I just started to watch "The Newsroom". I am 5 or 6 episodes in. I am finding it highly entertaining so far. I thought the opening scene was brilliant and I was hooked. It's 8 minutes long; if you don't like this scene, this series probably isn't for you.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BJWKccHQFOA

Rylant

I find it a ghastly omission that Friday Night Lights hasn't been mentioned here yet, especially because this is a sports based forum, not that the show was ever really about sports. What a fantastic show.

My list is as follows:

The Untouchables:

1) The Wire
2) Lost
3) Friday Night Lights
4) Mad Men
5) 24

Good but not Great:
6) Dexter
7)Game of Thrones
8) The Walking Dead
9) Breaking Bad (I know! But I find this show too stressful to watch. I'm a binge watcher and I keep trying but I can't watch this show for multiple hours in a row.)
10) Homeland (Damn close to moving down a tier)

The Guilty Pleasure:
10) Spartacus (Season One was awesome, pretty bad otherwise)
11) Prison Break (Season One was awesome, but my God did it suck afterwards)
12) Jericho (Great premise, very Lost/The Stand-esque but too episodic and cheesy)

Shows I probably won't ever watch:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I actually liked this show... when I was 12. But it's too late.)
Heroes (I've seen episodes. Just the cheesiest.)
Oz (This show scarred me as a pre-teen.)
Six Feet Under (I don't think I can see Dexter as anyone else.)

I've got Justified lined up next because of easy access on Netflix.

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Did FNL get better after season 1? Season 1 seemed like a soap opera with all the story lines, redemption stories, and predictable outcomes.

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Salary Cap/Dynasty
C- Tavares, Backstrom, Ribiero, Turris, Eakin
RW- Gaborik, Perry, Downie, JWilliams
LW- Eriksson, Moulson, Duchene, Clowe, Johansson
D- Karlsson, Phaneuf, Enstrom, Burns, Gardiner, Voynov, Ellis
G- Fluery, Kipper, Dubnyk, Lindback

Farm- Huberdeau, Nyquist, Silfverberg, Grigorenko, Bjugstad, Teräväinen, Lack

Hard to say that it got better but I also really liked Season 1. If you didn't like the first season then there's no way you were getting in on this show.

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I was a big fan of Lost, but stopped watching during season 4. I haven't heard a whole lot about the culmination of the show (I haven't really sought it out). Would you recommend finishing the series? I'm hesitant to check it out as I don't want to spend that time and be disappointed.

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Ultimate Dynasty League
16 Team Dynasty League H2H: G, A, P, PPP, SHP, +/-, PIM, SOG, W, L, GAA, SvPct, SHO

C: Stamkos, Getzlaf, Carter
LW: Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, Brown
RW: Iginla, Pavelski, Horton
D: Byfuglien, J.Johnson, Goligoski, Hedman, Hamonic
U: Mueller
G: Schneider, Hiller,
B: E. Johnson, S.Kostitsyn, Neil, Biron, Giguere
IR:
Prospect: Nail Yakupov, Tangradi

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UHL Dynasty St. Louis Blues
...a bad team trying to rebuild...

It depends. There's a bunch of questions that never get resolved (the numbers, why Walt is special, etc.). So a lot of people, including myself was disappointed. But if you can live without knowing the answers to a bunch of questions, I'd recommend finishing it. The last season was pretty good.

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12-team Keeper pool, straight points for forwards & dmen. Goalies get: 2 points per win, 3 per shutout, 1 point per assist & 1 point per shootout loss.

Top 8 forwards, 5 dmen and 2 goalies count.

We keep 8 forwards, 5 dmen, 2 goalies & 1 rookie.

Forwards: Malkin, Stamkos, Getzlaf, Hall, Kunitz, St. Louis, Pavelski, Kadri, Purcell, Hartnell, Brunner, Weiss, Bouchard, McDonald
Defence: Letang, Enstrom, Schultz, Markov, Keith
Goalies: Price, Niemi, Brodeur

My personal blog: http://theryancokeexperience.wordpress.com

The writers strike absolutely killed Heroes. What I can say is that even though seasons 2 and 3 are dead to me and most everyone else in the world, Season 4 was a really great season in my opinion. I think it was highly entertaining and the main villian was awesome.

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10 Keepers (Finished 2nd, lose 1 keeper)
C: Malkin | Nugent-Hopkins
LW:Nash | Ryan
RW:Gaborik | Kessel | Voracek
D: Green
G: Miller
IR:
10 Team, 10 Keeper
Head to Head: G,A,P,PPP,SHP,BS,FW,GAA,SV%,SO
Daily changes: 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 4D, 1Util, 2G

Don't mistake opinion for fact.

re: Friday Night Lights
This summer, my wife & I watched all 70+ episodes from the full five seasons using Netflix Instant. We'd watch about 2 episodes every night. Of the five seasons, season 2 was probably the weakest (specifically the Landry/Tyra... uh, stuff). Season 2 was also cut short by the writers strike and ends without a bang. I thought Seasons 3 & 5 were very good. The series finale was amazing, IMO. That's how you end a show. My wife & I chalk up this show as the best show we've ever enjoyed watching. (not necessarily the "best show in TV history"... just as one we thoroughly enjoyed). Season 4 was actually a really interesting season... all new characters, which, aside from "Becky", end up being a really solid new cast to follow.

Side Note: After watching all of FNL on Netflix Instant, we were forced to jump into a new family-oriented show. We chose Parenthood, which was a little slow in Season 1 and we just finished Season 3 and are really enjoying it. Need to somehow catch up to the current season (4).

re: Lost.
I thought it was an incredible show for every single season except the last season. Personally, I think the writers "mailed it in" for that last season ***SPOILER***... stubbornly refusing to go with the pergatory/heaven/hell route. If they would've gone in that direction, the show would have been fantastic. But that last season, specifically the final episode, was sooo disappointing. ***SPOILER***.

re: The Wire
Guess who has two thumbs and has The Wire Season 1 Disc 1 coming to his house tomorrow?

Having hung on during the writers' strike for Season 4 I have to say that there was no way I wasn't sticking with the show myself but if you've gone this long without revisiting it then I'm not going to say you HAVE to go back to it. I will say that I thought Seasons 4-6 really picked up the pace once they decided on an end point for the show so they weren't dragging things out the way they were for parts of Season 2 and 3.

I'll also point out that if you do revisit the show that you'll either love the ending or you'll hate it, with no in between. I personally loved it but it just comes down to why you enjoyed the show. So realize that there's a chance you could be ruining your experience by going back.

I maintain that the first season of LOST is the best season of anything ever so there's always revisiting the show just for that. LOST is available on Netflix so that's really easy access if you have it.

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What's this Season 2 you speak of? Friday Night Lights jumped from Season 1 to Season 3.

__________________
Dig my Cage Match articles? Follow my blog! The Laws of Sport

Also on Twitter @SteveLaidlaw