Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Some series are growers, some series are slowers 
Velrun’s List of TV Shows Everyone Should Watch
- Thread starter Velrun
- Start date
Some series are growers, some series are slowers
Nice
@Jason Waddell
Okay it was a bold statement. I think I’ll be right. Shows that are written before they are filmed are much, much, much better (in my opinion) in the long run. I have a big trust in the people behind House of the Dragon including the source material. Thank you for putting more words to your thoughts.
Besides MTG, I'm not really a, uh, high fantasy person. I'm not really a sci fi person either, despite the shows I'm about to list - I really like movies more than TV, and With this in mind, please accept my recommendations for shows that I think stand unimpeachably as 'mandatory viewing' for the widest possible audience.
-Star Trek: TNG: Of all the various Star Treks, in particular of the early and good ones, TNG is the most consistently philosophical, compelling, and deftly-written; in short, the best of them. Deep Space 9 is my personal favourite of the Trek shows for its 'realpolitik' approach to frontier space, which it shares with the sadly-1990s-jingoistic-off-the-charts Babylon V, but unlike B5, DS9 approaches the idea of terrorism (and the bourgeois monopoly on political violence) with much more nuance. Skip the first season of TNG - it's bad, they're finding their footing, etc - and then watch any episodes the AV club gave an A- or higher to. Some of the highest quality television writing I've ever seen in something with such broad appeal. I insist that "Measure of a Man" is the best hour of sci-fi television ever made.
-Rectify does NOT have broad appeal but it is remarkably beautiful and strikingly religious (to me, a plus, to many with scars from American Christianity, enough reason to stay away). The story is about a man condemned to death by the state for the murder of his high school girlfriend, who is, decades later, exonerated by DNA evidence, and returns to the small town in which he grew up, where nobody has forgotten him or what they believe he did. The ensemble cast is extraordinary, the characters are some of the best I've ever seen on TV, and all actors involved are working really really hard to make something startlingly beautiful, meaningful, and quietly hopeful and optimistic. A strong 'one episode before bed with a partner' show; it's too dense and emotionally raw to marathon.
-Westworld is good, too. Some people (wrong) disliked season 3 (the payoff to seasons 1 and 2 in the park) and then slunk back in for season 4, saying 'oh, it's really good again'. fuck you, asshole, it was good the whole time!! Westworld the remake tv show is a story about proletarian revolution and building a new world in the ashes of the stagnant old world; something we'll all get to do ourselves in a few decades! For this reason it is essential watching. Also, there are sexy robots and sexy human beings and the plotting and pacing is ambitious and works really well. Ramin Djawadi's work on the score, particularly in seasons 3 and 4, is amazing also. A show that respects the viewer for spending her time with it.
I really like documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis, who works primarily in video montage and layered storytelling. I recommend a lot of his work but I think the best place to start would be his new series, "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" (6 one-hour short films). As the Guardian wrote in their review of the series:
Nathan Fielder's "The Rehearsal" I have already mentioned in this thread. Its six short episodes are a masterpiece that has a lot of very poignant and meaningful things to say about reality TV, while also dwelling in the bizarre and uncomfortable world that Nathan's particular madness creates for hisvictims episode subjects. For those unfamiliar with M. Fielder, I also strongly endorse Nathan For You and "How To with John Wilson", which he executive produced.
Severance, as has been said, is excellent. Lee Pace smoulders the entire time, oh my God. Oh, he smoulders constantly in that other Apple TV show, too, Foundation (YES! they made a show out of the FAMOUSLY-unfilmable Foundation novels. and it's GOOD, REALLY good, I'm serious). Recommend that too as a binge watch. You can tell, in Foundation, when the writing goes from quoting Asimov to the new writing (worse) back to Asimov (beautiful prose again) and it's a little jarring but there's only, like, whiplash once or twice, they're much better about this after the pilot episode. Foundation's treatment of religion is strangely schizophrenic; it's nuanced and complex and exploratory for 9 out of 10 episodes, and in episode 6, it feels like the show was suddenly written by the mods of r/atheism. This would be fine if episode 5 hadn't JUST been a moving and compelling religious ecstasy that critiqued the inability of organized religion to change and respond to modern problems; as is, the dissonance nearly kept me from watching ep 7.
I guess I do watch a lot of sci fi. Oops.
-Star Trek: TNG: Of all the various Star Treks, in particular of the early and good ones, TNG is the most consistently philosophical, compelling, and deftly-written; in short, the best of them. Deep Space 9 is my personal favourite of the Trek shows for its 'realpolitik' approach to frontier space, which it shares with the sadly-1990s-jingoistic-off-the-charts Babylon V, but unlike B5, DS9 approaches the idea of terrorism (and the bourgeois monopoly on political violence) with much more nuance. Skip the first season of TNG - it's bad, they're finding their footing, etc - and then watch any episodes the AV club gave an A- or higher to. Some of the highest quality television writing I've ever seen in something with such broad appeal. I insist that "Measure of a Man" is the best hour of sci-fi television ever made.
-Rectify does NOT have broad appeal but it is remarkably beautiful and strikingly religious (to me, a plus, to many with scars from American Christianity, enough reason to stay away). The story is about a man condemned to death by the state for the murder of his high school girlfriend, who is, decades later, exonerated by DNA evidence, and returns to the small town in which he grew up, where nobody has forgotten him or what they believe he did. The ensemble cast is extraordinary, the characters are some of the best I've ever seen on TV, and all actors involved are working really really hard to make something startlingly beautiful, meaningful, and quietly hopeful and optimistic. A strong 'one episode before bed with a partner' show; it's too dense and emotionally raw to marathon.
-Westworld is good, too. Some people (wrong) disliked season 3 (the payoff to seasons 1 and 2 in the park) and then slunk back in for season 4, saying 'oh, it's really good again'. fuck you, asshole, it was good the whole time!! Westworld the remake tv show is a story about proletarian revolution and building a new world in the ashes of the stagnant old world; something we'll all get to do ourselves in a few decades! For this reason it is essential watching.
Also, there are sexy robots and sexy human beings and the plotting and pacing is ambitious and works really well. Ramin Djawadi's work on the score, particularly in seasons 3 and 4, is amazing also. A show that respects the viewer for spending her time with it.I really like documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis, who works primarily in video montage and layered storytelling. I recommend a lot of his work but I think the best place to start would be his new series, "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" (6 one-hour short films). As the Guardian wrote in their review of the series:
Nathan Fielder's "The Rehearsal" I have already mentioned in this thread. Its six short episodes are a masterpiece that has a lot of very poignant and meaningful things to say about reality TV, while also dwelling in the bizarre and uncomfortable world that Nathan's particular madness creates for his
Severance, as has been said, is excellent. Lee Pace smoulders the entire time, oh my God. Oh, he smoulders constantly in that other Apple TV show, too, Foundation (YES! they made a show out of the FAMOUSLY-unfilmable Foundation novels. and it's GOOD, REALLY good, I'm serious). Recommend that too as a binge watch. You can tell, in Foundation, when the writing goes from quoting Asimov to the new writing (worse) back to Asimov (beautiful prose again) and it's a little jarring but there's only, like, whiplash once or twice, they're much better about this after the pilot episode. Foundation's treatment of religion is strangely schizophrenic; it's nuanced and complex and exploratory for 9 out of 10 episodes, and in episode 6, it feels like the show was suddenly written by the mods of r/atheism. This would be fine if episode 5 hadn't JUST been a moving and compelling religious ecstasy that critiqued the inability of organized religion to change and respond to modern problems; as is, the dissonance nearly kept me from watching ep 7.
I guess I do watch a lot of sci fi. Oops.
S1 of Los Espookys is ludicrously good! Everyone should watch.
But, S2 is fairly shark jumpy, often absurd beyond the bounds of comedy
But, S2 is fairly shark jumpy, often absurd beyond the bounds of comedy
I’m adding Severance to the list.
For each 1 show added to the list, I have been watching 1 bad show, 5 mediocre shows and 10 good shows that didn't make the cut.
Severance is, like the other shows on this list, unique in its quality. This goes from writing, to directing, to acting to production.
Severance is about a (probably near future) town where a company named Lumon resides. The workers of Lumon has their brain severed. This means the people who work at lumon cannot remember what happens when they are not at work. At the same time after they have gone home they also cannot remember what happens at work. The split happens in the elevator as they meet up for work at 09 am and again when they go home from work at 5 pm. Each person has kind of become two persons because of this procedure. Then mystery unravels. From IMDB: Mark leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives. When a mysterious colleague appears outside of work, it begins a journey to discover the truth about their jobs.
For each 1 show added to the list, I have been watching 1 bad show, 5 mediocre shows and 10 good shows that didn't make the cut.
Severance is, like the other shows on this list, unique in its quality. This goes from writing, to directing, to acting to production.
Severance is about a (probably near future) town where a company named Lumon resides. The workers of Lumon has their brain severed. This means the people who work at lumon cannot remember what happens when they are not at work. At the same time after they have gone home they also cannot remember what happens at work. The split happens in the elevator as they meet up for work at 09 am and again when they go home from work at 5 pm. Each person has kind of become two persons because of this procedure. Then mystery unravels. From IMDB: Mark leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives. When a mysterious colleague appears outside of work, it begins a journey to discover the truth about their jobs.
I remember <3 @Jason Waddell
Add a note to myself that Succession also needs a run in Velrun’s home cinema.
I have also decided to remove The Walking Dead from the list. I would have it on if it didn’t continue for the three last seasons. The show was great overall but not tip top and only the best is good enough.
Remember it is my personal list of TV shows I think everyone should watch. Not an objective truth.
Add a note to myself that Succession also needs a run in Velrun’s home cinema.
I have also decided to remove The Walking Dead from the list. I would have it on if it didn’t continue for the three last seasons. The show was great overall but not tip top and only the best is good enough.
Remember it is my personal list of TV shows I think everyone should watch. Not an objective truth.
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Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
From what I've seen, the US version of The Office has really come into its own. There are some hilarious clips on YouTube XD
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I really don’t have the time or will to watch the same series every week, let alone to watch one episode every day XDWatch it
VibeBox
Contributor
Rectify is the best show i've ever seen, and i completely agree that it's too emotional to marathon. each episode is so densely layered with emotion and impact, they have to be digested like a heavy layer cake.
even as an ashiest, i found its religious themes to be interesting, and presented with a nuance i've never seen before or since.