Every week I go through the two History channels and Biography and record some of their shows. I especially love H2, which is History2.

I can't wait until March when HBO presents "Game Change." It was a very good read.

I'm an anglophile and Downton Abbey bored the pants off me. Well, the first half did, I haven't made it to the second half, although I have it on DVD.

I don't have a tv but watch a few things online...I love Revenge, Modern Family and Parenthood. Oh, and Dexter ;) me who can't stand any kind of violence at all.

I also just watched and loved both seasons of Downton Abbey based on recommendations that I read on GW. I will be watching this thread because I'd like to find a similar series that others have enjoyed.

I can recommend Firefly and the sequel movie, Serenity. Of course, it is a completely different world from that of Downton Abbey, but I liked the camaraderie between the characters and the story lines.

See, you guys are great!

Oak - i'll start by reading game change - thx!

Oly - thx for the recommendations, i put them on my list, looks like all the episodes of revenge are still up on the oabc site! Just now i read that Revenge was based on The Count of Monte Cristo, so that's promising ; )

Fun- i liked firefly very much as well! Hope you find ones that suit you too!

I also watched a rockumentary lately called "It might get loud." that had 3 guitarists doing retrospectives and playing together (jimmy page, the edge and jack white) but the really interesting thing about the video was it took a really deep look at their respective creative processes. It had some slow moments but was really good overall.

Here is a link that might be useful: It might get loud

I really liked the BBC (maybe Materpiece Theater) miniseries "Island at War". If you like Downtown Abbey, you might like it, too. Visually beautiful, good storyline.

Also from Masterpiece, I really liked The Forsyte Saga. I have a secret thing for Damian Lewis.

Also, many of the BBC movies & miniseries starring Robson Green...Reckless was a favorite, Wire in the Blood, Me and Mrs. Jones...

Ah, Robson Green, it's been too long. Off to Netflix now! ;-)

BBC stuff we absolutely loved from Netflix, we've watched every episode:
Foyle's War
Monarch Of the Glen
MI-5

We've seen a lot of other BBC programs but those are our all time favorites.

Kiki, I saw It Might Get Loud in 2009 on an airplane and enjoyed it very much even though I know nothing about music.

Leafy, I'll check out Island at War. Thanks for the recommendation.

Oh, and my request for "worthwhile" tv. .. Please interpret that as broadly as you like! I dont mean to sound judgy, i was just bored with my usual television fare.

On BBC America's "Dramaville" series "Luther" with Edris Elba is great! "The Hour" was another good story, a mini miniseries on BBCA, also.

Also, if you love Damian Lewis, I hope you can catch "Homeland" on Showtime....it is riveting! He is the best I've ever seen him...(God! I adored him in "Life", also in "Band of Brothers") and Claire Danes, as his co-star is simply AMAZING.

Kelsey Grammer is fantastic in "Boss" on Starz. The second season of "Boardwalk Empire" (HBO) had me glued to the set! I've been a huge fan of "Dexter" (Showtime) since the very first episode in season one! Speaking of episodes, again on Showtime, "Episodes" starring Matt LeBlanc (yes, THAT Matt LeBlanc), Joey from Friends) is frickin hilarious! His 2 British costars are fabulously funny! Let's see... Nurse Jackie (Showtime) is another fave! Laura Dern in "Enlightened" (HBO) is wonderful...so is her mom, Diane Ladd! Love "The Big C" with Laura Linney on Showtime. And I can not wait for Julia Louis- Dreyfus's new show "Veep" to start in April on HBO! Loved her as "Elaine" but even more so as "Old Christine"!

Love, love, love AMC's The Walking Dead and, also, The Killing (based on a very successful Danish tv series of the same name)OMG Good!

Ooh, how could I forget...ABC's (Sunday night at 8) "Happily Ever After". I almost didn't watch that....it surprised me, to say the least, just how much I enjoy this show!

Lastly,I'm not looking forward to losing Kyra Sedgwick as the irreplaceable Brenda Lee Johnson on TNT's "The Closer", but much to my surprise, I think the show can and will survive with the existing, fabulous, cast with the superb addition of Mary McDonnell as Captain Raydor.

Sea

For some reason I was thinking about Firefly and Serenity today. Old time favourites of mine. I don't get a lot of the shows that are easily available south of the border, or if we do get them I'm a season behind for eg like The Closer. Spoiler alert! I didn't know that Kyra Sedgewick (Brenda Lee) was leaving.

I like Eureka, Castle, The Closer, Necessary Roughness, and NCIS.

For news on finance and the economy, we watch Pimm Fox and Tom Keane on Bloomberg TV.

For entertainment, I confess to never missing an episode of Justified, and I also regularly watch Top Chef, Chopped, and Project Runway. I watch The Closer when I remember to, but it's lost its zing as far as I'm concerned; its replacement here is Southland. Also Pit Boss as well as Pitbulls and Parolees, both on Animal Planet. I'm watching The Tudors as well, even though the huge historical inaccuracies in Henry's appearance bug me to no end. (With "huge" being pun-intended.) Now, whether any of those would be considered worthwhile is open to debate.

I like Downton Abbey too. Portlandia is hilarious to me, because it is so much like living in Austin. I also like Top Chef and of course TCM because I love old movies.

Lynxe, The Tudors stayed true to form on Henry's appearance until his final years. He was a ver fit and athletic King. His good looks were known throughout Europe.

I call Jonathan R.Meyer, "King Hotness." lol.

The Tudors was excellent! Now I wish they'd take up with the heirs who ruled after Henry's death and stop with Elizabeth I.

You might try In Plain Sight on USA. It's about a US Marshall and the witness protection program.

I did NOT know that "The Closer" is being tweaked to feature Mary McDonnell! I thought it was just ending. ... Well, you learn something new every day.

"In Plain Sight" is great, but it's ending after the next season, I read.

Don't forget "Doc Martin" -- on PBS and Hulu (so you can catch up).

I think "The Voice" is worthwhile.

I also like "Harry's Law" with Kathy Bates. And somehow I think "Hart of Dixie" is cute.

Masterpiece Theater is presenting "Great Expectations" in April. Haven't checked up on it yet to see who'll star.

("Bleak House" with Gillian Anderson, which aired on PBS a few years ago, was quite good. But my expectations weren't so great since I had not read the book, and therefore no preconceptions. You might find that on Netflix or at your local library.)

Pammy= Gillian Anderson plays Miss Havisham.

Sorry for the delay checking back, small daughter has tummy bug here, but i just wanted to say how much i appreciate all the suggestions -
There are many here I haven't heard of!

I watched most of the Doc Martin series on Netflix's instant viewing or whatever it's called. They're not up to date with all the seasons yet. Right now I am obsessed with Midsomer Murders, another BBC series, again through Netflix. It's a wonderful escape to bucolic English villages with thatched cottages, manor houses, gorgeous gardens and probably the highest murder rate in England.
'

One of our favorites is the English mystery series "Rosemary & Thyme" -- with two women gardeners -- and some of the prettiest gardens and homes ever!! :)

We just LOVE it! :)

Seashellsandpearls, I've heard raves about Homeland but I don't have showtime so I'll have to catch it on Netflix later :(

And yes, Idris Elba is right up my alley. I loved him on The Wire, though I'm more of an Avon Barksdale girl myself. Shhhhh.

Teacats, thanks for Rosemary and Thyme. This one I didn't know about. Love Midsomer Murders with the gardens and homes. R and T should be right up there for me.

I've leaped to watching many of the British shows mentioned. It is getting so difficult to know when new US shows/episodes are on and am becoming tired of reruns for fill ins, so many changing actors and cancelled without notice. Although I'm into many listed, Breaking Bad which isn't for everyone and it is on it's last season.

I'll echo some favorites that have already been mentioned. Love Homeland (could anyone act better than Claire Danes???) and Parenthood. Other faves are The Good Wife on CBS and Justified on FX.

"Lynxe, The Tudors stayed true to form on Henry's appearance until his final years. He was a ver fit and athletic King. His good looks were known throughout Europe."

That's true only if you define "final years" as the last 15 or so. He was obese at the time that Catherine Howard entered the picture, but you wouldn't know it from watching the show. Actually, if the show were accurate, he'd have started gaining observable weight at the time of Anne Boleyn's execution and his marriage to Jane Seymour. Aside from physical changes (including his unhealed leg ulcer, which was disgusting but I think was mentioned or alluded to only a few times in the show, and which had to be drained regularly, not just once), he also had deteriorated mentally, so much so that some researchers considered him mad by the end. Actually again, his personality was so "split," and for so long, that my understanding is that some contemporary chroniclers did not know what to make of him.

Regardless, I make sure not to miss a single episode! I am a total sucker for those kinds of shows.

I find Parenthood to be so annoying. It's that machine gun manner of speaking that they use. They talk all over each other. Every actor on the show does it so I guess it's intentional. I started off watching it but stopped because of the way they speak and some annoying characters. I also kept waiting for Rory Gilmore to show up as Lauren Graham's daughter. The girl who plays her daughter is just not right for the role. I don't like her.

The Tudors were recommended to me so I will have to watch that and also Midsomer Murders.