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TV nerds: what should I watch

I haven’t watched TV in years; kids and my previous job really killed that.

There’s SO much out there since I last picked up a remote, and I have a fucking huge backlog.

I’m open to anything, as long as it’s well done.

Series I liked: Vikings, Norsemen (hysterical), The Americans, GoT, Man in the High Castle, Expanse, Spartacus (Batiartus is amazing)

I’m scratching the surface of Boardwalk Empire, but open to other rabbit holes.

MeatsOfRage ,

I’m a huge fan of anything Damon Lindelof has been a head writer on

Lost

Watchmen

And my personal all time favorite show:

The Leftovers

He’s latest show Mrs. Davis is ok too but not quite as good as his previous stuff.

Another show recommendation that I love to give because no one watched it is The English. It’s a crazy stylish western, reminds me of Coen Brothers.

teawrecks ,

I watched Lost when it aired and Leftovers during the pandemic. I won’t post spoilers, but I think Lindelof has a unique brand of writing intentionally disappointing stories that’s not for me. Like most people, my partner and i didn’t like how Lost ended, but the internet would have me believe that we are the only people in the world who didn’t like Leftovers.

I like how the ride starts, I just don’t think he’s even trying to write an ending that satisfies all the questions he takes the time to ask.

MeatsOfRage ,

That’s fair. Lost had trouble because they were building the track as they went. I still loved the ride though. For me, I don’t think every question needs an answer as long as what it creates feeds into the themes of the show. Like on Lost, I wish they never explained the Smoke Monster, it just wasn’t necessary.

With Leftovers, I’d say it’s ending is the perfect summation of the show and anything else would betray what it was going for.

spoilerIt’s a show about logic vs belief and that’s where it leaves us, do you believe Nora? What happened to the 2% ultimately doesn’t matter because the show is about how people deal with the unexplainable. There’s no satisfying answer to that mystery.

You’re not alone in not liking the ending though. I’ve had this conversation before and it’s totally ok not to.

teawrecks ,

I appreciate what he says he’s going for, which is that it’s a story about the characters, not the sci-fi/magic. If you’ve watched Tales from the Loop, I think it does a much better job at this. You always want to know more about the tech, but you’re never lead to believe that that’s what the story is about.

I would liken good story writing to a magic trick. The writer has to create a bunch of threads, and weave them together in such a way that are interesting, but just opaque enough that you can’t predict how they all tie together in the end. And once you reach the end, like a magic trick, your mind is blown at how well everything fits together.

But Lost and Leftovers feel like they’re keeping a bunch of threads going, only to drop 90% of them on the floor, tie two together, and say “it was never about those other threads”. And I feel like I’m still standing there like, “um…aren’t you going to guess my card?”

Lindelof thinks that’s his gimmick, but to me just feels like he’s just decided he’s not going to do the actual difficult part of story writing.

This snippet is my favorite review of Lost.

SkaveRat ,

The Good Place.

Be warned, that you should watch this one without much research. If you like the first episode, you’ll love the show.

One of the very few shows where each and every season is consistently great. Super funny and had a satisfying ending, instead of the usual clifferhanger-because-of-cancellation ending

Glide ,

Came here to post this as well.

Just watch the first episode or two, and if it doesn’t have you hooked, it’s not your jam anyway.

But it will have you hooked, because it’s the best piece of American television in recent history.

theComposer ,

Normally I’d agree with that advice, but it took me the whole first season to get hooked by the show. After about 5 episodes I was ready to call it quits, but my partner who had seen it told me to keep watching, and they were right! Loved every minute of it from then on.

Bldck ,

On my fifth rewatch right now. Just started S2

Trollivier ,

I highly recommend The Good Place. It’s my comfort show.

ma11ie ,

Westworld Season 1. Sooo good, just do it.

Vendetta9076 ,
@Vendetta9076@sh.itjust.works avatar

S1, half of S2 then stop

SkaveRat ,

man, everything after S1 was such a disappointment.

So many great ideas. But such lackluster execution and dialogue

CybranM ,

Season 1 is 10/10, the other seasons not so much. Definitely worth watching S01 on its own though

NigelFrobisher ,

Oz.

Then you may proceed with everything else.

teawrecks ,

Not listing obvious masterpieces like Breaking Bad or The Office. These are my top picks that may not be on your radar, in no particular order, most of which are just 1 season, or have ended:

  • Scavenger’s Reign - 1 season, animated, sci-fi drama
  • The Rehersal - 1 season, Nathan Fielder, comedy, introspective
  • How To with John Wilson - off-beat, documentation show, very funny and introspective
  • Jury Duty - 1 season, hidden camera, comedy
  • Red Oaks - 80s coming of age story
  • Over the Garden Wall - 1 season, animated, for kids and adults, great to watch during fall/winter
  • Tales from the Loop - 1 season, sci-fi, Twilight Zone-style 1-off episodes
  • Taskmaster - UK, comedy, gameshow
  • Gamechanger - American, comedy, gameshow
tmpod ,
@tmpod@lemmy.pt avatar

I know little about English speaking TV, so can’t quite help OP, but I gotta vouch for Taskmaster. This show is just incredible. I’ve only watched a few UK episodes, but I’ve watched every single one they’ve made in Portugal (4 seasons out already, 5th in the making iirc). It’s peak cheek-hurting laughter content. It’s not sophisticated humour or whatever, but it’s undeniably funny AF.

teawrecks ,

Glad to hear the Portugal version is good. The US version was pretty lame in comparison to the UK version. The thing I like about Greg’s judging in TM is how he rewards out of the box thinking, and takes ownership of being the Taskmaster. But it felt like the US TM punished it. “Yeah, the task didn’t prohibit you from doing that, and yeah you did it the fastest, but that wasn’t really in the spirit of the task, so I can’t give you points for it.” It was like the most boring game of Cards Against Humanity you can imagine. Apples to Apples with your grandma.

TheSambassador ,

The US version was severely bungled, especially in the cutting of the runtime to a 30 minute timeslot from 60. They made that decision AFTER filming it, so they edited down full episodes to half their length.

I think everyone agrees that Reggie Watts was not a great choice for the Taskmaster, but I do think a US version could work with the right group. It has to find it’s own voice though, and be given room to grow, which is hard for US TV.

tmpod ,
@tmpod@lemmy.pt avatar

I’d say there’s a bit of both in Portugal’s TM. Sometimes the TM acknowledges the creativity, but if the execution it too off the rules, it doesn’t get well rewarded. Other times, creative solutions really bump a player’s score.

An interesting detail, though, is that in here, TM contestants are mostly non-comedians, and only four of them are permanent per season, with each episode having a different guest. I don’t know how it is in US, but I find it really entertaining seeing well known figures doing silly shit and being creative. The varying 5th seat also brings a nice dynamic, and sometimes some of them then get moved to the permanent cast in following seasons.

teawrecks ,

Ahh, that is interesting. I guess they have a winner of each episode that could be the 5th, but the season winner is always one of the 4?

tmpod ,
@tmpod@lemmy.pt avatar

Yep, that’s correct! There have been multiple occasions where the guest wins the episode.

remotelove ,
@remotelove@lemmy.ca avatar

All the star trek. This is not negotiable.

metaStatic ,

There is an absurd quantity of low quality Trek being shat out recently, did Disney buy the IP or something?

SkaveRat ,

what?

SNW and Lower Decks is pretty much as good as star trek can get. I’m on the fence about prodigy, but people generally are also very positive about it.

disco has its fair share of problems, but the later seasons were also quite good

mobius_slip ,

Lower Decks is great if you’re already a fan of classic trek ie TOS, Next Gen, Voyager, and DS9. I would never recommend the show to anybody who wasn’t a big fan of Star Trek already as most of the really good jokes would go over their head.

Strange New Worlds is a fantastic starting point though IMO.

fernandofig ,
@fernandofig@reddthat.com avatar

I’m very torn on disco. Season 2 is probably the best (due in no small part that it sets up SNW), but the rest are a chore to watch. Most of them have some neat ideas, but they’re badly executed more often than not. They also were too heavy handed with each season arcs serialization, most episodes don’t stand on their own, and the writing and consistency is just bad. I just finished the final season, and I’m glad they’re done with it so they can put more money on good Trek like SNW - hopefully they don’t screw it up eventually.

Mothra ,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

No, thankfully no, Disney’s intergalactic shenanigans are limited to the Empire only

AlexWIWA ,

The Cyberpunk 2077 anime was a trip

saddlebag ,

I found it very hard to follow without having played the game. There’s a lot of jargon that I didn’t enjoy

AlexWIWA ,

I’ve never played it either, but I liked it. I was definitely lost on the first episode though

ace_garp ,
@ace_garp@lemmy.world avatar

Mr Inbetween

An Australian hitman navigates his underworld life and parenthood. Better than it sounds. (Includes some heavy violence)

illi ,

Lots of good recommendations already. I especially second Last Kingdom since you liked Vikings. There is the series + one movie that ends things. Also seconding Peaky Blinders because it is fucking amazing.

I will add His Dark Materials (based on YA novels, but really good) and Carnival Row (can’t vouch for 2nd season yet as haven’t had the chance to watch it, but 1st is great).

House of the Dragon too, since you liked GoT (again, can’t vouch for 2nd season yet).

superduperpirate ,

The Wire

The Sopranos

Deadwood

Justified

Bosch

If you’re open to comedic stuff:

What We Do In The Shadows

Resident Alien

Miracle Workers

ExcursionInversion ,
@ExcursionInversion@lemmy.world avatar

Finished my first watch of the wire this year, couldn’t stop watching it

Track_Shovel OP ,
@Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net avatar

Lots on this list I’ve been meaning to check out

Reverendender ,
@Reverendender@lemmy.world avatar

This list is excellent. Bosch is a personal favorite.

cheesymoonshadow ,
@cheesymoonshadow@lemmings.world avatar

Me too, and it’s rare I see it already watched much less recommended by anybody else.

Others have mentioned a bunch of shows I would recommend, but one I haven’t seen mentioned yet is Turn: Washington’s Spies.

Reverendender ,
@Reverendender@lemmy.world avatar

I loved the first three seasons, but I never finished it. It’s one of my favorite historical periods.

Knuk ,

Some historical drama/fiction I really liked:

  • Pillars of the earth
  • For all mankind
  • The tudors
Lighttrails ,

There’s a Pillars of the Earth series?! I read the book last year and loved it.

halykthered ,
@halykthered@lemmy.ml avatar

I’ve seen Breaking Bad mentioned. If you enjoy that, check out Your Honor. It’s another drama series starring Bryan Cranston.

intensely_human ,

Andor

Codilingus ,

Hannibal is a great show. Mads Mikkelsen is the best Hannibal, hands down.

saddlebag ,

Loved this show. Ended too early

Grayox ,
@Grayox@lemmy.ml avatar

Breaking Bad

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