I don't know if it was really good or just how I remember it, but the first season of Heroes was great. It was such a shame they fucked it up so bad in the next season.
idk, that had already changed the basic nature of how gods work from the book.
they also tended to go for cheap shots where the author really thought a lot about how to use certain gods.
for example:
in the epilogue of the anniversary edition of the book gaimam talks about wanting to incorporate Jesus, but deciding that the scene he wrote for him wasn't good enough to capture what Jesus was to Americans. but he includes the scene in the post script anyway. it's a quiet scene where Jesus comes and offers guidance in one of shadows most desperate hours.
in the show Jesus gets shot trying to cross the Mexican border. which is the absolute lowest hanging fruit when it comes to Jesus. i have made that joke before. I've heard others make that joke before. "if Jesus actually was alive right now he'd get shot at the border for being brown and communist". they clearly just wanted shock value at the lowest intellectual price.
i don't hate shows or movies just for adapting a story to a new medium. for example, the new dune movies really aren't actually capturing the point of the books very well so far. that's because the dune books are mostly people thinking about what people think it doesn't adapt into visual mediums well. what villenuve has made is a great movie series regardless. the shining is another great example of that. i had a Stephen King fan try to tell me that Stanley kubrik was a hack for not following the book better. I'd argue that Stanley Kubrik is a better filmmaker that king is an author. the shining is an all time great movie regardless of what it was based on or how much it changed that material. that said, i do hate adaptation that add story elements and change basic rules of reality without putting thought or effort in to making it worthwhile. these two examples are great because kubrik and villenuve are masters of their craft that made these movies with immense amounts of care and effort.
deviating from the source material isn't inherently a sin, but making a much worse story when you started with a good one that was already written and loved and using its name to draw people in is worse than just making a bad show. a bad show is easily ignored, but a bad adaptation will put people off of the source material you love. or worse, will supplant the source material in the cultural zeitgeist and you'll forever have to specify "i mean the book, not that terrible movie they did". i think tv American gods was... just ok. it completely failed to capture what i liked about the book, but others seem to like it well enough. it has gotten multiple people i know into the book, so i can't hate it entirely.
similar to the Witcher show. i hated it. it had nothing of the books in it. it was schlocky and the plot BARELY made sense. they just went off and did entirely their own thing after season 1 and it was shit. but everyone who hasn't read the books seems to still like it so maybe I'm just a hater.
"inspired" isn't the word. Gaiman pretty shamelessly ripped it off for Sandman. Never even acknowledged it IIRC, despite her asking him for a shoutout because she was so hard up.
N.B. this is half-remembered gossip - do your own research, don't just take my word for it
The funny thing is that I almost always call Gaiman out for stealing her ideas. I was a fan of hers for years, but never got into the gossip. I hope she's in a better place now.
The Penn and Teller episode was amazing. I can't think of a better use of comedy in science fiction. There may be funnier shows, but this one actually dealt with humor as a part of people's culture.
What seems to start as a cheesy Star Trek monster of the week ripoff turns into amazing character development and years-long plot developments from an era where that's not what TV was.
I stopped B5 after the resolution of the shadow wars. which apparently only needed a plucky American to explain that that whole thing was pointless and they all just went away.
Yes. And do so knowing that the whole thing was supposed to be a five season arc, then they got told "no you get four" so hastily wrapped up the war only to be told "have another season!"
So they pulled an entire season out of their arse on the fly and in this year it is very. Very relevant
That arc is great. The followup is the earth civil war arc which is pretty great. You won't enjoy the last season, even though I find a lot of it good.
😂 that being said, is crazy to think that that was actually cutting edge CGI, pretty sure we still called them Silicon graphics at that time maybe. B5, ReBoot, crash test dummies, those three were pioneers from a tv show production CGI.
I'm curious what those first shows in other countries were like
AFAIK the visuals were designed for a 3:4, SDTV world. The problem is that when they filmed it they framed it for 4:3 but they included some content to the sides so it could be used in a 16:9 format. The problem is that the CGI was all 4:3, so when they released a 16:9 DVD they had to do something about the CGI stuff, and they made a horrible decision. Instead of having vertical black bars, they cropped and zoomed the 4:3 CGI scenes so they had a 16:9 ratio. That meant they took something that was already in SD, then cropped out 25% of the content, and zoomed in so you couldn't see the whole frame.
Better Off Ted is just so good. Only 2 seasons but tbh I doubt they could have kept the pace past maybe a third season anyway. As much as I want more it's kinda nice it burned brightly and shortly
surprisingly dark too, especially in the latter seasons. they just keep making the main characters fail and suffer and betray each other and get tortured and have their friends and family die in front of them after failing to escape the body horror mad scientist that wants to steal your organs and trap you in the matrix...
i actually had to stop watching it towards the end over the continuous concentrated negativity. it's not a very happy show very often. still good, i just can't deal with shows that never turn on the lights. like bojack horseman and mr. robot. two other shows that are just too depressing for me to watch. i resonate too hard the consistent downward spiral with no positive moments, then the feeling sticks with me. all three are really good shows that i had to turn off for my own wellbeing.
thematically it holds up fine. productuon wise it's about what you'd expect from 90s scifi. it even has early cg aliens, with a tv budget. lots of big rubber suits or people with skin paint and wigs.
I left his in another comment before seeing yours but yeah, last time I watched it was quite some time ago and I still really enjoy it. One of the few times the 'rose colored glasses' didn't apply.
I'm currently through Season 1 and starting Season 2. Last time I saw it was in high school and the show holds up amazingly well. I've enjoyed it as much if not more.
Prime video and Pluto both have all 10 seasons right now. HBO max has 1-3, and mgm+ (didn’t know that was a thing) has 1-4. So Pluto might be the best option since it’s free. But the show is truly epic. The characters are amazing, the storylines are heartwarming at times, bonkers at others, but it’s a very well made show. Plus macguyver is the lead.
It's good, but I'd hardly call it "god tier sci-fi". It is much more an actioney, comedy, adventure show than it is a serious sci-fi show. It's not the kind of show that really challenges the viewer in any way. The "sci" part of the "sci-fi" is basically fantasy. It has some great characters, lots of fun adventures, a little bit of danger, but you know basically things are going to be wrapped up at the end of the episode.
It's one of my favourite shows to re-watch, but I put it on when I'm doing other things because I know it's going to be some fun adventures and fun interactions between great characters without any deep thinking or deep emotions. Meanwhile, there are other shows that I don't rewatch often because they're not well suited to being background entertainment.
Oh, it's great. Charlie Brooker (Black Mirror's creator) called it the best show of all time, with honorable mentions to Deadwood and The Shield (which I didn't rate much)
The whole first season is kinda a low rent monster of the week show. Then there's a few seasons that cohere around sci-fi trope A that are worth the watch, then the last season or two revolve around sci-fi trope B and I basically kept watching just to finish it.
Loved it as a kid and just started watching the whole series this week. Tried to get my wife to watch the Turkey Drop last night and she didn't look up from her phone once.
My only memory of this show is the episode where Johnny gets progressively more intoxicated and his reaction time improves. I've modeled my life after that episode.
Yeah I'd consider it pretty niche. Most people I gushed to about it didn't want to give it a chance because it was dubbed, weirdly enough. Their loss. This reminds me I need to do a rewatch...
If im reading subtitles what happens on screen isn't really being processed by my brain at 100% so details can get missed.
Same to subtitles when focusing on visuals.
Anime isn't as bad to watched subbed because it's usually shorter form and 'simpler' visually than live action - Just compare a visually dark scene from live action and animated as a quick and dirty example.
Yeah, that's fair, I see your point. I'd say it depends on the movie. In many cases characters are memorable partly because of the way the actors speak - even if I don't speak the language myself (like with DARK).
My wife is the daughter of an old British guy, so she was less than impressed when I became obsessed with this show. It's fantastic, and is my top contender for "best opening theme song ever".
It's got its moments, but the landlady character... her line delivery and the way characters react to them is so odd, like the director truly believes everything she says is hilarious, but... its really not at all
If you like Columbo, Poker Face is a spiritual descendant. It's honestly far better than I expected, and sometimes there's camera work that is intentionally straight from the 70s.
"Eh, just one more question..." has come up a bit more as well. Season 2 really leaned into the Columbo connection.
Plus, it just has that look sometimes. There's a long zoom with voice over I think in S1E8 that made my heart soar, and a long pull back with lens flare during a sunset in S2E1 that screams 70's cinema and I think is straight from Easy Rider or something. Amazing stuff.
I've not confirmed this, but apparently there is a large time shift in the books at roughly the end of the show, so they sort of left the door open for continuing it when the actors have realistically aged.
I loved it! But def need to rewatch it, I saw it when it came out and it warrants another go.
I tuned in for the full Lynch, Fire Walk With Me was very good and scary. Depictions of transcendental evil hook me every time. I love cosmic horror, and I love Twin Peaks
I want to re-watch that one soon. IMO it's by far the best hacking TV Show / Movie ever made.
I just re-watched Hackers because it's the 30th anniversary. There are definitely things I like about it. Matthew Lillard gives an amazing performance. The soundtrack of that movie is amazing. The costumers and set designers had so much fun with it. But good gawd, the hacking was so terrible. Basically every time anybody touches a computer in that show it's awful. And for a movie about hackers... that's a lot. What's amazing is that clearly they had some very knowledgeable person/people involved, because parts of the script definitely reference real things that "non-hackers" wouldn't know about. But, I guess they just ignored these experts when it came to anything involving someone touching a computer.
Six Feet Under (HBO). It's hilarious. It's devastating. You'll loathe and love each character. Probably my favorite finale of a show, ever.
Terriers (no idea where to find it right now, it aired on USA I think?). Quirky private investigator show that should have been given more than a season.
Patriot (Amazon). Spy meets depression, meets hilarity. Worth it just for the rochambeau.
Patriot is as incredible as it is unknown and I’m happy to find it mentioned here! Some of the most engaging, poignant, absurd, hilarious yet devastating TV I’ve watched.
2 more in my household. My husband is always saying he wishes we could find another show like that, when he isn't saying he wishes we could find another one like Scavenger's Reign.
Well, since niche in this thread seems to mean anything that came out more than 2-3 years ago and is less popular than GoT or the office, I'll just nominate Chuck, Derry Girls and Banshee. If I were to stretch it even more I'd also say After Life and Ted Lasso(I've already watched this 3 times in the last 2 years.. and I could watch it again without problems but I don't wanna get sick of it)
its funny and engaging, well written "old white guy asshole who knows everything" character. some episodes deal with themes it is waay too immature to handle, but on the whole petty good.
i did not get past the first ep of season 4, it shat the bed so fucking hard i really don't know how.
The whole show is wonderful and worth a watch or five. Only three seasons and the episodes are usually 10-11 minutes, with the occasional 20-minute double episode. It packs some surprising depth and is just a treasure.
Heck yeah! I watch this one every once in awhile, as I managed to get the DVDs back in the day. Always loved the imaginative deaths, the emotional hits, and how much they made me really like every character somehow.
Still never prepared for some deaths, honestly. The bagel chopper one still makes me cringe.
I've dug into these threads so sooooo many times over the years and I always have to look at suggestion after suggestion after suggestion, hundreds of excellent television shows. Then I reach the end. No one has mentioned Terriers. It is my time to comment.
But here! Today! Terriers is alive. I'm confident I've over hyped it by now but.... TERRIERS! A silly name for a television show, but a wonderful story.
And for those wondering, it's just one season and whole the whole the ending isn't what you want, it is one you can accept. Did Terriers deserve a second season? Yes. But did the story come to a point where I can dream of a future? Also yes.
Where will he go next? This phantom from another time, this resurrected ghost of a previous nightmare. Chicago? Los Angeles? Miami, Florida? Vincennes, Indiana? Syracuse, New York? Anyplace, everyplace, where there's hate, where there's prejudice, where there's bigotry. He's alive. He's alive so long as these evils exist. Remember that when he comes to your town. Remember it when you hear his voice speaking out through others. Remember it when you hear a name called, a minority attacked, any blind, unreasoning assault on a people or any human being. He's alive because, through these things, we keep him alive.
I was just talking with my brother about that show! We used to wait for the reruns to come on when we were kids, even though it was already off the air and we were not the age demo.
It's just great television! And looking back now it was very progressive for its time.
Original MacGyver holds up fairly well for the most part. There are some episodes where certain portrayals might be charitably described as "good for their time" but I think they did all right, generally speaking, when the plot touched on sensitive social issues.
Moonlighting with Cybill Shepard & Bruce Willis makes me feel alone & lonely & yearning to re-plant myself into a glorious time in the past that no longer exists.
I have heaps of my own classics, that I regularly rewatch. More recently, though, has anyone seen Kevin can fk himself, holy crap that was perfect. Short but written to be short, and ties up perfectly. There was just a harmony to it. I was yelling at the telly, I know they're good when I start yelling at the telly.
For me, it's got to be the original 'The 4400' which also has a recent reboot, but that isn't as great. It's only a few seasons since it was unfortunately canceled.
I started watching it on a whim and was surprised by how in-depth some of the sci-fi ideas and moral quandries are, and the character development is fairly solid as well. When you consider that most of the actors aren't big names or unknowns (at least at that time, as it includes young Mahershala Ali), it makes it feel extremely liminal. Like most shows of the early 2000s, they tend to go for that 'creature of the week' format but also manage to have an overarching narrative.
Jpod. It's such a good show that no one seems to remember. Not sure where you'd find it but it's worth a watch (only one season because it's based on a book)
Woah, there's some synapses that haven't fired in forever. Will need to find it, I remember liking the book quite a bit (remember nothing else about it other than it involving video game devs). Knew they made a show but only vaguely remember some commercials on CBC.
Was going to be my second pick after the considerably more niche VR.5. Which involved the MC entering the minds of people via modem because it was 90s scifi about virtual reality. It also tended to be trippy as hell in a way that is just amazing. Also basically impossible to find without sailing the seven seas, and not easy even then.
Was going to throw Kindred: The Embraced in as a third choice. Also considerably more obscure than Heroes, it was basically a White Wolf Vampire: The Masquerade TV series.
Haibane Renmei. For a show that's 23 years old with only 13 episodes, I manage to hear new and unique opinions about it like once a week
It's a perfect anime for people who like anime, but not, like, anime anime. No fight scenes, no sci-fi, no spellcasting, just a girl with amnesia trying to get used to the strange walled town she recently woke up in. There are not enough superlatives to describe how much I love this show
I guess I was technically late to BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! if you can call band anime niche.
as far as obsession goes that probably tops the list. there is no other show (but it's 2nd season earlier this year) where I will watch other people watching it or watch video essays on character psychology and motivation.
edit: everyone else in this thread recommending things I watched air ... fuck I'm old.
Firefly was nice. So was the OA. And the one following up after Dark. Good stuff, killed off too soon.
Came here to say I just started Firefly!
Lucky, you get to see it for the first time.
Shiny!
One of today's lucky 10,000
I don't know if it was really good or just how I remember it, but the first season of Heroes was great. It was such a shame they fucked it up so bad in the next season.
I also have good memories of Heroes in the beginning, real shame how it ended up
Not as old, but cancelling American Gods was a shame
idk, that had already changed the basic nature of how gods work from the book.
they also tended to go for cheap shots where the author really thought a lot about how to use certain gods.
for example:
in the epilogue of the anniversary edition of the book gaimam talks about wanting to incorporate Jesus, but deciding that the scene he wrote for him wasn't good enough to capture what Jesus was to Americans. but he includes the scene in the post script anyway. it's a quiet scene where Jesus comes and offers guidance in one of shadows most desperate hours.
in the show Jesus gets shot trying to cross the Mexican border. which is the absolute lowest hanging fruit when it comes to Jesus. i have made that joke before. I've heard others make that joke before. "if Jesus actually was alive right now he'd get shot at the border for being brown and communist". they clearly just wanted shock value at the lowest intellectual price.
i don't hate shows or movies just for adapting a story to a new medium. for example, the new dune movies really aren't actually capturing the point of the books very well so far. that's because the dune books are mostly people thinking about what people think it doesn't adapt into visual mediums well. what villenuve has made is a great movie series regardless. the shining is another great example of that. i had a Stephen King fan try to tell me that Stanley kubrik was a hack for not following the book better. I'd argue that Stanley Kubrik is a better filmmaker that king is an author. the shining is an all time great movie regardless of what it was based on or how much it changed that material. that said, i do hate adaptation that add story elements and change basic rules of reality without putting thought or effort in to making it worthwhile. these two examples are great because kubrik and villenuve are masters of their craft that made these movies with immense amounts of care and effort.
deviating from the source material isn't inherently a sin, but making a much worse story when you started with a good one that was already written and loved and using its name to draw people in is worse than just making a bad show. a bad show is easily ignored, but a bad adaptation will put people off of the source material you love. or worse, will supplant the source material in the cultural zeitgeist and you'll forever have to specify "i mean the book, not that terrible movie they did". i think tv American gods was... just ok. it completely failed to capture what i liked about the book, but others seem to like it well enough. it has gotten multiple people i know into the book, so i can't hate it entirely.
similar to the Witcher show. i hated it. it had nothing of the books in it. it was schlocky and the plot BARELY made sense. they just went off and did entirely their own thing after season 1 and it was shit. but everyone who hasn't read the books seems to still like it so maybe I'm just a hater.
If you like Gaiman, introduce yourself to Tanith Lee.
She inspired a lot of his stuff.
https://bookshop.org/beta-search?keywords=tanith+lee
"Night's Master" is a good place to start. A demon prince visits the Earth, seducing and tormenting humanity for his own amusement.
"inspired" isn't the word. Gaiman pretty shamelessly ripped it off for Sandman. Never even acknowledged it IIRC, despite her asking him for a shoutout because she was so hard up.
N.B. this is half-remembered gossip - do your own research, don't just take my word for it
The funny thing is that I almost always call Gaiman out for stealing her ideas. I was a fan of hers for years, but never got into the gossip. I hope she's in a better place now.
Ouch, that hurts. Didn't know it was cancelled.
The one following after dark? 1799? The one with the ships?
Yeah the ship stuff. Was nice! I could imagine what they’re gonna do in the next two seasons!
Agreed!
Oooh, I loved the OA! But I'm just a fan of Brit Marling in general, She's got some interesting ideas going with everything she does.
That’s the writer or director?
Yes 😉 She (used to?) write, produce and act in her movies.
You can't take the sky from me.
I'll be in my bunk.
"Define interesting." "Oh god oh god, we're all gonna die?"
Love that the top 2 comments are different versions of the same.
Better Off Ted
Babylon 5 is great for those looking for a series.
Preach.
I think it's time for another rewatch.
I've been watching that and Deep Space Nine.
DS9 is the more well known, but I think Babylon 5 was more hard sci-fi
They're both good
Farscape was also on TV way back then right after so it was amazing
The Penn and Teller episode was amazing. I can't think of a better use of comedy in science fiction. There may be funnier shows, but this one actually dealt with humor as a part of people's culture.
DS9 was Babylon Five Lite.
Yes! B5 is awesome!
What seems to start as a cheesy Star Trek monster of the week ripoff turns into amazing character development and years-long plot developments from an era where that's not what TV was.
I stopped B5 after the resolution of the shadow wars. which apparently only needed a plucky American to explain that that whole thing was pointless and they all just went away.
Seems pointless to continue after that.
Should I continue?
Yes. And do so knowing that the whole thing was supposed to be a five season arc, then they got told "no you get four" so hastily wrapped up the war only to be told "have another season!"
So they pulled an entire season out of their arse on the fly and in this year it is very. Very relevant
That arc is great. The followup is the earth civil war arc which is pretty great. You won't enjoy the last season, even though I find a lot of it good.
I read that as "great looking" at first.
Yeah it uhhhh has some rough visuals lol. Works well though, and the uniforms are mostly incredible
😂 that being said, is crazy to think that that was actually cutting edge CGI, pretty sure we still called them Silicon graphics at that time maybe. B5, ReBoot, crash test dummies, those three were pioneers from a tv show production CGI.
I'm curious what those first shows in other countries were like
Crash dummies is basically unwatchable hahaha. I remember watching it so many times.
B5 also notably has inertia physics in space, mostly, which was unique
Was later on, but Space Above and Beyond handled inertia physics well iirc
AFAIK the visuals were designed for a 3:4, SDTV world. The problem is that when they filmed it they framed it for 4:3 but they included some content to the sides so it could be used in a 16:9 format. The problem is that the CGI was all 4:3, so when they released a 16:9 DVD they had to do something about the CGI stuff, and they made a horrible decision. Instead of having vertical black bars, they cropped and zoomed the 4:3 CGI scenes so they had a 16:9 ratio. That meant they took something that was already in SD, then cropped out 25% of the content, and zoomed in so you couldn't see the whole frame.
Firefly, of course.
On the plus side, what Joss Whedon did to Wash in Serenity made me hate him long before the revelations of what an asshole he is came to light.
Hey, how do reavers clean their harpoons?
They run 'em through the Wash... 😢
Haha I hate you
Top 3 hated deaths for me. Not even sure anything else quite takes the number 1 spot.
Better Off Ted is just so good. Only 2 seasons but tbh I doubt they could have kept the pace past maybe a third season anyway. As much as I want more it's kinda nice it burned brightly and shortly
My favorite part is when the octochicken comes down from its web.
For me it's when Veronica gives deposition in as little words and meaning as possible while technically not refusing to answer. It was perfect.
Farscape. I never heard much, if anything about it in Denmark, but it's amazing. Good sci-fi great humor.
surprisingly dark too, especially in the latter seasons. they just keep making the main characters fail and suffer and betray each other and get tortured and have their friends and family die in front of them after failing to escape the body horror mad scientist that wants to steal your organs and trap you in the matrix...
i actually had to stop watching it towards the end over the continuous concentrated negativity. it's not a very happy show very often. still good, i just can't deal with shows that never turn on the lights. like bojack horseman and mr. robot. two other shows that are just too depressing for me to watch. i resonate too hard the consistent downward spiral with no positive moments, then the feeling sticks with me. all three are really good shows that i had to turn off for my own wellbeing.
I saw it a lot many years ago, and I agree that its good, don't know how much it holds up today though
thematically it holds up fine. productuon wise it's about what you'd expect from 90s scifi. it even has early cg aliens, with a tv budget. lots of big rubber suits or people with skin paint and wigs.
I left his in another comment before seeing yours but yeah, last time I watched it was quite some time ago and I still really enjoy it. One of the few times the 'rose colored glasses' didn't apply.
I'm currently through Season 1 and starting Season 2. Last time I saw it was in high school and the show holds up amazingly well. I've enjoyed it as much if not more.
Stargate S-G1 is the shit. If you love sci-fi, that show is god tier.
Where do I watch it?
Your fav private tracker.
Prime video and Pluto both have all 10 seasons right now. HBO max has 1-3, and mgm+ (didn’t know that was a thing) has 1-4. So Pluto might be the best option since it’s free. But the show is truly epic. The characters are amazing, the storylines are heartwarming at times, bonkers at others, but it’s a very well made show. Plus macguyver is the lead.
A great example of what's wrong with streaming services today
Thanks brother
But solves his problems with just the one trick (put detonator on brick of plastic explosive)
Yes but that's actually him nailing the role.
Pluto in the UK is unwatchable, last time I checked. Feels like a 3 min ad break every 6 minutes or so
It's good, but I'd hardly call it "god tier sci-fi". It is much more an actioney, comedy, adventure show than it is a serious sci-fi show. It's not the kind of show that really challenges the viewer in any way. The "sci" part of the "sci-fi" is basically fantasy. It has some great characters, lots of fun adventures, a little bit of danger, but you know basically things are going to be wrapped up at the end of the episode.
It's one of my favourite shows to re-watch, but I put it on when I'm doing other things because I know it's going to be some fun adventures and fun interactions between great characters without any deep thinking or deep emotions. Meanwhile, there are other shows that I don't rewatch often because they're not well suited to being background entertainment.
Let me talk to you about the wire and how it is the perfect series. (Even when it got squirely in season 5)
The deconstruction of the failure of every institution in the city of Baltimore.
How good people can get lost in systems. How they can attempt to fight. How the systems inevitably prevail.
Awesome series but niche? It's an HBO series that's on pretty much every list of the best series of all time. I'd hardly call that niche.
Oh, it's great. Charlie Brooker (Black Mirror's creator) called it the best show of all time, with honorable mentions to Deadwood and The Shield (which I didn't rate much)
Why did Season 5 fall off a bit? Was there a change in writers/producers?
See you in 25 years
Damn fine show
I genuinely don’t know what this is but would like to :)
Twin Peaks
Oh god I feel so stupid. Thanks!
IMO, by far, the best show of all time. I expect its influence to last as long as there are shows.
Fringe
I just remembered I never watched the final episode of that show...
I didn't realize that ran for 100 episodes. I dropped it after one, but it must have gotten better.
The whole first season is kinda a low rent monster of the week show. Then there's a few seasons that cohere around sci-fi trope A that are worth the watch, then the last season or two revolve around sci-fi trope B and I basically kept watching just to finish it.
Yup this was me as well. Last couple seasons kind of go off the rails but overall the show is solid
Came for it and it was not disapointed! Perfect show with a perfect ending.
Cant say the same about my sweet x-files... they have murdered, dismembered and then piss on its guts. Never forget this once amazing show
Better off Ted deserved more seasons
I'd like to upvote you twice.
It's much better than silly Silicon Valley, or the Office.
Thks reminds me to rewatch Daria.
Daria is great! It's classic 90s and it's so good
WKRP
Loved it as a kid and just started watching the whole series this week. Tried to get my wife to watch the Turkey Drop last night and she didn't look up from her phone once.
With God as my witness….
My only memory of this show is the episode where Johnny gets progressively more intoxicated and his reaction time improves. I've modeled my life after that episode.
That's pretty much all I watch and they've all been top notch!
B5
DS9
TNG
Farscape
Magicians
Nirvana in fire
Beyond evil
Trek Disco is getting close to being dry aged enough to finally finish / revisit
No love for BSG? After TNG DS9, I'd say it's the best SciFi show out there
The original or the remake?
Love DS9
Ah that little known niche series...
Star trek
Max Headroom.
Twin Peaks
I finally got around to watching Dark. The show is insane. Im not sure if its niche but I have never heard any of my friends talk about it before.
Yeah I'd consider it pretty niche. Most people I gushed to about it didn't want to give it a chance because it was dubbed, weirdly enough. Their loss. This reminds me I need to do a rewatch...
Just quickly learn German if you mind the dubbing. It's easy, I did it as a toddler.
🤔
This made me lol. German humour is underrated 😀
Toddlers don't have very good languages skills though, I think you'd probably need a school aged child's skill level.
Seriously, what's wrong with watching it with original audio and subtitles?
If I had to guess it's the same squad that hates watching anime with subtitles, haha.
I'd say I'm even weirder than that squad in that I watch anime dubbed but always do original audio + subs if it's live action.
Because you can end up missing stuff.
For me it acts like peripheral vision.
If im reading subtitles what happens on screen isn't really being processed by my brain at 100% so details can get missed.
Same to subtitles when focusing on visuals.
Anime isn't as bad to watched subbed because it's usually shorter form and 'simpler' visually than live action - Just compare a visually dark scene from live action and animated as a quick and dirty example.
Yeah, that's fair, I see your point. I'd say it depends on the movie. In many cases characters are memorable partly because of the way the actors speak - even if I don't speak the language myself (like with DARK).
Recently binged The Prisoner, which is an absolute delight
My wife is the daughter of an old British guy, so she was less than impressed when I became obsessed with this show. It's fantastic, and is my top contender for "best opening theme song ever".
Anyway, be seeing you.
Be seeing you.
I am not a number!
I'm a free man!
Wilfred...
Holy shit I totally forgot about this show.
I just got Kimmy Schmidt from the library. Any kind of Tina Fey show is going to be absolutely hilarious, looking forward to this one!
If you loved 30 Rock as much as I did (which is a lot), you’ll like Kimmy Schmidt. I like 30 Rock more, but it’s still really funny.
It's got its moments, but the landlady character... her line delivery and the way characters react to them is so odd, like the director truly believes everything she says is hilarious, but... its really not at all
Season 1 was fantastic. I couldn’t make it through the subsequent seasons though.
Am still upset that Colony never got another season or two. Or at least a proper ending.
Otherwise? The Expanse.
Columbo, maybe?
If you like Columbo, Poker Face is a spiritual descendant. It's honestly far better than I expected, and sometimes there's camera work that is intentionally straight from the 70s.
The title sequence is almost Columbo.
And she does the finger wag slow turn "although" in every episode
"Eh, just one more question..." has come up a bit more as well. Season 2 really leaned into the Columbo connection.
Plus, it just has that look sometimes. There's a long zoom with voice over I think in S1E8 that made my heart soar, and a long pull back with lens flare during a sunset in S2E1 that screams 70's cinema and I think is straight from Easy Rider or something. Amazing stuff.
How many animals they gotta kill though?
I've not confirmed this, but apparently there is a large time shift in the books at roughly the end of the show, so they sort of left the door open for continuing it when the actors have realistically aged.
Or maybe I'm just coping.
Dirk Gently
I got into Jericho. A bunch of my friends got into Carnivale.
I fucking came here to say Carnivale
Carnivale is best
We could try the whole "Nuts" thing again for Jericho but it's unlikely to work a second time.
man ive been wanting to each carnivale for maybe a decade now but havent been able to find a link. maybe ill have another look tonight.
Spaced. TV series starring Simon Pegg, what's not to like?
Skip to the end...
Twin Peaks!
Did you see the reboot? It lost me when it went full Lynch I was there for the homely stuff
I loved it! But def need to rewatch it, I saw it when it came out and it warrants another go.
I tuned in for the full Lynch, Fire Walk With Me was very good and scary. Depictions of transcendental evil hook me every time. I love cosmic horror, and I love Twin Peaks
Yep I get that, full Lynch is pure art it's just not for me
Not a reboot. It's a direct continuation. It just has a different feel since there's no studio reigning Lynch in.
Personally, I liked the extra level of crazy he added.
Firefly, TNG, S1 of True Detective
I don't have a problem you have a problem
S1 of True Detective is perfect. I honestly don't know anything else that fits.
S1 of Westworld maybe. Haven't watched past that. Don't want to ruin it.
Nowhere near the level IMHO
Firefly 🥲
Have not seen anyone mention "Dead like me"
It's highly worth it.
Bryan Fuller is the pinnacle of this question. I would add pushing daisies to that list as well.
Don't sleep on Wonderfalls either
Killed by a de-orbiting toilet seat.
Don't watch the movie. Only good part is the daughter asking which hand should hold the steering wheel.
The Lost Room. A forgotten SyFy channel gem.
Syfy had some decent to good mini series.
In addition to The Lost Room, I really enjoyed Tin Man (Wizard of Oz reimagining) and remember liking Alice (Alice in Wonderland reimagining)
Seriously thank you, I remember watching this when it aired and occasionally have wanted to look it up but forgot the name.
You also reminded me of the uproar when "The Sci-Fi Channel" rebranded to SyFy lol
Never heard of this one, it sounds fascinating! Thanks for mentioning.
Looooove this show. Only available in DVD quality that I've found. Still worth the watch.
ah! I loved it. one of the earliest things I pirated. felt like it could have worked for a full season.
Don't forget its spirit spinoff, Warehouse 13.
I thought Warehouse was a spin off of Eureka.
They were contemporaries, and had crossover episodes, but weren’t technically linked.
I haven't heard of that one. I'll have to look into it. 😀
Was about to comment this... Didn't know there were other connoisseurs
Our Flag Means Death
Is it officially over now?
Reddit and Firefly ca. 2013
Ah old reddit...it used to be so good...
Travelers
Now that I think about it, I really need a 12 Monkeys rewatch
Travelers gwtting cancelled was actually criminal
The show had a decent ending didn't it?
It had an ending, but I'm sure they could have done better with another season.
Better than most but ended on a cliffhanger if I recall correctly
Depends on how you look at it.
::: spoiler Title They fail and have to start all over again - erasing everything we watched happen. :::
Warehouse 13
Currently rewatching Mr. Robot
I want to re-watch that one soon. IMO it's by far the best hacking TV Show / Movie ever made.
I just re-watched Hackers because it's the 30th anniversary. There are definitely things I like about it. Matthew Lillard gives an amazing performance. The soundtrack of that movie is amazing. The costumers and set designers had so much fun with it. But good gawd, the hacking was so terrible. Basically every time anybody touches a computer in that show it's awful. And for a movie about hackers... that's a lot. What's amazing is that clearly they had some very knowledgeable person/people involved, because parts of the script definitely reference real things that "non-hackers" wouldn't know about. But, I guess they just ignored these experts when it came to anything involving someone touching a computer.
Six Feet Under (HBO). It's hilarious. It's devastating. You'll loathe and love each character. Probably my favorite finale of a show, ever.
Terriers (no idea where to find it right now, it aired on USA I think?). Quirky private investigator show that should have been given more than a season.
Patriot (Amazon). Spy meets depression, meets hilarity. Worth it just for the rochambeau.
Patriot is as incredible as it is unknown and I’m happy to find it mentioned here! Some of the most engaging, poignant, absurd, hilarious yet devastating TV I’ve watched.
Red Dwarf, I used to watch it with my dad while he was alive.
It's cold outside...
There's no kind of atmosphere
I'm all alone, more or less...
Have you read the books? The first two make the show look like a pile of wet garbage, and I love the show.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Barney Miller.
Night Court
I’m one of the 135 worldwide Farscape fans. I will love this show to the very end.
Frell yeah
2 more in my household. My husband is always saying he wishes we could find another show like that, when he isn't saying he wishes we could find another one like Scavenger's Reign.
Over The Garden Wall.
I watch that show yearly when fall comes around.
It's so good. And the soundtrack is great too, except IIRC it's missing the thrilling chase music or something.
firefly
Even the movie wasn't enough, damn you Fox.
Well, since niche in this thread seems to mean anything that came out more than 2-3 years ago and is less popular than GoT or the office, I'll just nominate Chuck, Derry Girls and Banshee. If I were to stretch it even more I'd also say After Life and Ted Lasso(I've already watched this 3 times in the last 2 years.. and I could watch it again without problems but I don't wanna get sick of it)
Derry girls is great! I'm a uk 90s girl so it's perfect for me
The OG Utipia
Season 1
Season 2
Utopia
I cannot believe no one mentioned Utopia yet (the original UK version not the one cropped by prime, I think to get it right you may need to pirate it)
I gotcha
Season 1
Season 2
OST
Yes, holy shit. Show was so well done. Definitely going to rewatch that one now, thank you for the reminder!
I have never seen House so I was thinking of starting that.
its funny and engaging, well written "old white guy asshole who knows everything" character. some episodes deal with themes it is waay too immature to handle, but on the whole petty good.
i did not get past the first ep of season 4, it shat the bed so fucking hard i really don't know how.
They literally have a shark jumping joke in one of the episodes
It’s a medical procedural Sherlock Holmes, which isn’t a bad thing at all.
Edit: I should save I never made it past season 2 when it originally aired before cancelling cable TV back in the day.
Joe Pera Talks With You
Nice
The whole show is wonderful and worth a watch or five. Only three seasons and the episodes are usually 10-11 minutes, with the occasional 20-minute double episode. It packs some surprising depth and is just a treasure.
Travelers. It's such a great show
Recently?
Lucifer
Grimm
Leverage
Timeless
Lost in Space (2018)
Series that my family rewatch about every 3 years or so:
Stargate SG-1
Farscape
Dead like me
Heck yeah! I watch this one every once in awhile, as I managed to get the DVDs back in the day. Always loved the imaginative deaths, the emotional hits, and how much they made me really like every character somehow.
Still never prepared for some deaths, honestly. The bagel chopper one still makes me cringe.
Terriers
Oh my God.
I've dug into these threads so sooooo many times over the years and I always have to look at suggestion after suggestion after suggestion, hundreds of excellent television shows. Then I reach the end. No one has mentioned Terriers. It is my time to comment.
But here! Today! Terriers is alive. I'm confident I've over hyped it by now but.... TERRIERS! A silly name for a television show, but a wonderful story.
And for those wondering, it's just one season and whole the whole the ending isn't what you want, it is one you can accept. Did Terriers deserve a second season? Yes. But did the story come to a point where I can dream of a future? Also yes.
I'm about to jump into The Twilight Zone from 1959.
I've always been meaning to go through and do a serious watch of that in order.
Full series? Not niche enough. Need to obsess over the might have beens of pilots. Like Korgoth of Barbaria or Heat Vision and Jack.
the amazing screw-on head
Since my #1 show was already guessed (Terriers), I think Awake is worth a mention.
A man is in a car accident that splits his life in two. In one reality his wife dies, in the other his child. What happens next?
H20: Just Add Water
Me and a coworker watch during lunch and argue over character dynamics.
I read it as H Twenty until I advanced past the colon. Felt a little dumb.
No need to feel dumb. It is actually a zero at the end.
H20 vs H2O
The name of the show is 'H2O: Just Add Water'
H²O would look better yet
Or H
2OThe Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy
i just stumbled across Becker, and its great! classic 90s sitcom fare!
Hey mind letting me in know where you are watching it? I used to luv that show and tried finding it without success. I'm in the US by the way.
It's on Stremio and 1337x.to but you should use a VPN if your ISP is a dick.
You can also stream it here: https://www.cineby.app/tv/4477
I was just talking with my brother about that show! We used to wait for the reruns to come on when we were kids, even though it was already off the air and we were not the age demo.
It's just great television! And looking back now it was very progressive for its time.
Are You Being Served
I really enjoyed the premise and start of Jericho. What a pity it went off the rails in to feelgoodism so quickly.
Stargate SG-1, then the others lol
Veronica Mars!
Six Feet Under
Finally! Scrolled far enough. Love that show.
Original MacGyver holds up fairly well for the most part. There are some episodes where certain portrayals might be charitably described as "good for their time" but I think they did all right, generally speaking, when the plot touched on sensitive social issues.
Braindead was great
Who knew it was a real documentary.
Corner gas!! Basically "Friends" with different people in Canda.
Gumby! I'm looking forward to the new Gumby in the way I look forward to a planned car wreck. Excitement and concern!
I cannot fucking believe how long I slept on Supernatural
Moonlighting with Cybill Shepard & Bruce Willis makes me feel alone & lonely & yearning to re-plant myself into a glorious time in the past that no longer exists.
Band of Brothers. I'm not obsessed with per se, but it is a show etched into my brain forever.
I thoroughly recommend Masters of the Air. Not as good as BoB obviously but I fucking loved it
And "The Pacific" for the trilogy. Band of Brothers is by far the best, but they're all worth watching.
Are You Being Served?
Father Ted
The OA
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_(manga)
The Fast Show
Big Train
Jam
The Day Today
Brass Eye
League of Gentlemen
While he was alive my brother used to watch The Fast Show with me, which was nice.
I have heaps of my own classics, that I regularly rewatch. More recently, though, has anyone seen Kevin can fk himself, holy crap that was perfect. Short but written to be short, and ties up perfectly. There was just a harmony to it. I was yelling at the telly, I know they're good when I start yelling at the telly.
I didn't finish it before it left my stream, really interesting
The Sopranos. "Gabagool? Over heeeeere."
Finally started watching Mindhunters after years of reading glowing reviews and.... totally get it. Can't stop watching.
I rather enjoyed Hung from HBO
Barney Miller
Will & Grace?
For me, it's got to be the original 'The 4400' which also has a recent reboot, but that isn't as great. It's only a few seasons since it was unfortunately canceled.
I started watching it on a whim and was surprised by how in-depth some of the sci-fi ideas and moral quandries are, and the character development is fairly solid as well. When you consider that most of the actors aren't big names or unknowns (at least at that time, as it includes young Mahershala Ali), it makes it feel extremely liminal. Like most shows of the early 2000s, they tend to go for that 'creature of the week' format but also manage to have an overarching narrative.
Ended way too soon! :(
Keen Eddie, Better Off Dead, and of course Firefly.
Pushing Daisies! I love it so much.
Oh man, that was a good one
Fringe, life on mars(both American and British versions)
15 Storeys High
There was a British (I believe, been a minute) kitchen comedy called 'Whites' that was fantastic. Only had 1 season that I could ever find.
Yes that was the name and yes it needed a few more series
Leverage. It's the feel good show for people who want to see powerful assholes get what they deserve.
The sequel series was decent enough but not good as good as the original
Jpod. It's such a good show that no one seems to remember. Not sure where you'd find it but it's worth a watch (only one season because it's based on a book)
Jpod is SO GOOD. I found a decent copy on the high seas and I'm holding onto it forever.
Woah, there's some synapses that haven't fired in forever. Will need to find it, I remember liking the book quite a bit (remember nothing else about it other than it involving video game devs). Knew they made a show but only vaguely remember some commercials on CBC.
Law and order criminal intent? MAS*H? Im not obsessed with them though
Detectorists
Infinity Train
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Dark Shadows 🧛
Is Penny Dreadful considered niche?
The 4400 went off the air too soon!
They rebooted it already and cancelled it again. You probably shouldn't watch the reboot.
Dark angel from James Cameron, I wish I had a good version of those to watch
3%. It's a Netflix series that's the best from the survivor-game-show genre that I've ever seen.
Yes, what a great time for escapism.
I'm just slowly going trough OG Star Trek. I would not exactly call that niche tho.
No, although it is difficult to watch by modern TV standards
Hindsight.
The Pink Opaque!
Heroes
Was going to be my second pick after the considerably more niche VR.5. Which involved the MC entering the minds of people via modem because it was 90s scifi about virtual reality. It also tended to be trippy as hell in a way that is just amazing. Also basically impossible to find without sailing the seven seas, and not easy even then.
Was going to throw Kindred: The Embraced in as a third choice. Also considerably more obscure than Heroes, it was basically a White Wolf Vampire: The Masquerade TV series.
Save the cheerleader, save the world!
The Littlest Hobo
I am sending this to my kids, who have crushed hard on:
X files
Bones
Supernatural
Killing Eve
Friends
Probably ten more I am forgetting
Honestly I think they have watched more 1990/2000s TV than I ever did, I was too busy raising them & their siblings.
Not exactly niche, but I like to watch the red green show when I can catch it on
Canada's Worst Driver....
And Canada's Worst Handyman.......
Honestly I'll watch anything hosted by Andrew Younghusband at this point
Hannibal!
Anybody for "Caprica"? The Battlestar Galactica spin-off?
It's the origin story of the cylons. I am not obsessed with it, but I was surprised at how good it was.
Undergrads, it's a damn shame they only made 13 episodes
Haibane Renmei. For a show that's 23 years old with only 13 episodes, I manage to hear new and unique opinions about it like once a week
It's a perfect anime for people who like anime, but not, like, anime anime. No fight scenes, no sci-fi, no spellcasting, just a girl with amnesia trying to get used to the strange walled town she recently woke up in. There are not enough superlatives to describe how much I love this show
Wise Guy with Ken Wahl.
Or movies like apocalypse now...
Better Off Ted and The Joe Schmoe Show:
NBC shouldn't have cancelled The Pretender days after that explosive cliff hanger!
I have decided to see all Star Trek series.
I have gone through The Original Series. The Animated Series and now doing The next Generation about half way through season 5!
The Aspones; It's like Brazilian The Office but on a government office instead of a private company.
Its not really that good, but it was nice for its time.
I guess I was technically late to BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! if you can call band anime niche.
as far as obsession goes that probably tops the list. there is no other show (but it's 2nd season earlier this year) where I will watch other people watching it or watch video essays on character psychology and motivation.
edit: everyone else in this thread recommending things I watched air ... fuck I'm old.