Babylon 5
Don’t watch the first or last seasons. Also don’t watch the season 4 finale.
Battlestar Galactica
When they escape from the planet at the beginning of the third season, HUMANS WIN. End of show.
Doctor Who
It’s supposed to be cheesy, but whenever you see something so stupidly cheesy that it totally rips apart suspension of disbelief (e.g. main characters getting abducted onto 2000s reality TV shows, ’60s robots chanting “DELETE DELETE DELETE,” etc), hold “fast forward” until it looks like something serious is happening.
Farscape
Put up with the first season until it gets under your skin. John Crichton is just as confused as you are. 4th season is optional.
Firefly
Fortunately, it got cancelled before it had a chance to go bad! Movie very optional.
Futurama
Watch it all a zillion times.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Pay attention after Riker grows a beard. (This is a well-known effect.)
Firefly fans who’ve seen the show and are considering the movie: Yes, it’s good and you should watch it. It’s about Reavers.
Any thoughts on the Stargate series? I have a friend who seems obsessed with it
I thought Serenity was more about Joss Whedon being as Joss-Whedon-y as he could, to the detriment of, oh, you know, his beloved characters, his universe, and the plot. But that’s me!
Ronit, I wasn’t that big a fan of the Stargate movie (I never really went for the ancient Egyptian/alien thing) so I hadn’t watched the shows. I figured I’d give SGU a shot, though, and I found that a reasonable synopsis of the first half dozen episodes was: “We’re trapped on an alien spaceship. We’re running out of X. We will spend the next 40 minutes trying to get X. At minute 41, the spaceship gives us X, just like it was going to do all along!” I stopped watching.
Re: Futurama, you forgot to add: “Quote it all the time, regardless of whether those around you get the reference.”
An excellent addition!