The Glade 4.0

A couple years ago, while Raell was running his Television/Movies superhero contest, Kaffis selected some obscure character named Sam Axe. Intrigued by the Bruce Campbell appearance, i looked up this character I'd never heard of and got hooked on the great USA Network show "Burn Notice." I'd never heard of it (they just started airing season 1 on Showcase in Canada this year, first appearance of the show.) I couldn't believe such a great show went under the radar for so long.

It has now happened again. This time, a few weeks ago it was someone at work rather than someone on the glade who told me I'd like the TNT show "Leverage." They were right...I'm watching season 3 now, but it still doesn't air here. Once again, I'd never even heard of it.

What other hidden cable gems do you guys watch that haven't yet been exported?

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Psych.
The League.
The Good Guys.

All I can think of off the top of my head. More when I check my DVR.

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Um.. I also selected Nathan Ford, I believe in the same draft. Just, you know, to say "I told you so."

White Collar, also on USA. Can find the first season on DVD (and BluRay?), and some of the second season is on Hulu still, probably.

Stars Matthew Bomer (Bryce Larkin from Chuck) and Tim DeKay as a Neal Caffery, clever master art forger/thief, and Peter Burke, the FBI agent that hunted him down and put him in prison. To spoil the first 10-15 minutes of the pilot, Neal breaks out of prison mere weeks before his sentence is up, after hearing that his girlfriend is leaving him. Burke, using the knowledge of Neal and his motivations from the years-long investigation that lead to his previous arrest, catches up to Neal at the now-vacant apartment of Neal's girlfriend; Neal had missed her by mere days. Peter puts Neal back in prison, but not before the observant Neal noticed something that could help Peter with his current case.

Neal offers to trade the information he has that could help with Peter's current case, and to serve out his sentence as a consultant for the FBI under Peter's personal supervision and the watchful eye of a GPS tracking anklet in lieu of the additional time for breaking out of prison.

The show is fantastic, even if the "civilian consultant shadows cops" meme is pretty popular at the moment (Castle, The Mentalist, to a lesser extent Bones and Psych) because the entire show plays off the fabulous chemistry between Bomer and DeKay. It's a buddy show; Caffery is smooth, suave, charming, and a seasoned manipulative con man, and Burke is a straight-laced, by-the-book workman who can't stand that guys like Neal get to enjoy the good life (Neal even schmoozes his way into fantastic digs with a view despite the cheap budget the FBI gives him to live on) while working stiffs like him have to suffer with office coffee and off-the rack suits, etc.

Give it a watch if you're able.

Hopwin's right; The Good Guys is also hilarious and awesome.. but it's Fox, not cable. I haven't had time to really dig into Psych (also USA), but from what I've seen, it looks like passable entertainment.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Likely went unnoticed because I had no attachment to Timothy Hutton, unlike Bruce Campbell. You also didn't push me to watch Leverage. You suggested that Burn Notice and Chuck were must-watches for me. (I still haven't managed to get into Chuck, but you were damned right about Burn Notice.)

However, Kaffis, you are responsible for getting me into 2 Television shows that I absolutely loved. (Firefly, Burn Notice.) Since you selected Nate Ford in that draft, you could easily have been responsible for 3. You're batting .750 (Although I'm going to give Chuck a third try at some point), so this means I must download White Collar on the odds alone.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Oh, in case it helps nail down my taste, my current Television lineup is getting...too long. Never have so many great shows been on TV at the same time. Stuff I'm currently watching (either because it's mine or someone in my family watches so I watch with them.)

Big Bang Theory
Burn Notice
Castle
Criminal Minds (This is hubby's...I actually have a hard time watching it.)
Fringe
House
Human Target
Leverage
Lie to Me
No Ordinary Family
Star Wars: Clone Wars (with an 8 year old boy, this one is inescapable)
Stargate Universe

I know i'm forgetting one, i counted 13 the other day.

I've also been downloading Glee. Not watching it, mind you. It's sitting there making me want to watch due to my whedonesque love of musicals, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

I know you abhor Bones, but I still love it.
I watched the first episode of Tower Prep with my daughter this weekend and was pleasantly suprised. Not fantastic mind you, but intriguing. I hate overpowered superheros and these kids are pretty low on the power scale.

GF is trying to get me into watching Dexter, but just can't get into it. Its well done, but doesnt jump out at me.

Where do you find the time?

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Ezekiel 23:19-20 

Warehouse 13 is good on SyFy.

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@Rynar: Downloading them in advance saves a lot of time, actually. An hour long show is only 40 minutes when you strip away the commercials and intro title...and you can watch them at any time. I often get one show in on my lunch at work. I don't start watching the others until the kids are in bed at 8pm (except for Clone Wars, for obvious reasons, which, like Big Bang Theory, is only 20 minutes long). Not only that, they don't all air at the same time. Burn Notice Season 4 finished this summer. Season 5 won't start until most shows are going into hiatus. Most of these series only do 12-20 episodes in a season, so I still end up with the most of my nights free. 12 different series generally means about 200 episodes in a calendar year, so an average 20 minutes of television a night to keep up with stuff currently airing. We do tend to go on a tv watching binge one night a week, where from 8-12 we get in 4-6 downloaded episodes...

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Eureka, Psych, and (as Hop said) Warehouse 13 are all great, imo.

And I'll also support White Collar... Love it.

Outsourced is a funny short one (new this season), and I'm a fan of Community.

HuluPlus has both seasons of Reaper, which I think is hilarious, in a similar theme to Dead Like Me, but imo better.

Undercovers is a new spy-esque show this season which is pretty good. And of course, there's Sanctuary, which just started back up for the Fall.

Chase (US Marshalls Show) and The Event are also both ok- The Event has a nice intriguing "Aliens among us" theme, similar to V, but much better done IMO.

The Whole Truth is an interesting Legal show, with the female lead played by Lisa from Newsradio.

Lie to Me is, of course, a must watch.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Since we've diverged into Network TV, I've been enjoying The Defenders (been a while since we had a defense lawyer show, what with all the Law & Order and forensics procedurals; and Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell have been a good team so far), and I'm a longtime fan of How I Met Your Mother. Lone Star has piqued my interest, but I'm not sure how well it'll hold up to the long game.

The Event and Chase didn't really win me over in the first few weeks.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

The Event has gotten better, imo.

If you want a good legal show, check out Raising the Bar... Not on anymore, but it's a mix of public defenders/DAs... HuluPlus has all the old episodes up, not sure about Netflix.

Outlaw is another decent defender show that just started this season.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

I put it off for a long time, but I am a huge convert to 30 Rock. It's **** hilarious. Honestly, it's probably my favorite comedy now. BBT used to be #1 but has turned into the Sheldon & Blossom Show, who I feel are the only two good characters.

Haven't seen anyone mention it, but Justified was awesome. It has Timothy Olyphant as I think an US Marshal sent to Kentucky after shooting to many people. Second season starts up in February I believe.

In Plain Sight, another USA offering, is also extraordinary.

Aye, it's pretty good.... Only on the second season, myself.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Word.

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

Leverage is amazing, I love the character development, especially Elliot. LOL

I also feel the need to mention Sons of Anarchy. As a long time Ron Perlman fan, Sons of Anarchy is just plain awesome to get to watch him on a weekly basis. Picture a biker version of Soprano's.

Another show I've gotten into, but on name alone didn't sound like anything was Terriers on FX.

Once again, Kaffis, you don't disappoint. White Collar has me hooked after two episodes.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

I aim to please.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

This show is fantastic.

Kaffis, we have the same taste too! I have gotten hooked on every show you have told me to watch. I still have some to go, but I am enjoying the time . Also, excellent taste in books, love the Dresden Files.

Thanks from me

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Dream as if you'll live forever...
...Live as if you'll die tomorrow

Vivere Senza Rimpianti

Raising this from the dead, I've just gone through the first two seasons of SOA on Netflix and I've loved it. It's one of those, "how did I miss this when it first came out?" deals. Really enjoying the show.

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"It is true that democracy undermines freedom when voters believe they can live off of others' productivity, when they modify the commandment: 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' The politics of plunder is no doubt destructive of both morality and the division of labor."

Since it's revived, I'll throw in that this season of Leverage has been fantastic so far.

They're really growing each of the characters without changing them so much that it ruins the dynamic.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.