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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?
Silicon Valley
The Americans.
Not the best female fictional spy, the best fictional spy ever, male or female.
A show which makes an American root for the KGB is worth watching.
My wife and I are just finishing up an immediate rewatch of Yellowjackets and it's damn good. Think Lord of the Flies but more modern and with a highly-competitive high school girls' soccer team instead of prep school boys (although their coach and another coach's sons are there too), and you also get to see how the experience shapes them after the fact.
Some characters you don't expect to like end up being great, and the acting is fantastic throughout. The pacing for seasons 2-3 isn't quite as tight as the first season but it's still really good, hoping the last season holds up too when it comes out.
TBH the second season didn't do it for me, enough I don't care to try the third. The first season was alright, but I kept getting reminded of Dexter and the poor writing for the present day characters. The 90s parts with the kids were the best parts and the current day stuff seemed like filler.
It all felt like cheap Showtime writing. After what happened to Dexter after season 4, i basically wrote off all Showtime drama shows, but broke my rule for Yellowjackets and regretted it.
I see a lot of good recommendations so far but two that I didn’t see are:
Curb Your Enthusiasm. Pretty pretty good
I just started watching Kevin can Fuck Himself. Im really enjoying it. I’m only 3 episodes in so no spoilers please.
It takes on the trope of the goofy sitcom husband with the exasperated hot wife.
Every scene Kevin is in is played as a sitcom, but when he’s not around it’s about his wife planning to kill him.
Comedies that are must watch to understand the media landscape that follows Friends Seinfeld How i met your mother Sex and the city
Top of all The wire Chernobyl Breaking bad The office (the British one) Battlestar galactica Band of Brothers Fargo The West Wing Dark
Incredible, but took a turn for the worse Dexter (s1-3 are good) Game of Thrones (s1-4) Stranger things (s1-4.5) True detective (s1)
Incredible, but cut short Mindhunter Firefly
Animation The last airbender Spectacular Spider man Attack on titan Batman: the animated series Death note South Park (note. There are a lot of seasons. I like 13, but you might very well hate it)
Fringe Classics that are aquried tastes Black adder Fawlty towers Freaks and geeks Twin Peaks
The Dropout.
Dramatization comedy about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos.
All the scenes with the Walgreens team are hilarious
The Detectorists. It's a low stakes, peaceful little romp around the english countryside in search of the minutiae of some people's lives. Very, very funny
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.
Deadwood Invincible Mr. Robot
Nirvanna the Band the Show
I found out about this earlier this year and I've already binged it almost three times. It's very quickly became my favourite comedy and I'm obsessed with how the creators make film and tv. I think I've just got the Dirties to watch and then I've seen everything they've done.
Babylon Berlin
(The movie first, then the TV series). Vampire faux-reality TV comedy. Taika Waititi and Jermaine Clement made the movie it was based on, and were executive producers on the series, so it's that sense of humour.
Always sunny in Philadelphia, Black books, The In-betweeners, Green Wing, Children's Hospital on adult swim, IT Crowd, Reno 911, Louie, The twilight zone... I have so many.
Baskets, Louie, Master of None, Simpsons till S10, Arrested Development S1-3, After Life, Connections, Futurama, Breaking Bad of course.
Sticking just with HBO, check out The Wire, The Leftovers, Band of Brothers and Six Feet Under.
Also highly recommend The West Wing, Fringe, Psych, Supernatural and Fargo (esp season 5.)
Have many more to suggest but this is a good start.
Bosch
Line of Duty
Happy Valley
Into The Night
Lupin
Luther
Mystery Road
The Newsroom
