al Chatzaf