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Just got HBO -- what should I be watching?
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Posted by: Ruth

So I just got HBO for the first time ever. (Someone had to get it so my friends and I could watch Sex & the City, and I got nominated and let myself be sucked in to signing up for digital cable.) Now I have 7 HBOs and a whole lot of digital channels I've never heard of (bunches of Discovery channels, BBC, etc.). I'm not familiar with the shows in the guide, and I have no idea what I should be asking TiVo to record from these channels! The movies are self-explanatory, and SATC I've got covered, but that's all. I know people like a bunch of the other HBO original series, but I know nothing about them, and I also don't know what I can jump into the middle of. Help! What's good that I shouldn't be missing, and why is it worth watching? (FWIW, the stuff I like from my other channels includes West Wing, Buffy, ER, Scrubs, Futurama, etc.) Thanks!

Posted by: rrr22777

you signed up for hbo during thier summer break! six feet under just ended. right now the wire and sex in the city are the only 2 original shows running. project greenlight also starts this week and is worth watching.

watch sex in the city 5-10 minutes before its scheduled start time to get an idea on what is on that is worth wathching and new upcomming stuff. that is the time when they advertise their best original shows, movies etc.

Posted by: WinBear

On BBCA, you should watch "Coupling" and "So Graham Norton."
On HBO, consider "Six Feet Under." Since they just finished season 3, it appears that only the Season 3 finale is running at the moment. You might keep an eye out for it to restart soon.

Posted by: markp99

Sopranos is playing back all previous episodes, one per week...nice to fill the gaps from before I had HBO...

Posted by: BlearyEyed

My favorite show on any of these channels is The Wire on HBO but in all likelihood anybody coming in at this point is going to be really lost. I'd leave it up to somebody who didn't see season one and picked things up at season two to tell you if it's worth it.

I'd also really suggest picking up The Office on BBCAmerica, there are only six episodes so far so you should be able to pick it up from the start. It's a different type of comedy, less setup -punch line-payoff, but at the same time a really funny show.

Also on HBO "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is in my opinion the funniest thing on television, your choices (Scrubs and Futurama) indicate your willing to go outside the typical Raymond, Will & Grace type stuff, so I'd give it a look. It's by one of the co-creaters of Seinfeld to give you a hint. Also the episodes are basically self-contained so you can feel free to jump in.

Posted by: ClutchBrake

The Wire is phenomenal. Like BlearyEyed said though, you would be way too lost coming in now. This is a must see when they start showing it from episode one.

Coupling on BBCAmerica is great too. There is an American version coming out this Fall but is looks hideous. It will be a blight upon your television.

See if you can catch the first season reruns of Six Feet Under and The Sopranos. The first seasons were phenomenal but I haven't been very impresed with subsequent seasons. I found the last seasons of both to be horrid.

Posted by: TiVoLance

Six Feet Under

Posted by: jsmeeker

Catch re-runs of "The Sopranos" Also, keep an eye out for the next, big docu-drama miniseries. HBO did "From The Earth to the Moon" and "Band of Brothers". Both were utterly fantastic television, so they really now how to do these right. If either of these two series happen to be re-run. WATCH THEM.

Posted by: jradosh

There's a show coming up that's set in a carnival (or something like that). Someone here can refresh my recollection of the name (?)

As said, set a SP for "Curb Your Entheusiasm". Give it a few eps to grow on you and you'll probably get hooked.

As also mentioned, "The Wire" is great if you can catch it from ep 1.

Also if they ever replay "The Corner" by all means watch all of that. Of all the serial shows on HBO (Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Sex in the City.. etc.) I thought this was the absolute best. Heavy stuff though...

J

Posted by: BlearyEyed

quote:
Originally posted by jradosh
There's a show coming up that's set in a carnival (or something like that). Someone here can refresh my recollection of the name (?)

You had it nearly right, the name of the show is Carnivale :)

It's got the kid from Terminator 3 whose name I can't think of and Clea Duval and it's about a traveling circus set in the 1930's. There's no way I'd watch except that it's on HBO, a channel with more currency with me than any other.

Posted by: ClutchBrake

Nick Stahl

Posted by: JTAnderson

If HBO holds to past patterns, chances are they will rerun the first few episodes of The Wire sometime in the next few of weeks. So you might have a chance to catch up.

Posted by: jamesbobo

I like Real Time with Bill Mahr. Whlle currently on hiatus (Bill is on Broadway), new episodes will air in July.
Look forward to Sex and the City on June 29 when Miranda gets a TiVo.

Posted by: mrboo

Watch anything that has "America Undercover" preceding it's title. It'll be sure to freak you out, shock your senses and have something to talk about around the water cooler. I recommend everything on HBO except for the theatricals.

BTW, did you notice that Carnivale has the midget from Twin Peaks in it? I love shows with midgets.

Posted by: zyzzx

quote:
Originally posted by mrboo
I recommend everything on HBO except for the theatricals.

Yep, that sums it up for me too. HBO is my favorite channel on DirecTV and I don't think I've ever watched a movie that was released in theaters.

HBO lives on their original programming and they do a great job with it. My favorites in semi-order:

The Wire
Six Feet Under
The Sopranos
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Sex and the City

Posted by: jwjody

HBO-- Six Feet Under & Sopranos

BBCA-- Coupling, Office

You didn't exactly ask about these other channels or shows but have you checked out:

Shield F/X
Dead Zone USA
Lucky F/X
Monk USA

J

Posted by: Rosenkavalier

quote:
Originally posted by BlearyEyed
You had it nearly right, the name of the show is Carnivale :)

"Those are all quality brands. But if you like to watch your TV -- I mean, really watch it -- you need the Carnivale." Oops, sorry, this belongs in the Simpsons Trivia Thread. :)

On topic: a original comedy show to look out for is "Mr. Show with Bob and David". HBO periodically airs old episodes on the main channel and on HBO Comedy. Hilarious, edgy, brutally funny sketch comedy.

Posted by: Ruth

Hey, this is great stuff . . . you people rock. :) Keep the advice coming; in the meantime I'm gonna set up some WLs, I'll let you know how they turn out.

You don't watch the movies, huh? Why not? It seems like it'll be nice to have them on my TiVo so I can use trick play with them. Oh, and speaking of the movies, does HBO edit them? (If so I won't be watching them, either.)

Edit: Added a whole new thought, and everything!

Posted by: Turtleboy

quote:
Originally posted by Ruth
Hey, this is great stuff . . . you people rock. :) Keep the advice coming; in the meantime I'm gonna set up some WLs, I'll let you know how they turn out.

You don't watch the movies, huh? Why not? It seems like it'll be nice to have them on my TiVo so I can use trick play with them. Oh, and speaking of the movies, does HBO edit them? (If so I won't be watching them, either.)

Edit: Added a whole new thought, and everything!

By "edit" if you mean do they cut out any of the words/scenes/etc., no they don't. But they do show them in pan&scan.

Posted by: jeff125va

If you get HBO2, check out The Mind of the Married Man. I'm pretty sure the show has been cancelled, but they're showing repeats of the first two seasons.

Posted by: mclark11

I can't believe getting HBO to watch a bunch of hoes in the City. What a waste of bandwitdh. I've watched it a few times, mind you, but I've never been able to laugh. I've never said "what a great show". I think everyone's been hoodwinked into seeing that stupd show thinking it's high brow or sophisticated, when it's in fact NOT

Posted by: Dubbadown

How can you guys talk about HBO without mentioning the funniest show on there, DA ALI G SHOW . C'mon people! This show will rock your socks off!

Posted by: johnh123

quote:
Originally posted by Ruth

You don't watch the movies, huh? Why not? It seems like it'll be nice to have them on my TiVo so I can use trick play with them. Oh, and speaking of the movies, does HBO edit them? (If so I won't be watching them, either.)

Edit: Added a whole new thought, and everything!

I've had HBO for 2 1/2 years, and I've only watched two theatricals- and the 2nd was just last week. I can't stand the pan & scan.

I can't even begin to imagine why they do that when their own shows and movies are shown letterboxed.

Posted by: LooseWiring

I'm still waiting for HBO to re-air "First and Ten" and "Dream On". Both excellent shows for their time.

Posted by: tonyoci

In another thread it was mentioned that the first few episodes of The Wire will be running soon-This Friday I think.

Tony

Posted by: jeff125va

quote:
Originally posted by johnh123
I've had HBO for 2 1/2 years, and I've only watched two theatricals- and the 2nd was just last week. I can't stand the pan & scan.

I can't even begin to imagine why they do that when their own shows and movies are shown letterboxed.

Ditto. The only premiums I get are HBO and Showtime for their original series. If I wanted to get a premium package for movies I'd get Starz! anyway, they have many more channels and often have movies before anyone else. But I don't because of the pan & scan. Although, I recently got a DirecTV HD receiver so I've watched a few movies on HBO and Showtime since they're shown in widescreen, but that's about it.

Posted by: uncdrew

quote:
Originally posted by mclark11
I can't believe getting HBO to watch a bunch of hoes in the City. What a waste of bandwitdh. I've watched it a few times, mind you, but I've never been able to laugh. I've never said "what a great show". I think everyone's been hoodwinked into seeing that stupd show thinking it's high brow or sophisticated, when it's in fact NOT

If you've ever lived in the city (or any big city) or if you know and enjoy female banter, this show is great.

I don't qualify for either of the above, and still think it's a very good show.

Another suggestion now that you have so many new channels is to set a Wishlist for Sundance channel with the word "shorts" -- about twice a year they show these really indie 20 minute shorts that are fabulous. They put the 10 best together for hours of bizarre and creative fun.

Posted by: Xaa

Congrats on the HBO Ruthy!!

I'll chime in just to echo what everyone else has already said. The original series and specials are great.

SATC
Sopranos
Six Feet Under
Curb Your Enthusiasm

All great

Mind of the Married Man
Arli$$

great but cancelled

Oz
The Wire

I hear they're great but I've never gotten to them.

The specials:

The Corner
Band of Brothers

Absolutely fantastic in site sound and content. just great!!

Other shows:

Real Sex
TaxiCab Confessions
America Undercover

Always worth a watch. HBO is one of my favorite stations even if they never showed a movie. but they do show them. A new movie every Saturday night. not edited, but "Formatted to fit your screen". And they broadcast in Dolby Digital.

Xaa

Posted by: mrboo

I amost forgot. They usually have pretty good prize fight on at least 2x a month. I wasn't a huge fight fan before HBO, but now I am. They're very professionallly produced and they usually have pretty good fighters under contract.

Also, the sports show Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel has been called the "60 Minutes" of sports.

Posted by: jeff125va

Oh, I guess I've forgotten since it's not football season, but Inside the NFL is great. Love Harry Kalas doing the voice-over on the highlights.

Posted by: adunnigan

Project Greenlight looks to be very good this year. One note if you put it on season pass--the first run episodes are Sunday nights after the Wire, 60min, but they also play back this episode in 30min increments over the next few days. Weird. TiVo wasn't sure how to handle that (as the 30min episodes weren't considered reruns) I ended up manually deleting these.

Anybody remember "Not Necessarily the News"?

One last: Showtime "Out of Order"--phenomenal--and not too late!

Posted by: hookbill

I'll put in my vote for the Sopranos and Curb Your Enthusiasim.

As far as the movies go HBO has a new movie every Saturday and the last couple of weeks the have had good ones (Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Panic Room)

At this time of the year with pickings of quality television slim I like the movies. I never get to the theater to see them so it's a good chance for me to catch some quality films.

My only beef about HBO movies is that almost all of them are from the company that owns them, AOL Time Warner which owns 20th Century Fox.

Posted by: fpmr

which season of six feet under just ended? 2 3th
Thanks
F

Posted by: Xaa

The third season just ended.

Xaa

Posted by: njdboy

Curb your Enthusiasm, absolutely the funniest.

Last night I watched the "Beloved Aunt" episode. Classic. I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard.

Posted by: Ruth

Coupling is freaking *hilarious.* Great tip, guys. :up:

Posted by: ATLMike

On the Record with Bob Costas is a good one too. He covers more than just sports.