I hardly ever watch television. French TV is mostly rubbish, and nearly all the English feature films and series are dubbed into French. I'm not into downloading either, so I mostly watch DVDs. Luckily, the library in Le Havre has quite a good selection of films and DVD box sets, and I also buy some from Play.com or Amazon (if the price is right). Here are some of the series I've seen recently:
• Spooks (BBC spy thriller. Better than '24' in my opinion).
• The Prisoner (Cult series from the 60s. Uneven, but way ahead of its time.)
• House (Just started watching this. Who'd have thought that Hugh Laurie had it in him?)
• Desperate Housewives (The first 3 seasons are wonderful. Haven't seen 4 & 5).
• Lost (Looking forward to Season 5. I'm worried about how they'll resolve it all though.)
• Heroes (The first series was excellent. Apparently it goes downhill fast after that.)
• Deadwood (Great if you like westerns. Lots of swearing though.)
• The Thick of It (Hilarious UK political drama/comedy. Lots of swearing.)
• Mad Men (Set in 60s advertising agency. Brilliant—and some great teaching clips).
What prompted me to write about this topic was TimesOnline's feature The 50 best US televison shows. Each show comes with a link to a clip. The following are on my 'must-see' list.
• The Wire (some critics think its the best show ever. N° 1 in TimesOnline Top 50.)
• 30 Rock (starring Tina Fey, nemesis of Sarah Palin.)
• The Sopranos (haven't seen a single episode, but it's N° 3 in TimesOnline's Top 50.)
• Battlestar Galactica (N° 2 in TimesOnline Top 50. Star Wars it is not.)
• Prison Break (A glaring omission from the TimesOnline Top 50 according to several comments.)Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention that watching DVDs with subtitles IN ENGLISH is a great way to improve your English.
