Loved Happy Valley

Also:

Luther
Last Tango in Halifax
Top of the Lake

What don't I stream?!
Using a Roku:

Netflix - Lots of documentaries, old TV shows & movies. Currently watching a British TV series called "Peaky Blinders" which is about 1920 Birmingham gangsters

Forgot to add: "House of Cards" and "Orange is the New Black"

Amazon - I'm very guilty of buying new release movies before they are available for rent. I'm trying to cut back because it gets pretty expensive.

Amazon Prime - I either wait for or get caught up on: "The Good Wife," "Downton Abbey," "The Americans," "Orphan Black," "Vikings, "American Horror Story." At least that's what my "video library" tells me.

HBO Go: Pretty much every HBO series.

This post was edited by MagdalenaLee on Wed, Jan 14, 15 at 9:34

I have Amazon Prime (I believe it's $99 yearly) and Netflix which is $7.99/mo.

When I want to truly escape I watch Columbo. It was filmed in Los Angeles and it's fun to see Los Angeles' back in the early 70's.

I watch a number of shows already listed but also enjoy movies such as Witness for the Prosecution, 12 Angry Men, Calamity Jane, Sunset Boulevard....

I agree with Beagles that The Good Wife is the best series on TV.

Boop, it's the Mentalist's and Hot In Cleveland's last year :-(. Oh and Parenthood. I love that series. It's the last season as well.

Intrigue/Crime

The Fall (Gillian Anderson tracking serial killer, London)

Luther {{gwi:2134045}}

Peaky Blinders (gangs Brighton 1920s)

Broadchurch

Sherlock

House of Cards (Senate intrigue - Kevin Spacey's masterwork)

And of course---Breaking Bad!

Drama

Transparent is AWESOME (Jeffrey Tambour as a father coming out as a trans woman to her middle aged children)

Bletchley Circle (codebreakers WWII)

Call the Midwife (midwives in East London 1950s)

Orange is the New Black

Friday Night Lights - even if you don't like football. My friends are all strangely obsessed with this show and football is so not a thing up here

Comedy

Arrested Development 1000%

For similar (adult) humor in cartoon form, Bojack Horseman or Archer or Bob's Burgers, Futurama (my personal favorite)

Was pleasantly surprised by Happy Endings which is like Friends updated for the new century.

The Mindy Project - I love this romantic comedy so much!
{{gwi:2134046}}

It's Always Sunny - it's cringe humor, it's improv, it's really surprisingly brilliant

Parks and Rec - it's nice, it's gentle, it's super funny, it's really surprisingly brilliant

Louie - trenchant, a little depressing at times, but amazing

Documentaries

Bill Cunningham New York - keep this for a rainy day when you need inspiration, he is so happy and awesome!

Being Elmo - for the creep factor.

Room 237 - conspiracies around and superfans of The Shining

The Source Family - the cult from California

The Imposter - A middle aged man impersonates a missing teen and the family accepts him. This whole movie is like WTF?

Dear Zachary - this is the saddest movie in the world. You have been warned. If you're still interested, DO NOT GOOGLE BEFORE YOU WATCH.

L'Amour Fou - Pierre Bergé disposing of his and Yves St. Laurent's art collection. A very interesting love story and if you like antiques and interior design, let alone fashion, so much the better.

Paris is Burning - Harlem drag ball culture of the 1980s

The Queen of Versailles - watch a family go from uberrich to moderately wealthy. The wife is strangely likeable..the husband is as likeable as you could expect a timeshare king to be.

Beware of Mr. Baker - Ginger Baker is awful, genius, compelling.

Cutie and the Boxer - Japanese artists, a love story and something else...watching the woman (cutie) come into her own in later life is truly inspiring.

Far Out Isn't Far Enough - the Tomi Ungerer story. Maybe I only like it because he ended up in Liverpool Nova Scotia after he fled New York!
Tabloid - I have a weak spot for Errol Morris. Not sure if this is still on Netflix or not.

Happy People - A year in the taiga - This doc was edited (not shot) and narrated by Werner Herzog. First of all, fascinating lifestyle. Second, it's hilarious to listen to Herzog, world's biggest misanthropist, fantasize about living along in a hunting cabin in the arctic.

I was sick over the holidays and streamed quite a bit... movies and TV series.

Amazon Prime:
Wallander 1-3 - loved this. We watched the version with Kenneth Branagh
Begin Again - charming movie w/Mark Ruffalo
The Normal Heart
The Game, Season 1 - GREAT mini series. We watched On Demand. Amazon has for a fee.

Netflix
- Orange is the New Black
- Final Season of The Killing (produced by Netflix instead of AMC)
- Foyle's War

Also recommend past binges or TV shows we loved
Homeland
Dexter
Scandal - my dirty little secret lol. I watch it without fail
Sherlock! - with Benedict Cumberbatch
Prime Suspect - Detective series with Helen Mirren
Downton Abbey

White Collar, Love it!!!!
Scandal
How to Get away with Murder
Suits
Blacklist
Mad Men
Rizzoli and Isles
Devious Maids for lightheartedness.....(reminiscent of Desperate Housewives)

We would watch Revenge but quit a couple of seasons ago. It's just getting stupid

We tried watching House of Cards, but didn't like the way Spacey was always talking to the camera :-)

Great list Robo! Thank you for taking the time.. there are a number of movies/series we have in our "check it out queue" so I appreciate your recommends!

I also wanted to add that we enjoyed 100 Foot Journey

Robo, love Mindy Nd the mindy project, have to say I've been a little disappointed in the last few shows ... Think she has "jumped the shark"?

Forgot the ones we stream most religiously ... If you will ... Jon Stewart and Bill Maher. Colbert , too (shameless plug, at our old house he was a neighbor )

Sometimes Chopped.

Other than that I'm always on a quest for pg13 movies that are actually good that my kids won't think are kids movies.

PS Downton abbey fans, I thought the highclere book was interesting

Just finished The Honourable Woman and although I enjoyed it well enough, but it was a bit like the movie Syriana in that it didn't seem to know what it was about. The "secret" was easy to guess from the very first episode, but there were too many simultaneous currents without enough backstory, and the flashbacks were poorly distributed throughout the story. The ending was absurd, as if a terrorist would simply let her go for stating she deserved the bad things that happened to her. Still, I like Maggie Gyllenhall, better onscreen than in a live play. We saw her in Uncle Vanya in NYC several years ago and I was literally exhausted by her by the end of the play.

Hijack --
KSWL, just reading today about the other Gyllenhall in the play "Constellations". NY Times loves it, thinking of going.

mtn - I haven't watched the new season (I usually wait and binge watch!) but I'll be sad if it's bad. I really enjoy Adam Pally in that show (dr peter). Idris Elba might be my TV prince charming but Adam Pally is definitely my TV boyfriend.

In streaming (but not netflix) my favorite comedy is definitely Broad City. I think you can watch it all online at Comedy Central in the states. I think Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson are comic geniuses and super relateable. I really love Hannibal Buress in it as well. Hmm, he might be in the running for tv boyfriend.

Simple.

Game of Thrones
Downton Abbey

robo --- it's not bad, it's just a tiny bit less good! I will try your other suggestions!

Parks and Rec hits home for me because I work for the government

:D

{{gwi:2134047}}

My guilty pleasures right now are Angel and Once Upon a Time. Both are so cheesy.

mtn - I haven't seen We Are the Best yet but I'm thinking it would be a hit with teens who fancy themselves sophisticated, and it's on Netflix. Swedish with English subtitles

This post was edited by robotropolis on Wed, Jan 14, 15 at 13:07

I loved Angel too. I wish I could get in to Once Upon a time, Mad Men,. the good wife and breaking bad. I don't know why, but I tried one of each and didn't like it.

I forgot the blacklist. I like that too. Also Supernatural (at least the first 5-6 years)

Charmed - an all time favorite. Maybe I will watch that again! ALso Grey's anatomy!

I just finished catching up on Blue bloods. :( Now I have to find something else!

I wish I was patient and could watch the old seasons and then wait for the current season to go to prime. They sucker me in and I usually buy it :p

Mad Men is my favorite. I think the fact that is a period piece, the fact that I have a crush on Jon Hamm, and that it is not as violent/disturbing as some of the others. And the crush on Jon Hamm, did I mention that?

Speaking of disturbing, if you have never seen it, Sopranos of course is excellent.

Which then reminds me, I watched a lot of the Edie Falco series , forget what it is called, on the plane; very good.

For comedy, I liked the New Adventures of the OLd Christine. too.

Mad Men is my favorite, too. It has been so well done, consistently. Even when it has been inconsistent. And since it takes place at the time and in the area in which I grew up, it has added resonance for me in that it reminds me of my childhood. Not the Drapers themselves, of course, but the general mood, the parties they threw, etc.

My favorite recent show has been Orphan Black. So clever and fun. I think I am obsessed with it.

mtn: Stephen Colbert: Be still, my heart!

Mtn -- Nurse Jackie! Love that show.

I'm on a strict budget, so I only watch those series that are free through Amazon Prime. In the last year, I've watched:
Angel
Buffy
Fringe
Firefly
Roswell
Flashpoint
Veronica Mars

My splurge is Orphan Black through iTunes. I don't receive BBC America through my cable subscription and I love watching Tatiana Maslany play all of the different parts.

Sopranos
Suits
Homeland
Breaking Bad
Orange is the New Black
Mad Men

And some movies and other series that we don't watch as regularly. DH likes Lilyhammer. We watch some things on Amazon and some on Netflix.

don't like tv shows much . . . try to find good movies on Prime-it's hard.

I did find some nice ambient videos, which are among my fave things to have on. Try "The Best of the Window Channel"

Dang! I forgot to check the box to receive emails throughout the day so I' m just now seeing all these replies!

I've seen many of the TV shows mentioned but not Downton Abbey (I have seasons 1-3 on DVD-haven't started) or Orange is the New Black, which I've been itching to see. Is there a free location to stream Orange or is there a particular time to stream for free? I think a friend said he can stream it for free between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. or some equally ridiculous time frame.

I'm trying to reduce my reliance on cable for entertainment, so I'll have to try some of the shows mentioned to see how the costs line up compared to my local cable company. Some sound like I'd watch no matter the cost! Intriguing is Peaky Blinders, Bletchley Circle (codebreakers WWII) and Dear Zachary (not sure whether I'd like the saddest movie in the world, but with a warning tag, it peaked my interest: Step away from Google.

violet.west - I think that's the problem I have with A-Prime. The free stuff doesn't interest me for the most part...

However, I now have a boat load of research on how to stay entertained while it's too cold to golf!

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries - Miss Fisher is a 'thoroughly modern' detective in Australia in the 1920's. It's worth watching just for her stunning period fashions.

Foyle's War
Midsommer Murders
Broadchurch - season starts in March (I think)

"Brotherhood" with Jason isaacs and Jason Clarke. Watched "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" last weekend.

I didn't stream it, but "The Missing" that just finished on Starz was almost as good as "Broadchurch" (IMHO).

"The Bletchley Circle" is very good!

Our taste is adult (compare to R-rated movies), quirky, modern (tried Downton Abbey and GOT, didn't care for either) and non-network, don't have cable, but do have Netflix, both streaming and discs. Love some of the shows mentioned, but will try not to duplicate on my list.

For streaming:

Lilyhammer, funny, well acted, filmed in Norway, it's worth it for the scenery alone

Slings and Arrows, set in a fictional town in Ontario, CA, about Shakespearean actors, funny and well acted

Sons of Anarchy, fascinating in a train wreck way

The United States of Tara, Toni Colette and the hunk from My Big, Fat Greek Wedding, funny, but cancelled, so it's series interruptus

The Riches, Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver, fun and well acted, also cancelled well before its time

Luther, Idris Elba, 'nuff said

Disc:

Weeds, love Mary Louise Parker, great supporting cast

Shameless, William H. Macy is the star, but the rest of the cast is better than he is (and I usually love him)

The Wire, best TV series ever, we even bought it, and we NEVER buy DVDs or VHS, well, except from the thrift store

Six Feet Under, well done overall, with one of the best series ending ever

sandyponder

I don't know about any "free times" on Netflix -- but I don't mind the low monthly fee. They don't have much that is current-- but they have great documentaries, a wide array of BBC shows and a nice mix of older, quirky movies. Orange is the New Black is only on Netflix.

We did not care for Missing. I dont want to share a spoiler but as mystery lovers, it was very frustrating for us.

I enjoyed Miss Fisher but bf was very yawny on it-- he stuck with me through some of Rosemary & Thyme, loves Downton Abbey but couldn't get into Miss Fisher.

We tried Vikings on the recommendation of a friend and it was just too violent-- gorgeous cinematography and scenery. I wish we could have stuck with it.

We are very on the fence about Breaking Bad. I fear it will be too much. We're split on True Detective. I thought it was long, dark, boring and most of all very self-indulgent of Woody and Mathew (who I normally love).

Miss Fisher sounds good to me. Broadchurch - season starts in March - oh-oh! I have some catching up to do?

Weeds and Shameless - love both of them. Like watching a train wreck! Every.single.character is capital flawed!

I'm with you on Breaking Bad, funkyart. I first saw it after it had been on for quite a while. Maybe if I start from the beginning I'd have a better result. Then again, I was hooked on Weeds from the first time I saw it mid-season 2.

For those of you who enjoyed Broadchurch - Season 2 begins on March 4. I did happen to watch the US version which aired a few months ago, titled Gracepoint. It was surprisingly well done. I had read that the ending was different - otherwise who would watch a duplicate version.

I wasn't sure what Season 2 would cover - but the clip below gives you a glimpse.

Here is a link that might be useful: Broadchurch - Season 2 BBC video clip

sandyponder, I think you're the only one who mentioned Sons of Anarchy. My former police officer husband did undercover work in a biker gang for half a year, but I could never be given details about what went on. That was perfectly fine by me, as it allowed me to worry less, but I was thrilled when his assignment ended.

Watching S.O.A. many years later allowed me to understand somewhat more of what he was exposed to when dealing with a biker gang, and I am even more sure I couldn't have dealt with knowing it at the time!

We have been watching Key and Peele on Amazon Prime. They are on Comedy Central and are pretty funny. They are now in their 4th season, so seasons 1-3 are on Prime.

We will need to check out Transparent!

I know this isn't Amazon or Netflix, but if you have cable premium channels, DH and I watched "The Affair" over the holidays on Showtime. That was really good, and they won a couple of Golden Globe awards.

This post was edited by gsciencechick on Fri, Jan 16, 15 at 22:26

A couple years ago on Netflix I watched a documentary about Gertrude Berg called "Yoohoo, Mrs. Goldberg". She wrote and starred in "The Goldbergs" which started on radio in the 30s and became probably the first family sitcom, airing on television in 1949. After much searching, I found the series on Amazon Prime and bought and watched every available episode. What a great time capsule of American sociocultural and media history! (It includes the original sponsor commercials).

I also love anything British and am currently hooked on the "Poirot" series on Netflix. David Suchet starred in this series from 1989-2014, and Netflix is streaming 11 series of the show. If you like 20s/30s period architecture/design and clothing, as well as the grand estates in the English countryside, you can't beat this series. I initially watched if for this aspect alone, but have become very attached to the fussy, quirky little Msr. Poirot. I also loved the Miss Marples series on Netflix(the one starring Joan Hickson) which ran from 1984-1992. Again, I loved the english country decor and countryside featured throughout.

Here is a link that might be useful: Yoohoo, Mrs. Goldberg

This post was edited by WMA89 on Sat, Jan 17, 15 at 11:37

The only thing we pay to stream are movies, either from iTunes or B&N.

We don't have a TV or TV service, but we can get enough in the way of current shows for free off the web, mostly PBS, but also Flash and The Arrow from CW, some SyFy, Smithsonian, and a few others.

Also, DVDs from the library are free.

Quartet. Just finished watching it this afternoon.. What an endearing film with Maggie Smith, Billy Connelly, Tom Courtenay and a cast of retired musicians.

Mtn----love both Gyllenhalls! Saw the review and was intrigued...coming up north in March and trying to include a few days of theater, either in NY or DC. I am hooked on Synetic theater in DC so I may end up there yet again.

My favorite TV shows that I am streaming are: Covert Affairs, The Good Wife, and Glades!! I am addicted to all of them~~ and can't wait for the last seasons to arrive on Amazon Prime!

THanks WMA89. I started watching Poirot!

I can't believe that I forgot to mention "Justified." Excellent acting and character development. The final season starts on FX on 1/20, which makes me sad.

And "Ripper Street", about the policemen who patrolled the Whitechapel area of London after the "Jack the Ripper" murders. Rough, sometimes gory, stars Matthew MacFadyen!

And "MI-5" (called "Spooks" in England). Spies. Early seasons starred MacFadyen and David Oyelowo (now getting raves in "Selma").

This post was edited by diane_nj on Mon, Jan 19, 15 at 12:39

Guess i'm old school~don't 'stream', just watch the 'tube'. ;)

Oh yeah, I love Justified. For at least two very good(looking) reasons.

{{gwi:2134048}}

oh I forgot about justified too! that is a good one :) I also liked Smash. I am not in to musicals but really liked it.

For you Netflix folks - I read something about the contract between Netflix and BBC running out, so the BBC/English stuff will be disappearing from Netflix soon.

The only shows that I watch religiously are Big Bang Theory, Good Morning America, the morning and evening local and national news, The Voice
when it's on, and HGTV's Property Brothers. I came here to find out about streaming and to see if I might be able to get Downton Abbey. Sadly, I've never watched even one episode, but would like to go back to the beginning to catch up if I could. I'm happy to see that it is listed as one I can get, although I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to back to Season 1. From the sounds of it, looking at all the shows posted above, I'm missing out on some good series.

The BBC and Netflix settled, so the shows stay.

One that is a bit out there is "Spiral", a French police drama, but like nothing shown on regular US channels. Only one season is available on Netflix now (season 4), but well worth it. Season 5 just started airing in England, I hope Netflix gets it soon!

Diane, funny you mentioned Spiral. I discovered it over the holidays but haven't finished the season yet. I had to go back and read online what happened on previous seasons to get myself up to date since they aren't being shown.

Straitlover, Netflix isn't nixing all BBC shows, it's just not renewing some of them. Here is one article about it, but I've seen others floating around that show all the shows that aren't being renewed, including US shows.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-bbc-shows-leaving-february-764664

Update: Thanks to all the suggestions, I've been watching Downton Abbey and Bosch on Amazon Prime Instant Video (through the computer). Also now have a Roku 3 staring me in the face asking why do you not have an HDMI switch so you can hook me up along with the cable box?

:) I haven't gotten to downtown abbey yet. I did start watching Gilmore girls on netflix and I LOVE IT! :) I love when I find a show with a lot of seasons :) this one has 7.

Thanks to this thread, I started watching Broadchurch. The second season is just coming to an end in the UK; The newest episode is available every monday night at Couchtuner.eu, which is the free streaming site I have been using.
I have also watched two seasons of "The Village", another UK period drama. In some respects it is better than Downton.
"Luther" is very, very good, but very dark.
I have been enjoying the Doctor Who spinoff series Torchwood, and one US produced sci-fi thing The Last Ship.
I really enjoyed "Welcome to Sweden" and I hope they make a second batch of it.
Casey

Moving this to conversations...