| Short Name Description--- (OC) alerts you that the series includes "Objectionable Content". Types: 1-Inspiring 2-Excellent 3-Enjoyable => | T | |
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Archangel - A British historian runs into a notebook that belonged to Joseph Stalin and uncovers a secret coven of stalinist loyalists that have continued a sinister plan that the dictator started before his death. (Jon Jones 2005). | 3 |
| Around the Next Bend - Two naive American friends that are pretty handy with a handheld camera get the idea of floating on an inflatable down the Ganges from the heart of India in New Delhi to the Bay of Bengal. They had not heard that the river is the main conduit for the raw sewage of New Delhi. They incredibly persist and complete their voyage and film it all. A fascinating trip. We can only hope that the serious sickness they get from the river's contamination in the middle of the trip has not remained with them for the rest of their life. (2012) | 1 | |
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As Time Goes By - Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer created an English pearl in this long running romantic comedy. Not to be missed. (Created by Colin Bostock-Smith 1992) | 1 |
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Borgen (The Castle - the name of the Danish Parliament Building) - Danish political series that starts by skewering spin doctors, mercenary journalists, inmoral politicians, and every lowlife worm of the political mud. There is however a woman that rises above it all and the voting public agrees with her. If you hold on through the initially bewildering political landscape of Denmark you will be amply rewarded. It is Stephen King's favorite current series and Newsweek called it "the best political show ever" (2010) | 1 |
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The Borgias - Not for the squeamish; a grand 3 season series where Rodrigo Borgia (Jeremy Irons), a brilliant Spanish patriarch manages to obtain the papacy as Alexander VI in 1492 and rules for 11 years. Larger than life characters are played against each other in a delightful history of this very important renaissance papacy. We get a sense of the Borgia Pope as a loving man who doted on every new birth from the women of his family, loved much, was a very skillful diplomat, and even at times a devout man. Two of Alexander's successors, Sixtus V and Urban VIII, described him as one of the most outstanding popes since St. Peter. The series was so costly that the 4th season could not be done.. (Neil Jordan 2011 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Borgias_(2011_TV_series)) |
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Brothers and Sisters - Sally Field plays the matriarch with a superb cast in a series about a Los Angeles family dynasty. See it from Episode One. This series is as good as it gets in modern movie making. (ABC 2006) | 2 |
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Captain Horatio Hornblower - A superb British naval series about the career of Captain Hornblower during the Napoleonic wars (18th century). The best sailing square rigger scenes of any movie and extremely engaging plots and characters. You will surely love these series whether you like the sea or not. (Meridian Broadcasting 1998) | 1 |
| Cathedral of the Sea - Very interesting Catalonian series about medieval times.. Historical customs of the time are incorporated into the plot giving us an accurate panorama of the life of the common people in the middle ages in Catalonia. Starting from an initial injustice a child survives to become powerful and obtain revenge from those who wronged him. Worth watching. (Netflix 2017) | 2 | |
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Commander in Chief - A fascinating look at a strong woman Vice President who actually takes over. Geena Davis and Donald Sutherland deliciously set each other off. Very enjoyable - do not miss. (2005) | 1 |
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Deadwood - David Milch was teaching at Yale and had an idea for a TV series. Starting from a human group where total chaos reigned, would chaos continue or would it move towards order. He did get a chance to try his idea as a western. Gold was discovered in 1875 in Deadwood Gulch, South Dakota. In no time a gold rush and a town were created. There was no law and no order. This series documents what happened subsequently. If you can handle the raw and vulgar realistic view into such an uncontrolled town, this series holds much fascination. Milch and his team of top workers created each line of dialogue for maximum liveliness and effect as a group, editing each other constantly. The result is incredible dialogue realism and vitality. Excellent actors completed the production. Explicit vulgar language and scenes would offend many.(2004) (OC) | 2 |
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Desperate Housewives - Four beautiful suburban housewives and a plot to losen your teeth. Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) a Latina born with a franchise on self-indulgement, Bree (Marcia Cross) who nicks her belt with each new achievement, Susan (Teri Hatcher) insecure romantic who keeps looking for love in a bowl of men-candy , and Lynette (Felicity Huffman) a high level executive who keeps hoping to stumble into the real secret of family life excitement. These four took ratings by storm for 8 seasons and changed TV forever by their enourmous impact. TV Series became higher quality than most full lentgth movies and the rest was history. Sexual freedom of women will offend many. (Created by Marc Sherry 2004- ) (someOC) | 3 |
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Doc Martin - A very original British series filmed in a beautiful Cornwal village. The unusual characters will grow on you. (Dominic Minghella 2004-2011) | 2 |
| Gaffigan, Jim, Stand Up Comedian - The funniest, cleanest comedian of all. He is an endless chain of intelligent funny jokes and meditations. Find 5 of his episodes in Netflix: Cinco, Mr. Universe, Obsessed, King Baby, Beyond the Pale, and 1 of his specials in Amazon Prime called The Noble Ape) | 1 | |
| Goliath - A has-been lawyer is brought out of his seedy life to fight a large company's cover-up murder of one of their workers. Delightful story of "David against Goliath" with some excellent actors playing unforgettable characters. (Amazon 2016) | 2 | |
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Grey's Anatomy - A fascinating TV medical series taking place in Seattle, Washington has become one of the biggest successes in the medical genre and is still going on. Not a single boring turn - episode after episode it manages to first entertain and then challenge. Sexual freedom of medical personel will offend many. (Shonda Rhimes 2005) (FYI: Gray's Anatomy was the classic medical textbook since the 1800's...) (OC) | 2 |
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Hart of Dixie - A delightful romantic romp into a mythical small town in Alabama held down by the most charming actors and characters with southern lifestyles. Check it out - a refreshing antidote to depressing, violent american life. If you can handle the light-weight approach, it will balance out your life and provide a nice Dr. Jekyll to bring your Mr. Hyde out of the darkness. | 3 |
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House of Eliott - Two English young ladies in the1920's lose their father and have to earn a living. Using their talents they start a high class fashion design house and are successfull. This English series shows many interesting sides of life in 1920's upper class England. Their overcoming their limited choices is inspiring. The noble characters of the two sisters and their friends paint a most engaging portrait of how ethical and pure life in society can be when it is lived according to the highest standards. (1991). | 1 |
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Justified - Gunfights at the ok corral moved to the present and enlivened by adding a large amount of unforgettable bad boy characters who combine vanity, sometimes dumbness, and many times endearing humanity. Their getting shot is modestly shown as blood spots on their clothes while they deliver some more delightful acting. | 3 |
| The Last Kingdom - A superb series about the time of Alfred the Great of Wessex. Pagan Danes share England with Christian Saxons and wage war to control the territory. A Saxon boy is raised by a Dane lord and becomes a great warrior Uhtred. The series narrates his fascinating life as the most important warrior of the age. The complex plot reflects the convoluted allegiances of the age but never becomes less than fascinating. Netflix. | 2 | |
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Little Mosque on the Prairie - A funny series about a little mosque in a little town in Canada that might capture your heart. Zarqa Nawaz, a Canadian Muslim filmmaker of Pakistani origin has stated that she views comedy as one of the most valuable and powerful ways to break down barriers and to encourage dialogue and understanding between cultures. We wholly agree with her after viewing quite a few delightful episodes. The production included an expert Muslim advisor to ensure Islam was correctly portrayed. (Zarqa Nawaz 2007) | 3 |
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Madam Secretary - Superb, very current, political drama. A brilliant young lady intelligence agent is lured to become Secretary of State by the ex-head of the CIA who is now President of the U.S. The 22 episodes of Season 1 are a delighful inside look at the main situations we have experienced in the news since 2010. An inside view at how a very intelligent Secretary of State does her job. Inspiring to see the U.S. government earn the respect of the country and the world by her wise solutions to very difficult Dpt of State problems. | 1 |
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Masters of Sex - This is the story of Dr. Masters and Johnson. Not only is it a great story to find out how in the 1950's a great doctor was able run these studies in one of the best hospitals in the US by taking on a whole army of puritans, but the modern acceptance of sexual images allows the writers to dramatize humorous exposures of character that make for continuous delicious comic moments. Exceedingly humorous, but prudish remnants from that era will find it scandalous. | 3 |
| The Australian star of this show is too attractive to show his picture here... |
Mentalist, The - The Mentalist is a very accomplished practical psychologist that can perceive a person's psychology from their external appearance. This ability allows him to adapt his responses to the person's expectations and help them cooperate smoothly with the CBI investigation (CBI is the California Bureau of Investigation, like the FBI at state level). A superb, intelligent series that satisfies us by ridiculing pompous types, outsmarting criminals, surprising us at every step, and in every episode delivering a complete meal without ever doing cheap tricks to make us watch the next episode. It does not get this good without a lot of intelligent work and this series does it. |
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| Morocco, Love in Times of War - Very good Spanish series about a group of high class lady nurses sent by the queen of Spain to Morocco during an insurrection of the muslims in Spanish Morocco in the 1930's. Memorable characters and exotic locations make for very interesting viewing - very well done. (Netflix) | 2 | |
| My Uncle Silas - Another British feel good series like The Darling Buds of May, this time with Alber Finney as Uncle Silas. Adapted from books by H.E. Bates. (Amazon Prime 2001) | 3 | |
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Outlander - A superb premium BBC Series based Diana Gabaldon series of best sellers set in Scotland. Adventures in post world war one time and events from the 1850's in the same locations in the Scotish moors with one character that unexpectedly is transported in time. Fascinating - do not miss it.. | 2 |
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Parenthood - Three generations of a family will delight you with their lives in Berkeley, California, the place to explore the future of the country. Very convincingly written, you will feel it! The Bravermans are a real family who solves their problems by helping each other using the wisdom of three generations. The solutions obtained by applying the comunal common sense ring true. After a while you begin to feel how life works its situations out when people ask for help from a large enough group of family members. (2010) | 1 |
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Revenge - One of the best plots of all times, The Count of Montecristo, brilliantly transposed to modern times and characters. Fascinating series. Open sexual mores. (2011) (some OC) | 2 |
| Rita - Excellent Danish series about a very strong liberated female school teacher who is not afraid of breaking taboos, rules, or heads for the benefit of her students who always come first. Strange how the truth of a character can appeal to us even when dressed up in manners or morals that might distress us. (Netflix) | 2 | |
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Rome - Dramatization of the story of the Emperors of the first century viewed through the eyes of two roman soldiers. History will become alive for you showing you no end of wonders. One of the best HBO series of all times. Explicit violence and sexuality. (2005 - ) (OC) |
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Scandal - Joins the surprises of Grey's Anatomy to the brains of the West Wing. An incredibly exciting series about adventures in Washington. Make sure you start with the first episode and hang on through the lull in the action around episodes 2 through 4 because things get incredly more exciting. Shonda Rhimes is a very gifted writer. Violence and adult themes may offend some. (2012) (OC) | 2 |
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Sex and the City - Carrie writes a column called Sex and the City in NY, where she tells of the dating life of her and her three friends: naïve Charlotte, type-A Miranda and vixen Samantha. Slick HBO series. Explicit sexual freedom of women may be offensive.(2008-) (OC) | 3 |
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Sherlock - Benedict Cumberbatch as a new very young Sherlok Holmes using a very lively new script from England. A very engaging modern day TV version of Sherlock Holmes. Fun to watch. It will be difficult to find among the many other versions of Sherlok Holmes. It was made in 2010 for TV only. (Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat 2010) | 3 |
| The Darling Buds of May - The most viewed series on British Television ever, this delightful work can be counted on to make every possible problem into another lovable human weakness that contributes to make our life enjoyable. Based on the characters created by H. E. Bates in his 1958 books. (Amazon Prime 1991 including helpful subtitles) | 3 | |
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The Good Wife - To describe this as a legal series hardly does it justice. While each episode is packed with one riveting central plot it usually includes one or more subplots that integrate perfectly with it. It was hard to imagine how they could manage all this exciting action while keeping the audience clued in as to every development so that one has the fun of anticipating what is going to happen next based on barely perceived clues...until we noticed the producers were Ridley Scott and his son Tony Scott. Ridley is a magician of drama. | 2 |
| The Jim Gaffigan Show - A series about Gaffigan,totally the funniest comedian ever, his beautiful wife and his 5 kids in New York. Very enjoyable funny series. It includes some specially good characters like his good-looking friend Mark and his endless chain of lovers, and his Catholic priest who will never take no for an answer. | 2 | |
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The Sopranos - Men use mental boundaries to separate their business life from their family life. In the case of mafia bosses these essential boundaries are extremely important. Tony Soprano is a New Jersey boss whose boundaries start to break and he ends up in a psychological counselor's office. An excellent adult series that started a the wave of TV series of higher quality than regular movies. Explicit violence. (HBO 1999) (OC) |
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The West Wing - The most adult, intelligent, serious and involving view of the very center of the US Government, the West Wing of the White House. All under Martin Sheen, as a very scholarly and capable US President. A view to make us visualize the US seriously as the possible real leader of the World. Allison Janey and John Spencer and others provide superb characterizations as part of the President's staff. Start from episode 1 and go all the way through. What a pleasure and pride to watch the best in this great country, behaving convincingly as the best in the World! (Creator Aaron Sorkin, 1999-2005). | 1 |
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The Young Pope - Paolo Sorrentino, the current Fellini of Italy, wanted to do a series on the Catholic Church and HBO agreed to produce it. Sorrentino borrowed the most prophetic image to describe the Catholic Church from the writer of the book of Revelation: the struggle between the force of Good and the Roman Empire identified as the Beast in that book. The book prophesies the victory of Good over the Beast, but what really happened in the 4th century was that the early church of the martyrs was split. After so many years of persecution, it was hard not to see the support of the Roman Empire as a blessing to extend Christianity in the world. The church incorporated the structures of power of the Roman Empire and became a combination of church and state. Over the centuries this combination of church and state has struggled to further spiritual goals with secular power structures giving a strange hybrid organization, inside of which fierce struggles for power take place. In the Vatican II Council, it was surprising to find that out of some 3,000 bishops in St. Peter's Basilica half would vote conservative and the other half liberal. Essentially there is not one Catholic Church but two, split all the way from the highest hierarchy to the laity. Sorrentino very knowingly begins his series by showing the duel between the new Pope and his key Cardinal. This is not a spiritual battle but the most fascinating power struggle which could be front and center in any movie about corporate battles. It is the battle Pope Francis has been fighting since he became Pope. Sorrentino knows his subject, has incredible cinematic gifts, and knows how to direct superb actors to show us the inside of the Catholic Church. But there is more. Sorrentino also has a very deep understanding of spirituality and is able to use the Catholic Church as an image for the human spiritual struggle for salvation. Find a more extensive commentary about this series in my page The Young Pope . As a Catholic forever fascinated by my strange Church I would highly recommend it. (2016) |
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