My wife had never been a big fan of TV series, but when we were on holiday in Germany, with two kids who went to bed at 7 and no chance of going out after that, I just put her in front of the first season of The Wire. She was hooked immediately.

After having been through all of the episodes, we went right into The West Wing, which we are now finishing. I could really need the best suggestions that you have to offer for after this. This may not be the best site for the suggestions, as my wife immediately disengages at the first sign of obvious SF/F, but I'm sure you all have some other good suggestions.

Besides no (obvious) SF/F elements, she also dislikes too much violence (for the sake of the story, as was the case in The Wire where it was also paced over time, is OK). We both prefer an overall story arch (no Monster-of-the-Week, I can just turn on CSI or something if I want that, or put in one of the many Poirot/Morse/Miss Marple DVDs we got) and, for the choice of our next project, some closure at the end: no series that are still running, or that were either cancelled without a good ending or just sizzled out.

So: shoot away. The more suggestions, the better.