As a scifi buff: Battlestar Galactica, and The Expanse were excellent. Nightsky was also a really good watch even though it was slow moving, and was more about relationships than SciFi
The Wire. It's the best piece of visual media ever created. Not only is it the best portrayal of the inner city drugs trade but also the decaying institutions and social structures that allow it to flourish, and the corrupting influence of dirty money.
It also is consistently the best written show on TV and is grounded in it's reality better than anything else. Half the cast were complete unknowns, in many cases plucked from the streets of Baltimore itself and there are standout performances all across it's vast and diverse cast.
It's a little slow to get going, the first few episodes have a lot of ground to cover to get the viewer up to speed, it also makes no effort to ease the viewer in, with a lot of jargon, slang and some very thick accents to content with, there's also no "previously on the wire" to go over key points from earlier episodes so it definitely requires more participation from the viewer than most TV but it's all the better for it.
The Good Place. Funny, compelling, I cried through the final episode. It also doesn't waste your time, things will happen mid-season that any other show would have dragged out for the season finale.
Fringe. Best Sci-Fi ending that wraps back around to an episode that broke the show open. The last season getting there is kind of rough. But the first 4 seasons are solid.
one thing that bothers me a lot on shows Is that it always seem they don't know how to end things. I loved Fringe ending. They tied so many things together in a beautiful scene.
You're not alone. I went in expecting it to be high-quality based on comments similar to the above, then adjusted my sights for trite but entertaining, then realized I was only even entertained when John Noble was on screen (and to be fair, his performance was very fun).
I do recognize that it broke new ground and wasn't as cliché when it originally aired, but it's hard to imagine that it wasn't just as hammy.
Its a victim of its time. There is a decent amount of filler and some episodes have big inconsistencies at one point due to being released out of order since they were filler content, but the overarching quality of the show, and watching it slowly move away from monster/mystery of the week to something that rewarded its fans in multiple intentional and sometimes subtle ways, it truly felt.... And still feels.... Like something deeply special and really worth recommending, even if you do end up having to work through a decent amount of filler in the first seasons.
Andor is the best piece of Star Wars media and the best TV show I’ve ever seen. You don’t need to like Star Wars. I don’t know if seeing Star Wars would even increase your enjoyment. I think seeing Rogue One would probably be good but otherwise just jump in. No space wizards or laser swords or destiny or whatever. It’s so adult and grounded. I can’t believe Disney let them make this.
The first season was groundbreaking at the time, but quickly became cringe in hindsight from its popularity and the romanticization of certain events. Later seasons, which weren't as immediately popular for spoiler reasons, get more and more serious and become more cinematically rewarding for the viewer.
If you can get past the first season, it gets a lot better. The last season is honestly some of the best pieces of television content I've ever seen.
Came here to recommend Mr Robot as well. The ending of the series was perfectly planned, so it loops around perfectly to the beginning of the series. It was a nice contrast to something like Game of Thrones, where they clearly had no good ending planned and just rushed through to get something done.
I remember watching the end of Mr Robot and going "holy shit."
I really enjoyed Babylon 5. Especially seasons 2-4. The interplay between the characters, especially Londo and G'kar was excellent. The stories were epic and political, it would be relevant today I think. It was so quotable and parts really moved you.
The effects were dated even then, and the transfer to widescreen after the digital models were lost was an absolute travesty. Instead of widescreen making the show better, they cropped the 4:3 for every effects shot, making them all blurry and poorly composed.
Even so, the story and characters are epic and timeless.
Scrubs: 8 UND ONLY 8 seasons of funny comedy, heart wrenching tragedy. For such a funny show, they managed to still make me cry with "Where Do You Think We Are?"
Better off Ted: very funny too, hardly ever hear anybody mentioning it
Bluey: is you have small children and you are going to give them screen time, do both of you a favor and chose bluey.
DARK. The plot, casting and soundtrack are all superb, and way ahead of most other shows. Although Season 3 will fuck you up, it also nails the ending.
Since it's not mentioned, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you liked Firefly, you'll like Buffy. Yes, it has baggage, but that doesn't prevent everyone else in the cast from having their work appreciated. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll dabble in witchcraft.
It's a cartoon you need to sit down and pay attention to. There's often action, and it can be goofy, but it also has a lot of really quiet, contemplative scenes.
I absolutely loved that one and it’s based on one of my favorite Blake Crouch books of the same name. The show is great but the book is so much better.
The Pitt. Not usually a medical show guy but the acting and realism were top notch. Kept me hooked the whole way. Deserved that Emmy for sure.
Quick pitch: Follow an ER team throughout a shift, with each season being one single shift. Every episode is an hour. ER is understaffed like they all are, you bounce from one crisis to the next to the next. There is absolutely no medical situation they will not show uncensored in full.
Warehouse 13 - An endearing sci-fi show about a warehouse full of weird artifacts. Despite some intense episodes, it offered mainly a light, feel-good entertainment, and featured a really well-crafted send-off.
Fringe - Starts out weird, then it goes totally off the rails, but in a good way. Also wrapped up nicely.
The Sopranos - amazing cast of characters, drama, action, betrayals, comedy! Such a great show. But you need to get sucked in. I recommended it some of my friends or family members but they aren't into it but worth to try! One of my favorite series I enthusiastically rewatch.
No love for Archer? Witty, profane, great animation/artwork, one writer/creator carrying the whole show, and eponymous lead voiced by H. Jon Benjamin. What am I missing?
Not nearly enough love for Andor? Season 2, episodes 7, 8, and 9 showcase some of the most compelling sequences on TV. Diego Luna, a man under enormous pressure ready to come apart at the seams, run by master manipulator Stellan Skarsgård. Andy Serkis. Forrest Whittaker. Empire baddies Denise Gough and Ben Mendelssohn. Best Star Wars offerings outside the original trilogy screenplays hands down. Fight me.
Nor for my most embarrassing and guiltiest pleasure Downton Abbey? Plus two full length feature sequels? Come now.
Found-family space western with excellent music and characters
Yes, it has Joss Whedon's name on it, but either because it was made much earlier in his career or because Tim Minear was showrunner, it doesn't have the modern bathos issue commonly associated with him these days
Foundation is the best sci-fi I've watched and I've seen a lot. The way they adapted it from Asimov's books is so well done, just enough changes to modernise is and keep people who read the books guessing.
Season 2 is a bit weak but 3 was great and the scope for future seasons is huge.
A very different kind of sci-fi show: Red Dwarf. Specifically Season 3 and up when Kryten becomes a regular character that ties everything together. Although the first 2 seasons are still worth a watch, just not as good.
Twin Peaks, by David Lynch. I specify, because there was a period when he wasn't involved, and it shows. Those episodes are kind of a slog. But as soon as he comes back, so does the magic.
I would absolutely think twice or thrice about recommending GoT. In fact, I've already recommended some friends to not watch it. Some amazing episodes, perhaps some of the best scenes ever seen on TV, and by far the most upsetting, spit-in-the-face, negligent final season from any show I've ever seen. Umbrella Academy wishes it had as bad an ending as GoT, if only for the infamy.
Anyway 3 Body Problem looks really promising and I'm sure the creators, whoever they are, will absolutely nail it.............
The Magicians what at first blush seems like it would be a CW type Harry Potter knock off is actually a fantastic show with smart writing, interesting characters, drama, humor, suspense, action, fantasy…. First season is a little uneven at times but once it finds its footing early in season 2 it just keeps getting better for its entire 5 season run.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend originally developed for Showtime, this show actually DID air on the CW but might be the best thing they ever aired (despite not getting good ratings). You’ll laugh, you’ll cringe, you’ll cry, and it’s a musical with over 120 songs in every style and genre imaginable and every single one is a banger.
I recommend Shogun. It's a political drama set in feudal Japan following a fictional not-Tokugawa figure and the English sailor who crashed nearby and becomes his good luck charm.
A few off the top of my head that I would/have watched multiple times and would highly recommend.
The wire.
Ted Lasso.
The Pit.
The Bear.
Firefly.
Andor.
True detective season 1.
Since someone else mentioned Arcane,
My choice would be Chernobyl. I watch it probably once a year and I'm just as hooked every single time. Damn fine work.
I also adore Haunting of Bly Manor. Haunting of Hill House ranks just below that one, I think. But both of those are very good.
And if weird and irreverent are your thing, Bee and Puppycat is so cozy and fun.
Were you really waiting for me to name Silicon Valley?
The most educational TV series ever made in this day and age, fun like very few others and quotable to hell and back.
Well, Breaking Bad is already on here and its really good. But to me Better Call Saul is one of, it not the best shows out there. Also doing the whole chronology:
Better Call Saul till the middle of S6 > Breaking Bad > Rest of Better Call Saul > El Camino
Really slaps.
Other than that The Leftovers is quite an underappreciated piece of Television. It simply delivers 3 Season increasingly weird and intriguing and then its just finished.
I also really enjoyed Station 11 bit of a different take on a Post Apocalyptic World and a great miniseries
Fargo is IMHO one of the best if not the best TV series. Every season has its own story and therefore has an end and no cliffhangers until the next season.
Storywise it's just that the Coen brothers have this great feeling for pain and suffering and the twisted humor that lies within. There are no real happy ends and everything comes at a price. But their characters are fighters, they don't give up that easily.
I also love that the bad guys really get under my skin. They have their own logic and methods, they're brutal and the worst of all: they feel real. Like Jon Hamm in the latest season, great (as in I'd never want to meet him) character, great cast!
The Owl House (Disney) a ridiculously wholesome magical animated show with some amazing well integrated LGBT/non-binary representation.
Battlestar Galactica. It's heavy weight politics, in space. Cast is rock solid. there's ^too^ ^much^ confusionhere The follow on movies are also excellent.
Since I've seen no mention of it, I have to say Leverage.
Leverage follows a five-person team: a thief, a grifter, a hacker, and a retrieval specialist or "hitter", led by former insurance investigator Nathan Ford, who use their skills to carry out heists to fight corporate and governmental injustices inflicted on ordinary citizens.
I freely admit the structure of the episodes becomes a little stale after a while (the team starts a con against the episode villain(s), things go south, and then either they improvise a solution or it's revealed they already anticipated the issue), but for me the chemistry between the cast keeps the show entertaining to the end.
It'd without a doubt my most rewatched TV series, a comfort show of sorts.
I can't say anything about the reboot (Redemption) as I've not got around to watch it yet.
ODDTAXI (with subtitles) is some of the best dialog I've experienced in a long time. With a fun story about a walrus who lives and drives a taxi around Tokyo. It's anime, so I know it isn't everyone's thing, but it's very different from what most people think anime is.
I have a high bar when it comes to recommending enthusiastically. Not to say my list is universal bangers, but they are MY bangers.
Andor (the only good Star Wars series)
Band of Brothers (WW2)
Chernobyl (Cold war drama)
Queens Gambit (Chess drama)
Silo (Fallout-esque apocalyptic dystopia)
The Expanse (Sci-fi)
Cosmos (the NDT series) - my overall favourite series. If you like Cosmos a lot, consider watching the archives of the Royal Institution's Christmas lectures
The Good Place - Existential Philosophy and Ontology 101, the TV Series. Hilarious, dramatic, and one of the most touching stories I've ever encountered
Person of Interest - Basically "What You'll Learn on Lemmy: The TV Series", about all of the wondrous horrors of the digital surveillance state in which we all live.
Halt and Catch Fire - love shows about technology and innovation and liked Silicon valley, but this show just took it to the next level for me. Both inspiring and at times horribly sad to watch, all done beautifully.
The first three seasons of Arrested Development are still amongst the smartest, dumbest and painfully funniest hours of (comedy) television I have ever seen.
Tales From The Loop. It's a slow, vibey, and kind of whimsical show that perfectly matches the paintings its based on (Simon Stalenhag's). There is no main plot, each episode is a story that takes place in a town above a particle accelerator with a loose thread between them
If you like the mood of the trailer, you'll like the show.
Black Sails (Great Action, Fantastic Story. After episode 4 it just gets better and better with every new episode - in the first 3 it was trying too hard to copy GoT).
Warrior (Very political series disguised as a fighting show)
What We Do In The Shadows (Mindless comedy)
The IT Crowd (Many episodes are very funny, but not all. Some have also not aged well. The creator is an ass)
If you want to go old school, I highly recommend the Adventures of Brisco County Jr. It's a comedy steampunk cowboy romp featuring Bruce Campbell from the 90s, filmed on the lot where they used to film all of the old spaghetti westerns before they destroyed it.
"The Thick Of It", if you wanna cackle. It's three seasons (under 10 episodes each) and a TV movie. I recommend watching it with subtitles, especially if you're not a native English speaker/not accustomed to the many accents of the British Isles. If you've watched Veep, it's quite similar except much better in all aspects, lol.
If you don't mind animays (and, for whatever reason, you haven't watched this masterpiece... the shame!) and are competently literate, I also enthusiastically recommend "Legend of the Galactic Heroes". It explores the "honourable philosopher king" autocracy v. "decaying, corrupt, aimless democracy" issue, and the character arcs and very realistic reactions and interactions are just chef's kiss. 👍
I don't see Pantheon mentioned a lot, its a series about uploading human brains to computers. It starts off very good, but the last few episodes turn the show into one of my favourites.
The Young Ones - Absurdist British comedy about a group of students who live together.
Bottom - More silly comedy with Rick Mayall and Adrian Edmondson who were also in The Young Ones. They play two loser roommates who can't get a date. "Bloody lesbians!"
The Office - IMO much better than the American adaptation. Ricky Gervais at his most painfully awkward.
Little Britain - Quite possibly the greatest sketch show of all time. Very popular at the time, but some younger people haven't heard of it.
Peep Show - Mitchell & Webb of "Are we the baddies?" fame are roommates and frenemies who get into a lot of very awkward and painful situations.
American comedy
Jack of all Trades - Bruce Campbell plays an American spy who is forced to work together with an attractive English spy on the fictional French occupied island of Pulau Pulau. The kind of cheesy fun you'd expect from Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell.
The Comeback - Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe from Friends) tries to stage a comeback.
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret - David Cross plays the titular character who moves to Britain for business. Things only get worse from there.
In the Know - Claymation by Mike Judge about an extremely progressive radio host.
New Zealand comedy
New Zealand Today - Comedian and wannabe journalist Guy Williams covers some of the most important issues facing everyday New Zealanders.
Wellington Paranormal - Two local police officers investigate paranormal cases in a semi-competent manner. A spin-off of the What we do in the Shadows movie.
Flight of the Conchords - Two musicians from New Zealand try to make it in New York City.
Science fiction
Lexx - Large parts of this show are a slog to get through. If you do, however, you'll be rewarded with some unique and bizarre moments, like the Netherlands being eaten by a giant space ship.
Travelers - Proves that great sci-fi does not need a massive budget or a lot of special effects. A team of time travellers tries to save the world.
Murderbot - A security android gains sentience and free will. Decides to spend most of his time watching a cheesy sci-fi show.
Alice in Borderland - A group of friends find that suddenly almost everybody in Tokyo has disappeared. They have to compete in a series of bizarre games to survive, a bit like in Squid Game. Season 3 was unnecessary.
Counterpart - Solid spy thriller that revolves around a very interesting science fiction concept I'd rather not spoil.
Drama
Waiting for the Out - A man deals with his daddy issues while teaching inmates about philosophy. Highly recommended if you've already seen Adolescence and Baby Reindeer and need more British Drama.
Slow Horses - A team of MI5 (domestic British intelligence) misfits and outcasts save the day.
SAS: Rogue Heroes - War drama that chronicles the creation of the (in)famous special forces unit.
Cobra Kai - Could a Karate Kid spin-off be any good? The answer might surprise you!
Landman - Extremely American/Southern/conservative gentleman manages the day-to-day business of running a company that drills for oil.
BSG remake is a must watch for anyone, even those who don't like "sci fi"
Band of Brothers is a must watch, even for those who don't like "war"
Black Sails started amazing, dragged a bit in the middle, but well worth it for the final speech by Flint at the end.
The Americans is a show that has tragically never gotten the love that it deserves and is well worth your time.
Angel is better than Buffy in every conceivable way basically beginning in the second season and I'll always point it out to people who won't give it a chance because they don't like Buffy. (I don't like Buffy...but Angel was darker, more mature, less teeny bopper. And frankly funnier)
Edited to add:
Boardwalk Empire, the forgotten red-headed stepchild of HBO's prestige lineup. I loved it but for some reason it's completely dismissed and barely remembered.
12 Monkeys. Someone else mentioned it below and reminded me that I need to do a rewatch. I loved it. But in the later seasons was to distracted by other stuff to finish it.
Legion is one that I don't see get mentioned very often. Very trippy and a unique spin on the superhero genre. Also Aubre Plaza is fantastic. Loved her in parks and rec, but this is when I realized she had serious acting chops beyond April.
I haven't seen the west wing mentioned. It's great drama with character arcs thatead to growth, which was unusual for episodic tv at the time. It chronicles the fictional presidents white house team dealing with politics and running the country, with ideals, pragmatism when ideals can't work and holds politicians to a standard that we'd all benefit from.
The IT crowd has already been mentioned. It is laugh out loud funny, but being British, the absurdist humour can take a bit of getting used to. It's not meant to depict realism, but charicatures. Don't be afraid to pirate it as the lead writer is a massive dickhead.
Chernobyl is amazing, as others have said. Really tender exploration for the people that would have been involved at all levels. It's harrowing at parts, inspiring at others. It makes us all seem human rather than a world of countries.
Buffy is peak for me with the knster of the week, overarching main baddie for a season and the funny quips mixed in. Others prefer angel or xfiles or fringe. However if any of the above tickle your fancy, you should try the others. Then try firefly and the movie.
I haven't seen much reality TV here. You should check out the UK version of the traitors. It's amazing TV. Like other reality TV, as the seasons go on, the participants have more of an idea of the course of the show and how they'll be perceived. In ye first, they are a blank slate and you can see that the stress of deception is getting to them in a real way and the paranoia affects all.
The wire is a great cops and robbers show that bluts the lines between good guys and bad guys. All are just people doing what they can to make their way. Some that's with crime, some that's with stopping crime. All have dark sides and a human side.
The Newsroom , with Jeff Daniel's. Done by 2012, but it outlined the blueprint of the enshittification of media and the Republican party, but even then, the writers gave US voters far too much credit and would never have predicted Trump elected. Twice.
One I always recommend is Dark. It starts slow but the story and the way everything connects is incredibly well written. Definitely one of those shows that makes you think long after each episode.
Community (Absurdist Comedy/Sitcom) is recommended by a lot of people and one of the most unique shows ever, I feel. While the premise sounds commonplace, it makes innumerable little twists on expected tropes to achieve this. You will be straight up hooked after 2 episodes.
Daredevil (Superhero Action Drama) this is a "cold take." I think even people whi hate superheroes get a lot of good things out of this, because it's chock full of non-superhero stuff and all of that is done perfectly, deliciously.
Frasier (Normal Sitcom, spin-off to Cheers) I wouldn't recommend watching all of cheers, but i would recommend watching all of Frasier. Very funny. When the cast look like just normal average people instead of being attractive fun 20-something year olds, you know it's gonna have super well crafted humour.
Poldark (Period Drama - Political & Historical) This is the gateway drug for period dramas. THE. GATEWAY DRUG. I would actually recommend it before watching the more mainstream stuff like Pride and Predjudice (which I love) or Wuthering Heights (which I don't love). Skip season 5 though.
Deutschland 83 (Spy Drama) This is full of history I didn't know much about. You gain an insight into the East-German-perspective during the Cold War. is also very grounded and realistic which makes the stakes higher/feel more real to the viewer. Used to be free on Channel4 iPlayer, idk where it is anymore.
MadMen (Period Piece/Industry Drama) Again, a popular suggestion. I probably don't need to explain. Personally haven't seen anything like this show and I had to watch it 1-3 episodes a day for half a year.
These are all masterpieces in their own right with little to no bad episodes:
Cowboy Bebop
Dark
Arcane
Andor
Firefly
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Bojack Horseman
Fleabag
FLCL
Chernobyl
Reservation Dogs
Future Boy Conan
Fallout
Severence
Harley Quinn
Except I guess a qualifier that every season feels different. Everyone loves season 1. But lots of people swear that season 2 or 3 is terrible but the other season is great.
The fact that it's different enough for people to have such strongly mixed feelings about it is probably why I liked it so much.
The Sopranos: Great show in every way, and one of the most influential shows in history, creating the style for the episodic drama that became the model for 21st century productions.
The Americans - Perhaps the most under-rated of the great dramas, it was on for about three seasons before people discovered how amazing it is. Incredible acting, with one of the best finales ever.
Six Feet Under - A drama about a family of Morticians, that is so much more interesting than that description. One of the first gay characters who was treated as just a normal person, just another member of the family. The best finale of any show ever.
Deadwood - The best Western ever.The creator was a collector of letters and documents of the time, and used his knowledge to create the most realistic depiction of the old West ever on screen.
The Wire - the only show that rivals Breaking Bad as the best show ever on TV. It's a slow burn, but the characters are truly unforgettable.
The Pitt: Now in its 2nd season, easily one of the best TV shows ever. All the medical dramas in history, to the point where everything has been done to death, and The Pitt manages to be better than ALL of it. Everything about it is virtuosic - acting, writing, directing. The best thing on TV right now.
Star Trek: Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager: These are my comfort shows, that I watch when it's late, and I don't want to work hard to find one last thing before before bed. Voyager is considered one of the worst ST series, but it's always been one of my favorites, because I love the characters, including Janeway.
The Andy Griffith Show - My all-time favorite show, it's one of the most genuine shows ever broadcast. It's all white, and old-fashioned, but it is all heart, and as warm and comfortable as an old sweater. Besides, Don Knotts as Barney Rubble was probably the funniest character to ever appear on TV. Once he left, the show took a noticeable dive in quality.
Kingdom South Korean fuedal era zombie series EPIC! There is a movie also to watch after
Arthdal Chronicals Bronze Age fantasy show, but I only can recommend season 1, with 18 episodes, it's very good.
1670 Here again to promote 1670, my favorite of the (my) year, and possibly all time. Polish series full of dead pan comedy, dark humor, and absurdity.
Projekt UFO Polish Cold war era dramadey that I fully enjoyed also.
all of these shows listed I feel are acted and directed very well.
Let’s add Bodies to this list. Eight episodes, one hour each. The same identical corpse turns up in 1890, 1941, 2023, and 2053. Time travel shenanigans ensue. Smart writing, tight cast, nothing is wasted.
If you like weird stuff like LOST. Convoluted mysteries, scifi, and horror.
This is not in any order. And I am a big film and TV show buff so Ive managed to find a lot of the good stuff (imo) and I'll share it with you.
OA (cancelled after 2 seasons on cliffhanger but super good and unexpected)
From (has Michael from LOST, ongoing)
Westworld. (Last season was meh but the others were good but convoluted)
Dollhouse (little older, smaller budget production, but solid)
Severance (ongoing)
Devs. (Single season completed story)
1899 (same creators as dark. Watch in original language as it makes more sense).
Foundation (ongoing. Maybe 1 more season)
The Peripheral (2 seasons. Cancelled on cliffhanger but really good).
Silo (on going)
Night sky (really wish it had a second season but still good for 1. Has sissy spacek in it)
Travelers (finished up. On par with dollhouse production quality)
Brave new world. (Complete in 1 season)
Fringe. (A favorite of mine. Akin to x files but more goofy. )
Dune prophecy. (I liked it but not everyone does. Has 2nd season confirmed.)
Channel zero. (Each season is its own horror/psychology story. It's very good except last season imo.)
3 body problem. (Good so far)
Lost in space (first 2 seasons good but third..meh)
Tales from the loop. (This is a weird ass show but very captivating)
The stand (newer one but old one good too).
It welcome to Derry. (So good)
Alien earth (basically aliens and blade runner mixed together).
American gods. (Falls off a bit near final season)
The magicians. (Adult Harry Potter and everyone is "cool" and smokes. But I did quite like it).
maniac (weird trippy and underrated)
Monsterland (it's weird and I loved it,)
Fall of the House of usher. (Newer one and it's very good).
Dream corp llc. (Absurdist scifi humor and very psychedelic)
What we do in the shadows. (Comedy, unlike most of the others,).
Legion. (An all time favorite. I thought 2nd season had some boring chunks).
Loki
Dexter.
Unrelatew to current theme :
Broad city (comedy, two young women in new York and shenanigans).
Some animations.
Ugly Americans (funny, dark)
Venture bros (funny and sometimes a little dark)
The tick (just funny)
Adventure time (humor, fantasy and scifi)
Futurama (scifi humor)
Scavengers reign (body horror, scifi)
Pantheon (dark sci-fi,)
American dad (I just like Roger a lot)
South Park (you get that it's satire if you are an adult. It's all satire. Even first season.)
JoJo's bizarre adventure. (It's an anime. It's campy. Though the very first season is really a completely different story. You can skip it to start with).
Cowboy bebop. (Scifi . The anime is funny and sad and good writing)
Space dandy. (My all time favorite anime, it's hilarious and campy. Scifi based)
Since everyone already recommended what I was going to recommend, I'm going to say fuck it. I'm going to recommend FLCL. It's not the best anime ever but it is extremely unique and has some of the best music of any anime. And both the anime's sub and dub are great. If you speak english I'd recommend the dub. The series is only 6 episodes. This anime has aged like wine for me with each subsequent viewing making the anime better and better.
For my favorite comedy (more "haha" comedy), it's gotta be It's always sunny in philadelphia.
From, kinda boring in 3rd season but is fun watch because it forces you to think about where are these people at and how to escape the place. It is like horror mistery show.
This year should be season 4.
Other people say it is similar to Lost but I never watched Lost so don't know.
Space ghost coast to coast: surreal talk show and interview comedy reusing old cartoon animation. A more modern equivalent would probably be Smiling Friends.
Courage the cowardly dog: PG rated horror, lots of references and original stuff, suspense and humor
Cowboy Bebop: anime, good sci-fi amazing music
All the star treks: fully automated gay space communism and the alien and robot crisises they encounter. Futurama, The Orville for more comedic/modern equivalents. Cue epic fanfare intro music.
Psych & Monk: comfort sitcom meets murder mystery early 2000s style, updated Matlock/Columbo/murder she wrote.
Most David Attenborough nature docs
The twilight zone original and reboot, eerie sci-fi standalone stories
Legion: professor X's son is the most powerful mutant alive (pre Franklin Richards) and slowly losing his mind. Reminds me a bit of The Prisoner.
Cosmos original and reboot, I like the style of the original but the updated science in the new one is obviously more informative. For a taste try just the powers of 10 video.
Elementary. Johnny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu have very good platonic chemistry together that would have otherwise ruined the series with some kind of romance. The slow-burning tragedy of Holmes' family in this show kept me going through the second half of the series and there are some memorable recurring antagonists. They could've done more with some of the side characters but it was still a great watch all the way through.
I'll bring up a few shows that haven't been mentioned yet.
Band of Brothers. It's probably one of the greatest TV shows ever made. It's about the Easy company of the 101 airborne division in WW2. The show follows the company from bootcamp (where you get to see David Schwimmer give a performance that could shock you out of seeing him as Ross from Friends) all the way to the end of the war. It's a must watch and that's all I'm going to say because if I say anything more I'm just going to start praising it to high heavens. I'll only add this that if you've finished Band of Brothers and feel like you want more there's also a sort of a follow-up miniseries called "The Pacific" which focuses on the Pacific front of WW2. It is good definitely worth watching if you enjoyed Band of Brothers but it doesn't reach the high that was Band of Brothers.
The other miniseries I'll mention is Bodyguard. It's about a British Police officer who ends up becoming a bodyguard for the Home Secretary (Minister of the Interior or Homeland security of however it's named it your country). I won't spoil anything else about the plot, I'll just add that the show does an excellent job as framing conflicts and building up suspense. It's an all around great thriller.
And now something from the left field, Attack on Titan. This is the only show that I recommend that isn't a miniseries and it's not even live-action. It's an anime based on the comic (manga) of the same name. It's set in a world where humans are forced to live behind walls to keep out giant man-eating humanoids called the Titans and the anime (and the comic) follow Eren Jaeger, who wants to rid the world of the Titans. This one needs a PSA. Anyone who has watched anime knows the trope of the hero putting together a band of companions and they go on their merry adventures. That is definitely what you will feel on the first half of the first season so if you start watching and think "what is this boring bullshit" it gets way better. It's a really well written story with a lot of hints that will make sense in hindsight and some borderline Dark (if you've seen the show you know what I'm talking about) moments that make you go "what the fuck is even going on?" It's one the few stories where I hope we get a proper "Edge of tomorrow" level adaption of the whole story (as a show not a movie because you're not fitting that into a movie) to make it more digestible for western audiences because that's how great Attack on Titan is. It's the only anime that I recommend on the basis that if it had a a good live-action adaptation I would be recommending that. But because there's no live action version we have to make due with anime and if you're not going to watch it because it's anime then it really is just your loss.
I can recommend: Babylon Berlin, Boardwalk Empire, The Knick, Shōgun, Chernobyl, Deadwood.
Indeed, historical TV dramas are my thing. Guess I’m just living in the past.
If you like time travel and "monster of the week" type shows (and you are willing to try someyhing different in another language) I recomend a spanish show called The Ministry of Time (El ministerio del tiempo).
I watched with english subs and It was still very good.
If you speak spanish better yet!
Really good show and I loved the premise. Idk how the americans didn't create an american version like they did for the french Les Revenants (Also a great choice, much better than the american I think)
It has an overarching plot, but it only spends about 5 minutes an episode on it. To serve that plot, Michael Westen, ex-spy, must solve a problem each episode for ordinary victims across Miami using trickery and con tactics.
It always evoked a bit of Macgyver-style creative feel in me. Sadly, the story and the actors went downhill with time. (For that matter, Macgyver is a lot of fun in spite of being an oldie. There’s some kind of remake which I never bothered with)
Modern choice, only one season so far with another coming of unknown quality, but I liked Murderbot, personally. Sci Fi, dark comedy, with a dash of wholesome. I liked it!
High Maintenance on HBO. It's an anthology show (different characters every episode) that centers on a guy who bikes around NYC selling weed. It manages to be hilarious while focusing on some very sad and strange experiences. It feels very grounding to me and I always feel a sense of "we're going to get through this."
Not because it is on the list, but Lost is one I'd always recommend to watch. People either heard or remember about it being bad. It is not. Binging it made me understand it. This show is a masterpiece.
Not on the list - Chernobyl. Top notch short series.
Also When Life gives you Tangerines. I am not kdrama watcher, but my wife is. This series was breathtaking to watch. Really nice story telling.
Hannibal (2013) is still one of my absolute favorites to rewatch.
I'll admit I don't know a ton about the main lore of the character to spot any flaws in the storytelling, but it does feel like it hits all the main arcs and the art is so damn nice to look at. Can be really trippy/visceral/haunting/beautiful at times and has, what I think, was a pretty satisfying ending.
The Last Ship: The crew of a US Navy destroyer is faced with a new reality, as a pandemic wipes out nearly all of humanity.
Basically, mix together the good parts of Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead, and distill it down to five seasons, 56 episodes, with no filler.
The whole show moves at a breakneck pace in the best way; for instance, the virus that kicks off the show's plot is cured just nine episodes in. Most of the following seasons' underlying plot revolves around the struggles just to mass-produce and distribute said cure.
Er.... Freaks and Geeks? I'm trying to watch Stranger Things but its just Too Much, so I might be extra nostalgic. Also Star Trek. All of them, but especially Next Gen (obviously) and Deep Space Nine. Haha! I don't watch much television.
I also really like the short videos by City Nerd and Not Just Bikes, but that's not fiction.
Edit: I'd like to add the Critical Role animated series. They are doing such a good job. Can I also add Bluey for when you're feeling sick?? Not exactly a series I'd sit down and watch, but it is seven minutes of greatness.
Takin' Over The Asylum. A guy establishes a little radio station in a psychiatric hospital and runs it with its patients. It's a very nice show about madness, humanity, it's fun, sad, infuriating, and there is David Tennant if that helps.
We are lady parts. The story of a British muslim women's punk band. Really fun and nice show. If you don't like the story, listen to the songs!
Brockmire. It stars Hank Azaria as an alcoholic baseball announcer who fell out of the majors after he blew up following his wife cheating on him. His dialog reminds me of John Goodman in O Brother. He plays opposite Amanda Peet as an owner of a minor league team.
You don't have to care about baseball--I certainly don't.
I liked The Peripheral. It only got better with each episode despite the changes from the book original. Of course it got canceled after the first season.
I just finished Counterpart, very good. The premise lets several actors play two different, but related roles. J. K. Simmons knocks it out of the park, showing his range.
Shrinking, not something I'd usually watch, but Harrison Ford is in it, so I gave it a shot. Pleasantly surprised.
I'm currently watching Party Down, which I found after watching Severance, Adam Scott is in it. It's a 20-year-old comedy about catering.
I'm two episodes into Black Doves. It's good enough to keep me watching, I think, but nothing special--full of slightly tired spy tropes--unless you like Keira Knightley, which I do.
24 basically invented cinema quality serialized drama in a mainstream over the air medium. It changed television as we know it. And it's just plain awesome.
Bob's Burgers.
I thought it looked off-putting at first, so I hadn't actually started watching it until it had a bunch of seasons ready to binge-watch, but it's funny, relaxing, and mostly wholesome.
I dedicate my first comment on lemmy to Nirvanna The Band The Show. I CTRL+F'd and am stunned nobody has mentioned it. The new movie is my favorite piece of comedy of all time. I really don't want to give a synopsis, I think it's best to just watch the trailer:
I'll second (or third) shows like The Wire, Deadwood, The Terror (S1), Chernobyl, True Detective (S01 & S04), etc.
For something less man focused there's The Change which is a slightly surreal series about Bridget Christie's character setting off to rural England on her motorbike when she gets tired of her family.
Just started watching Dirty Business which is like Chernobyl but about English sewage, i.e. excellent acting around a slow motion disaster caused by human error and arrogance.
Lot of good recommendations, but i didn’t see anyone mention:
Hell on Wheels
X-men 97
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Batman the animated series
Batman Beyond
I also want to mention Dexter, which was listed before but too low, so easily missed.
I liked a lot of them to a point, then I stopped liking them. Others I haven't seen.
I'd recommend Revenge to anyone. ABC (US Disney-owned TV network) soap opera-stylised drama based very loosely on The Count of Monte Cristo. A rich woman and her husband have another rich man set up for a crime he didn't do and his five year old daughter is traumatised by the arrest (they show this every episode, or just about) and she grows up to be a rich woman no one recognises (and she uses a new name) and she undoes them and their allies one by one. It's super satisfying until you realise none of them are really great people. Except maybe for the hacker/nerdy dude. He's cool. But honestly, it's a really good show. Give it one episode, that's representative of the first three seasons. The final season is a bit different, but still good (and worth it for when she reveals who she really is... no, they never figure it out until she announces it on live TV).
Drama: Oshin (JP, 1983-1984)
Animation: Shaun the Sheep (UK, 2007-present)
Kids: ETV 0655&2355 (JP, 2010-present)
Special program: TV's TV (JP, 1987)
Of these, the one I particularly recommend is "TV's TV."
This is a program in which 100 TV channels each contain small video content, which is randomly introduced within a single TV program, an idea that was around 20 years ahead of YouTube.
There's also an anecdote that Satoshi Tajiri, who would later create Pokémon, was involved in the production of this program.
Y'all, watch Heated Rivalry fr. Yes there's a lot of gay sex in the beginning. No the show is not about the sex. I haven't seen the level of acting, care, or attention put into a show like this in a very, very long time. There's a reason it hasn't dropped from top 10 in Canada in 3 months.
SG1,SGA for all scif nerds, i dont think this appeals to most people. SGU, i heard was better if it was released when streaming became dominant. THE NEW series is only 10 episodes, i have a feeling it wont be as robust as the other 3 series with so few episodes per season10 instead of the 20 for stargate, likely a long wait in between seasons too.
TNG, VOYAGER, DS9, AND ENTPERISE. Nutrek besides prodigy and LD wasnt good at all.
supernatural 1-5, 6,8, 11 season only, the other ones were just fanfiction fillers.
the X-MEN spinoffs prior to the disney mergers: gifted, runaway, AOS,,,etc, very hard to get a series with non typical powers.
i liked ORVILLE, too bad its in limbo because no network wants to pick it up, which is why we saw HUGE gaps between seasons, it frustrated enough that pallacki left the show if it every came back, she said most of the people working on the show couldnt afford being in hollywood with such a huge gap in between seasons, and she said mcfarlanes wanting to write episodes himself mostly, play a part in it.
Orphan Black. Tatiana Maslany should have won ALL the awards.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. One of the funniest comedies ever. Season 18 (EIGHTEEN!) being shot right now. But awards? They mean absolutely nothing to them.
More like a miniseries, but HBO’s Chernobyl. Some of the best television I’ve ever seen.
As a scifi buff: Battlestar Galactica, and The Expanse were excellent. Nightsky was also a really good watch even though it was slow moving, and was more about relationships than SciFi
Obligatory Firefly mention.
The Wire. It's the best piece of visual media ever created. Not only is it the best portrayal of the inner city drugs trade but also the decaying institutions and social structures that allow it to flourish, and the corrupting influence of dirty money.
It also is consistently the best written show on TV and is grounded in it's reality better than anything else. Half the cast were complete unknowns, in many cases plucked from the streets of Baltimore itself and there are standout performances all across it's vast and diverse cast.
It's a little slow to get going, the first few episodes have a lot of ground to cover to get the viewer up to speed, it also makes no effort to ease the viewer in, with a lot of jargon, slang and some very thick accents to content with, there's also no "previously on the wire" to go over key points from earlier episodes so it definitely requires more participation from the viewer than most TV but it's all the better for it.
I am surprised that I'm the first to mention Bojack Horseman here.
This series is for you if you want to cry out your mental health problems
The Good Place. Funny, compelling, I cried through the final episode. It also doesn't waste your time, things will happen mid-season that any other show would have dragged out for the season finale.
arrested development
EDIT:
Fringe. Best Sci-Fi ending that wraps back around to an episode that broke the show open. The last season getting there is kind of rough. But the first 4 seasons are solid.
Fringe is worth it for the White Tulip episode alone. For me that was when the series changed from a monster of the week series to actual art.
one thing that bothers me a lot on shows Is that it always seem they don't know how to end things. I loved Fringe ending. They tied so many things together in a beautiful scene.
Tried to get into it recently. I don't think it's for me. The dialogue and delivery is not great.
You're not alone. I went in expecting it to be high-quality based on comments similar to the above, then adjusted my sights for trite but entertaining, then realized I was only even entertained when John Noble was on screen (and to be fair, his performance was very fun).
I do recognize that it broke new ground and wasn't as cliché when it originally aired, but it's hard to imagine that it wasn't just as hammy.
Its a victim of its time. There is a decent amount of filler and some episodes have big inconsistencies at one point due to being released out of order since they were filler content, but the overarching quality of the show, and watching it slowly move away from monster/mystery of the week to something that rewarded its fans in multiple intentional and sometimes subtle ways, it truly felt.... And still feels.... Like something deeply special and really worth recommending, even if you do end up having to work through a decent amount of filler in the first seasons.
Came for Fringe, found it. Fucking good show and also a very satisfying ending.
Fringe should always benin rotation.
The Good Place
Penny Dreadful
Community
Andor is the best piece of Star Wars media and the best TV show I’ve ever seen. You don’t need to like Star Wars. I don’t know if seeing Star Wars would even increase your enjoyment. I think seeing Rogue One would probably be good but otherwise just jump in. No space wizards or laser swords or destiny or whatever. It’s so adult and grounded. I can’t believe Disney let them make this.
Mr Robot
My partner and I tried sooo hard to like this show after so many recommendations online, but we just kept finding it hella cheesy and forced. D:
The first season was groundbreaking at the time, but quickly became cringe in hindsight from its popularity and the romanticization of certain events. Later seasons, which weren't as immediately popular for spoiler reasons, get more and more serious and become more cinematically rewarding for the viewer.
If you can get past the first season, it gets a lot better. The last season is honestly some of the best pieces of television content I've ever seen.
Came here to recommend Mr Robot as well. The ending of the series was perfectly planned, so it loops around perfectly to the beginning of the series. It was a nice contrast to something like Game of Thrones, where they clearly had no good ending planned and just rushed through to get something done.
I remember watching the end of Mr Robot and going "holy shit."
Farscape
I really enjoyed Babylon 5. Especially seasons 2-4. The interplay between the characters, especially Londo and G'kar was excellent. The stories were epic and political, it would be relevant today I think. It was so quotable and parts really moved you.
The effects were dated even then, and the transfer to widescreen after the digital models were lost was an absolute travesty. Instead of widescreen making the show better, they cropped the 4:3 for every effects shot, making them all blurry and poorly composed.
Even so, the story and characters are epic and timeless.
I was learning 3d modeling back then and found lightwave was used for the cgi!
It's also extremely quotable.
Avatar: the Last Airbender.
As I didn't seen them mentioned
DARK. The plot, casting and soundtrack are all superb, and way ahead of most other shows. Although Season 3 will fuck you up, it also nails the ending.
Since it's not mentioned, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you liked Firefly, you'll like Buffy. Yes, it has baggage, but that doesn't prevent everyone else in the cast from having their work appreciated. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll dabble in witchcraft.
"Better Off Ted" is really funny and still holds up.
I still have a soft spot for "Dead like me", which I rarely see mentioned.
Firefly.
Old school Star Trek, but also Dark Matter.
The Expanse is also bloody amazing. Great book series too.
Some I've hardly seen mentioned here
Season 1 True Detective is peak tv
Season 1 Westworld
FX's Legion- the story is a bit disjointed between the season but the effects are top notch
One I haven't seen listed here:
Samurai Jack
It's a cartoon you need to sit down and pay attention to. There's often action, and it can be goofy, but it also has a lot of really quiet, contemplative scenes.
One I dont see mentioned often is Dark Matter which I think is pretty underrated.
Honestly the intro takes too long... I just kept fastforwarding till they started doing the actual dimention hopping...
Also the other Dark Matter is just awesome... in some ways even more awesome than this Dark Matter
This is the one I thought they were talking about lol. I was very confused when I clicked their link
I enjoyed this one. Crazy that it's only 1 season tho
TIL it was renewed for a season 2.
I absolutely loved that one and it’s based on one of my favorite Blake Crouch books of the same name. The show is great but the book is so much better.
Mr Robot. So many twists and turns, and had me absolutely fascinated from start to finish
Detectorists - when you want to completely relax.
Mr. Inbetween - I believe the less you know before watching it, the better. Just turn it on.
Reservation dogs - also very relaxed.
Holy I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet but Barry with Bill Hader might be one of my faves ever.
Fringe.
Not for everyone, but if it is for you, you'll adore it.
The Pitt. Not usually a medical show guy but the acting and realism were top notch. Kept me hooked the whole way. Deserved that Emmy for sure.
Quick pitch: Follow an ER team throughout a shift, with each season being one single shift. Every episode is an hour. ER is understaffed like they all are, you bounce from one crisis to the next to the next. There is absolutely no medical situation they will not show uncensored in full.
Two shows that weren't mentioned yet:
Always and forever The Wire
Our flag means death. https://youtu.be/prQDst-tAJ8
The IT Crowd
The Sopranos - amazing cast of characters, drama, action, betrayals, comedy! Such a great show. But you need to get sucked in. I recommended it some of my friends or family members but they aren't into it but worth to try! One of my favorite series I enthusiastically rewatch.
Babylon 5 and Farscape
No love for Archer? Witty, profane, great animation/artwork, one writer/creator carrying the whole show, and eponymous lead voiced by H. Jon Benjamin. What am I missing?
Not nearly enough love for Andor? Season 2, episodes 7, 8, and 9 showcase some of the most compelling sequences on TV. Diego Luna, a man under enormous pressure ready to come apart at the seams, run by master manipulator Stellan Skarsgård. Andy Serkis. Forrest Whittaker. Empire baddies Denise Gough and Ben Mendelssohn. Best Star Wars offerings outside the original trilogy screenplays hands down. Fight me.
Nor for my most embarrassing and guiltiest pleasure Downton Abbey? Plus two full length feature sequels? Come now.
Fawlty Towers
Firefly
Found-family space western with excellent music and characters
Yes, it has Joss Whedon's name on it, but either because it was made much earlier in his career or because Tim Minear was showrunner, it doesn't have the modern bathos issue commonly associated with him these days
Foundation is the best sci-fi I've watched and I've seen a lot. The way they adapted it from Asimov's books is so well done, just enough changes to modernise is and keep people who read the books guessing.
Season 2 is a bit weak but 3 was great and the scope for future seasons is huge.
Futurama.
Expanse
A very different kind of sci-fi show: Red Dwarf. Specifically Season 3 and up when Kryten becomes a regular character that ties everything together. Although the first 2 seasons are still worth a watch, just not as good.
Twin Peaks, by David Lynch. I specify, because there was a period when he wasn't involved, and it shows. Those episodes are kind of a slog. But as soon as he comes back, so does the magic.
Sherlock was excellent! Revived my interest in the lore.
here's a few i haven't seen mentioned yet:
oz - uncompromising US prison drama
garth merenghi's darkplace - deadpan british tele-horror parody
the mighty boosh - absurdist musical stage-theatre from the UK
dirk gently's holistic detective agency - fast-paced comedy with an interesting premise that plays out like a douglas adams novel
happy - netflix series which combines a gritty procedural crime-drama with a cartoon mascot. Very violent and dark humour
What We Do In The Shadows - I still need to watch the last season
Wellingon Paranormal - A spin-off of the What We Do In The Shadows movie.
Letterkenny
Corner Gas. - Kinda old school, but very charming and hilarious.
15 Stories High - Peak Sean Locke - It's on YouTube
Garth Marengi's Dark Place - Also on YouTube
The expanse!
I would absolutely think twice or thrice about recommending GoT. In fact, I've already recommended some friends to not watch it. Some amazing episodes, perhaps some of the best scenes ever seen on TV, and by far the most upsetting, spit-in-the-face, negligent final season from any show I've ever seen. Umbrella Academy wishes it had as bad an ending as GoT, if only for the infamy.
Anyway 3 Body Problem looks really promising and I'm sure the creators, whoever they are, will absolutely nail it.............
My name is Earl.
Dirk Gently
The Magicians what at first blush seems like it would be a CW type Harry Potter knock off is actually a fantastic show with smart writing, interesting characters, drama, humor, suspense, action, fantasy…. First season is a little uneven at times but once it finds its footing early in season 2 it just keeps getting better for its entire 5 season run.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend originally developed for Showtime, this show actually DID air on the CW but might be the best thing they ever aired (despite not getting good ratings). You’ll laugh, you’ll cringe, you’ll cry, and it’s a musical with over 120 songs in every style and genre imaginable and every single one is a banger.
I recommend Shogun. It's a political drama set in feudal Japan following a fictional not-Tokugawa figure and the English sailor who crashed nearby and becomes his good luck charm.
A few off the top of my head that I would/have watched multiple times and would highly recommend.
The wire.
Ted Lasso.
The Pit.
The Bear.
Firefly.
Andor.
True detective season 1.
Fringe
Since someone else mentioned Arcane,
My choice would be Chernobyl. I watch it probably once a year and I'm just as hooked every single time. Damn fine work.
I also adore Haunting of Bly Manor. Haunting of Hill House ranks just below that one, I think. But both of those are very good.
And if weird and irreverent are your thing, Bee and Puppycat is so cozy and fun.
Were you really waiting for me to name Silicon Valley? The most educational TV series ever made in this day and age, fun like very few others and quotable to hell and back.
Well, Breaking Bad is already on here and its really good. But to me Better Call Saul is one of, it not the best shows out there. Also doing the whole chronology:
Better Call Saul till the middle of S6 > Breaking Bad > Rest of Better Call Saul > El Camino
Really slaps.
Other than that The Leftovers is quite an underappreciated piece of Television. It simply delivers 3 Season increasingly weird and intriguing and then its just finished.
I also really enjoyed Station 11 bit of a different take on a Post Apocalyptic World and a great miniseries
Chernobyl. Easy
I found Delicious in Dungeon to be charming.
Fringe
Slow Horses.
Fargo is IMHO one of the best if not the best TV series. Every season has its own story and therefore has an end and no cliffhangers until the next season.
Storywise it's just that the Coen brothers have this great feeling for pain and suffering and the twisted humor that lies within. There are no real happy ends and everything comes at a price. But their characters are fighters, they don't give up that easily.
I also love that the bad guys really get under my skin. They have their own logic and methods, they're brutal and the worst of all: they feel real. Like Jon Hamm in the latest season, great (as in I'd never want to meet him) character, great cast!
The Owl House (Disney) a ridiculously wholesome magical animated show with some amazing well integrated LGBT/non-binary representation.
Battlestar Galactica. It's heavy weight politics, in space. Cast is rock solid.
there's^too^ ^much^confusionhereThe follow on movies are also excellent.Scavengers Reign.
Recent ones:
Severance
Pluribus
Older one I didn't see anyone mention yet:
Peep Show (amazing British comedy, truly uncomfortable levels of cringe)
Since I've seen no mention of it, I have to say Leverage.
I freely admit the structure of the episodes becomes a little stale after a while (the team starts a con against the episode villain(s), things go south, and then either they improvise a solution or it's revealed they already anticipated the issue), but for me the chemistry between the cast keeps the show entertaining to the end.
It'd without a doubt my most rewatched TV series, a comfort show of sorts.
I can't say anything about the reboot (Redemption) as I've not got around to watch it yet.
Silo
Severance
Succession
The triple threat
ODDTAXI (with subtitles) is some of the best dialog I've experienced in a long time. With a fun story about a walrus who lives and drives a taxi around Tokyo. It's anime, so I know it isn't everyone's thing, but it's very different from what most people think anime is.
Twin Peaks
The Bridge (Bron/Broen)
Wentworth
The Boys
The IT Crowd
Black Books
*For some of these series, I only saw the first season(s) and can’t comment on the rest
For All Mankind
What a show. The first marine seige on the lunar mining camp is as cool as it gets. Tracy Stevens is a badass.
https://youtu.be/aLvfsyY4G7Q
Scrubs. But skip the last season. They found a good end and then the execs wanted more money.
12 Monkeys and DARK. Both shows deal with time travel in a very cool way.
Severance and The Boys are also fantastic.
Taskmaster,
The good place
Schitts Creek
Arrested development
My name is Earl
Frasier
Firefly
I have a high bar when it comes to recommending enthusiastically. Not to say my list is universal bangers, but they are MY bangers.
Andor (the only good Star Wars series) Band of Brothers (WW2) Chernobyl (Cold war drama) Queens Gambit (Chess drama) Silo (Fallout-esque apocalyptic dystopia) The Expanse (Sci-fi)
Cosmos (the NDT series) - my overall favourite series. If you like Cosmos a lot, consider watching the archives of the Royal Institution's Christmas lectures
The Good Place - Existential Philosophy and Ontology 101, the TV Series. Hilarious, dramatic, and one of the most touching stories I've ever encountered
Person of Interest - Basically "What You'll Learn on Lemmy: The TV Series", about all of the wondrous horrors of the digital surveillance state in which we all live.
Halt and Catch Fire - love shows about technology and innovation and liked Silicon valley, but this show just took it to the next level for me. Both inspiring and at times horribly sad to watch, all done beautifully.
The first three seasons of Arrested Development are still amongst the smartest, dumbest and painfully funniest hours of (comedy) television I have ever seen.
Deadwood.
The movie to complete it is passable, but seasons 1-3 are 10/10.
Happy to see Dark there.
I loved season 1 of Prison Break, season 2 was mostly ok but had a lot of wasted potential, and everything after that was completely off of the rails.
I felt very similarly to Heroes. It started very strong, but fizzled out quickly and eventually became a caricature of itself.
Tales From The Loop. It's a slow, vibey, and kind of whimsical show that perfectly matches the paintings its based on (Simon Stalenhag's). There is no main plot, each episode is a story that takes place in a town above a particle accelerator with a loose thread between them
If you like the mood of the trailer, you'll like the show.
The Mentalist, Person of Interest and IT Crowd.
Constantine, Dirk Gently, Andor, Spaced, The School Nurse Files, Hannibal, Ted Lasso,
Black Sails (Great Action, Fantastic Story. After episode 4 it just gets better and better with every new episode - in the first 3 it was trying too hard to copy GoT).
Warrior (Very political series disguised as a fighting show)
What We Do In The Shadows (Mindless comedy)
The IT Crowd (Many episodes are very funny, but not all. Some have also not aged well. The creator is an ass)
Brooklyn 99 is definitely one of my all time favorites
I introduced my wife to Chuck, one of my favorite shows, and it's the only show so far that we've both liked.
Babylon 5
If you want to go old school, I highly recommend the Adventures of Brisco County Jr. It's a comedy steampunk cowboy romp featuring Bruce Campbell from the 90s, filmed on the lot where they used to film all of the old spaghetti westerns before they destroyed it.
These shows were peak every episode:
"The Thick Of It", if you wanna cackle. It's three seasons (under 10 episodes each) and a TV movie. I recommend watching it with subtitles, especially if you're not a native English speaker/not accustomed to the many accents of the British Isles. If you've watched Veep, it's quite similar except much better in all aspects, lol.
If you don't mind animays (and, for whatever reason, you haven't watched this masterpiece... the shame!) and are competently literate, I also enthusiastically recommend "Legend of the Galactic Heroes". It explores the "honourable philosopher king" autocracy v. "decaying, corrupt, aimless democracy" issue, and the character arcs and very realistic reactions and interactions are just chef's kiss. 👍
I don't see Pantheon mentioned a lot, its a series about uploading human brains to computers. It starts off very good, but the last few episodes turn the show into one of my favourites.
Some shows you may not have heard of:
British comedy:
American comedy
New Zealand comedy
Science fiction
Drama
Lost up until Season 6.
Walking Dead up until Negan.
Firefly, all of it.
Babylon 5, start with Season 2-3-4 then go back to 1.
Really enjoying "From". But there's a drinking game:
Every time someone asks "Hey, are you OK?" the answer is "Naw, man, I'm pretty fuckin' FAR from OK." and take a drink.
Andor
Fallout
Psych
Frasier
MASH
Stargate Universe
Battlestar Galactica
The Body Problem
Foundation
You didn't specify how old
Barry Bojack Horseman
I didn't see either of these mentioned:
Farscape
The Orville
The Owl House. That show is so fucking good. Some might say that its for kids. I would disagree, I think its for everyone. Luz is the best.
BSG remake is a must watch for anyone, even those who don't like "sci fi"
Band of Brothers is a must watch, even for those who don't like "war"
Black Sails started amazing, dragged a bit in the middle, but well worth it for the final speech by Flint at the end.
The Americans is a show that has tragically never gotten the love that it deserves and is well worth your time.
Angel is better than Buffy in every conceivable way basically beginning in the second season and I'll always point it out to people who won't give it a chance because they don't like Buffy. (I don't like Buffy...but Angel was darker, more mature, less teeny bopper. And frankly funnier)
Edited to add:
Boardwalk Empire, the forgotten red-headed stepchild of HBO's prestige lineup. I loved it but for some reason it's completely dismissed and barely remembered.
12 Monkeys. Someone else mentioned it below and reminded me that I need to do a rewatch. I loved it. But in the later seasons was to distracted by other stuff to finish it.
Star Trek: Lower Decks
Loki (Each season has a different vibe, but they're both good)
Infinity Train
Legion is one that I don't see get mentioned very often. Very trippy and a unique spin on the superhero genre. Also Aubre Plaza is fantastic. Loved her in parks and rec, but this is when I realized she had serious acting chops beyond April.
I haven't seen the west wing mentioned. It's great drama with character arcs thatead to growth, which was unusual for episodic tv at the time. It chronicles the fictional presidents white house team dealing with politics and running the country, with ideals, pragmatism when ideals can't work and holds politicians to a standard that we'd all benefit from.
The IT crowd has already been mentioned. It is laugh out loud funny, but being British, the absurdist humour can take a bit of getting used to. It's not meant to depict realism, but charicatures. Don't be afraid to pirate it as the lead writer is a massive dickhead.
Chernobyl is amazing, as others have said. Really tender exploration for the people that would have been involved at all levels. It's harrowing at parts, inspiring at others. It makes us all seem human rather than a world of countries.
Buffy is peak for me with the knster of the week, overarching main baddie for a season and the funny quips mixed in. Others prefer angel or xfiles or fringe. However if any of the above tickle your fancy, you should try the others. Then try firefly and the movie.
I haven't seen much reality TV here. You should check out the UK version of the traitors. It's amazing TV. Like other reality TV, as the seasons go on, the participants have more of an idea of the course of the show and how they'll be perceived. In ye first, they are a blank slate and you can see that the stress of deception is getting to them in a real way and the paranoia affects all.
The wire is a great cops and robbers show that bluts the lines between good guys and bad guys. All are just people doing what they can to make their way. Some that's with crime, some that's with stopping crime. All have dark sides and a human side.
The Newsroom , with Jeff Daniel's. Done by 2012, but it outlined the blueprint of the enshittification of media and the Republican party, but even then, the writers gave US voters far too much credit and would never have predicted Trump elected. Twice.
On the lower brow, Titans was among the best DCU.
Six Feet Under, True Detective (Season 1).
The Wire. Still!
Station 11 on HBO. One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Still cry at the end, after several rewatches.
One I always recommend is Dark. It starts slow but the story and the way everything connects is incredibly well written. Definitely one of those shows that makes you think long after each episode.
To do it in your style:
Burn notice, Psych, House, How i met your mother, Money heist,
These are all masterpieces in their own right with little to no bad episodes:
Cowboy Bebop
Dark
Arcane
Andor
Firefly
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Bojack Horseman
Fleabag
FLCL
Chernobyl
Reservation Dogs
Future Boy Conan
Fallout
Severence
Harley Quinn
Silicon Valley
Devs. Go in blind. Such a mind fuck if you know a little bit about...the topic.
Red Dwarf
Scavengers Reign was amazing.
Arcane
Sweet Tooth
Andor
I can wholeheartedly, enthusiastically, recommend any of those.
And The IT Crowd is one of the funniest things I have ever seen, if you can find that please watch it.
Legion.
Except I guess a qualifier that every season feels different. Everyone loves season 1. But lots of people swear that season 2 or 3 is terrible but the other season is great.
The fact that it's different enough for people to have such strongly mixed feelings about it is probably why I liked it so much.
Currently enjoying The Blacklist and Banshee.
Best TV show ever: Breaking Bad.
Others:
The Sopranos: Great show in every way, and one of the most influential shows in history, creating the style for the episodic drama that became the model for 21st century productions.
The Americans - Perhaps the most under-rated of the great dramas, it was on for about three seasons before people discovered how amazing it is. Incredible acting, with one of the best finales ever.
Six Feet Under - A drama about a family of Morticians, that is so much more interesting than that description. One of the first gay characters who was treated as just a normal person, just another member of the family. The best finale of any show ever.
Deadwood - The best Western ever.The creator was a collector of letters and documents of the time, and used his knowledge to create the most realistic depiction of the old West ever on screen.
The Wire - the only show that rivals Breaking Bad as the best show ever on TV. It's a slow burn, but the characters are truly unforgettable.
The Pitt: Now in its 2nd season, easily one of the best TV shows ever. All the medical dramas in history, to the point where everything has been done to death, and The Pitt manages to be better than ALL of it. Everything about it is virtuosic - acting, writing, directing. The best thing on TV right now.
Star Trek: Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager: These are my comfort shows, that I watch when it's late, and I don't want to work hard to find one last thing before before bed. Voyager is considered one of the worst ST series, but it's always been one of my favorites, because I love the characters, including Janeway.
The Andy Griffith Show - My all-time favorite show, it's one of the most genuine shows ever broadcast. It's all white, and old-fashioned, but it is all heart, and as warm and comfortable as an old sweater. Besides, Don Knotts as Barney Rubble was probably the funniest character to ever appear on TV. Once he left, the show took a noticeable dive in quality.
I can’t believe it’s not mentioned:
Arcane.
It’s like across the spider verse level beautiful.
Oh and Andor was epic
Kingdom South Korean fuedal era zombie series EPIC! There is a movie also to watch after
Arthdal Chronicals Bronze Age fantasy show, but I only can recommend season 1, with 18 episodes, it's very good.
1670 Here again to promote 1670, my favorite of the (my) year, and possibly all time. Polish series full of dead pan comedy, dark humor, and absurdity.
Projekt UFO Polish Cold war era dramadey that I fully enjoyed also.
all of these shows listed I feel are acted and directed very well.
Ordered by quality (best on top)
Then there are some more good ones from recent times:
There, this should give you a considerable backlog.
Edit:my original format was awful. Sorry about that :/
Let’s add Bodies to this list. Eight episodes, one hour each. The same identical corpse turns up in 1890, 1941, 2023, and 2053. Time travel shenanigans ensue. Smart writing, tight cast, nothing is wasted.
Know you are loved.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Orphan Black
Legends of Tomorrow
The Magicians
The Patriot is the best show you haven't seen. Fucking incredible not a bad episode and you should watch it now!
If you like weird stuff like LOST. Convoluted mysteries, scifi, and horror.
This is not in any order. And I am a big film and TV show buff so Ive managed to find a lot of the good stuff (imo) and I'll share it with you.
Unrelatew to current theme :
Some animations.
Since everyone already recommended what I was going to recommend, I'm going to say fuck it. I'm going to recommend FLCL. It's not the best anime ever but it is extremely unique and has some of the best music of any anime. And both the anime's sub and dub are great. If you speak english I'd recommend the dub. The series is only 6 episodes. This anime has aged like wine for me with each subsequent viewing making the anime better and better.
For my favorite comedy (more "haha" comedy), it's gotta be It's always sunny in philadelphia.
From, kinda boring in 3rd season but is fun watch because it forces you to think about where are these people at and how to escape the place. It is like horror mistery show.
This year should be season 4.
Other people say it is similar to Lost but I never watched Lost so don't know.
Carnivale. It ended on a cliff hanger but IMHO, its an absolutely fantastic 3 seasons.
Space ghost coast to coast: surreal talk show and interview comedy reusing old cartoon animation. A more modern equivalent would probably be Smiling Friends.
Courage the cowardly dog: PG rated horror, lots of references and original stuff, suspense and humor
Cowboy Bebop: anime, good sci-fi amazing music
All the star treks: fully automated gay space communism and the alien and robot crisises they encounter. Futurama, The Orville for more comedic/modern equivalents. Cue epic fanfare intro music.
Psych & Monk: comfort sitcom meets murder mystery early 2000s style, updated Matlock/Columbo/murder she wrote.
Most David Attenborough nature docs
The twilight zone original and reboot, eerie sci-fi standalone stories
Legion: professor X's son is the most powerful mutant alive (pre Franklin Richards) and slowly losing his mind. Reminds me a bit of The Prisoner.
Cosmos original and reboot, I like the style of the original but the updated science in the new one is obviously more informative. For a taste try just the powers of 10 video.
Patriot
Dark humor spy show about the incompetence of a 2010's US attempt at stopping Iran's nuclear program.
Anything on Corncob TV
Six feet under
Elementary. Johnny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu have very good platonic chemistry together that would have otherwise ruined the series with some kind of romance. The slow-burning tragedy of Holmes' family in this show kept me going through the second half of the series and there are some memorable recurring antagonists. They could've done more with some of the side characters but it was still a great watch all the way through.
I'll bring up a few shows that haven't been mentioned yet.
Band of Brothers. It's probably one of the greatest TV shows ever made. It's about the Easy company of the 101 airborne division in WW2. The show follows the company from bootcamp (where you get to see David Schwimmer give a performance that could shock you out of seeing him as Ross from Friends) all the way to the end of the war. It's a must watch and that's all I'm going to say because if I say anything more I'm just going to start praising it to high heavens. I'll only add this that if you've finished Band of Brothers and feel like you want more there's also a sort of a follow-up miniseries called "The Pacific" which focuses on the Pacific front of WW2. It is good definitely worth watching if you enjoyed Band of Brothers but it doesn't reach the high that was Band of Brothers.
The other miniseries I'll mention is Bodyguard. It's about a British Police officer who ends up becoming a bodyguard for the Home Secretary (Minister of the Interior or Homeland security of however it's named it your country). I won't spoil anything else about the plot, I'll just add that the show does an excellent job as framing conflicts and building up suspense. It's an all around great thriller.
And now something from the left field, Attack on Titan. This is the only show that I recommend that isn't a miniseries and it's not even live-action. It's an anime based on the comic (manga) of the same name. It's set in a world where humans are forced to live behind walls to keep out giant man-eating humanoids called the Titans and the anime (and the comic) follow Eren Jaeger, who wants to rid the world of the Titans. This one needs a PSA. Anyone who has watched anime knows the trope of the hero putting together a band of companions and they go on their merry adventures. That is definitely what you will feel on the first half of the first season so if you start watching and think "what is this boring bullshit" it gets way better. It's a really well written story with a lot of hints that will make sense in hindsight and some borderline Dark (if you've seen the show you know what I'm talking about) moments that make you go "what the fuck is even going on?" It's one the few stories where I hope we get a proper "Edge of tomorrow" level adaption of the whole story (as a show not a movie because you're not fitting that into a movie) to make it more digestible for western audiences because that's how great Attack on Titan is. It's the only anime that I recommend on the basis that if it had a a good live-action adaptation I would be recommending that. But because there's no live action version we have to make due with anime and if you're not going to watch it because it's anime then it really is just your loss.
The Goes Wrong Show.
I watched some animated stuff recently, these I liked quite a bit:
Over the Garden Wall (2014)
Scavengers Reign (2023)
Kaiba (2008)
Haibane Renmei (2002)
Daredevil.
Fringe
Pantheon! While I think they had to rush it, it has a solid ending
Some of my favorites of the last few years have been:
"The expanse"; British series "Utopia"; "Inside No. 9" ; "Common Side effects"; "Fleabag"
I'm not a huge Anime buff; but lately I've been finding a lot of anime i really like:
"Golden Kamui", "Odd Taxi", "Ranking of kings", "Mononoke", "Dorohedoro" and "Kaji"
Person of interest hits differently with all the ai around.
I can recommend: Babylon Berlin, Boardwalk Empire, The Knick, Shōgun, Chernobyl, Deadwood. Indeed, historical TV dramas are my thing. Guess I’m just living in the past.
Utopia. (2 season UK version, not the 1 season Amazon reboot.)
Edited to add bullets
Stargate SG-1.
If you like time travel and "monster of the week" type shows (and you are willing to try someyhing different in another language) I recomend a spanish show called The Ministry of Time (El ministerio del tiempo). I watched with english subs and It was still very good. If you speak spanish better yet!
Really good show and I loved the premise. Idk how the americans didn't create an american version like they did for the french Les Revenants (Also a great choice, much better than the american I think)
Burn Notice, at least the first 2-3 seasons.
It has an overarching plot, but it only spends about 5 minutes an episode on it. To serve that plot, Michael Westen, ex-spy, must solve a problem each episode for ordinary victims across Miami using trickery and con tactics.
It always evoked a bit of Macgyver-style creative feel in me. Sadly, the story and the actors went downhill with time. (For that matter, Macgyver is a lot of fun in spite of being an oldie. There’s some kind of remake which I never bothered with)
Star Trek The Next Generation.
Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
The Expanse.
Andor.
Avatar The Last Airbender.
Castlevania.
Pluribus.
Frieren.
Dan DaDan (a FUBAR anime. Somehow really good).
Primal.
Better call Saul X-Files Breaking bad
Vince knows how to tickle my brain
Xfiles
Warehouse 13
Mad Men. It's one of the TV GOAT's for good reasons.
Station 11
Modern choice, only one season so far with another coming of unknown quality, but I liked Murderbot, personally. Sci Fi, dark comedy, with a dash of wholesome. I liked it!
Fuck it. Im a dude in my 40s and I'll cop to it: most of Rick and Morty is great. And I'm basically a Jerry.
I also love the show Alone, except season 12 sucked.
Taskmaster UK is fantastic.
MASH. I love every season of that show. So good.
Go get The Good Place on DVD.
Knight of the 7 Kingdoms
Taskmaster (UK). Free on YouTube, but it's also a TV series, so I'll count that.
Sci fi dramas: Severance, and Pluribus
Sci fi comedy: The Orville
Just fun: Taskmaster
Dark!!!!
Since nobody has mentioned Deadwood, I'll recommend it. Possibly the best written TV I've seen, great cast too.
Lucifer
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Easily my biggest "TV show that was cancelled way too soon" regret.
The Man in the High Castle was pretty good. Especially in these times
Quantum Leap.
I liked both the original and the remake a few years ago. Would have liked to see more of the remake. :(
Psych is like the best tv show ever
On that list:
I have many more that are not on that list.
Some less obvious ones I loved were Severance and Fargo.
Better off Ted
House of Lies - Don Cheadle and Kirsten Bell
Huff - Hank Azaria
Counterpart - JK Simmons
Dark Matter
Stargate SG1
Travellers
Mutant X
Camp Lazlo.
Cartoons by a team that really understood the lesson.
The OA
Recently: Succession, Pluribus.
OG: ATLA, Toradora (the best love story ever told, btw).
High Maintenance on HBO. It's an anthology show (different characters every episode) that centers on a guy who bikes around NYC selling weed. It manages to be hilarious while focusing on some very sad and strange experiences. It feels very grounding to me and I always feel a sense of "we're going to get through this."
I love Lost. I still haven't finished it because I had a break and then restarted.
Barney Miller
Did anyone else like ‘Treme’? I thought it was great.
Halt and Catch Fire
The Leftovers
Station 11
I will recommend person of interest to anyone who asks.
Community
Silicon Valley
The Inbetweeners
Pluribus
Space Dandy
Band of Brothers, The Americans, Rome, Andor, Mindhunter
Not because it is on the list, but Lost is one I'd always recommend to watch. People either heard or remember about it being bad. It is not. Binging it made me understand it. This show is a masterpiece.
Not on the list - Chernobyl. Top notch short series.
Also When Life gives you Tangerines. I am not kdrama watcher, but my wife is. This series was breathtaking to watch. Really nice story telling.
Hannibal (2013) is still one of my absolute favorites to rewatch.
I'll admit I don't know a ton about the main lore of the character to spot any flaws in the storytelling, but it does feel like it hits all the main arcs and the art is so damn nice to look at. Can be really trippy/visceral/haunting/beautiful at times and has, what I think, was a pretty satisfying ending.
That and 30 Rock
same same but different
Weeds, at least the first like 3 or 4 seasons. I really enjoyed it when they were coming out! The first season of the Fargo TV show is also excellent.
Counterpart. Excellent spy action with a twist. JK Simmons is great in this one.
Only Fools and Horses
The office
Mobland
Vikings
Mr. Inbetween
Peaky blinders
Son of anarchy
What we do in the shadows
Power
The haunting of bly manor/ hill house
Shameless
The Last Ship: The crew of a US Navy destroyer is faced with a new reality, as a pandemic wipes out nearly all of humanity.
Basically, mix together the good parts of Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead, and distill it down to five seasons, 56 episodes, with no filler.
The whole show moves at a breakneck pace in the best way; for instance, the virus that kicks off the show's plot is cured just nine episodes in. Most of the following seasons' underlying plot revolves around the struggles just to mass-produce and distribute said cure.
Are you British? And/or have you listened to any British people speak for any length of time?
Then you'll have heard jokes and phrases repeated (knowingly or unknowingly) from Only Fools and Horses.
Do you want to know what the British think of our European neighbours?
Then you'll want to watch 'Allo 'Allo!
Deadwood
I firmly believe that the Curse with Nathan Fielder is one of the greatest things ever filmed.
Er.... Freaks and Geeks? I'm trying to watch Stranger Things but its just Too Much, so I might be extra nostalgic. Also Star Trek. All of them, but especially Next Gen (obviously) and Deep Space Nine. Haha! I don't watch much television.
I also really like the short videos by City Nerd and Not Just Bikes, but that's not fiction.
Edit: I'd like to add the Critical Role animated series. They are doing such a good job. Can I also add Bluey for when you're feeling sick?? Not exactly a series I'd sit down and watch, but it is seven minutes of greatness.
Slow Horses The Rehearsal Patriot
Norsemen- absolutely hysterical show really really loved it
After Life - dark, funny, and poignant
Dota Dragons Blood - anime, really intense, great storytelling, has one of the best episodes ive ever seen in any show
Lupin - brilliantly written crime show, plot and acting are superb. One of the best ive seen for a very lont time
Edit: typo
Top Tier crime: The Sopranos, The Wire (both HBO)
Top Tier comedy: Psych (Peacock app)
Brockmire. It stars Hank Azaria as an alcoholic baseball announcer who fell out of the majors after he blew up following his wife cheating on him. His dialog reminds me of John Goodman in O Brother. He plays opposite Amanda Peet as an owner of a minor league team.
You don't have to care about baseball--I certainly don't.
I liked The Peripheral. It only got better with each episode despite the changes from the book original. Of course it got canceled after the first season.
Paradise
Admittedly I missed the "a" in the title, the grid threw me.
But I already made a list...
Better Off Ted
I would watch the Apple TV show Silo. Amazing show
I just finished Counterpart, very good. The premise lets several actors play two different, but related roles. J. K. Simmons knocks it out of the park, showing his range.
Shrinking, not something I'd usually watch, but Harrison Ford is in it, so I gave it a shot. Pleasantly surprised.
I'm currently watching Party Down, which I found after watching Severance, Adam Scott is in it. It's a 20-year-old comedy about catering.
I'm two episodes into Black Doves. It's good enough to keep me watching, I think, but nothing special--full of slightly tired spy tropes--unless you like Keira Knightley, which I do.
Bunheads, Northern Exposure.
From
L O S T
Avatar the Last Airbender.
Blackadder.
Heroes (Season 1).
The Good Place
Assassination Classroom, Inuyashiki: Last Hero, Mob Psycho 100, Trillion Game, Shangri-La Frontier, Akame ga Kill!, Babanba Banban Vampire, Migi and Dali, Servamp, Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun
Note: These are all great anime TV shows.
24
24 basically invented cinema quality serialized drama in a mainstream over the air medium. It changed television as we know it. And it's just plain awesome.
Poker Face!
I recently discovered Cybersix (1999). It's got a great aesthetic, an intriguing story, and quality animation.
Vinyl Oz The wire Sopranos Chernobyl
Bob's Burgers.
I thought it looked off-putting at first, so I hadn't actually started watching it until it had a bunch of seasons ready to binge-watch, but it's funny, relaxing, and mostly wholesome.
Plebs
Alpha Males (Spanish)
Orphan Black
The Americans
The Sopranos
I dedicate my first comment on lemmy to Nirvanna The Band The Show. I CTRL+F'd and am stunned nobody has mentioned it. The new movie is my favorite piece of comedy of all time. I really don't want to give a synopsis, I think it's best to just watch the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2K9ccMREOI
There was an internet show, a broadcast TV show, and now this movie.
You can watch the internet show for free (legally? I think?) here. It's 11/10. https://nirvannathebandthe.show/episodes/
Bored to death
Looking at your list of shows in that picture, I would say the new HBO Westworld!
I'll second (or third) shows like The Wire, Deadwood, The Terror (S1), Chernobyl, True Detective (S01 & S04), etc.
For something less man focused there's The Change which is a slightly surreal series about Bridget Christie's character setting off to rural England on her motorbike when she gets tired of her family.
Just started watching Dirty Business which is like Chernobyl but about English sewage, i.e. excellent acting around a slow motion disaster caused by human error and arrogance.
Misfits hasn't been mentioned yet - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1548850
From that pic, I'm in season 5 of Peaky Blinders and I've enjoyed it. Breaking Bad is wonderful. Not pictured, I've recently enjoyed Mr. Robot.
Apparently I live under a rock or something. Only seen one of these, Sherlock.
lost in space. It was just so refreshing to have the entire family be intelligent competent people instead of bumbling idiots.
my so called life always <3
Line of Duty, a police procedural about anti-corruption. Absolutely gripping.
Lot of good recommendations, but i didn’t see anyone mention: Hell on Wheels X-men 97 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Batman the animated series Batman Beyond
I also want to mention Dexter, which was listed before but too low, so easily missed.
Final Space. Tragic it was cut short.
Ja, Herr Flick!
The Americans Great 1980s Spy series which is really about Family and Friend relationships.
Deadwood
Most of the Gundam series that've come out since the 90s except SEED
From. I haven’t watched Lost personally, but I’ve heard that if you like Lost, you will like From.
Turn: Washington Spies
Arcane i would recommend everyone to watch
Star Trek, any of them but Discovery, but don't start with The Original Series
Doctor Who, but start with the new 2005 series.
Worthy mentions: The Orville, Andromeda.
Unforgotten
River
The Terror
Taboo for sure.
The only recent show that has an unmitigated endorsement from me is Bad Sisters.
Of those, or those are yours?
I liked a lot of them to a point, then I stopped liking them. Others I haven't seen.
I'd recommend Revenge to anyone. ABC (US Disney-owned TV network) soap opera-stylised drama based very loosely on The Count of Monte Cristo. A rich woman and her husband have another rich man set up for a crime he didn't do and his five year old daughter is traumatised by the arrest (they show this every episode, or just about) and she grows up to be a rich woman no one recognises (and she uses a new name) and she undoes them and their allies one by one. It's super satisfying until you realise none of them are really great people. Except maybe for the hacker/nerdy dude. He's cool. But honestly, it's a really good show. Give it one episode, that's representative of the first three seasons. The final season is a bit different, but still good (and worth it for when she reveals who she really is... no, they never figure it out until she announces it on live TV).
Lol, a number of those are not on my list.
Patriot
Since I haven’t seen it mentioned yet, I really enjoyed Continuum
Mad Men
Full metal alchemist: brotherhood
New Girl.
My husband loves it too.
I'm currently watching a lot of trashy 90s films on https://www.youtube.com/@blacktreemedia, which has been fun
Drama: Oshin (JP, 1983-1984)
Animation: Shaun the Sheep (UK, 2007-present)
Kids: ETV 0655&2355 (JP, 2010-present)
Special program: TV's TV (JP, 1987)
Of these, the one I particularly recommend is "TV's TV."
This is a program in which 100 TV channels each contain small video content, which is randomly introduced within a single TV program, an idea that was around 20 years ahead of YouTube.
There's also an anecdote that Satoshi Tajiri, who would later create Pokémon, was involved in the production of this program.
The Sopranos. One of the best and most influential TV shows ever made.
Lazor Wulf. Refreshingly quirky and original cartoon about a wolf with a laser on his back.
Three Busy Debras. Almost lethally hilarious comedy trio being superlatively silly.
Twin Peaks. Especially season 3, probably the best single season a TV shoe has ever had.
The best Star Trek series for me is a tie between DS9 and Lower Decks. That's right, I rank Lower Decks above TNG. It's THAT good.
Babylon Berlin!
I can absolutely recommend Babylon Berlin! I'm currently in the 4th season and every one of them has been great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_qN5bFfOTE&t=58
Y'all, watch Heated Rivalry fr. Yes there's a lot of gay sex in the beginning. No the show is not about the sex. I haven't seen the level of acting, care, or attention put into a show like this in a very, very long time. There's a reason it hasn't dropped from top 10 in Canada in 3 months.
Archive 81 was far better than expected
Twin Peaks
Boston Legal, Modern Family
Glee
Rugrats
Hey Arnold
Steven Universe & Steven Universe Future
Out of the picture only breaking bad lol
SG1,SGA for all scif nerds, i dont think this appeals to most people. SGU, i heard was better if it was released when streaming became dominant. THE NEW series is only 10 episodes, i have a feeling it wont be as robust as the other 3 series with so few episodes per season10 instead of the 20 for stargate, likely a long wait in between seasons too.
TNG, VOYAGER, DS9, AND ENTPERISE. Nutrek besides prodigy and LD wasnt good at all. supernatural 1-5, 6,8, 11 season only, the other ones were just fanfiction fillers.
the X-MEN spinoffs prior to the disney mergers: gifted, runaway, AOS,,,etc, very hard to get a series with non typical powers.
i liked ORVILLE, too bad its in limbo because no network wants to pick it up, which is why we saw HUGE gaps between seasons, it frustrated enough that pallacki left the show if it every came back, she said most of the people working on the show couldnt afford being in hollywood with such a huge gap in between seasons, and she said mcfarlanes wanting to write episodes himself mostly, play a part in it.
Californication Hell on Wheels Justified
The Wheel of Time by far the best show I've ever seen. I can't stop watching it.
Columbo
That one there. First couple seasons anyway. It gets meh towards the end.
FROM.
Unfortunately named for search but I really enjoy it. Alot of mystery. I hope it doesn't go thr way if LOST
Awake (2012)
I never see anyone mention this ever. A neat little detective mini-series where you can't tell dream from reality.
I'm also gonna add another vote Fringe.
OUTLANDER❤❤❤
Omg a fellow snek boi :D
Orphan Black. Tatiana Maslany should have won ALL the awards.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. One of the funniest comedies ever. Season 18 (EIGHTEEN!) being shot right now. But awards? They mean absolutely nothing to them.
Exit (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9612102/)
The Don't Hug Me I'm Scared TV show!
Justice League (the cartoon series). A must-watch for any superhero fan.
One Piece Live Action
The Mentalist
Kaamelott
Agree on Dark and Breaking Bad
Mr. Robot was so freaking good! ::: spoiler spoiler Once I realized that Elliot is controlling what I was seeing it blew my mind. :::
Is this rage bait?
Mrs. Brown's Boys