Didn't warm to Dexter, though I liked Michael Hall in Six Feet Under. After a sample of Babylon 5 I avoided it for a long time despite a taste for sf. Am trying again and struggling; they say it gets a lot better. Big Brother passed me by. Never managed to see Top Gear, Red Dwarf, South Park… Don't even have a working TV anymore, but as Paul Simon sang, these are the days of miracle and wonder and netflix.
I have a deep-seated aversion to "canned laughter". I don't know where it came from. My wife and daughter watch Friends etc and I instantly jam on my headphones and turn up the volume. I know I'm missing out, but that sound really grinds my gears something horrible.
Laffs-in-a-tin makes M*A*S*H almost unwatchable to me now. I understand they silenced it during the UK run.
Breaking Bad was hugely hyped, but I think it was justified; Vince Gilligan knows his stuff.
From what I've heard, warming to the characters isn't a Breaking Bad thing. Generally it's a question of how long you can feel sympathetic to Walter.
Walter broke irredeemably bad for me in that episode with Jane. Wasn't gaga over the finale, unlike The Sopranos, which I think did it right. Speaking of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul shows great promise – the Onion AV club has nice writeups.
Deadwood - until last night when I watched the entire 1st Series and now have the compulsion to call everyone a c********r
I fracking loved Deadwood, which like BB starred Anna Gunn, who has good taste in acting gigs. It even featured bikes. Well,
a bike. Also conversations with a decapitated head: "Suffer the low vantage."
Screenshot homage to The Sopranos
and Deadwood