THUD Column: Lost & Found

Deadwood and Rome get my vote. Then Carnivale.

Great to have you back.

Yeah, I hope you get to do Carnivale. Your Lost recaps were some of the best stuff on the site and I'm genuinely intrigued about the book you're pulling together for it.

My vote is Firefly and Deadwood, followed by Carnivale.

You know, as great as the columns were, there's been so much fantastic stuff written about Deadwood, Carnivale, The Wire, The Sopranos, et al, that I'd like CHUD to maybe write about something fresh, something that hasn't been covered in as much detail.

Therefore, I vote for Studio 60, Greg the Bunny, and John from Cinncinatti.

But that doesn't give a lot of us a better excuse than "I lead a sad sad life" to rewatch Deadwood for the fourth hundreth time.

Thanks for voting, guys. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. The fact that the "full run" for most of these shows is two seasons or less means there's going to be a lot of opportunity to switch things up for you and me. Especially given the cancellation option. It'll be interesting to see how that ends up working.

I've never seen either Profit or Wonderfalls, so I'm voting for those in the hopes that I can jump on board fresh like you.

For some reason a retrospective on BRISCO COUNTY JR. would make me unreasonably happy. Whatever you go with, I'm sure it'll be great. Have fun!

Wiseguy
Bakersfield PD
Run Joe Run

Edit: For real on the first two, those should be options on your list. But I also agree with Rath that I'd like to see someone give John From Cincinnati a post-LOST glance.

NewsRadio

I'd vote for Keen Eddie and Studio 60. They both were THIS CLOSE. I'd love to revisit them both.

(Fair warning on the Keen Eddie dvds, the music cues are almost all changed from broadcast and it kind of kills a few episodes.)

NewsRadio isn't on there. Perhaps I should read the whole thing, huh?

American Gothic and Action, those were both quality shows cut short before they had a chance to go anywhere.

The Tick fuck yeahhhhhhhhh

It's on Instant Streaming!

Actually sorry to not see Kings on that list, but my vote goes to Carnivale, then Pushing Daisies.

I vote for Carnivale and Pushing Daisies.
I would have voted for Miracles since I remember being really impressed by the super creepy first scene of the series but then I realized how it never lived up to the promise set by that opening.

Rome and Pushing Daisies. Rome might be in that category of HBO quality shows that have already been heavily looked into (but not as much as the Wire or the Sopranos) but there's a lot of prime ground there still to be unearthed. As far as Pushing Daisies, who has really covered that? And it was such a unique show too.

Carnivale and Twin Peaks are my vote since they're right on my list getting started on watching cause I'm so overdue on watching them.

Was actually hoping you'd get to do Breaking Bad next, but this is a great consolation prize.

the only 2 shows on that list that I think would be worth delving into deeper are Carnivalé and Deadwood.

EDIT: and Twin Peaks

Such an intriguing concept for a column! Not having watched so many of the shows you've listed, I can't really bring myself to vote definitely yet. In terms of ones I have watched, I think it would be cool if you gave Veronica Mars a shot if you haven't already. Someone suggested it in the comments on the main site.

I voted for John From Cincinnati and Freaks and Geeks. Mostly because I've only watched each once and wouldn't mind an excuse to do it again.

Daybreak. Seriously. That show was great but since it "wasn't Lost" it totally died in its time slot. A really solid complete arc in the 12 episodes though.

Seems like the big guns (Deadwood, Carnivàle, etc.) are getting their fair share of votes, so I threw my vote in the comments for Profit and Brisco County. Been meaning to revisit both shows for a while, and Profit is only 8 episodes so it should be a fast one.

BTW, love that you're doing this column and I'd read your thoughts on any of these shows.

I voted for Carnivale and Firefly. Never seen Carnivale, loved FireFly. If Deadwood ends up on the list, I would enjoy that too as I've never watched it either.

Can I negative vote Firefly (oh and Dollhouse)?

I'd go with Studio 60 (it's one of the most interesting tv failures in television history) and a comedy.

Deadwood and Twin Peaks

Yeah, Breaking Bad would be such a better fit for your kind of analysis.

But it's failed/cut down too soon shows he's focusing on. Breaking Bad is goin' strong!

Twin Peaks!

and I'll throw Carnivale out there as my second choice. Something I never got around to watching, but always wanted to.

I vote Deadwood and John From Cincinnati. It would be interesting to see how some of the same themes from Deadwood bled over into Milch's next project, if at all.

Rome. And Rome. Plus Twin Peaks.

I know, just wishful thinking. It's a show that could really use the type of episode-by-episode analysis Jesse does. The majority of series on that list couldn't.

I've heard nothing but good-to-great things about Breaking Bad, but it's one of those shows that gets written up A LOT as a critical darling. It falls into the "people who get paid for this are already doing this, and doing it well" category for me.

It's because of this that I'm hoping Firefly won't be the first show chosen. Great show, but I just learned that Alan Sepinwall is reviewing it over the summer on Hitfix, and I really don't need any help looking worse-by-comparison on a week to week basis. I'd prefer to revisit it after I've gotten a few other shows under my proverbial belt.

Carnivale, Deadwood and Twin Peaks (the other three apparent frontrunners), however, could all do with a second-look, and would all make me really happy to start off with.

Part of the point (and personal appeal) of this column is that I'll need to switch up my approach based on the show you've selected. As Evi points out, not every show there deserves an in-depth examination. If you pick Carnivale I'll have plenty of thematic and reference material to talk about. If you guys elect to watch The Tick, my approach to writing about it is going to change significantly and focus on, say, surrealism and comedy on television, or on Ben Edlund, or on whatever is interesting to me at that moment about that show. I think that's fun, will allow me to stretch different "muscles" on a pretty regular basis, and will hopefully keep things fresh n' groovy for all of you.

The best part about it? If The Tick holds no interest for you as a subject for these columns you can vote it down every two weeks and cancel it all over again. Or, you can go along for the ride knowing that after a season or so there'll be something else that you'll enjoy more.

The next round of full-on voting (which'll happen once we successfully make it to the end of a series) will only feature half of this initial list, and it'll be the half that didn't recieve as many votes (like, say, The Middleman). After that, it'll be the other half of the list, containing the top-voted shows (So if, say, Carnivale doesn't get picked this time you can choose it then). That should keep things interesting and unpredictable, and ensure that all of these lil' orphans get a shot at the spotlight.

I think my vote for Daybreak should count for at least 1 million because--dammit--people need to watch that show.

ETA: Additionally, nearly every episode begins with Moon Bloodgood in a shower.

Please don't do Deadwood. Twin Peaks or Carnivale would be fine with me. No matter what you cover, I'll be reading!

I vote for Carnivale.

side note: I can't find the Breaking Bad season one thread. Thanks in advance.

Man, I watched the pilot recently, and I think it is mandatory that you do The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. Steampunk western starring Bruce Campbell with Billy Drago as the main villain? COME ON, THERE IS NOTHING MORE AWESOME THAN THAT.

Not on the list, but I vote Better Off Ted. Smartest, darkest comedy of the year, and ABC absolutely buried it.

And I think Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles could be worth investigating, if too obviously geeky.

Also: Max Headroom is finally coming to DVD in August.

Hmm, okay if you don't want to do Firefly just yet, I will change my Firefly vote to Daybreak.

Deadwood, Twin Peaks, Carnivale and Firefly are the clear front-runners so far. There are 4 votes separating the top two choices. I'll be interested to see if votes continue to trickle in through the weekend, or if the fact that the column's off the main page now means that things will stay as is.

The suspense is killing me!

...I hope it lasts.

Freaks and Geeks and Deadwood. Alternate being Carnivale.

oh yeah, be sure to toss the Terminator series into the vote next time around. It was a fun ride, and every show with Garret Dillahunt in it is worth watching.

You might include Sledge Hammer! next vote as well. It'd be great fun to see you try to wring deeper meaning out of David Rasche blowing up a building with a rocket launcher to catch a purse snatcher.

From the list provided, I had to vote for Rome and Deadwood. I do wish The Wire wasn't disqualified, as it hasn't been written about nearly enough.

I vote Twin Peaks to see if it holds up.

American Gothic, please.

I'll throw in a vote for Carnivale, then, because I really liked the first half of that show and then didn't have a chance to catch up.

I voted in the talkbacks, but I'll repeat my choice of Miracles and The Middleman (figuring that shows like Deadwood would get enough votes without mine).

I second the suggestion of adding Better Off Ted, and a show that, sadly, will almost certainly never be commercially released: The Chris Isaak Show. Funny and loose and off-the-wall, as well as being one of the rare truly "adult" situation comedy series I've seen. Lots of great musical guests, too (which is why it'll never be commercially released).

MM,

It could be great to start off with ROME (IMHO), but otherwise as long as you get to DEADWOOD and CARNIVALE I'll be happy

A big yesss, please!