I haven’t been watching much in terms of actual shows for a good while, then while listening to a podcast a host casually mentioned they had rewatched Chernobyl, how it still holds up, that there’s a reason it got as much acclaim as it did, etc. So I thought I’d give it a go and wow, loved it (still one episode left to watch).
Had me thinking, what else have I missed out on? What are some “absolute cinema” TV shows that still hold up and and are considered must watch?
I would say: Daria
It seems like a sitcom at first (I hate most sitcoms), but you slowly get to realize it actually is way more of a social critique of the american (neoliberal) society and it’s impact on children and teens.
Edit: I know it’s a spoiler but I can’t really find a way to let it reach it’s intended audience any other way.
This is PEAK of my last year.
Yo, I loved Scavenger’s Reign, I’ll have to check this out.
Scavenger’s Reign
OOO. Thanks for the recommendation! Never heard of this shows. Looks pretty cool. Gotta BUY IT for my Jellyfin.
I really like animated showsss.
I’m pretty into it
Speaking of Chernobyl, watch Andor next (lots of the same actors). Go in ignoring the fact it has anything to do with Star Wars and you’ll have a great time. It’s peak television.
Silicon Valley
I’m really surprised The Expanse didn’t get more of a mention here. Great scify series, and I don’t like series in general.
Its closer to hard sci fy than prob anything else, it has pretty realistic politics of exploitation, rebellion and inyterdependace in the near (few hundred years) colonisation of the solar system. There’s some gritty pewpewpew in space, balanced out by some space opera, with spectacular characters that have more depth than most and a story arch thats likely to make you binge it.As an added bonus the series is 6 out of 9 (/10) books it is based on. There are some notable differences by the end but still you can… expand beyond what the series shows.
It’s biggest problem was the arguably not so good first season I think. Also the ending is kinda eh.
Other than that, it’s my favorite series since TNG. I absolutely loved it and I pity the people that couldn’t see past the first season
It’s biggest problem was the arguably not so good first season I think.
I thought the 1st season of The Expanse was good, but the 2nd season was so bad that I stopped watching in middle of episode 2. The difference was pretty stark, almost as bad as the difference between the great season 1 of Spooks/MI-5 vs its god-awful season 2.
I’d recommend the first 2 seasons of Okkupert, and Firefly.
While I think Chernobyl is a great fiction series, there’s a huge amount of completely unnecessary lies in it, including the intro and outro about lies.
I couldn’t disagree with you more. Especially when you mention Firefly, which in my opinion was a mediocre slog that only got attention because it was cancelled.
Dang, I didn’t realize I had a nemesis until this very moment. I will die on the Firefly hill.
Haha cheers
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Bojack horseman (better under lsd/shrooms)
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The Beatles: Get Back!
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Ordinary Denazification (start of the Ukrainian war with a lot of nuances)
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Ugly Americans (simple fun)
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the Act of killing (though film, it is worth it)
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I’m always ready to plug Bojack Horseman. Yes, it’s an animated show about an anthropomorphic horse, with tons of silly, animal puns and visual gags, and cartoon-ish storylines, and it will sometimes just rip you open emotionally. Will Arnett is a phenomenally gifted voice actor. And despite this, one of the best episodes of television I’ve ever seen is one in which he has barely any lines.
The usual advice, of course, is that it takes until the middle of the first season to get really good. (The first few episodes aren’t bad, they’re just light comedy.)
Bojack is a depressed narcissist feeling sorry for himself. The main character is a self centered asshole.
The universe is a cruel, uncaring void. The key to being happy isn’t a search for meaning. It’s to just keep yourself busy with unimportant nonsense, and eventually, you’ll be dead.
“The view from halfway down” saved me from suicidal ideation, thoughts and intent. It was the first light that got me to realise suicidal ideation is not normal, it’s not a solution. It got me to listen to what friends were saying, and eventually led to me accepting the breakdown that got me professional help before I hurt myself. Not saying it’s the trigger, or the totality: I had a lot of help along the way. But definitely significant in so many dark times.
The way Bojack Horseman approaches gender, sexuality and mental health is always extremely accepting, able to draw comedy because of it and not against it, and then being so utterly heartbreaking at times.
Yeh, “sad horse” show. But it has so much depth.
The constant development of BoJack, of Todd, of Diane causes you (well, it did for me) to reassess previous episodes in new light.
Truly incredible.
Chernobyl has a lot of problems with inaccurate anti-soviet tropes.
- Riget by Lars von Trier. Combines hospital drama with horror and adds a dash of black and absurd comedy into the mix. The third season was also quite watchable, but not as essential as the original show.
- Twin Peaks. All three seasons. Takes a quality dip some point at the second season but the third one really ups the ante and redeems.
- The Office UK. Peak cringe comedy throughout, with a dash of drama. The US version is alright, but really its own thing after the first seasons and not really comparable.
- Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Peak absurd humour. Some of the stuff probably doesn’t fly as well as it did over 50 years ago, but well worth the watch.
Moral Orel is better than its first season lets on. If you can get past the juvenile gross-out factor of episodes like “Gods Chef,” you’ll find an absolutely brutal depiction of what’s it’s like to live in christofascist middle America and what it’s like to have a dying marriage (fun story: my ex husband had “No Children” played at our wedding, despite my objections. Fortunately the title was true at our divorce.)
Columbo is fucking awesome. It’s a murder mystery show, but you see the murder happen first, so the fun is all in how Columbo figures it out. He’s just the most charming character in any TV show ever. The episodes are standalone, so you can just watch a random one and have a great time.
Chernobyl is good show but one thing it got very wrong is the idea that the molten down reactor could somehow explode again for some gigantic fireball larger than the Tsar Bomba.
It increases fear of nuclear power unreasonably. Also much much less people died or suffered from nuclear power including Chernobyl compared to fossil fuels. Even solar power causes more deaths from roofing accidents. We now know at least some of the nuclear hysteria is / was funded by fossil fuel interests.
EDIT: I guess the point of this is to point out propaganda “side effects” of this, similar to how you should point out the copaganda in a cop show. Or in Homeland and other spy dramas the vilification of Iran. Representation in media is important, and bad representation can have deadly consequences.
Archer (Hulu)
Deadwood Invincible Mr. Robot
Ted Lasso. Surface level it’s a “fish out of water” story of an American College Football coach going to England to coach Professional Football (soccer). In actuality it’s a show about loss, growth, relationships, and packs more emotions than you’ll know what to do with. I know a lot of people gush about it, but I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that it might be the most perfect show I’ve ever watched.
Similarly, Schitt’s Creek. A lot of similar themes, also a nearly perfect show. I will say that it took me a little bit to get past the first couple of episodes because it seemed like all of the characters were kinda awful, but that’s really setting things up for character growth.
Ted lasso was good but I will caveat it- as someone who likes football and that angle the series strayed very far from being about football and went heavy into emotions, etc. Notably season 2 and on.
Schitts is amazing though start to finish.
As someone who hates football, Ted Lasso was wonderful because at no point was it ever really about football.
Been enjoying “From”. Need to catch up with the current season.
From is only hampered by its bad acting, directing, writing and theme song. Other than those obvious and ever-present problems, I’ve watched every episode.
