Sigh.....

[Yank]

Well, crap. Just finished the latest season of Spooks....now what do I watch? I hate showing up late to the party. Any thoughts?

[HarryPearceSpy]

(11-07-2011 03:42 AM)Yank Wrote:  Well, crap. Just finished the latest season of Spooks....now what do I watch? I hate showing up late to the party. Any thoughts?

I'm getting pretty close to finishing...I'm not sure what to do either. My only suggestions/tips/ideas are to do a Spooks-viewing binge of every season haha or to watch other spy/counterterrorism shows (24, etc). Or read spy novels. I'm reading the Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum right now..

Yeah I know my ideas aren't that great. I guess I'm not going to have much to do with the tele after finishing S9 this month...

[picard1109]

Yep, I agree with HPS - go right back and start again!

[LINDA]

Oh do what I do go back and start series one again.

[n52nimbus]

Yank: If you're in the States and have Netflix, check out a series called "Detroit." It only aired one season, in 2010, but it's marvelous. You can stream it.

[SweetTea]

Fellow Yank here, and honestly I've not found anything remotely like Spooks to enjoy. I've seen some people say that NCIS is probably the closest thing on American TV right now, but I don't watch it so I don't know. I have recently acquired several of the Spooks DVDs, so I do plan to go back and watch the episodes with the commentaries to hear what they have to say as I love all that behind the scenes stuff.

I've searched out other British shows that include the actors from Spooks that I've enjoyed. For instance, I kept reading all about Ashes to Ashes (A2A), starring Keeley Hawes (Zoe) so I got my hands on both series of Life on Mars, of which A2A is sort of a sequel and watched that. Loved the show, and now all 3 series of A2A should be arriving at my house in the next day or so. The show also stars Philip Glenister, the younger brother of Robert Glenister, aka Nicholas Blake. The bad part about A2A is that it's not been released in a Region 1 format, meaning if you get your hands on it you'll need a region-free DVD player or you'll need to hack yours and change it to region free (this is what i did so i could buy Spooks DVDs rather than MI5 - and yes i do know that i'm a bit crazy.) Other stuff I've gotten into includes:

> Hustle (Robert Glenister stars, though it took me several eps before I could watch him without laughing and thinking of Nicholas Blake.) Story of 5 con artists who target those who deserve to be taken down a peg or two.
> Being Human (The BBC version, not the SyFy version.) Nicola Walker guest starred in a series 3 episode, so I thought I'd check it out and I quite like it. Story of a ghost, vampire, and werewolf living as roommates.
> Whitechapel - Rupert Penry-Jones stars as DI Chandler investigating copycat murders of Jack the Ripper in modern time. I've only seen the first series but plan to watch the next ones as time permits.
> Merlin - SyFy channel just finished airing Series 4. A few of our Spooks show up in guest roles, including Miranda Raison (Jo), Gemma Jones (Connie), and Lindsay Duncan (Angela Wells). Anthony Head (Peter Salter from Series 1) is one of the main characters. If you are looking for historically accurate Arthurian legend, this is not the show to watch, from what I've read, but I started watching with no expectations and rather enjoyed it.
> Kingdom (available on-line) stars Stephen Fry as Peter Kingdom, a small town solicitor with Hermione Norris playing Beatrice, his sister. Not a comedy but not a hard hitting drama either. HN's character is quite different from Ros, but there are flashes of that same 'cross me and live to regret it' personality trait.
> Cold Feet stars Hermione Norris where she plays a married mom quite different from Ros but still with that same trait mentioned above. The show is about 3 couples who become friends and their trials and tribulations. I saw someone compare it to 'Friends' but it's not quite the same.
> Doc Martin is about a doctor who develops a blood phobia and has to retrain as a GP and moves to a small coastal village. He's highly intelligent but lacks social skills and is a true fish out of water. A few of the DM regulars did guest spots on Spooks, such as Ian McNiece who was the judge at Zoe's trial and Selina Cadell who was a finance minister in 7.5. I think this show is hilarious as Doc Martin says all those things we'd love to but are too nice to.
> The IT Crowd is a comedy about 2 IT techs and their manager who can barely send emails. Stars Chris O'Dowd and is very funny.
> Touching Evil stars Nicola Walker as DI Susan Taylor and is from the late 90's.
> The Vicar of Dibley is a very funny comedy about a woman assigned to be the vicar in a very small town. The final two episodes include Richard Armitage and Keeley Hawes as brother and sister.

If you go to IMDB you can look up the actors and see what they've been in and what looks interesting. I've borrowed most of this stuff from the library to watch as I don't have NetFlix. Luckily almost all the libraries in MN are networked so I have access to all of those collections rather than just what my local system has.

Spooks set the bar very high, so I have to try and not measure everything against it. Sorry this got so long.

[picard1109]

I've gone the other way and have been watching a lot of American TV shows.

I absolutely LOVE "The Walking Dead"! I've been holding off on watching the final ep of season 2, while I had some freelance work to do. It'll be my reward to myself for finishing the work.

I've been watching Tim Allen's new comedy "Last Man Standing". I've become a huge fan of Tim Allen's over the last year. I have watched most of his work during the last year, and tend to prefer his 'straight' roles (he's actually rather a good actor!) and haven't managed yet to bring myself to watch the Santa Clause series. Last Man Standing is a bit too...schmaltzy...for my tastes but it does have some good moments and it pushes some social boundaries (well, for America, anyway...!).

I like "Touch", Keifer Sutherland's new series., "Grimm" (hilarious!), and "Suits". I'd really like to like Harry's Law, because Kathy Bates is such a good actor, but I find it all a bit formulaic and schmaltzy. I tried watching American Horror Story but it all seemed a bit too "Twin Peaks" for me...

I'm going to check out "Detroit". I'd also like to get hold of a sci-fi series called "Defying Gravity" - I can't seem to get hold of it via streaming sites or P2P. If anyone knows of a free source, do please PM me the link!

Any other recommendations?

[A Cousin]

(16-04-2012 11:14 AM)picard1109 Wrote:  I've gone the other way and have been watching a lot of American TV shows.

Any other recommendations?

Welcome to the dark side.

Of all the shows you have mentioned, I have been watching Touch - which has potential. The premise is cool and I have always liked Keifer Sutherland and Danny Glover. And, as you know - 6 degrees of Spooks separation - Gugu Mbatha-Raw is in it and doesn't suck.

I have also been watching Awake as well which I find very interesting, and not only because it stars Jason Isaacs. The rest of the cast is incredible as well: Cherry Jones, BD Wong, Steve Harris, Wilmer Valderrama, and Laura Innes. It is only about 1/2 way through it's 1st season of 13 episodes (short for us), so I am not sure how it will be able to perpetuate itself once they reveal what is really going on with the guy. They are really drip feeding that aspect so far. In the meantime, the psychological aspects of his condition and how they influence the case du jour is interesting enough to keep me watching.

I hear good things about Grimm and Once Upon A Time but have yet to catch them myself.

[Beatriz]

I'm moving this thread to the TV subforum of "Break Room".

I watch a few tv shows, some will say a few and some a lot, but anyway, I love Mad Men slow paced, but really good,it has not a single thing in common with Spooks, definitely.
I've recently finished Friday Night Lights, I wasn't sure at the beginning, very "USish" for me, but it grew on me and I ended up loving it, one of my fave show.

I'm actually watching Forbrydelsen, the original danish version of The killing, and I'm enjoying it heaps!

Oh, and yes, Ashes to Ashes and the previous Life on Mars are brilliant!

[picard1109]

For anyone who likes Phil Glenister (Gene Hunt in Life on Mars and A2A), I recommend "Mad Dogs". Also stars John Simm (Life on Mars) and Marc Warren (Hustle). There have been 2 series (of 4 episodes) and I believe a third is being made. Well worth watching.