I have been meaning to fill some major holes in my cultural literacy - namely series that I never watched but have been too busy to attempt to begin.
If I found the time for some binge watching
which series would you recommend first?
Game of Thrones
Battlestar Galactica
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
It kind of depends on what you're looking for. Having watched all three, I'll offer my opinions.
Buffy
In my opinion, Buffy is a terrific show that does have some weaknesses. For what it is, it's exceptionally well done. And what that is is an examination of many of the common horror movie and teenage drama tropes, filtered through the lens of the fantastical and made "bigger" in many respects. It's got some snappy dialogue and fun characters. In its time (the late 90s/early 00s), it was revolutionary, especially for network TV. Nobody killed main characters or put them through misery like this. There were almost never lasting consequences to the events of an episode, especially in the scifi/fantasy genre. Stargate SG-1, for example, had SOME lasting consequences, but most of the time people who left the show didn't do so in a body bag, and did so because they wanted to do other gigs like movies or whatever. Even then, they could end up coming back full-time. Not really the case with Buffy. Happy couples break up in painful ways. Main characters that you honestly like die or leave the show in a painful manner. That's very much Joss' thing: he believes that good drama can only be found in the constant cycle of happiness leading to misery leading to happiness. Things don't stay static, mostly. Characters evolve, often through pain and loss and sacrifice.
The thing is, what was revolutionary in 1999 is old hat in 2014. And the show is rife with a very "90s" vibe to it. I think it still holds up, but the first season...will be difficult to get through. That one was very "monster of the week," and emphasized much more of the "90s kids!" thing. That does change over time, though. Also, it being set in high school, the characters...behave like high school kids in many ways. Buffy, for example, has AWFUL taste in men, and almost always ends up going for some dark, broody, self-destructive dude or whathaveyou.
All that said, it's a very, very well done show and one that I still find enjoyable. My girlfriend and I were rewatching it recently, although we got stalled in the start of Season 5, because we were also watching Angel at the same time, and (A) it ended up taking longer to get plot points moving, and (B) we just got kind of out of the mood after four straight seasons. In my opinion, the best era of the show was Seasons 2-3. Season 1 was an ok setup with a finale that made me sit up and take the show seriously after what had otherwise been a kind of middling season. Season 4 was entertaining, but kind of out of character for the show. Season 5 is a fantastic end (and was originally the end of the show), but some of the new characters annoy me. Season 6 was dark and depressing, and Season 7 just kinda wrapped things up in a reasonably satisfying way. (There's also several continuation comics that do a Season 8 and 9, FYI).
I'd recommend it, but I wouldn't do so unreservedly. Contrary to what you may have heard, Buffy isn't for everyone, even if it's something that's really, really good.
Galactica
In my opinion, Galactica started off really well, and then went off the rails because Ron Moore had no real plan. The show is (from what I heard) kind of like LOST in that respect. Strong start, lots of questions raised, and the answers (when they do finally come) aren't all that satisfying. Also, he made a lot of it up as he went. He admits this in the DVD commentary. Some of it was organic, but some of it was more like "Wouldn't it be interesting if we did...this...and then saw where it all went?" Often in disruptive and (in my opinion) counter-productive ways.
That said, I only watched it once, and I watched it live. People who've binged it have, from what I hear, enjoyed it somewhat more. Although other friends of mine tried binge watching it and thought it was pretty lamely wrapped up. I agree with that, by the way. The ending is not clean. It's emotionally satisfying (mostly) but is sloppily plotted. It has great heart, but it's kind of a mess. Also, the answers to the big mysteries are totally unsatisfying. I suspect if you binge-watch, it'll be more obvious, but it still seemed like a cop-out to me.
Game of Thrones
This show is AWESOME. It's also probably easier to get through than the other two, in that the seasons are only 10 episodes long. They're solid hours (rather than 45 min shows), but the seasons are still fairly short. Also, the first season is kind of slow moving if you don't like intrigue. If you're expecting great big battle sequences...yeah, you won't get that at all until Season 2, and even then, it'll be smaller than you might expect. You don't get truly HUGE battle sequences until later.
All that aside, it has some amazing characters and acting, it's really moving, and the plots are delightful. So far. The show isn't finished yet, though. Also, if you've read the books, the later seasons feature some...changes...some of which have proven kind of controversial.
Hope that helps!
opcorn
