TV Series Trivia (series not about police/hospital)

anything I don't mind · 2 May 2013 at 14:39

Anyone know of any good tv series that meet this criteria:

a) not about the police or the FBI or other types of intelligence agencies.
b) not about a hospital or doctors.
c) also where a lead character is not a police officer or FBI agent or some kind of investigator.
b) a lead character can be a doctor but the show must not be about hospital or medical practice.
e) must not be a comedy tv series or a show dated back in time (ie before police were invented)

Lost, the lead character was a doctor, first episode had an fbi agent, but the character was not a lead, so there is one show that meets the criteria. Can anyone think of any more?

iamtheoneneo · 2 May 2013 at 14:50

you clearly dont watch a lot of good tv shows!
what if the fbi are in it but only casually? ala Sopranos?

G-MAN2004 · 2 May 2013 at 15:08

Edit: Oh, not a comedy...

I actually don't know any.

What about The Walking Dead? He's a former sheriff's deputy, so doesn't really count.

Vonhelmet · 2 May 2013 at 15:14

Battlestar Galactica
Heroes
West Wing
Breaking Bad

Gilly · 2 May 2013 at 15:15

Game of Thrones
Flash Forward

p1RATE · 2 May 2013 at 15:20

Mad Men
Rome
Deadwood (there is a sheriff type character, but its mostly about booze and whores)
Firefly
Game of thrones
Boardwalk empire
Sons of anarchy

Evilpaul · 2 May 2013 at 15:22

This life
Suits, and lots of other legal dramas
The West Wing (your decision if this fails the set criteria due to 'intelligence agency')
The Newsroom
If you really wanted then you could throw a load of sci-fi series into the list as well, e.g. Heroes, Star Trek, etc.

With drama series there has to be 2 fundamental things: 1) a consistent setting and 2) enough variation in dramatic stories to maintain interest.
This does naturally limit the number of scenarios that are available; usually to police, legal and medical dramas. While you could set a drama in any scenario there are few where you could write enough different stories before things become stale.
Comedies don't usually have this issue as they tend to revel in the mundane (e.g. The Office).

anything I don't mind · 2 May 2013 at 16:53

Vonhelmet said:
Battlestar Galactica
Heroes
West Wing
Breaking Bad

Heroes - Matt Parkman was a police officer.
West Wing - Ok Ill give you this one.
Breaking Bad - ~~comedy~~ Actually not a comedy but lead char is dea agent, Dean Norris as Hank Schrader – Walter's DEA agent brother-in-law

Gilly said:
Game of Thrones
Flash Forward

Flash forward - All the cast are FBI agents. Example, Joseph Fiennes as FBI Special Agent Mark Benford

p1RATE said:
Mad Men
Rome
Deadwood (there is a sheriff type character, but its mostly about booze and whores)
Firefly
Game of thrones
Boardwalk empire
Sons of anarchy

Mad men - ok.
Rome - Dated does not meet criteria.
Deadwood - Lead character is a sheriff, Timothy Olyphant.
Firefly - OK ill give you this one.
Game of thrones - Dated does not meet criteria.
Boardwalk empire - ok this is one, haven't seen it, surprised there is no police characters.
Sons of anarchy - Taylor Sheridan played Deputy Chief David Hale, ok not a lead character, that's another.

So Far:
Mad men
West Wing
Firefly
Boardwalk empire
Sons of anarchy
BSG

Evilpaul said:
This life
Suits, and lots of other legal dramas
The West Wing (your decision if this fails the set criteria due to 'intelligence agency')
The Newsroom

This life - ok, never heard of it.
Suits - Yea i should have disqualified the legal series as well. Some of them do have lead police characters though.
Newsroom - ok, that is a good example.

So Far:
Mad men
West Wing
Firefly
Boardwalk empire
Sons of anarchy
BSG
This life
Suits and most other legal series
Newsroom

I guess this is quite a few, if you can think of any more let me know.

Shamikebab · 2 May 2013 at 17:05

Firefly has a main character that's a doctor and an episode set in a hospital

Nullvoid · 2 May 2013 at 17:26

Chicago Fire perhaps?

Dave85 · 2 May 2013 at 17:46

Smallville
Supernatural
Revenge

Raymond Lin · 2 May 2013 at 17:53

Gilmore Girls - mother and daughter, she runs a hotel
Dawsons's Creek - bunch of kids
The OC - bunch of kids
One Tree Hill - bunch of kids
90210 - bunch of kids
Gossip Girl - bunch of kids
The Practice - they are all lawyers
Boston Legal - they are all lawyers
Ally McBeal - they are all lawyers
Dead Like Me - they are all grim reapers
Sex and the City - it's a bunch of women in NYC dating men
Farscape - the guy is in space
Buffy the vampire slayer - vampires
Angel - vampires
Pushing Daisies - bakery and dead things
Entourage - bunch of actors

I'm sure I can think of more.

Raymond Lin · 2 May 2013 at 18:07

By the way, Broadwalk Empire, the brother of the main character (Mr Thompson), who still has a big part, is a police officer!

Gilly · 3 May 2013 at 10:42

Game of Thrones isn't 'dated' it's fantasy. It is set on another world.

Also:

Eastenders
Hollyoaks
Coronation Street
Emmerdale
Shameless
Sherlock
Merlin
Being Human
Downton Abbey
Robin Hood
Waking the Dead
The Walking Dead
6 feet under
Band of gold
Quantum Leap
The A Team
All Creatures Great and Small
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
Ballykissangel
Common as Muck
Blake's 7
Hotel Babylon
Neighbours
Home and Away
Monarch of the Glen
Lovejoy
Taxi!
Cheers
Waterloo Road
Two Thousand Acres of Sky
Playing the Field

anything I don't mind · 3 May 2013 at 11:33

Raymond Lin said:
Gilmore Girls - mother and daughter, she runs a hotel
Dead Like Me - they are all grim reapers
Sex and the City - it's a bunch of women in NYC dating men
Farscape - the guy is in space
Buffy the vampire slayer - vampires
Angel - vampires
Pushing Daisies - bakery and dead things
Entourage - bunch of actors

I'm sure I can think of more.

Ok these are good examples, but i have to discount the oc and others.

Gilly said:
Game of Thrones isn't 'dated' it's fantasy. It is set on another world.

Also:

Ok you are correct, Game of thrones is another.

I did request "good" tv series though, so kind of discounts majority of the shows mentioned. home and away? The OC? come on?

Shameless -ok
Sherlock - Lead char is investigator working for met.
Merlin - ok
Being Human - ok
Downton Abbey - ok
Robin Hood - dated no
Waking the Dead - about CID police officers.
The Walking Dead - lead char is a sheriff
6 feet under - ok
Band of gold - David Schofield played police officer as lead char
Quantum Leap - ok good example
The A Team - soliders of fortune, hmm ok.
All Creatures Great and Small - comedy
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet - comedy
Ballykissangel - comedy
Common as Muck - comedy
Blake's 7 -ok
Hotel Babylon - ok
Monarch of the Glen - ok
Lovejoy - comedy
Taxi! - ok good example
Cheers - ok good example
Waterloo Road - ok
Two Thousand Acres of Sky - ok
Playing the Field - ok

Loads of British shows that I have never heard of meet the criteria.

Here is full list so far, thanks

Mad men
West Wing
Firefly
Boardwalk empire
Sons of anarchy
BSG
This life
Suits and most other legal series
Newsroom
Dead Like Me
Sex and the City
Farscape
Buffy the vampire slayer
Angel
Pushing Daisies
Entourage
Shameless
Merlin
Being Human
Downton Abbey
6 feet under
Quantum Leap
The A Team
Blake's 7
Hotel Babylon
Monarch of the Glen
Taxi!
Cheers
Waterloo Road
Two Thousand Acres of Sky
Playing the Field

j00ni · 3 May 2013 at 17:06

Generation Kill
Sports Night
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
The Good Wife
Utopia
Boys from the Blackstuff
The Prisoner

TheVoice · 3 May 2013 at 17:59

Reaper, Persons Unknown, Harper's Island, Wonderfalls. The Unit is special ops military so I'm not sure if that meets your criteria or not.

krooton · 3 May 2013 at 18:13

Weeds
Californication
Entourage
Misfits
How To Make It In America

Scotteh · 3 May 2013 at 18:18

Leverage
Weeds
Terra Nova
Once upon a time
Touch
Defiance
Revolution

pecnarf · 5 May 2013 at 22:13

orphan black

lead pretends to be cop as the person she pretending to be is a cop, keep this ruse up for few episode before quitting the police force. but as far as cop stuff go it only a side part of the story