The comprehensive list of must-watch media

[Peegee]

I've been told to watch this and that waaay too many times. So not only will this be a comprehensive list, this will be my 'to do' list of things to do when I work from home and when I have nothing better to do in a couple of months when I move out.

Since the format of media is too varied for me to want to deal with, let's limit it to Films, TV and Books/comics. If you have another genre that is sufficient in popularity, bring it up and we'll see what the body politic says. For example Dungeons and Dragons the pen and paper RPG is not on this list.

I'll check on this every so often and try to compile the lists into a main post. Yippie.


Movies
Alien
Aliens
Predator
The Terminator
Terminator 2
John Carpenter's The Thing
Superbad
300
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Little Shop of Horrors
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Matrix Trilogy
Star Wars (Episode 4-6 only)
City of God
Trainspotting
Amelie
Run Lola Run
The Lookout
The King of Kong
Babel
Crash
Blood Diamond
Se7en
The Departed
The Shawshank Redemption
Zodiac (NOT The Zodiac. Only Zodiac)
A Clockwork Orange
Donnie Darko
Bad Timing

Books
The Lord of the Rings
The Silmarilion
The Hobbit
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Red Seas Under Red Skies
A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows
Fevre Dream
American Gods
The Dresden Files
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Life of Pi
A Clockwork Orange
Survivor: A Novel
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Most of the work of David Sedaris
Hello, Lied the Agent, and Other BS You Hear As a Hollywood TV Writer
Heart of Darkness
The Idiot
The Brothers Karamavoz
Ender's Game
Cat's Cradle
Invisible Monsters
Choke
Dune
1984
Brave New World
The Jungle
Lord of the Flies
In Cold Blood
The Metamorphasis
Dr Jekyl and Mr. Hyde
Dracula
Frankenstein
Farenheit 451
Naked Lunch
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

TV
Battlestar Galatical
Babylon 5
Scrubs
Magus XLR
King of Queens
Drew Carry Show
Whose line is it anyway? (American Version)
Fawlty Towers

Comics
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac
Watchmen
Invincible
Scott Pilgrim
Runaways
Y: The Last Man (especially now that it's complete)

Anime
Coyboy Bebop
Samurai Champloo
Hellsing
Evangelion
Princess Mononoke
Howl's Moving Castle
Spirited Away
Exile
Full Metal Alchemist (only up to episode 24 or so - anything after this sucks ass)
Berserk
Serial Experiments Lain

[Tavrobel]

Scrubs. First and foremost.

I'll add stuff later. Scrubs must come first. If you've already seen it, then bonus points for you.

[McLovin']

Superbad, first and foremost.

[NeoCracker]

Movies
Superbad
300
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Little Shop of Horrors

Series:
Magus XLR
King of Queens
Drew Carry Show
Whose line is it anyway? (American Version)

[Quindiana Jones]

Why would you want to watch the abomination that is Whose Line is it Anyway? US?

Ruddy nutjob, you.

[NeoCracker]

Perhaps because the British version sucks horribly?

[Cookie]

Perhaps because the British version sucks horribly?

The British version usually has 2-3 American contestants, anyway. I think it's pretty good, have you ever actually seen it?

[NeoCracker]

Yeah, it came on Comedy central from time to time.

Ryan and Collin are still on it most of the time, though it seems the host makes a huge difference in how the show goes. :P

[Madame Adequate]

Battlestar Galactica
Babylon 5

That's pretty much it. When I'm Emperor, these will be required viewing for all children.

[Roto13]

Who would ever call the second and (especially) third Matrix movies "must-see"?

[El Bandito]

Since I'm sure you've already heard a lot about more mainstream stuff, I'll suggest stuff more off the beaten path.

Movies

City of God
Trainspotting
Amelie
Run Lola Run
The Lookout
The King of Kong

Books

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Life of Pi
A Clockwork Orange
Survivor: A Novel
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Most of the work of David Sedaris
Hello, Lied the Agent, and Other Bull You Hear As a Hollywood TV Writer

Comics

Watchmen
Invincible
Scott Pilgrim
Runaways
Y: The Last Man (especially now that it's complete)


My TV Show suggestions are the same as everyone else would recommend: Scrubs, House, Weeds, Entourage, etc.

For music, there's way too much to recommend without looking for something in particular. I will say the most recent artist to blow my mind is DJ Mike Relm.

[Quindiana Jones]

Books
The Dresden Files.

I urge everyone to read them.

[Madame Adequate]

Comics

Watchmen

Quoted for more truth than can actually be enumerated.

[NeoCracker]

The only must read comic out there is "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac."

[scrumpleberry]

Who would ever call the second and (especially) third Matrix movies "must-see"?

seconded

Also, good british comedies:

Fawlty Towers.

I'll say that again for good measure.

FAWWWWLTY TOWWWERRRRRS.

It really is excellent: many painful funnies saturated into a few episodes full of WONDROUS JOY.

Not sure if this is really quite "must see" material so I wouldn't add it to the list, but any one thing by Mitchell & Webb I think should be seen and/or heard by every human being at least once, be it the radio show, peep show, that mitchell and webb look...

edit: Also, I think at least one of the Harry Potters should go in must read, if for no other reason than for it's significance as a piece of modern childrens literature. Mebbe there should be another list for stuff like that? I dunno.