Yeah -- a Smurfette is the Only Woman And She's Unbelievably Awesome.

From Wikipedia:

Bechdel test

This comic strip popularized what is now known as the Bechdel test, also known as the Bechdel/Wallace test, the Bechdel rule, or Bechdel's law. Bechdel credits her friend Liz Wallace for the test, which appears in a 1985 strip entitled "The Rule", in which a character says that she only watches a movie if it satisfies the following requirements:

1. It has to have at least two women in it,

2. Who talk to each other,

3. About something other than a man.[5][6]

A variant of the test, in which the two women must additionally be named characters, is also called the Mo Movie Measure. The name is a misnomer as neither Mo nor the other regular characters had been introduced yet at the time of this strip's publication.[7]

But never as unilaterally dark as BSG--if you don't know going it, it's horrendously bleak, and the finale made more than one person want to kill things.

Early BSG is less bleak. Yes, a near total genocide of humans at the beginning is less bleak than... season 3 had New Caprica, right?

I think Galactica is more likely to make you want to throw things at the end, and drink heavily throughout

I think Stargate is more likely to make you want to cheat and skip 3 seasons because there are so damn many.

I think Old Who is more likely to make you roll your eyes at the plots, effects, and costumes.

I think New Who is more likely to make you wish for the previous iteration of *[insert role in the show: Doctor, Companion]* and say, "Oh, not that villain AGAIN."

Any of them may make you want to smack characters for doing stupid things.

My recommendation would be Who, but that's me.

Early BSG is less bleak

This is totally a BSG definition of "less bleak." Doctor Who and SG1 have both cheerful and funny moments, never mind optimism for the fate of individual humans and the race in general.

I marathoned BSG once. Never again.

Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, or Stargate SG-1???

Have you seen Farscape? If not, it's worthy addition to the list.

t /not helping

Yeah, for a while I was okay with the bleak. But the end definitely made me want to throw things.

I think I've been very circumspect not suggesting Supernatural, but it's obviously the answer.

I think I'm probably going to end up watching all of them, but sounds like Doctor Who is first up =)

And ah, I had heard of the Bedchel test, just not the name for it. Thanks!!

Occasionally Doctor Who does stuff that causes my suspension of disbelief to be unsuspended. Like, say, aliens with heads that look just like rhinos?

But I've gotten better at letting stuff like that bug me.

Occasionally Doctor Who does stuff that causes my suspension of disbelief to be unsuspended

If it only happens occasionally, you don't watch enough. Then watch more, and it stops. It's the path...