das Monkey

... I have no life

... [insert show here] is now one of my favorite shows.

I'm often reading posts where people mention how something happened on the forum that inspired them to watch some show, and now it's one of their favorites. So I thought it might be interesting to group all of those into one thread (i.e. shows you never would have watched if not for something happening on the forum): what's the show and what happened here that made you watch it? Maybe someone specifically said something to you, or perhaps just general discussion around the forum?

With so much repurposing of shows down to cable and the rapid DVD releases, maybe someone else's story will inspire you to find another favorite show you may have missed the first time around. I'll start:

Thank you, jkingfish, for getting me hooked on Grounded for Life. Not much slips through the cracks on my television schedule, but for some reason I missed this one in the first few episodes. I've always respected your opinion, so all it took was you telling me to watch the damn thing to make me do it, and I've been hooked ever since (and was able to catch those missed episodes in reruns). It's still one of the funniest, and (sadly) most overlooked, shows on the air.

das

Canis Firebrand

I love Grounded for Life. Have been watching it since it first aired. Every time I mention the show, most people look at me with a blank look like I made up the show.

It doesn't get much attention, but it never fails to make me laugh.

I don't have one of my own thank you posts, but I will use the opportunity to make a big thank you to all your posts and threads on different shows. Your analysis of different episodes and series are always interesting to read and sometimes bring up a point or moment I may have missed/overlooked.

B.A.

I started watching Gilmore Girls during the second season because of the interest of this forum. My wife became an avid fan last season, too.

I also started watching Angel last year because everyone around here talked about it so much. I had to see what the fuss was all about - and it's not too bad. Shame it got the axe.

Patman

Off the top of my head, shows I wasn't interested in in the beginning:

Everwood - Treat Williams?
Buffy - campiness of the movie turned me away
Angel - vampire with a soul?
John Doe - not keen on initially
Fastlane - looked cheesy but gave it a shot later
Gilmore Girls - came in on the middle of the 1st season, never missed an episode since.
Without A Trace - thought it'd be too one-note
American Dreams - thought it'd be too tied to AB to be involving.
One Tree Hill - not another teen drama?

Red Dog

Thanks to whichever forum member turned me on to Coupling-UK. It must have occured around this time last year. Funniest sitcom since Seinfeld.

Thanks to the folks who said The Practice was re-energized with James Spader as Alan Shore. Hadn't watched the show in 4+ years and tuned back in several months ago and was not disappointed. I'm looking forward to the spinoff.

Finally, a hearty to those of you who have raved about The Shield for the last couple years. Thanks to F/X rerunning S1 & S2 this winter, I was able to catch up right before the start of S3. What a great drama. 2nd best on television right now trailing only it's F/X sibling, Nip/Tuck.

Based on word of mouth in here, the next step is to start recording the daily re-runs of Alias and Gilmore Girls in the fall on TNT and ABC Family.

das Monkey

Patman, we're to blame for all of that? Let me be the first to apologize on behalf of the forum.

das

DRG

I saw parts of Arrested Development when it first aired, but I was busy working on something while watching and didn't give it my full attention. So I really didn't get it, and missed out on most of the subtle humor and the terrific setups. The raves here made me give it a second chance. It's hilarious!

On the flipside, the terrible comments about Kindgom Hospital convinced me not to waste my time watching the episodes I had taped. Hope this doesn't count as a threadcrap.

Patman

Oh yeah, add "The Shield" to that list as well.

It wasn't until I got my 3 ReplayTV setup to augment my 2 VCR setup last year that I haven't had to miss out on as much good stuff.

I didn't watch "The Practice" during its non-James Spader run, but I was totally in on it this season from the get-go, and I have no desire to watch the previous seasons.

Chew

I don't know who to thank (or blame ), but: Without a Trace and Amazing Race are two I've added because of this board.

BDB

the west wing
and
arrested development.

das Monkey

Glad we could help. I didn't think about it when starting the thread, but if others have similar experiences, feel free to share.

das

Red Dog

Yeah - Amazing Race as well, although, while entertaining, given how people were absolutely raving about it here, I was expecting something more.

Patman

Ah, also add American Idol to the list because I was not even remotely interested to this show and then when it was down to 5 or 6 contestants in season 1, I was hooked!

Red Dog

Had the opposite effect on me. I checked it out once based on all the hubbub, and my reaction was that there are a lot of people with bad taste in here and across the country.

Bandoman

I would not have known the goodnes of Babylon 5 or Buffy/Angel were it not for people in this forum convincing me to given them a shot.

Roto

I watched The West Wing reruns on Bravo. I would've checked it out anyway but I wouldn't have known about it otherwise. It was one of those shows I didn't want to jump in the middle of. I also quit watching it about halfway through this season's premier.

I heard about Most Extreme Elimination Challenge here

Jonny2k1

I don't remember what specifically turned me on to it, but I remember seeing threads for The O.C after the first half of the season. I thought it would be a dumb show, so I never bothered to watch it. After seeing all the posts about it, I went back and watched all the episodes. By the time the second half of the season came around it was my favorite show.

djbrown

Thanks, in large part to das' Top Drama thread at the end of each season, and to a smaller degree my trusty DTivos:

West Wing, started with the Bravo reruns
The Shield, started with Season 1 F/X marathon
Alias, started in S2
Buffy, got the run last year on F/X
Angel, currently tivoing the current airing of season 1 that just restarted on TNT

TNDave

I'll have to add The Shield, Nip/Tuck, and 24 to the list. Once 24 is over my summer homework will be to catch up on the first 2!

antennaball

Same thing here. I completely avoided the first two seasons.

suziq999

Would you belive I have never seen an episode of a single one of those shows??

MrX

For me it was:

Babylon 5
The Amazing Race
The West Wing

George1962

For me: the Battlestar Galactica miniseries. I had heard it was coming but had only heard bad depressing reports regarding it. After reading the thread & discussions here I was more intrigued and watched. I am glad that I did even though it was not quite what I expected. -George

BDLOU

Already mentioned but for me it was West Wing. I never thought I would ever like that show so I never gave it a chance. I would consistenly see threads each week and I eventually sat down and watched an episode. Thank you TV Talk.

Is it me or does this sound almost like a funeral for Tv Talk???

spainlinx0

I have been turned on to too many shows to list thanks to this forum. However I think the most important contribution this forum made to my TV viewing was Directivo. Even with the recommendations I couldn't check out the shows until you guys turned me on Tivo. Pretty much any show I watch is due to it being mentioned on this forum because I never watch commercials. So usually it's a thread saying "this show is starting soon" and I just add it to my Tivo. However if we are talking about shows that started airing before I got my Tivo I would say:

Babylon 5
Farscape
The Wire
The Shield
Nip/Tuck
Six Feet under

and plenty more, but I don't want to look through my season passes and DVD boxsets to find them all. However I really want to thank you guys for all the suggestions and the great discussions. I love this forum. It's especially great for a guy like me who doesn't know ANYONE in person who watches as much tv as me, and yet I still lag behind a lot of you.