History: Actual, Fictional and Legendary discussion

This is a place to let the rest of the members know what your favorite TV Programs or channels are. You can break them down into different genres, if you wish. You can also say a few words as to why it's one of your favorites. Given the theme of this group, I would hope at least one of your favorites would be in the history or historical fiction genres.

If you tie the program into a book, please use the "book/author" feature so people can go directly to the book or author without having to use the search utility.

almost all stuff in the History Channel and BBC Knowledge. Battle 360 , Cities of the Underworld, Top Gear, anything with Michael Palin and Bruce Parry and so on.

For simpler entertainment I watched many shows from The Amazing Race, Glee, Modern Family, Mad Men, Dexter, The Big Bang Theory to South Park.

Any other fans of the Inspector Lewis series on Masterpiece Mystery? As usual on the BBC productions, the settings, lighting etc. are splendid. I've never been to Oxford, but I can picture parts of it now from that series.

Andrea wrote: "Any other fans of the Inspector Lewis series on Masterpiece Mystery? As usual on the BBC productions, the settings, lighting etc. are splendid. I've never been to Oxford, but I can picture parts ..."

You may want to check out Inspector Morse on Location: The Companion to the Original and Bestselling Guide to the Oxford of Inspector Morse Including Lewis Fully Illustrated with Location Mapsby Antony Richards

Includes the first 2 seasons of Inspector Lewis as well.

Speaking about BBC, anyone likes the new Sherlock miniseries? Only 3 episodes but since the ratings are great I think they're going to make more.

Ha, Cities of the Underworld! Is that still on? I used to love that show, but I lost track of it.

Some shows mentioned here that I'll definitely check out. I had no idea BBC was doing Sherlock Holmes! Cool! I like that guy. Such a shame that the recent US movie buried Robert Downey's bravely unlikeable (and accurate) performance under a lousy script.

BBC will be doing Edward II, Henry IV 1 & 2 and Henry V in what looks like 2012. Henry IV is particularly exciting for me.

And for the pop stuff, I watch Sons of Anarchy - Hamlet on motorcycles! No, seriously! - and yes, Amazing Race and Mad Men.

Unfortunately, here in Hong Kong, we get warmed over BBC Entertainment programs and must pay extra to access them.

I had no idea you were in Hong Kong, Ed. Cool!

Alex wrote: "Ha, Cities of the Underworld! Is that still on? I used to love that show, but I lost track of it.

Some shows mentioned here that I'll definitely check out. I had no idea BBC was doing Sherlock ..."

At least in my TV provider Cities of the Underworld is still on (sometimes reruns). Its production was stopped in 2009.

Sherlock by BBC is quite intriguing since the setting is in modern times. Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson were awesome.

Sons of Anarchy huh? The cable here has the show but it's already the nth season and I do not understand.

Amazing Race is the best reality show ever. It's just started, the new season. Stonehenge was featured in the first episode. *envy*

I must admit here to being a doco geek in the extreme, the History Channel, Animal Planet, National Geographic fall among my fave channels. But here's an example of some shows i love: in no particular order

Mythbusters
Top Gear (again I like the hosts, funny guys)
The Amazing Race (only RTV I like)
The Simpsons (never stops being funny)
House
Intrepid Journeys
Band of Brothers
Rome 1 & 2
Worst Jobs in History
Criminal Minds
CSI New York
Billy Connolly's World Tours of NZ, Australia, Scotland, England and Ireland and Journey to the North
Monty Pythons Flying Circus
Planet Earth
Walking With Dinosaurs
The World At War
WW2 in Colour
Civilization

They aren't series, these are docos I've found interesting:
Bowling for Columbine
Sicko
Fahrenheit 9/11 (first half is great)
An Inconvenient Truth
March of the Penguins
Supersize Me

WW2 the Lost Colour Archives

Cin, that's a long list so I'll just say thumbs up to several of those.

Silvana & Cin, yeah, I'm psyched to have Amazing Race back. And nice to see Stonehenge, in the exotic country of London. Looks like a good season; several teams I like, only one (the obligatory semi-abusive white couple) whom I can't stand. Three all-female teams I consider major threats; the deck is stacked for the ladies this year. I'm picking the doctors to win. (My mom and I have dinner riding on it; she picked the home shoppers.)

Sons of Anarchy is great if you like shows like Sopranos, but you definitely gotta start at the beginning. Netflix it next summer when there's nothing good on.

I should mention the best TV show ever made: The Wire.

No favorite TV programs--don't watch TV. There're probably a few good programs, but you have to scratch too hard and long to find them. Besides, my cable company, forces you to pay for channals that are god-awful and which, in my curumdgeonly dotage, refuse to do. My TV set only plays movies.

Uh...

The Amazing Race (been watching since season 1)
Top Gear
Survivor
Project Runway
Top Chef Just Desserts (the desserts look delicious and all the pastry chefs seem to be insane)
Dancing with the Stars

is mostly what I'm watching now. In the past I've watched more network dramas and sitcoms, but I don't like any that are on currently. May go back to House, I'm undecided on that one.

Some of my "greatest hits":

Monty Python's Flying Circus
Fawlty Towers
Upstairs Downstairs
The Six Wives of Henry VIII
Elizabeth R
The Avengers
The World at War
Civilization
Connections (the original series)
M*A*S*H
Law and Order
Cheers

Kendall wrote: "No favorite TV programs--don't watch TV. There're probably a few good programs, but you have to scratch too hard and long to find them. Besides, my cable company, forces you to pay for channals t..."

Kendall, I like you do not watch TV programs except sports. What I do is record all programs I am interested in on my DVD recorder and play them back. If bad I just skip and delete them. If good, I watch them. If mediocre, I fast forward through the dull and boring parts. Problem is, I am now watching programs I recorded last February.

A favourite program from my youth was Michael Wood's 'Domesday'. His involvement in a program guarantees my enjoyment. His enthusiasm is infectious.
Terry Jones' 'Barbarians' was also fun if a little chaotic.
Not on TV but my favourite history program at present is a podcast The History of Rome - informative, enjoyable and delves into the lesser known eras of Roman history.

I would love to love the History Channel but so many of its programs are sensationalized and populist. The voice-over is so melodramatic.
Also the programs are obviously cut to accommodate frequent commercial breaks leading to a jerky narrative with irritatingly frequent repetitions and summaries.
I'm sure they have some excellent programs but I have been disappointed too many times.

The History Channel - at least the one in the U.S. - is the most bizarre combination of Nazis, UFOs, "modern marvels" (one was on water as a modern marvel, believe it or don't), the Old West, the history of firearms, Nostrodamus, and the occasional interesting program.

It used to be a great deal better - it aired I, Claudius among other things. These days I watch the "International History Channel" more - it has more of the programs I'm interested in.

But most U.S. TV programs have a lot of commercial breaks (PBS excluded). It probably is very choppy without the commercials (I've never seen them that way.).

Ken Burn's "The Civil War" miniseries. Fantastic.

Its interesting you guys say your History channel is such a bastardised mix. Here in New Zealand, Sky, our versian of satellite TV, a similair happened to Discovery, origianlly Discovery had all the programmes that are now spread across National Geographic, Animal Planet and History Channel, it used to be just Discovery and National Geographic, so they both had a good spread. But with the additional channels all the good shows except Mythbuster got moved off, so its now a really shoddy channel to watch, I ignore it. SO i can relate to what your saying. History Channel is now slowly getting to be bad, but it wasn't that way till recently. I'm not sure whether they are running out of good shows, cos the 1 or 2 that are good, are repeated over and over again or its on twice and never seen again!

So I'm going to have to start buying my documentaries or I find them online.

Patton 360 is my fave show now in the History Channel.

@Alex, Susanna, Cobalt_Cin: still watching The Amazing Race? I'm soooooo glad the all-female teams (Nat/Kat, Brook/Claire) are still there. Good riddance for Chad.

Just finished watching the finale of South Park season 14. Meh, this show has jumped the shark.
Currently excited about Dexter.
Recently stopped watching Boardwalk Empire and the Walking Dead.

Still watching, and looking forward to Season 18 (filming now!) which is an all-stars season.

I was thrilled to see Chad and Stephanie go!

Looking forward to the premiere of Top Chefs All-Stars. Only one chef I don't love, enjoy hating, or at base respect as a chef. (I'm looking at you, Mike Isabella.)

As a figure skating fan, I was thrilled to see the debut of Skating With The Stars. One of the pros is a favorite of mine.

I'm so excited for the all stars. We'll have Jet & Cord! Love them :D

For lighter, non historical Tv:

M A S H

Doctor Who (original and new series both)

Big Bang Theory

Law and Order: SVU
Jeopardy (the game show)

And who was your first Doctor, Mary?

Mine was Jon Pertwee.

Just wanted to let you guys know that Showtime is planning a new series to replace THE TUDORS. IT's called THE BORGIAS and is about the scandalous Borgia family. It has Jeremy Irons in it.

Sounds exciting! Hopefully it's better than THE TUDORS?

Actually, if I'd had my druthers the Italian Renaissance family that I'd prefer would be The Medicis.

M.G. wrote: "Just wanted to let you guys know that Showtime is planning a new series to replace THE TUDORS. IT's called THE BORGIAS and is about the scandalous Borgia family. It has Jeremy Irons in it.

Sounds ..."

Didn't they do The Borgias in the 1980s? I loved that series even though I was probably too young to watch it!

There was a mini-series about the Borgias that I remember, from about that era. Possibly on A&E.

Susanna wrote: "There was a mini-series about the Borgias that I remember, from about that era. Possibly on A&E."
It was BBC so A&E in America. Adolpho Celi was excellent as Rodrigo and Oliver Cotton was totally mad as Cesare.

The new version seems to have a very European cast with Jeremy Irons about the only well known member of the cast. The boy playing Cesare looks a little too young and pretty.
It will probably follow along the lines of 'The Tudors' - soft p@rn with fancy costumes.

Probably. That seems to "sell."

M.G. wrote: "Just wanted to let you guys know that Showtime is planning a new series to replace THE TUDORS. IT's called THE BORGIAS and is about the scandalous Borgia family. It has Jeremy Irons in it.

Sounds ..."

Hmmmmm! I really liked the Tudors. What's wrong with me?

I liked it, too, Ed. I watched the 1st 2 seasons. Then we got rid of premium channels. We were watching very little on them.

I love all seasons of The Tudors, but the first two are indeed the best because they had the most enchanting Anne Boleyn in there. The actress should be the one playing Lucrezia in The Borgias.

Speaking of The Borgias, yes I can't wait for it. Jeremy Irons as Rodrigo? Sold. That family was quite effed up. Can't wait to see the sets as well. Renaissance Italy? Too cool for words.

Anyone watched Camelot? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1672189/

Weird, oversexed interpretation of the Arthurian legend. I think it tries to be Rome or The Tudors but fails.
I dunno, just watched the pilot. Gonna give this series two more eps before quitting.

Silvana wrote: "Anyone watched Camelot? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1672189/

Weird, oversexed interpretation of the Arthurian legend. I think it tries to be Rome or The Tudors but fails.
I dunno, just watched the..."

Let us know what you think? Speaking of over-sexed, have you seen "Spartacus, Blood and Sand"?

I saw several episodes of that abomination. People said it's getting better (finally had a plot line or something) but I had enough.

I seriously despise 300-style (yes Zack Snyder, I'm looking at you) movies/series. Ultra fake backgrounds, overdramatic fight scenes with bloods splaterred so ridiculously, lots of forced-turned-silly nudity and sex scenes, lack of decent, logical plots...and totally 'destroyed' historical personages and events.

Never mind about Camelot and watch the Borgias instead. Episode 1 & 2 = amazing.

I love the portrayal of Vatican-Italian renaissance politics in this series. I wonder if Showtime dares to include The Banquet of Chestnuts in it hahaha

Camelot even got a bad review in People Magazine, a publication that almost never reviews anything it doesn't like.

Wowza.

Yeah I quit finally watching that farce. Better wait for HBO's Games of Thrones, which is based on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.