summer shows I'm following atm to burn time:
falling skies - scifi alien invasion/drama
futurama - speaks for itself
franklin and bash - lawyer comedy
royal pains - casual summer version of house/medical mystery
suits - lawyer drama with 2 game of throne guess star this season
perception - schizo crime solver
Rizzoli and Isles - crime solving milfs
covert affairs - cia shit
Shows that will give you instant internet credibility:
sherlock - british series, modern day take on sherlock holmes. highly cerebral, definitely don't watch if you're dumb.
Dr. who - not much else need to be said, i personally stop watching once they replaced david tennant. might come back once they start airing episode with the new doctor.
downton abbey - not for everyone, but once you're into it, it's super addicting.
house of cards - political drama, and the only american show i think deserve to make this list.
I always avoid recommending obvious super popular show because everyone and their mom probably knows about it. when i'm bore i go down this list http://www.imdb.com/search/title?num_votes=5000,&sort=user_rating,desc&title_type=tv_series&ref_=nb_tv_3_srs and try to find stuff that would interest me.