Compliment Case 3: Community

Though not a ratings success, Arrested Development was part of a beachhead of single camera comedies, and Community is one of its successors.

Case 3: Arrested Development

This? Really?

Compliment Case 2: The Shield

We all love a good bad-ass, don’t we? Sure we do. Someone capable, always on top of things, unflappable, supremely confident. Dexter fits this mold in a very uncomfortable way—we like him for his bad-assness, but we shouldn’t. He’s part of an anti-hero wave that Tony Soprano began. Vic Mackey of The Shield is another.

Case 2: Dexter

Police procedurals. YAWN! But if you make the cop super-scientist a murderous psycho, will that spark my interest?

Compliment Case 1: Fringe

It seemed like, if I were going to go on about new experiences, it might be wise to go over something old, something complimentary. In this case, we might as well just follow creators from Lost on to Fringe.

Case 1: Lost

Lost is the most successful sci-fi show since The X-Files, but notorious for it's dragged out, inconclusive mysteries with answers that may not satisfy. How'd it go?

The "You'll Love This" Project

“You don’t watch Show X?” I hear it often, and not necessarily in connection to something I obviously won’t like. Usually, it’s something I would like, or even, dare I say, love. I understand the impulse and the shock completely—the desire to share, the hope of finding a kindred spirit—and I’m a well-established, indeed even infamous prophet of my favorites, The Wire, Deadwood, Futurama, Farscape, and so on. But I’m only human, I couldn’t keep with everything. At least until Netflix brought streaming to my PS3.