I've got a month trial of Showtime and would like a couple recommendations of things to try out/binge on. I've already used it to catch up on the latest seasons of Homeland, Shameless and Masters of Sex. What else might I enjoy? Besides series, are there any must watch docs? Thanks!

The Affair, though "enjoy" might not be the right term.

Episodes. One of the funniest 1/2 hour comedies on that network. It's still on the air too.

Spring Broke: Documentary about the history of Spring Break

If you like sports, the documentary about the life of former/late UNC head coach Dean Smith is excellent.

Ray Donovan, Episodes, and Dexter if you've never seen it.

Ditto with Ray Donovan. Excellent dark drama.

As for Dexter, it's already off the air now, you can only watch past episodes via on demand or Showtime Anytime.

My suggest, watch the 12 episode 1st season and quit. It works as a self contained season. Probably the best of all 8 seasons. If you're addicted and wish to continue, you could continue into seasons 2 and 3 and not feel disappointed. Both are also self contained seasons. After that it gets dicey.

House of Lies is another 1/2 hour comedy-drama. It has a great cast, but the general consensus in this forum seems to be that most don't like it.

I for got to mention that I have seen Dexter (should have ended with John Lithgow's season), some of Weeds, and the L Word.

Thanks, those suggestions sound really good, I'm looking forward to checking them out!

Penny Dreadful, the first season or so of Shameless and House of Lies and one of the funniest sitcoms about Hollywood staring an old friend, Episodes.

This goes for pretty much any drama on Showtime.

Start here

Shameless is rather good.
First two/three/four seasons of Californication.
First three seasons of Weeds are pretty good, but it quickly crawls up its own ass.
First four seasons of Dexter.
First three seasons of Homeland.
Penny Dreadful is really good, but it's not for everyone. It's a modern take on gothic horror like Dracula and Frankenstein, set in the late 19th century.

I checked out Ray Donovan and Episodes last night. Episodes I liked right away, Ray Donovan I'll have to give another episode or two and then decide. I'll check out The Affair and Penny Dreadful next.

+1 for The Affair, Shameless, and Penny Dreadful.

Showtime seems notorious for having shows that start out good but turn horrible after a while. I think it's because they don't know when to call things quits and try to keep them going longer than they should.

Yeah, maybe...

I see the problem with Weeds, Dexter, and Homeland is that each of these series had game-changing events around their third and fourth seasons, which could have been natural ending points, but they still continued and felt lost and never fully recovered:



Nobody jumps the shark like Showtime.

Californication saw diminishing returns in later seasons, but that was more because it tended to fall into a repeating pattern, not any shark jumping.

If Brotherhood is available on demand, then watch that.

True, but if there was ever a shark jumping moment/arc... no spoiler... it was the addition of a new character to Moody's life in the final season. Just epic levels of stupid and lazy writing.

The Affair is one of the best shows on television, IMO. Excellent adult drama. We don't have nearly enough of those.

Gigolos. It's hysterical. Probably the funniest thing on tv.

Watch the show Family Business if it's available.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family...ess_(TV_series)

Penny Dreadful is the only one I watch.

The first season of Donavan is alright, it gets really good it's 2nd season, and 3rd season, while not as good as the 2nd season, is still better than it's 1st.

Don't forget about Penn & Teller: Bullshit too.

It's no longer airing. Went off the air 6 years ago.

Not available on demand or on Showtime Anytime either.

Are you sure about that? I just logged onto Showtime Anytime and it looks like you can watch any episode from the series. Also, I had Showtime on the other night and they were showing P&T:B. I did see it in my on demand menu also within the past few months.

Thanks, that's helpful to know. I'll sample a few more things from this thread and then decide where I want to put my time.