OldBoy

with the "NBC sucks" thread i wondered what you all thought was the best station, overall, with the most and best original programs of the last few years let's say.

FX has had "The Shield", "Rescue Me", "Nip/Tuck" which i love and always tape.

AMC has 2 great that i love: "Mad Men", "Breaking Bad".

SHO i live for "Californication" and got back into "Weeds". also, "Dexter" which i have the DVD seasons of, but never saw original airings.

HBO has "Entourage" now and had "The Sopranos" which was always must see.

i'll go with FX as my most desired shows to watch. the ones that i cannot go without.

title should be "Favorite" really not "Best".

so what is your favorite/best overall station and what shows do you watch on it?

sorry in advance if i left out any stations that have original programming.

RichC2

For current programming, I say USA all the way. Burn Notice and Psych are two of my favorite shows currently airing. In Plain Sight and Monk aren't half bad either. Royal Pains starts soon and I look forward to checking it out. They have a theory that making light, fun shows will draw crowds, and they're right. Their stuff is simply fun to watch.

I like FX's programming as well, though the only shows I actually watch is Damages and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Otherwise, the shows I like (don't necessarily watch regularly) goes:

NBC - Late night talk shows, 30 Rock, The Office (not a huge fan but it's enjoyable), Chuck
ABC - Lost, Kimmel
FOX - Family Guy, The Simpsons, Fringe, House, Bones
CBS - Medium, How I Met Your Mother
Discovery - Cash Cab, Mythbusters, various nature specials
FX - Damages, It's Always Sunny...
USA - Burn Notice, Psych, In Plain Sight, Monk
HBO - Entourage, True Blood, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Miniseries
SHO - Weeds, Dexter

outcastja

HBO

Not only do they have great tv series, they have awesome documentaries, miniseries, and original movies.

OldBoy

true. John Adams, Band of Brothers...excellent.

Rockmjd23

HBO will probably win this, but I'll say FOX.

Aegean2007

Here are my totals for each network:

NBC: 7
Comedy Central: 7
Cartoon Network (Adult Swim): 5
HBO: 6
FOX: 6
CBS: 5
Showtime: 4
ABC: 3
USA: 3
BBC: 3
AMC: 2
FX: 2
CW: 2
Bravo: 2
DirecTV: 1
Starz: 1
TNT: 1
Syfy: 0
A&E: 0

= 60 shows that are currently not cancelled

I sort of knew that NBC would be the top, but I had no idea that Comedy Central would tie it.

I voted NBC just based on the numbers. As far as quality goes, AMC, FX, CW, and DirecTV are my top picks with me loving 100% of the shows I watch on them.

RoboDad

Pretty much sums it up for me too. Monk drew me to USA, and Psych and Burn Notice made me want to keep coming back for more. I do watch quite a few on CBS and Fox as well, and just a couple on NBC and ABC. Never watched (or had any desire to watch) series programming on any of the "premium" channels, or on most of the other cable networks (except SciFi/SyFy).

Fist of Doom

Not sure how many years this means, but I'll go with USA:

Psych
Monk
Burn Notice
Dead Zone
The 4400
In Plain Sight

wmansir

I was just looking over my season passes. Here are the totals:

6: Fox
5: NBC
4: Discovery Channel
3: ABC, History Channel, USA
2: The CW, FX, BBC America
1: CBS, Comedy Central, AMC, TNT

Based on this I would have to say USA Network. The reason being half the Fox shows are borderline watch/drop for me, NBC has canceled 2 of it's 5 and while I like my Discovery Chan shows, I don't love any of them.

So it's USA network for the win with: Burn Notice, In Plain Sight, and Psych.

Looking over my passes I also noticed that I had 6 shows canceled and all 6 were network shows (2 for NBC and ABC, 1 for Fox and The CW) and it's not like these were your usual one and done flops, all of them were at least in their second season. That's not a good indication for the networks.

JTH182

I went with HBO because a) they have great shows, and b) They've really only burned me once by canceling ROME early (and other than the hurried 2nd season, I felt like it was short but sweet and ended well). The other networks seem to be in business to piss me off.

Red Dog

From a percentage stanpoint, it's hard to argue against F/X. Other than Dirt, all their original programming has ranged from decent to phenominal, with more of the latter, although I haven't watched Sons of Anarchy. I hope they repeat S1 before airing S2.

superdeluxe

Discovery Channel:

I love Deadlist Catch, Man vs Wild, Shark Week, Dinosaur week, It takes a thief, cash cab, myth busters, storm chasers. I also love their specials as well (Alien Planet)

Sanjuro37

Judging only from shows that are stlll running, I'd have to go with NBC. They've got 30 Rock, The Office, Conan and Chuck. They also have the least dumbass reality things (though they make up for it by throwing Deal or No Deal into every free slot). FOX now just has Dollhouse, and the only reason I even stuck with that until its "oh, maybe we'll stop meddling in your affairs" midseason upturn in quality is because it was Joss Whedon. I don't care for LOST, but I'll give that to ABC just so it has fucking something. They got rid of all their other good shows; I'm looking forward to Happy Town because it's supposed to be Twin Peaks-like and it's got Amy Acker, but supposedly she has nothing to do and the pilot's weak sauce. CBS has Letterman and Craig Ferguson, but none of their scripted shows won me over. Comedy Central has South Park and Daily Show/Colbert Report. Nowadays HBO has only In Treatment and Curb Your Enthusiasm, which are nice but I miss the days when they had damn near the monopoly on great television. And Dexter is the only thing I watch on Showtime.

I used to watch a lot more TV, but the writers' strike really cut me down to less than ten shows that I continue to follow. Everything else I just watch on DVD.

Trevor

I only watch about 5 current shows (~10 if you count waiting for DVD season sets), and NBC is the only network with two of them, the often mentioned 30 Rock and The Office.

Plus, I've been watching Jim Vance and company do the local news on NBC for 35 years now, so I guess that makes NBC my favorite network.

rw2516

FOX 24 is the only current show that interests me.

Charlie Goose

Bingo. I love those 4 current shows, and have great hopes for Royal Pains. And lest we forget, Monday Night Raw, which I'm having a love/hate relationship with right now.

I'm only counting shows that are on now, or will return.

CBS - HIMYM, The Big Bang Theory

NBC - 30 Rock, pretty much gave up on Earl this season.

ABC - Lost

HBO - Entourage, True Blood

Fox - American Idol, 24, Simpsons, House, Bones, Family Guy

Bravo - Cash Cab

So I guess it's a tie between Fox and USA.

FantasticVSDoom

I guess it would be HBO with Big Love, True Blood, Entourage, and Bill Maher... Network would be NBC with Chuck, The Office, 30 Rock, and Heroes (which is on real thin ice).

James Lafleur

It's a tie between NBC(The Office and 30 Rock) and FX(It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Rescue Me). I voted for FX though.

The Bus

Shows I watch with any regularity between stations, not counting sports.

NBC: 2 (30 Rock, Conan)
CBS: 1 (Craig Ferguson)
ABC: 1 (Lost)
Fox: 0
Comedy Central: 1 (The Daily Show)
Cartoon Network: 1 (Venture Bros.)

And I "watch"...
BBC Two: 1 (Top Gear)
Channel 4: 1 (The IT Crowd)

If I'm browsing, I will usually go with something like HD Theatre, PBS or Discovery HD. If I could only have one channel, it would be one of those since 25% of the time I can find something interesting to watch. The other channels have interesting programming once a week. So my pick goes to Discovery.

DJariya

If I go with Quality over Quantity, It would probably be between USA and FX. Burn Notice, In Plain Sight, Rescue Me, Damages, Sons of Anarchy and Nip/Tuck make me glad I subscribe to Directv.

As far as most season passes go and shows I follow on a regular basis, It's CBS. I'm a procedural junkie and watch all the CSI's, Criminal Minds, NCIS, Cold Case etc.

TGM

Original programming on F/X is top notch, from The Shield, to Rescue Me, Nip/Tuck, Sons of Anarchy, Damages, It's Always Sunny etc...

But if I could only watch one station, I'd probably pick the History or Discovery Channel, to be honest.

dino88

HBO:

Mr. Show
Tenacious D
Oz
The Sopranos
Six Feet Under
The Wire
Da Ali G Show
Carnivāle
Deadwood
Band of Brothers
Rome
Extras
The Corner
True Blood
In Treatment
Big Love
Entourage
Real Time with Bill Maher
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Def Poetry
Def Comedy Jam
HBO World Championship Boxing/Boxing After Dark
Autopsy
The Chris Rock Show
Taxicab Confessions
The Larry Sanders Show
Tales from the Crypt
Inside the NFL/Hard Knocks
Kids in the Hall

...plus numerous original films and stand-up specials
...and I can't wait for Scorsese's new series Boardwalk Empire

OldBoy

forgot about this one. good call. FX def.

Travis McClain

Count me in the USA camp. Burn Notice and Psych are the only two shows I actually make a point of watching first-run. Monk may not be Top Ten, All Time material, but it has consistently entertained me. In Plain Sight has been pretty good so far, and I think Law & Order: Criminal Intent improved when it moved to USA from NBC. And, strangely, I've become a fan of House, M.D. by way of its USA re-runs...but I have only seen a handful of episodes first run on FOX. Which is even weirder, given that it's one of the few series my wife and I have bothered to buy on DVD!

I'm not a consistent late night viewer, but when I do tune in, it's CBS: The Late Show with David Letterman and then The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. I also enjoy Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, but those are the only two things on each of those networks I even bother to watch.

Still tune into the [adult swim] block periodically on Cartoon Network, but the number of shows I actually enjoy enough to watch has dwindled each year for a while now. I have enjoyed Star Wars: The Clone Wars, though it's not part of that block.

Predominantly, though, the only time I make an effort to turn on the TV at all is to watch Cincinnati Reds games.

tommyp007

HBO
CBS
History