I've been watching Numbers on Amazon. It's a crime show about an FBI agent and his mathematician brother who solve crimes. It gets a bit unbelievable at times, but the basic format is Law-and-Order-esque -- each espisode is a separate crime that they solve by the end of the episode. There's not too much soap-opera drama - it doesn't go into the characters' personal lives very much. I like it. There are 6 seasons and I'm halfway through season 5, so I'll be watching this thread for some recommendations for where to go next!

Dh loves House of Cards and Veep. This is older, but what about 24? Did he ever the Sopranos?

What about some Ken Burns documentaries? Civil war, Baseball.

Maybe Curb your enthusiasm, too.

I have watched all of Mad Men, twice. I think it's super for either gender.

Wanted to add Arrested Development (quirky comedy).

And, not for boys so much, alth Dh thinks it's a scream, The Mindy Project.

PS Sorry I have no idea which of these is on or not on Amazon!

Do you want just free shows with Amazon Prime, or do you pay for shows as well?

There's the BBC modernized version of Sherlock, and another BBC crime show, Zen.

There's also The Tudors. Not a crime show, but a period drama.

If you need sci-fi suggestions, I have a lot of them.

The Tudors if you haven't seen it.

Some old favorites....LA Law, The Practice, Boston Legal, St Elsewhere, Twin Peaks, Thirtysomething (DH probably won't like it, my DH called it The Whiners). More recent...murder mysteries Top of the Lake and Broadchurch.

The West Wing. Love, love, love love that show.
Sons of Anarchy was pretty good in the beginning. I lost interest in the later shows.
The Good Wife

Are you looking for drama shows only? We have gotten into American Pickers, which if you like antiques/memorabilia it is great. We have Amazon Prime.

Monk...more detectives and funny too.

I highly recommend Orphan Black. it's a Canadian show that aired on BBC America. I won't give away too much, but the lead actress plays many different parts, and you feel like you are watching a different actress in each role.
Another favorite of mine and my husband's is Doc Martin, a Brit Com.

Here is a link that might be useful: Orphan Black

Second doc Martin! Martin Clunes is fabulous.

Some other Brit TV if you like period stuff

Pride and prejudice with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.
Forsythe saga - part 1 and part 2.
From Lark rise to candleford

If your DH liked "Law & Order", I can suggest another awesome cop show: "Homicide: Life on the Street". It ran from '93-'99 and was one of my favorite shows. Amazing acting, writing and cinematography -- shot on location in Baltimore. It needs to be watched in order, as there are plot lines that run through the season -- even across seasons. The episodes aren't "freestanding" like those from "Law & Order".

There's a wealth of TV shows that you an stream for free.
The site I linked below is full of old TV shows - Mr. Ed, the Patti Page Show, The Life of Riley,Hopalong Cassidy, Medic, the Honeymooners plus specials.

Maire

Here is a link that might be useful: Oldies TV

I don't know what's on amazon or what's available, but here are a few thoughts.

If you are looking for good shows like law and order,
I second, Homicide...in fact there were a couple of episodes that started on law and order and ended on Homicide...Munch played in that and carried over to L&O SVU. Another really excellent series was Third Watch. Especially the show finale...very well done. We are now into watching Southland and we like Perception. We used to really enjoy the old LA Law (lawyers, not cops). Of course, Hill St. Blues was terrific. Not sure how well Cagney and Lacey would hold up with a modern eye, but it was good back then....as was Kojak. We loved Kojak...who loves ya baby. The Shield with Michael Chiklis was very good. A fellow I know liked NYPD Blue, but I couldn't get over the filming of it...the camera was always moving which was supposed to make it seem more action oriented, but only made me seasick.

House was also excellent...medical mystery vs. murder mystery, loosely modeled after sherlock holmes where House is Holmes, and Wilson is his sidekick Watson.

And our very favorite new show is Longmire. Really well done with great scenery to boot.

As an alternative to watching TV, I highly recommend watching TED.com. It is a wonderful collection of talks (about 20 min each) given by people from a wide variety of backgrounds on a wide variety of issues. Some are musical, some are scientific or health related, some are thought provoking, some are humorous. But I have yet to find one that wasn't worthwhile. I will often curl up with my pc and TED in the evening over the mindlessness on TV. Last night I watched one with a yo-yo master and I watched one with a new perspective on domestic violence.

Thanks for all the ideas. I'll make a list and look into them. We're looking for drama or good comedy (which in my opinion is hard to come by these days). Free with Amazon Prime is nice but will also pay for something good.

After an intense day at the office not looking for a documentary or a TED talk but more something you can lose yourself in.

We did watch 24 for a while but lost interest in that for some reason - became just too unbelievable if I remember right.

He has watched a couple episodes of House of Cards and that may stick - just hasn't yet.

We LOVE The Honeymooners so if we can stream that, it would be great. Hadn't been able to find it so far.

Thanks!

Homicide was excellent.....for comedy....how about the old Carol Burnett show or Laugh In....for just silly fun.

For comedy, Big Bang Theory. For spies, Burn Notice. For police show, The Shield was wonderful.

Breakout Kings
Person of Interest
Burn Notice
White Collar
Elementary
In Plain Sight
Longmire
Castle
NCIS/NICS LA
The Americans (which is more a spy drama than a cop show)

Speaking of law & order svu, they had the season opener on last night and it was really chilling...very dramatic! No wonder I had trouble going to sleep last night!

I got on a Danish kick: See 'The Eagle', 'The Protectors', 'Annika Bengtzon', 'Rita'. Also an English kick: 'Inspector Alleyn', 'Inspector Lewis', 'MidSomer Murders', 'Kingdom', 'Foyle's War, 'The Grand', 'Doc Martin' (thanks, GW-ers, for that one!). And home grown: 'Portlandia', 'Better Off Ted', 'White Collar', 'Damages'.

The killing
Hot in cleavland
Rescue me
the Big Bang theory
Parks and recreation
Ncis
Criminal minds
Greys anatomy
Desperate housewives
Buffy ((best show-never thought I would like it)
West wing
Alias (first four seasons were AMAzING)
Bones
The mentalist
Charmed

We have a Roku so have been introduced to all the streaming options.

I have a Amazon Prime membership so that is nice to watch things for free. Unfortunately, most of what I wanted to watch isn't free!

We have a Netflix account for $7.99 a month (I think that's what it is) and we have actually used the Neflix much more.

Started watching LOST this past summer with my son. That was goodâ¦Also watched Revenge and enjoyed that.

We also cut the cable cord a while back. I miss some things - but not the bill I was paying for basically nothing.
I will second Netflix. We love it. I don't think I will live long enough to watch everything on it - and they keep adding!!
It is so refreshing to watch without commercials!! We didn't watch 30Rock the first time around, so have watched all 6 seasons. The 7th is not yet on Netflix. My husband watches documentaries. We watched Keeping Up Appearances which is a funny, funny British series. I was sorry to see it end.
In actuality, we watch very little TV - sometimes an hour in the evenings, more in the winter. Netflix is perfect for us!

Did anyone mention The Wire? The hubs will love that one and you may, too. I have Netflix and just loved Orange is The New Black. Can't wait for the next season.

You would like Call the Midwife, another PBS series. Your DH probably won't.

I am giving serious thought to cutting cable, too. I am on an introductory plan now, but soon the cost will sky rocket. I find I watch very little tv. There are so many choices on Netflix, Amazon and elsewhere, who needs cable?

I'll be making a list of all these suggestions.

I used to be a Netflix member but cancelled that as they had so few streaming options of interest. Everything I wanted seemed to only be on DVD. I used it for movies at that time though, not TV shows. Sounds like they have improved. I may need to reconsider that.

Unfortunately, we'll never cut the cable...DH has to have his CNBC.

Two gems from the 90's....Wonder Years and Home Improvement.

We need to watch The Wire!

We also canceled the Netflix streaming since we found what we wanted to watch was generally not available on streaming. For example, any HBO content is not available on streaming, or there may be a very long delay until it is available. However, you can get HBO DVD's/blu-rays through Netflix mail option.

Now that we have Amazon Prime, we suspended the Netflix.

Bringing back this thread to say i just watched Smash on amazon prime. I don't know if it was the mood I am in lately, or what, but I could not stop watching this show! I got hardly any sleep till I finished it. I amnot even a big musical fan. it was the best show. I wish it neverended, but the two seasons really did make sense.

I am out o fthings to watch now. Trying to get in to Sleepy Hollow and American Horror Story. Any other suggestions out there?

I don't watch much tv-- but bf and I follow at least one show a season so we can watch "together" while he is still a number of states away. Here are some we've enjoyed this way-- or binge watching when together. OH.. and we are similar.. dramas or GOOD comedies.

Dexter
Homeland
Detroit 187
The Killing
Orange is the New Black (netflix only)
Sherlock (BBC)
Downton Abbey (he likes it too)
West Wing
Homicide
Prime Suspect (BBC)
Pushing Daisies
Scandal (this one is just mine-- but it started jumping the shark last season)
Parenthood

A few oldies but goodies..
Northern Exposure
Homicide
Six Feet Under
Any BBC show with Robson Green

New Tricks, a British drama/comedy about retired cops working again. There are 6 seasons.

New Tricks looks interesting.. but i havent found anything streaming before season 3. I have loved many of the BBC crime shows. I loved Rebus, Wire in the Blood, Prime Suspect, Touching Evil..

Another I loved-- kind of silly brain candy kind of mystery (ala Murder, She Wrote) is Lavender and Thyme. A quirky fun pair of single/divorced middle aged women-- one a horticulturist, one an accomplished home gardener. Loved it so much, I bought the full set for mom and grandmom-- and they've passed it on to many. BF didnt like it as much but he didnt hate it.

Boop ~~ we were big fans of Smash too and loved it when Bernadette Peters guest starred as the *Mom* ... last night we attended her concert in Waukegan ... she puts on a marvelous show!!

If you haven't checked out Broadchurch, it is amazing. My whole family was caught up in it.

I want to get rid of cable, too. We have phone, cable, and internet with Comcast, but I am thinking of dropping the first two and just keeping internet. Is that what all of you have done? Guess I will need to get a WIFI internet ready tv, huh? We have two newish ones, but I would love one of those others especially after reading this thread!

Cyn, you probably don't need a new TV.

Just add a device (Blue Ray, Roku, Apple TV, Wii etc.) to your TV that will connect to your wifi.

ML