TV shows I like

Inspired by a post on Average Joe Blogger (his about movies) I decided to write about the TV shows I watch (on DVD mostly) that are currently running.

The Shield
The most intense show I've ever seen. Watching Vic Mackie dig himself deeper into a huge hole, but doing so because he wants to protect innocents. Tragic hero, anti-hero or villain? The cases that everyone in the show have to deal with are very powerful (just watched one about a 12 year old who killed someone). And the cast is amazing, with season long runs from Glenn Close and Forrest Whitaker. Not for the faint of heart, but very very good.

Battlestar Galactica
Almost as intense as the Shield in first season, but second season dropped off a bit (haven't yet seen season three, but by buzz it is a small step down again). Not the original (which I love for it's own reasons) but a very tense and taut drama. I like most of the characters. Great Stories. Won a Peabody award.

Monk
I generally don't like episodic TV, preferring serial, but this show is just too good. I've always love the Sherlock Holmes kind of detective work, and this fills that need. And Tony Shalhoub is so funny with all the little problems. Both assistants have been great.

Heroes
The best treatment of Superpowers ever on TV, and better than most movies. Every character had their own story, and watching how all those individual stories came together as the season progressed was amazing. With little hints leading to deep conspiracies, the show just got better and better. And it hit a number of classic comic book bits, notably Days of Future Past, and The Watchmen. And the way Bennett was handled, moving from villain to sympathetic villain, to hero, as we better understood his motivations. It's first season is possible the single greatest season in television history.

24
What can be said about this that hasn't been said. Intense, and powerful, a 24 hour action movie on TV. It helps to watch it on DVD. :) Yeah the gimmick is sort of silly, but it works nonetheless. Jack is a true action hero, and a total badass. And a couple of Random Jack Bauer facts:
The city of Los Angeles once named a street after Jack Bauer in gratitude for his saving the city several times. They had to rename it after people kept dying when they tried to cross the street. No one crosses Jack Bauer and lives.
If Jack Bauer had been a Spartan the movie would have been called "1".
When a convicted terrorist was sentenced to face Jack Bauer, he appealed to have the sentence reduced to death.

Dead Zone
I've never seen precog/retrocog/object reading handled so well in any medium. Very well done, and amazing show. The Overplot with Stilson has been great (and I understand that it is resolved in season 6), I love the characters, and stories are very good.

Stargate Atlantis
A spin off from SG-1, and is better than it's progenitor. Great characters, great stories, and a grand mythos to work from. It's had some cast shake ups but by the end of season 3, I've enjoyed every character that has come on, and like many of the recurring characters - you know it will be an intense and good episode when the Genaii show up. I can't wait for the new season so that we get to see more of Carter, whose reproductive organs are on the inside, not the outside.