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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?
Frieren: Beyond Jouney's End is absolutely incredible. Even if you don't watch anime I'd still recommend this as a gateway into the medium.
With no regard to how big stuff is/was, because OP hadn't seen Chernobyl.
'Chernobyl' is up there. Brutal indictment of a hypercorrupt dying empire that only cares about power and is built almost entirely on lies contrasted with the people it happens to, who largely embody the ideals their government lies about; the heroism of a dead culture striving to save everyone from some of the fuckers who killed it.
'Andor' star wars, but about antifascism instead of wuxia bullshit or daddy issues. Some of the best TV ever made. Weaves in links to history and obscure star wars apocrypha. It's everything it should be and more with amazing layered deliberate fast-slow-fast pacing. There's a long-payoff joke that is also the serious culmination of the first season's meta-arc (the first season of that show would be about five seasons of anything else) and half the fans didn't even notice.
'Severance' or the ~decade earlier whedon-directed much more sex focused show it was linked to, 'dollhouse' if you need fast pace or a slightly more dramatic version of what the internet is now. Low-scifi corpo-surrealism about the ways we treat identity. The two versions come to very different conclusions.
'Scavengers' reign' beautiful uncanny man-vs-nature space narrative, haunting sound track, amazing in every way that matters.
'Westworld' only season 1. Its About Things. No not just the robots. They left some plot threads unresolved for season 2, but they're not really what's important and each season is exponentially worse, riding the first season's nonstop hitting. Season 2 is still okay I guess.
'daredevil' Netflix version, season 1 only. There's more but its not the same quality. Gritty superhero and heroic legal drama filling in each others gaps.
'Cowboy bebop' everybody's favorite film noir space (neo?)western. Dripping with cool. Remade a few years later in a historically accurate Japan right after the consolidation of the Tokugawa dynasty with arguably 10% less style and 30% tighter production.
'Kaos' though it was left extremely unfinished. High budget modern Greek mythology soup. As gay and misothiest as you would expect if you had actually read any.
'Peacemaker' murder-himbo realizes he might be one of the bad guys while trying to save the world with/from the CIA immediately post-'the suicide squad'.
'Harley Quinn' batman villain fucks around, continues fucking around, occasionally finds out. But lesbianly, sharp unhinged comedy.
'Futurama' fox seasons/original run only. Occasionally heart wrenching SciFi comedy that's not trying to be as edgy as 'rick and Morty' later would. Definitely aged, but smart enough it's aged gracefully.
'True detective' season 1 only. The rest are fine, I guess. Southern Gothic neo-noir ambiguously fantasy.
'Star trek: deep space nine' a space station on the edge of falgsc utopia orbiting space-palestine as the toned down space zios do space-zio things. 90s in all the best ways and very few of the worst.
Or the more woo-scifi version which aired I think simultaneously, 'Babylon 5'.
'Community' very few comedy shows age this well. Just a ridiculously solid sitcom.
'Lovecraft country' endritch horror and american racism standing in frame next to each other, while the arc and the anthology flirt over a meal of 'how to love SciFi as a marginalized person?'. The most beautiful wholesome profound bed covered in gore you've ever watched coincidentally 'is this gay, and if so what kind?' sex on.
I'll add more later, and there are more certain people need to see but others don't necessarily.
Apparently I like War, Mystery, and Comedy. List:
Andor: Is great, even if you aren't a Star Wars fan. Each 3 episode arc is better than the last. Only planned as 1 season, but did so well they made a Season 2 and Season 2 is better. You can use Rogue One as a cap to the series.
Veronica Mars: watched all of it for the first time this year. It holds up 20+ years later.
Ted Lasso: Comedy about a college American Football coach coaching English Football/soccer.
The Good Place: Strangely a philosophy heavy comedy. It slows in places, but is absolutely worth watching.
Schmitt's Creek: Comedy about unlikeable rich people becoming poor. It takes a bit to start, but each season is better than the last and nails the landing.
Possibles:
Altered Carbon (Season 1): Great murder mystery set in a cyberpunk, dystopian future.
Shogun: Medieval Japan samurai "game of thrones"-esk show. Only planned as 1 season, but did so well they are making a Season 2.
Band of Brothers: War show about American rangers in WW2.
Chernobyl is great, but if you look into it’s basically retelling russian propaganda that this was individuals fault rather than a matter of when not if tragedy.
Anyways best shows:
Comedies:
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.
The good place. I found hysterical but the ethics it tried to teach was even better. I'm a 48 year old male and I legit bawled like a baby when the series wrapped
Twin Peaks The Return (aka season 3, which came back with most of the original cast after 25 years) is a masterpiece.
There is nothing else like it, not even the original 2 seasons. Often considered a “film” and truly is “absolute cinema”. From the wikipedia article on it:
The series garnered critical acclaim, with praise for its unconventional narrative structure, visual invention, and performances.[2] Critics have hailed the show as the best television program of 2017[3] and the 2010s,[4] as well as one of the best series of the 21st century.[5][6][7][8] Some critics also consider The Return a film, with film journal Cahiers du Cinéma naming it the best film of the decade[9] and the 2022 Sight & Sound critics' poll voting it the 152nd-greatest film in history.[10]
Downton Abbey: most shows shuffle away any notion of class struggle and class conflict, which is a shame as it is the defining story of our era, but Downton showcases it. A show that restores your faith in humanity, making nearly every character’s humanity shine through in a beautiful, Dickensian way. I try to watch it at least once a year, ideally around winter holidays. Ironically created by a British conservative.
Century of the Self: although perhaps less a series and more a miniseries, seems to me it’s required viewing for understanding so much of what our lives are now
Eastbound & Down (and The Righteous Gemstones): as long as you like Danny McBride’s sense of humor, these will kill you. Very on the nose in their parodies of sports culture and the evangelical “Christian” movement in the US
Anything with Philomena Cunk
Generation Kill is a show you almost never hear about for how poignant a portrayal it is of American imperialism in the Middle East as experienced by the ‘grunts’ questioning all of it
The Rehearsal (especially season 2): what’s wrong with aviation, and what it’s like (again esp. season 2) to wonder if you are on the spectrum
Rita: a Danish show about a badass cigarette smoking, ‘slutty’ teacher who stops at nothing to take care of her students, sticking up to parents, whatever. The kind of teacher you wish you had to stick up for you, whether against your parents at times, or anyone else who was getting you down
Silicon Valley: in case you didn’t already suspect that all things VC and tech are actually often dumb as hell
Watchmen (HBO series): hardly need to say more than that this show predicted cops (think ICE in the US in the last 2 years) wearing face masks to conceal the identities carrying out increasingly fascistic acts
The White Lotus: possibly controversial here, but that’s really just me speculating. I thought the production value was like almost nothing else, through the roof, the actors were fantastic, the scenes and imagery gorgeous, and the portrayal of wealthy vacationers as just extremely flawed people endlessly chasing real happiness. Super fucked up at times, but arguably worth it.
I also reiterate some of the other mentions in this thread:
Better Call Saul: Bob Odenkirk is the bastard you cannot help but be drawn to. His counterpart Rhea Seehorn also is great, grows and grows on you, even if you’re someone who doesn’t like her at first
Severance: one scene where a dear character ’dies’ in a way no other media has ‘created’ before is unforgettable and will live rent-free frame by frame in your mind for years
Succession, so captivating. Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook are all absolute masters
Arrested Development: seems to me the sharpest, wittiest writing of anything I’ve seen. First 3 seasons only, new netflix reboot was a big dud for so many
Louie: often just perfect TV, stunningly human yet weird and sometimes surreal, like real life. Not sure how to feel about the actor though as a person. Heard on a podcast recently that he’s doing his scandalous thing again, after going on an apology tour for years and admittedly doing far more to own up and atone for far less than his sins back then of basically exposing himself to women and using his power to get them to have sexual activities with him, apparently often “just” watching him whack it… But seriously episodes like The Duckling are just peak TV.
Mad Men: pretty darn good, and I hate the subject of Madison Avenue ad men /advertising industry
Haven’t ever finished Dark years after starting it, but I do feel drawn back to the ‘vibe’ of it, super unique and idk slow burning and like if rainy gloomy weather was a tv show, in the best way
Band of Brothers: enough said by others in this thread and everywhere else
The Pacific: also enough said by others.
The Leftovers: I’ve only seen 4 episodes and I’m dying to see more. I read again and again it’s “one of the best shows of all time” and that became clear how likely that is by about episode 3. Can’t wait to see what comes next. A philosophical what-if that isn’t about something maybe 100-1000 years in the future like interstellar spaceflight, instead, it’s about what are humans like (with things like cults, family drama, agnosticism, nihilism, and so much more just showing how weird it is to be human).
Patrick Melrose: what it’s like to feel like you can never satisfy your parents who btw abused you, to the point you become a drugs (very plural) addict and almost die like 100 times. Absolute nail biter trip of a show
Dark Matter, a show cancelled way too early.
Star Trek: Lower Decks, a Star Trek show that feels like a Star Trek show.
A first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat following Jake Adelstein, an American journalist who embeds himself into the Tokyo Vice police squad to reveal corruption. Based on Jake Adelstein’s non-fiction book of the same name.
It captures that 90s Tokyo vibe perfectly.
A couple of clips to try to convince you to watch a couple of favorites I incessantly recommend:
Also The Bear, but every clip feels like a spoiler, so just WATCH IT ALL, PLEASE.
I'll throw a couple of old, fun ones in I doubt anyone mentioned.
Dead Like Me
Pushing Daisies
Farscape. It's from when television was transitioning to more serialized storytelling so the first season takes a bit to get going, but it's worth it.
Some of my favorites from recent years, in no particular order:
I would like to mention Legion . It's a SYFY/Marvel Television show made back in the era when Netflix was making their gritty, street-level shows like Daredevil and Jessica Jones for Marvel Television. I also strongly recommend the first seasons of both of those. Legion is three-seasons long with a complete story line planned for all three seasons from the beginning.
Legion takes place in an alternate world from the MCU. The main character is David Haller (Dan Stevens), an extraordinarily powerful telepathic/telekinetic with reality warping powers. He also may or may not be completely insane. One of the best things is that the show does not lead you around by the nose. You are left to puzzle your way through strange events wondering what is real and not real and whether he is insane or not.
Also, you really can't go wrong with a show that has Aubrey Plaza and Jemaine Clement in it.
Throwing in my recommendations and limiting it to sleeper shows that don't get recommended much. (The expanse, silo, foundation, arcane, severance etc already get lots of love). They aren't all must watch but worth checking out, particularly the first 3
Mr Inbetween - Aussie show about a hit man that plays out like an incredible slice of life.
Sense8 - sci fi based show based around 8 people who find themselves linked. It's weird, LGBTQ friendly & forward and has some explicit scenes.
The goes wrong show - BBC theatre piece. Amateur theatre company attempt plays. Each actor has their own quirks, faults and confidence issues. Chaos ensues, the show must go on.
------ other decent stuff in case 3 top tier isn't enough
Almost human - cancelled early formula show of he's a cop but his partner's an X (in this case android). Had humans vibes and good chemistry
3 body problem - sci fi adaptation from prominent Chinese author
Community - some people seem to have missed it
You're the worst - a show about terrible people
Scavenger's Reign
Wicked Little Letters
I agree on Chernobyl it was so good.
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.
This one doesn't take too long: Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight on Netflix. Very true in spirit to the original comics but with modernized puns (e.g. one Roman general is named "Fastandfurius"). I would call it "a fun romp" if that phrase hadn't already been ruined by industry shills. Not to be confused with the recent live-action Asterix & Obelix series, which I couldn't even get ten minutes into. Live-action versions of animated movies/series generally suck, even when they don't have Gal Gadot in them.
Fleabag - I can't believe I didn't see it yet in this thread. If you like Phoebe Waller-Bridge then you must see it, and if you're not familiar with her yet, this is a great show to get to know her humor. It's extremely funny and tugs on your emotions, mainly about love, trauma and family.
A lot of solid suggestions. I'll add a few nobody mentioned yet:
Clarkson's Farm
Silo
Red Dwarf
