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?
So many good answers so i will only add ones i didnt see in the responses.
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Supernatural (seasons ~1-5 before the storyline was extended)
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The Last Of Us
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Dark Matter
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Archer
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Game of Thrones (except the last season unfortunately, but the others are still worth watching regardless)
And since someone has already said black mirror, i would add Love Death & Robots, which is both very similar (tone & thematically) but also all over the place (artistically and storytelling wise).
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It might not be “absolute cinema” and had maybe 5% of the budget of Chernobyl, but given that people have suggested Ted Lasso, I’ll go one step further into the realm of fuzzy feel-good TV and drop a mention for my favourite TV show of all time.
There isn’t a single moment in that programme where any of the characters are mean to each other (save for the when dealing with a rival club). It’s just 20 beautiful episodes of people looking for gold, living their lives, and doing their best to be supportive.
And it’s incredibly funny.
This is PEAK of my last year.
Shogun and Andor
Andor. Pluribus. 3 Body Problem. Queen’s Gambit. Babylon Berlin. Alice in Borderland. Shogun (the 2024 series). The Expanse. First two seasons of For All Mankind.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexx
It’s old-ish and maybe not the greatest work of art on screen, but I love that it had a very unique world and characters and humour and it keeps on developing and changing throughout.
It’s been too long. I really kind of want to watch it again.
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.
Curb Your Enthusiasm. Pretty pretty good
The Good Place. Season one is just to set it up, please stick with it through at least S2
Oh fork. Fork! what the fork!!
My gf and I like to say that, based on the premise, The Good Place had absolutely no right being as amazing as it was. Phenomenal.
As a non religious person, I wrote this show off for years. I recently watched it and it was amazing. Can’t recommend it enough.
It is the only show that I know that managed to hold its quality up all through the end. It’s amazing
Better than the rest
The Wire & Homicide: Life on the Street (David Simon Box Set) Atlanta The Expanse
Comedy
- NewsRadio (for Maura Tierney and Dave Foley and Phil Hartman and Khandi Alexander and Vicki Lewis and Stephen Root)
- Schitt’s Creek
- Ted Lasso (Seasons 1 and 2)
- Murphy Brown
- Sex Education
Sci-Fi
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009)
- Dark
- Devs
- Altered Carbon (Season 1)
Drama
- The Newsroom
- Law & Order (seasons 1-8)
- Succession
- Severance
Intense Drama (TV-MA and little levity)
- Chernobyl
- Adolescence
- Utopia
- MR. ROBOT
- Luther
- True Detective (Season 1)
- Vince Gilligan Box Set (Better Call Saul & Breaking Bad & Plur1bus (has levity))
- Ozark
Anthology shows
- Black Mirror
- Love Death + Robots
Animated
- Rick and Morty
- Samurai Jack (2001-2004, 2017)
- Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008)
- Gravity Falls
- South Park
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Final Space
Perpetually on deck for me
- Fargo
- Andor
- Band of Brothers
- Barry
- Legion
- Letterkenny
- Bojack Horseman
- Scavenger’s Reign
- Fringe
Comedy? Futurama (be ready to have your feels tickled)
More serious SF but still funny? The Orville
More more serious SF and not so funny, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Not at all funny and serious SF (anyone seeing a pattern?) Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009)
Extra credit serious SF, worth every hour, dated graphics and all, Babylon 5 Amazing stories, worth every minute it takes to watch 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.
I love me some Sci-Fi but yeah, the fact that it’s Star Wars had me ignoring this one despite all the amazing reviews and hype. Is Andor still enjoyable without having seen anything but the first six movies and the first two of the sequels? I know it’s closely linked with Rogue One and I didn’t watch that either. Still recommendable with that little knowledge of the current expanded universe?
I went in having only seen those movies too, you really don’t even need that much familiarity to enjoy this. Don’t sleep on it, it’s quite good.
I watched Rogue One after I finished Andor and I was pretty disappointed, it’s an alright movie I guess but a huge downgrade from the show IMO.
Interesting, as I thought the opposite. It felt bigger budget and a great extension to the series.
I think the only thing you need to know is the Empire are fascists and baddies. They make that pretty clear even if you don’t know that. Imagine a political spy thriller made by someone who doesn’t care about Star Wars lore, because that’s what it is.
If you’re into sci-fi, I hope you’ve seen Babylon 5. The political storylines have never felt more relevant.
Babylon 5 is excellent. The special effects are still pretty decent decades later, but apparently you need to find the right version, because they tried to upscale some of it for HD at one point and completely messed up the effects scenes.
The actors do an amazing job though, and the fact that it’s a cohesive story that was slowly played out over multiple seasons is so rare.
If you know of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, it was a Babylon 5 ripoff. The creator of Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski went to Paramount with his idea and they rejected it. He went to PTEN / Warner Brothers and they made it. DS9 launched just a month before Babylon 5 came out. But, “coincidentally” it took place on a space station next to a wormhole, involved a leader who became a religious figure against their will / knowledge, there’s a fiesty female second officer, an idealistic doctor, a hard-boiled security chief… basically too many things to be coincidental.
You can go in with no prior knowledge if you want. Watch Andor and then Rogue One (narrative order is reverse release order)
I have no clue how Disney let them make it.
Rogue One is also one of the best Star Wars shows of the modern era, and I generally hate prequels, but it and Andor are phenomenal.
Oh yeah that’s more than enough. If anything all you need is A New Hope, but as long as you know the Empire are the bad guys the story is pretty self-contained.
Rogue One takes place immediately after, so watch it next if you like.
I might be wrong, but I’d estimate there are roughly zero mentions of light sabres, force, Jedi etc in Andor.
You’re only slightly mistaken, and the point is well taken that it’s far from the point of the show.
Tap for spoiler
Specifically, there’s the mildly force-sensitive medic on Yavin who gets Bix to believe in something bigger. I think there’s also a few other offhand references.
If you have never seen anything related to Star Wars - watch Andor, if you hate Star Wars - watch Andor, if you love Star Wars - watch Andor
just a heads up to anyone watching andor. the first two episodes are… wait until episode 3 to judge if you like the show or not
Ok, thanks for saying that. I literally gave up after ep.2 as the whole thing was boring. I tried several times watching it - fell asleep, literally
but i’ll give it another go - thanks
im no expert, i just finished ep. 3 yesterday. me and my partner agreed that they should have rolled the first 3 episodes into one 90 inute episode, because the first two do t have any kind of story to them, just setup
I wrote out a whole list for you then I accidentally deleted it. I was very proud of that list. Here’s a few:
- Widows Bay
- Our Flag Means Death
- Ted Lasso
- The Good Place
- Watchmen (show not movie)
- Halt and Catch Fire
- Silo
- Man in the High Castle
- Tokyo Vice
- What We Do In The Shadows
Apple TV has a lot of really exceptional Sci-Fi if that’s your thing.
AND FINALLY. The weirdest most indescribable show of all time that will not make sense it is somehow a must watch for me:
Raised by Wolves
Most people won’t like that one. It is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s a sci-fi show by Ridley Scott’s company and it feels like the plot was written by a Norwegian Death Metal band.
Androids raise children during the time of a religious war. One Android gives birth to a flying snake. A lady becomes a tree. A sea monster puts a baby into its chest cavity.
DARK on Netflix.
It’s not for everybody but I loved every second of it. In summary (without spoilers):
Black Books
