Oz.
Then you may proceed with everything else.
this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2024
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Asklemmy
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Turn from AMC is really excellent if you're into revolutionary war spy rings! Excellent writing and acting.
I would also second Andor, fantastic show. Peaky Blinders is another good one, though try not to binge it, I think it'd be much better if watched less avidly.
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Mr Inbetween
An Australian hitman navigates his underworld life and parenthood. Better than it sounds. (Includes some heavy violence)
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).
Another vote for Scavenger's Reign, it was amazing.
I have enjoyed the Wheel of Time episodes on amazon.
Blue Eyed Samurai was beautiful.
The IT Crowd is hilarious.
My T shirt says:
Have you tried turning it off and on again
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Letterkenny! Canadian humour at its absolute finest.
Also What We Do In The Shadows, and Reservation Dogs.
Just a warning, the third episode is notoriously bad and not indicative of the quality of the rest of the show. It's totally skippable.
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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
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.
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.
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.
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?
Yep, that's correct! There have been multiple occasions where the guest wins the episode.
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.
I've seen Breaking Bad mentioned. If you enjoy that, check out Your Honor. It's another drama series starring Bryan Cranston.
Some historical drama/fiction I really liked:
- Pillars of the earth
- For all mankind
- The tudors
Thereβs a Pillars of the Earth series?! I read the book last year and loved it.
Andor
Breaking Bad
It's a short series (six episodes so far) but with two more in production: The Devil's Hour.
Go in blind, don't spoil it for yourself.
If you like a series that gives you all the clues but none of them fall together until the last episode, this one is dark, brain-bendy supernatural mystery with an excellent cast.
Based on your references I would say:
- Viking stuff: The Last Kingdom
- Alternate history+space: For All Mankind
- Spy stuff: Slow Horses
- Roman stuff: Rome
My top ten-ish tv shows
- The Wire
- Bojack Horseman
- Patriot
- The Americans
- Better Off Ted
- Arrested Development
- Pushing Daisies
- Gravity Falls
- The Bear
Honorable Mentions
- Over the garden wall
- Luther
- Friday Night Lights
- The Queenβs Gambit
- GLOW
- Mindhunter
- Sports Night
- The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
- Atlanta
If you like the character-plqy of GoT and don't mind a smaller story (i.e. a single conflict rather than a world at war) then I think House of the Dragon is great. I know some are finding the pacing slow, but I'm really enjoying all the 2 or 3 character scenes where it's all about the dialogue.
Edit: another I've not seen in the thread is "The Great", which styles itself as "A sometimes true story". A comedy drama based on Katherine the Great's rise to power in 18th Century Russia - Huzzah! Written by the same writer that did the oscar winning "The Favourite".
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.
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.
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.
spoiler
It'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.
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- Fawlty Towers
- Yes Minister / Yes Prime Minister
- Good Omens
- Black Books
- The Expanse
- For All Mankind (feels like a precursor to the expanse)
- The Boys
- Firefly
- Stargate / SG Atlantis
- Castle
- The Orville
Yes Minister / Yes Prime Minister
Then for the dramatic take - the BBC version of House of Cards / To Play the King / The Final Cut starring Ian Richardson (Not the US version with Kevin Spacey)
Black Books
...and then Father Ted and IT Crowd
Then I think you have to include the big HBO series: The Wire / The Sopranos / Game of Thrones / House of the Dragon.
How did I forget about Farther Ted, that is such great show.
I haven't seen House of Cards, but I'll have to put it and To Play the King on my list.
Deadloch
Am I Being Unreasonable?
Mandy
Ted Lasso
If you can only do one make it Am I Being Unreasonable? It is incredibly good.
From (https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/124364-from)
Season 3 should be done by end of September.
Other suggestions in this thread are pretty good.
And one of my preferred show; Utopia (the UK version) warning it is unfinished, only two seasons but this is just a great show. Take care of not watching the cropped version. Also it is so cool this TV show aired before COVID19.
The Wire
Currently rewatching. So good.
This. Still one of the best.