I haven’t been watching much in terms of actual shows for a good while, then while listening to a podcast a host casually mentioned they had rewatched Chernobyl, how it still holds up, that there’s a reason it got as much acclaim as it did, etc. So I thought I’d give it a go and wow, loved it (still one episode left to watch).
Had me thinking, what else have I missed out on? What are some “absolute cinema” TV shows that still hold up and and are considered must watch?
I’m really surprised The Expanse didn’t get more of a mention here. Great scify series, and I don’t like series in general.
Its closer to hard sci fy than prob anything else, it has pretty realistic politics of exploitation, rebellion and inyterdependace in the near (few hundred years) colonisation of the solar system. There’s some gritty pewpewpew in space, balanced out by some space opera, with spectacular characters that have more depth than most and a story arch thats likely to make you binge it.As an added bonus the series is 6 out of 9 (/10) books it is based on. There are some notable differences by the end but still you can… expand beyond what the series shows.
The Good Place. Season one is just to set it up, please stick with it through at least S2. The ending makes me cry every time I watch it
My gf and I like to say that, based on the premise, The Good Place had absolutely no right being as amazing as it was. Phenomenal.
As a non religious person, I wrote this show off for years. I recently watched it and it was amazing. Can’t recommend it enough.
Same. The advertising didn’t do it justice, so I ignored it as some Christian-adjacent pandering. I was very incorrect about that.
For anyone who doesn’t know, it’s an intelligent, witty, creative comedy about moral philosophy and friendship. There’s an absolutely hilarious episode dedicated to The Trolley Problem. If that sounds interesting to you, then I think you’ll love this show.
I love the lady who’s stuck in purgatory and everything there is just meh
Shes also in Workaholics, does a great job in that show too
It is the only show that I know that managed to hold its quality up all through the end. It’s amazing
keep it sleazy 👉👉
You got to say it!?
One of the most thoughtful, educational, and funny shows. I rewatched it a few times and it was great every time.
I made it… Almost through season 1? I don’t remember how far. There were clever bits, but it just didn’t grip me. I hate to invest that much time into something that people keep recommending just to make it to the end and… Yeah.
That and severance. It took so long to get started that I fell off that too. People say it’s great though.
Avatar:TLA was great and so was Arcaine and Blue Eye Samurai though!
Eh, at the end of season 1 there’s a huge twist that nearly everyone loves. You should finish the season.
It’s also why I STOPPED watching the show, but I’m very much in the minority.
Is the twist that they are actually in hell? Cuz I guessed that about halfway through the first episode when every single character was an insufferable ass. Which coincidentally is also why I stopped watching. Very American humour I think, it felt similar to Parks and Rec, another one which everyone seems to love that I bounced off hard.
Spoiler
I think so. I saw a spoiler online where the mayor guy says something along the lines of “is this the bad place?” But even knowing that… I guess I just didn’t enjoy ride enough to make it to that point? Ok, so they’re in the bad place… Now what? File a grievance? Maybe there’s no good or bad place and they’re all in purgatory? Idk. Maybe the humor just didn’t hit.
Oh fork. Fork! what the fork!!
Watched over and over again about 15+ times. Still gets me.
Shame I could only upvote you once. Rewatched it three times already, I think it’s time for a fourth. It’s really, really good
Speaking of Chernobyl, watch Andor next (lots of the same actors). Go in ignoring the fact it has anything to do with Star Wars and you’ll have a great time. It’s peak television.
I love me some Sci-Fi but yeah, the fact that it’s Star Wars had me ignoring this one despite all the amazing reviews and hype. Is Andor still enjoyable without having seen anything but the first six movies and the first two of the sequels? I know it’s closely linked with Rogue One and I didn’t watch that either. Still recommendable with that little knowledge of the current expanded universe?
I went in having only seen those movies too, you really don’t even need that much familiarity to enjoy this. Don’t sleep on it, it’s quite good.
I watched Rogue One after I finished Andor and I was pretty disappointed, it’s an alright movie I guess but a huge downgrade from the show IMO.
Interesting, as I thought the opposite. It felt bigger budget and a great extension to the series.
I think the only thing you need to know is the Empire are fascists and baddies. They make that pretty clear even if you don’t know that. Imagine a political spy thriller made by someone who doesn’t care about Star Wars lore, because that’s what it is.
If you’re into sci-fi, I hope you’ve seen Babylon 5. The political storylines have never felt more relevant.
Babylon 5 is excellent. The special effects are still pretty decent decades later, but apparently you need to find the right version, because they tried to upscale some of it for HD at one point and completely messed up the effects scenes.
The actors do an amazing job though, and the fact that it’s a cohesive story that was slowly played out over multiple seasons is so rare.
If you know of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, it was a Babylon 5 ripoff. The creator of Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski went to Paramount with his idea and they rejected it. He went to PTEN / Warner Brothers and they made it. DS9 launched just a month before Babylon 5 came out. But, “coincidentally” it took place on a space station next to a wormhole, involved a leader who became a religious figure against their will / knowledge, there’s a fiesty female second officer, an idealistic doctor, a hard-boiled security chief… basically too many things to be coincidental.
You can go in with no prior knowledge if you want. Watch Andor and then Rogue One (narrative order is reverse release order)
I have no clue how Disney let them make it.
Rogue One is also one of the best Star Wars shows of the modern era, and I generally hate prequels, but it and Andor are phenomenal.
Oh yeah that’s more than enough. If anything all you need is A New Hope, but as long as you know the Empire are the bad guys the story is pretty self-contained.
Rogue One takes place immediately after, so watch it next if you like.
If you have never seen anything related to Star Wars - watch Andor, if you hate Star Wars - watch Andor, if you love Star Wars - watch Andor
I might be wrong, but I’d estimate there are roughly zero mentions of light sabres, force, Jedi etc in Andor.
You’re only slightly off, and the point is well taken that it’s far from the point of the show.
Tap for spoiler
Specifically, there’s the mildly force-sensitive medic on Yavin who gets Bix to believe in something bigger. I think there’s also a few other offhand references.
just a heads up to anyone watching andor. the first two episodes are… wait until episode 3 to judge if you like the show or not
Ok, thanks for saying that. I literally gave up after ep.2 as the whole thing was boring. I tried several times watching it - fell asleep, literally
but i’ll give it another go - thanks
im no expert, i just finished ep. 3 yesterday. me and my partner agreed that they should have rolled the first 3 episodes into one 90 inute episode, because the first two do t have any kind of story to them, just setup
DARK on Netflix.
It’s not for everybody but I loved every second of it. In summary (without spoilers):
I always plug Scavenger’s Reign. It’s a a sci fi survival show about a set of people who get stranded on an alien planet animated kind of like a graphic novel. The creators used a bunch of nature documentaries as inspiration to create a truly alien and interdependent ecosystem, but the theme tells you everything you need to know about the tone.
Also, animated sci fi comedy, The Venture Bros
The creator behind Scavenger’s Reign, Joe Bennett, has animated for the FXX series Cake, and he also created Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects, as well as soon to be on Netflix Dealies which is based on one of his Cake shorts.
Everything he does is excellent, even his illustrations for Joe Pera’s bathroom book “A Bathroom Book for People Not Pooping or Peeing but Using the Bathroom as an Escape” are wonderful.
Also the artistic inspiration for Scavenger’s Reign is french graphic novelist Jean Henri Gaston Giraud, also known as Mœbius, if you’re looking for similar artwork.
/infodump
Amazing info. I loved scavengers reign and just started common side effects, but haven’t put the names together as the same creator. Both are mind bending shows, so more from the same creator is a great get.
I had no idea, it just keeps getting better
There’s also a video game that uses a very Moebius style that’s unrelated to all this, it’s called Sable and its a lot of fun.
Loved every minute of Scavengers Reign, still hoping they will make another series of it.
Thanks for the info about Moebius, love this kind of artstyle!
i loved scavengers rein. that show had some of the best visuals and ideas ive seen in scifi. it really shows the utility of 2d animation for showing fantastical worlds. it would have never worked in 3d, it would have taken forever and billions of dollars to make or it would have been soulless and weightless like most of the stuff studios are churning out these days. i hope we see more quality 2d animation for more mature scifi and fantasy in the future.
I’d add Pantheon to this list for amazing sci-fi adult animation. I loved both Scavenger’s Reign and Common Side Effects.
I know that Common Side Effects is getting a second season. I really wish Scavenger’s Reign would get another season. That show is amazing.
Edit: Also, not a tv show, but the animated French film Arco was lovely. Beautiful hand drawn animation, set in the far future, and not just another dystopian story. Will also mention another animated French film Mars Express was pretty cool.
Pantheon is dope as living fuck and one of the few scifis about things in the near future that seems hopeful
Scavenger’s Reign
The most imaginative show I have seen that displays an alien ecosystem. Beautiful and creepy.
The best show I could only get through one episode of. It was just a bit too gruesome horror for me, but if you have the stomach for it, my single-episode impression was that it’s an excellent work.
Great show and themes but the ending fell flat for me. I’m not going to spoil anything but they had a major missed opportunity in creating better character arcs and tying everything together. It also felt more like the characters were only trying to reach a goal (not spoiling) the whole time instead of spending more time appreciating the planet and the journey.
It wasn’t an amazing show but it was definitely good if you’re into sci-fi, survival, and animation.
It also felt more like the characters were only trying to reach a goal (not spoiling) the whole time instead of spending more time appreciating the planet and the journey.
Their focus on the destination and not the journey was a plot point for some of the characters.
I thought the ending fell a bit flat as it felt to me like it was kinda vague in case they decided to continue. It made sense, and worked, but didn’t feel like an ending.
Agreed, almost felt like they planned a sequel, a continuation.
I’m always ready to plug Bojack Horseman. Yes, it’s an animated show about an anthropomorphic horse, with tons of silly, animal puns and visual gags, and cartoon-ish storylines, and it will sometimes just rip you open emotionally. Will Arnett is a phenomenally gifted voice actor. And despite this, one of the best episodes of television I’ve ever seen is one in which he has barely any lines.
The usual advice, of course, is that it takes until the middle of the first season to get really good. (The first few episodes aren’t bad, they’re just light comedy.)
It did some really cool experimental stuff as well, such as:
-
An episode that’s 90% the main character’s monologue, delivered straight into the ‘camera’.
-
An episode from the perspective of someone with advanced dementia, where a lot of the important details are scribbled out.
-
An episode from the perspective of someone who’s (perhaps) dying, and it’s all explicitly stated to be a hallucination as their neurons are misfiring.
-
A lot of exploration into themes of nihilism and pointlessness.
And it all works. That show is amazing.
-
I really love this show. I’ll rewatch it every now and again. After my own mom died, “Free Churro” really hit differently. It’s a really beautiful dive into the thoughts and emotions that can come up when your mom is recently dead but your mom was also chronically an asshole.
The exploration of Beatrice’s and Bojack’s relationship thoughout the series, and the flashbacks to how Beatrice’s own trauma shaped her and her relationship with Bojack, and Bojack’s final acceptance that now, finally, he knows there’s no chance she’ll ever be the mother he wanted or the one he needed, really helped me come to grips with what I was going through, mentally and emotionally.
The rest of the show is also really good. I’m a big fan of Character Actress Margo Martindale.
The universe is a cruel, uncaring void. The key to being happy isn’t a search for meaning. It’s to just keep yourself busy with unimportant nonsense, and eventually, you’ll be dead.
“The view from halfway down” saved me from suicidal ideation, thoughts and intent. It was the first light that got me to realise suicidal ideation is not normal, it’s not a solution. It got me to listen to what friends were saying, and eventually led to me accepting the breakdown that got me professional help before I hurt myself. Not saying it’s the trigger, or the totality: I had a lot of help along the way. But definitely significant in so many dark times.
The way Bojack Horseman approaches gender, sexuality and mental health is always extremely accepting, able to draw comedy because of it and not against it, and then being so utterly heartbreaking at times.
Yeh, “sad horse” show. But it has so much depth.
The constant development of BoJack, of Todd, of Diane causes you (well, it did for me) to reassess previous episodes in new light.
Truly incredible.Bojack
Check out Undone.
Bojack is a depressed narcissist feeling sorry for himself. The main character is a self centered asshole.
So Trump?
Depressing horse show. Really good though.
I had written that show off because it looked like every other raunchy adult cartoon. I was so wrong about it.
Here’s a short selection of series that really stood out for me over the past few years.
All are there for different reasons, but they were all quite amazing IMHO. (also, I’ve included spoiler-free summaries 😉)
Devs
A software engineer investigates the secretive quantum computing division of her cutting-edge tech company after her boyfriend goes missing.
This felt like some of the best early Black Mirror episodes, stretched out over the length of a well-paced short TV series. In a way, it’s also similar to Severance, in the best of ways.Our Flag Means Death
An 18th-century aristocrat abandons his life of luxury to become a pirate.
Funny, touching, extremely intelligent… if you like the work of Taika Waititi and his friends (What we do in the Shadows), this is a must-watch.Scavengers Reign
When a deep-space freighter crashes on a beautiful but profoundly perilous alien planet, the scattered surviving crew must navigate a surreal, violently interconnected ecosystem in a desperate bid for rescue.
The best Sci-Fi series I’ve ever seen. This may be the first tv series I’ve seen that actually translates the vibe of some of the best Sci-Fi/space-opera writing I’ve read.Killing Eve
A bored MI5 security officer and a glamorous, unpredictable assassin become locked in a deadly, globe-trotting game of cat-and-mouse.
Amazing actresses playing terrible people. It is so we’ll made I think everyone needs to watch this one.Utopia (UK)
A group of online forum members unearths a bizarre graphic novel rumored to predict global disasters, suddenly finding themselves hunted by a ruthless, shadowy organization.
This show is SO unique. The way it looks, the vibe, the story… everything hits SO hard! Just the intro sequence had me HOOKED! (Note: it was never finished; but it does have a pretty good ending regardless).NOTE: only the UK version, not the American one, trust me. It’s **brilliant __ ** but prepared to be very disappointed it didn’t get another season.
UK Utopia has two seasons and has something approaching an ending. The second season isn’t nearly as good, excluding S02E01, which was genuinely great.
Seconding American Utopia === bad as well.
Crikey, Utopia, I forgot about that. Thank you for reminding me.
The first few seasons of Killing Eve were great, but IMO the quality really dropped off at the end.
Came to say Devs aa well.
In this list, I’ve only heard of Devs and Our Flag Means Death, but those two alone are so goddamn good that you have my complete trust on the rest! Definitely going to check them out.
Devs and Scavengers Reign are superb shouts.
Scavengers Reign
I liked the character writing, and I liked many of the scifi parts, but i was missing the “hard scifi” that the plot should revolve around in a scifi story. i.e. the futuristic stuff doesn’t affect the story much and the character arcs would have worked just as well in 17th century exploration story. Compare that to hard scifi like “the expanse” or “westworld”, where many parts of the story can only work because of the specific way the world works.
if you prefer soft scifi over hard sci, than Scavengers Reign is a strong recommendation.
Sci-Fi is an extremely broad genre, and I was mostly trying to keep things vague and spoiler-free; but
spoiler
this series did two main things that I’ve never seen at this level: creating a real sense of someplace “alien”, something that is so far from human comprehension that the characters AND the viewer are both totally at a loss; and I adored the way it recreated the visual style of classic Sci-Fi visual artists (mostly Bande Dessinée, including the likes of Moebius, Jodorowski, and the Métal Hurlant crowd).
quote from spoiler
a real sense of someplace “alien"
Yes. so much this!
spoiler
Too often the aliens just feel like green humans, and the worlds are just “earth but only the deserts” or “earth, but more water”. I guess that’s because it won’t sell well if the audience can’t relate enough with the world and its inhabitants. But still…
I loved Mr Robot
Edit- I’d also throw in Fargo. The season with Chris Rock and Jason Schwartzman was weak but the rest are great (Especially seasons 2 & 5)
Second this. It’s my fav show
Isn’t it just like
spoiler
a very long version of fight club?
Meh, not really, there are references to it and
spoiler
ending capitalism is not reserved to fight club
spoiler
Its more about the main character having an alterego who drive’s him in conflict only to turn out its his imagination, while starting him on a path to fight the system in some elaborate manner. Totally ruined the show for me.
1000% the same.
Tap for spoiler
Elliot was ultimately motivated by a desire to protect himself and those he cared about. I never got that impression from Tyler; he was more interested in seeing humanity evolve and sculpting the concept of masculine.
Mr. Robot himself did not arise out of insomnia.
There is no violent therapy group for men in Mr. Robot; the themes around masculinity are absent.
fsociety doesn’t really franchise, not like Project Mayhem.
Tyler was an amateur chemist; Elliot is a master hacker.
There is very little social engineering, and IIRC zero hacking in Fight Club.That being said, of course there are similarities. Maxence Cyrin’s cover of Where Is My Mind? is an obvious callback; Darlene is kinda like Marla, if one squints; the targeting of capitalism and debt; Project Mayhem comes into possession of some police.
But do they own the FBI or the largest conglomerate?
Where is White Rose or Phillip Price in Fight Club?Among other things the power plays are larger in Mr. Robot: organized crime the size of nations, corrupt federal agencies, corporations too big to fail. Fight Club was published and directed before 9/11, the Arab Spring, the subprime mortgage crisis and more, and it shows.
I love both. But Mr. Robot feels like the grown-up, fleshed-out cousin that followed certain concepts through to their logical conclusions. Are they alike? Of course, no doubt. But I wouldn’t say they are so similar that if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen the other. They are distinct and unique. The more closely one analyzes them, the more one finds that the similarities are superficial.
Or so it seems to me.
They definitely scratch a similar itch.
spoiler
I definitely like the approach to multiple personalities in Mr Robot more. A fracture due to emotional trauma is much more believable than someone developing an alter ego out of boredom.
Hello, friend. Hello friend?
I was going to say that, I need to start my fifth rewatch…
Another show that I was into until the big reveal at the end of season 1 and lost all interest. And I’m definitely in the minority.
I assume you are referencing Mr. Robot? (looks like your comment is before their edit to add Fargo)
Me too on this one. Very strong beginning but it went a very unexpected direction.
I find the anti china nonsense thats makes zero sense and the ending being limited redistribution only to americans very troubling and really ruined the whole show.
Battlestar Galactica 2000s remake. It’s soooo good
SO SAY WE ALL 💪
…with the caveat that it is an intense show. No scifi CV is complete without it. Just don’t expect to sit down and unwind with it.
It’s worth watching just to see the performance of Edward James Olmos. That dude put in the performance of a lifetime.
He played his role so incredibly well. The show wouldn’t have been the same without him
Yeah, and he did it without needing to be the star. I’d say it was probably Katie Sackhoff who was the star, although Jamie Bamber (Apollo) was also a key actor. But, Adama glued the whole thing together.
So many of the older actors on that show were legendary though: Mary McDonnell, Michael Hogan, Donnelly Rhodes, Dean Stockwell, etc. I’m not saying that the younger actors were bad. Many, even most of them were good. It’s just that Edward James Olmos or Michael Hogan could communicate so much with just a grunt.
That’s how you do a god damn gritty reboot.
Breaking Bad!
Hast to scroll way too much to find this. Breaking Bad might be peak TV.
Probably one of the few shows that had a proper ending as well that didnt leave me feeling disappointed.
Breaking bad is really good TV, but it felt like it was this “let’s do a cringier nihilistic thing every episode” feeling, like Better Call Saul.
True Detective, season 1
Better Call Saul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Call_Saul
This show is better than Breaking Bad IMHO.
better than Breaking Bad
Loved breaking bad but I’ve always said the same.
I absolutely love both shows, but for me Breaking Bad takes the top spot.
Agreed. Breaking bad has more action and is exciting. But I’ll pick the character study with flawless writing every time.
Breaking bad has good action but the story telling in Saul and the character arcs are 👌
Vince Gilligan is on another level. Pluribus is sooo good so far too.
So surprised by how many people seem to hold this opinion. I watched all of BCS and wished I had my time back.
I was not at all a fan of the final half I must say. Other than that it was great through most of it!
how it still holds up
Jesus Christ, the show came out in 2019… Are we really asking if things from 2019 “still hold up”?
Ted Lasso. Surface level it’s a “fish out of water” story of an American College Football coach going to England to coach Professional Football (soccer). In actuality it’s a show about loss, growth, relationships, and packs more emotions than you’ll know what to do with. I know a lot of people gush about it, but I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that it might be the most perfect show I’ve ever watched.
Similarly, Schitt’s Creek. A lot of similar themes, also a nearly perfect show. I will say that it took me a little bit to get past the first couple of episodes because it seemed like all of the characters were kinda awful, but that’s really setting things up for character growth.
Nobody seems to have watched it, but “Counterpart”. It’s a mind fuck Science Fiction show. Only 20 episodes, so manageable.
It was cancelled, but the writers knew beforehand and wrote an absolute perfect conclusion for the last episodes.
Also it’s best to go in blind. There are events predicted in the show that later happened for real (I don’t want to spoil it), and it’s fun to think “oh that is how and why it happened”!
Also J.K. Simmons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpart_(TV_series)
I can’t recommend this show enough.
Widow’s Bay is a recent horror comedy series starring Matthew Rhys & Stephen Root that’ll be getting a second season. I consume all media and I highly recommend this gem, especially for the person who’s seen everything in these comments. It has excellent, subtle comedy, ramping lore-building in the vein of the best years of LOST, and the story of the week combined with overarching season arc structure of classics like X-Files.
100% recommend this. I haven’t laughed at a show this much in a long time. Matthew Rhys is the king of reactions.
Well put!
I expect the actors loved doing this show, most of them get to perform two versions of the same character. They all knock it out of the park.
Terrific show.
I think most people know that J.K. Simmons is an amazing actor, but he’s rarely the lead character in anything. I’m glad I got to see him as the lead in this, what a performance!
Counterpart
It’s a unique show. Cold War spy games in Berlin involving a gateway to a parallel universe. Mood is somber and intense. Looks great.
Spoiler tags please. What you mention is a really amazing reveal for people who go in blind.
It’s not a spoiler if you learn this in the first episode.
Sure it is, if it is dramatically revealed in the first episode.
