I like seeing a group evolve and form good friendships. I also like sci fi and weirdness. For these reasons, two of my favorite shows are The Expanse and Severance. In both, by the end, I felt like I was “part of the team” in some way.
What are a couple of your favorites? What kind of itch do they scratch?
Avatar The Last Airbender. An animated series with a complete story arch that takes place in a unique world. The characters are very relatable and have great development over time, even the villians are better than what most shows have. The animation is sophisticated in the way it is used to help tell the story, and the story is wonderful, it hooks you in from the intro:
“*Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang. And although his airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he’s ready to save anyone. But I believe Aang can save the world.”
This show truly deserves all the praise. My older brother used to watch it back in its time, and I couldn’t understand how a 30-ish year old could watch cartoons like that.
15 years passed and someone recommends it. One day, while recovering from some cold in bed, I put Avatar out of boredom, some days after that recommendation. Damn. First couple of chapters are not very strong, but enough to keep digging. As these are short episodes, it really doesn’t matter. But the ending of the first season? That is art.
Batman: The Animated Series
Unique art style (it was drawn on black paper), excellent writing, excellent voice acting.
Inequivocal yes! Grew up with Batman:TAS.
Futurama!
Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis. From the sound of it if you haven’t already watched them you would really like them. Sci fi and definitely has the group/team evolving aspect.
Seconding Stargate, ideal for what OP is looking for.
Also Firefly for something with similar energy.
Didn’t see it mentioned yet so i’ll shout out:
Devs.
Super super good sci-fi mystery series relating to quantum theory that introduced some … moral quandaries that stick with you. I dont see it talked about much but I really enjoyed it. Nick Offerman plays the main “bad guy” and it was a jarring but refreshing role change, kinda like John Goodman in the second cloverfield movie. God Damn he killed it.
I also loved Devs. Great soundtrack too.
Westworld (Season 1). The other seasons are good and have great moments but season 1 is special.
Yeah season 1 was so good, it got worse after which is a shame
The first and ONLY season of Altered Carbon. I love the dystopian cyberpunk sci-fi film noir style.
Regular show
Its just so fun to watch and I am glad someone archived all of the episodes in the best quality
Where’s the archive? Tryna rewatch that shi
Dark
- This is the most intricate show ever. The Sistine Chapel of TV
The Wire
- The most real and relevant show. Much more than just a cop show. I would say this is the best bit of TV ever.
Colin From Accounts
- Hilarious. Kind of insane. First 5 minutes and I can’t believe what just happened. Makes me want to visit Australia.
I absolutely loved Dark and followed it for most of the run. However, I haven’t watched the last season yet. Is it good?
Yes.
Cool. I’ll watch it.
Yes
Cool. I’ll watch it.
Dude, the casting in Dark absolutely blew my fuckin mind, choom. I don’t want to spoil the plot in the seasons after the first by telling people who haven’t seen it what I mean, but if you’ve seen it you know exactly what I mean.
It’s sooooo good. Young/old Noah. Young/old Boris. So many amazing examples.
Poirot. It’s charming, full of mostly subtle humor, and generally just well written, acted, and produced. I appreciate that it has a deeply humane perspective where justice matters, and that effort has been put into historical accuracy. It’s also sufficiently detached from contemporary reality that its not a downer to watch even though it still has a very honest view of human nature.
I’ve just caught up with Slow Horses. The main character is played by Gary Oldman in top form. He’s a spy, so decrepit and filthy you can almost smell him. He runs an outpost of British intelligence from a filthy, decrepit office staffed by a bunch of fuck-ups. It’s the best thing I’ve seen in ages. Lots of character development, back stories, car chases, bloodshed, even a tiny splash of romance. It’s on its 4th series, so I’m very late to the game. Probably because I don’t have Apple+.
The books are great
I really like Black Mirror. I watched a bunch of TV shows, started and left midway through others, but I always go back to Black Mirror. Like the creator said, it’s sci-fi techno dystopia. And he is working on the 7th season. One of the episodes will be a follow up to USS Callister. Awesome!
A recent one? Resident Alien. It has a lot of unexpected laughs. The female characters in it are also really well done and not one dimensional.
The Magicians. It’s like a more mature and dark Harry Potter/Chronicles of Narnia crossover. It has really good character development and isn’t afraid to have fun with things like musical numbers and self aware plotlines. The first season is the weakest of the bunch, but it’s still pretty good. So give it a chance past then if you are still on the fence.
The X-Files because childhood and Gillian Anderson.
Star Trek TNG because childhood and Gates McFadden.
