What are the TV series you're enjoying, current or past?

With the pandemic, concerts, sports, travel, and bars/restaurants have been severely curtailed so a lot of people stay home and watch TV series to counter the boredom.

I've watched a disproportionate number, lately. I'm kind of running out of the very good ones. I've seen here the odd thread with one reply or none, talking about this or that TV series.

I wonder if we start a thread for everybody to recommend his/her preferred TV series, we'd get some traction and would get to know some good ones we haven't watched already.

Just to get it started, some good ones I've liked a lot:

Killing Eve - Extremely compelling main character, a sexy and funny female professional assassin, being chased by a conflicted female FBI agent, and they get attracted to each other, generating all sorts of wild situations. Well written, great dialogue, action, suspense, intrigue, great acting, this series has it all, especially the first season which was written by the brilliant Phoebe Waller-Bridge - the subsequent seasons aren't half-bad either but maybe a bit less brilliant than the first one.

Fleabag - Talking about Phoebe Waller-Bridge, this is pure genius and one of the best TV series I've ever seen in my life, a full-blown masterpiece that will make you laugh AND cry. Simply amazing, with one of the best writing in history, and the brilliant director and writer is also the main actress and she does a great job at all three tasks. It starts pretty outrageous and comedic but by the end of the first season a huge twist gives it a much deeper and darker tone (but it remains funny although it's bitter-sweet). This can't be missed, and its impressive number of awards is well-deserved. My admiration for this one is unrestrained.

The Expanse - One of the best sci-fi series since great iconic classics like Battlestar Galactica. It's very realistic, great special effects, interesting and complex characters (plus a lot of politics, which is unusual for a sci-fi series and is very well done), lots of suspense and action, and it is very faithfully based on a great series of space-opera books.

Bodyguard - Edge-of-the-seat suspense. This has an intensity rarely seen on TV. It's very nerve-wrecking, extremely well-acted, the equivalent of a great page-turner because it's almost unbearable to wait for the continuation.

Anyway, there is more, but let me stop and hear from you all. What are your favorites, and why?

 

~ I sometimes watch vintage TV on YouTube. Route 66 / Combat / Man From UNCLE . Most current program was a PBS series Doc Martin .
Old shows are for nostalgia but I can see how well acted and written they were compared to today. I don't see anything good coming from USA these days. England still makes nice television.

 

Killing Eve is THAT good

 

I've been able to catch up on my Netflix lately, so I started a rewatch of Community.

Also watching Cursed and season 2 of The Umbrella Academy, which dropped on Friday.

 

What do you mean dropped on Friday? Was it cancelled?

 

No, the second season of The Umbrella Academy was dropped (or released if you prefer) on Friday.

 

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a great series (with some ups and downs; some episodes better than others, can drag a little), very funny, and with a phenomenal lead actress (Rachel Brosnahan). It's the story of a female stand-up comedian trying to break into the male-dominated comedian business. She is feisty and extremely attractive. I guess the series appeals even more to female viewers in tune with fashion because it reproduces very charmingly the late 50's and early 60's costumes and it has rom-com tones. Well, heterosexual males will enjoy how attractive Rachel is, and while it's not a T&A show, there is one early episode in which Rachel appears topless in a fairly long scene, and oh boy, do those breasts look good!!!

Stranger Things is very entertaining for the whole family including younger viewers, a sci-fi/horror show very well done with amazing child actors. It's lots of fun with twists and turns and a general exciting feeling.

Manic is pure genius too, I guess together with Fleabag is one of the best TV series I've ever seen. I've rarely enjoyed better acting from the leading male and female. The story is extremely intriguing, a sci-fi show in the near future with just a few touches of enhanced technology from what we have now, and deals with Big Pharma experimentation in human beings, with paranoid tones.

Oh, I should start giving scores to these, from 1 to 10, so let's score the ones I've mentioned already:

Killing Eve - 9.5
Fleabag - 10. Would score it above 10, actually, such as the best of the best. Look, it got a perfect 100% score from Rotten Tomatoes. That's not easy.
The Expanse - 9.
Bodyguard - 9
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - 8
Stranger Things - 8
Manic - 10

OK, continuing.

Mindhunter - acclaimed series about serial killers and the FBI psychologists who invented profiling in an attempt to catch them. I don't entirely share the universal acclaim. It's a very good series and some episodes especially the interviews with a particular serial killer are pure gold, but I find it uneven with some boring parts. 7.5

Succession - Very impressive series about a billionaire dysfunctional family and the inner politics and back-stabbing. Two seasons so far and I can't wait for the third one. The characters are universally despicable, not a single one that can be likable although at times one roots a bit for some of them that are a bit less unlikable. Still, this series pulls it off when other series with unlikable characters don't, because this series has phenomenal and deep character developments and is a profound study of human flaws. 9.5 (could be a 10 but sometimes one gets frustrated with watching the lives of these really really bad people so I bring it down a notch).

Fargo - Another wonderful series, another score of 100% from Rotten Tomatoes, extremely violent (not for the faint of heart) but with fascinating characters and situations, exquisite acting and phenomenal cinematography. 10, no doubt

I have never watched two acclaimed series, one a sequel of the other, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. I'm sure someone here will praise these.

Black Mirror - British dystopian sci-fi anthology with each episode being an autonomous full story, always about how technology can go wrong and turn against humans. Five seasons with variable number of episodes. Some are extremely good, such as the black and white one about the robotic aggressive dogs is one of the most terrifying horror stories I've ever experienced; the episode about a virtual life for dying patients is so tender and moving and touching that one can't avoid shedding some tears - these episodes and others are and among the best TV I've ever seen. Some are a notch below which is to be expected in an anthology. Even the ones that are less than super brilliant are still pretty good, but I'll take it a notch down too because of the slightly less compelling episodes. 9.5

 

These are series that might appeal to the more right-wing inclined among our posters here:

Jack Ryan - a political spy thriller with a good dose of action in the first season but a disastrous second season that is just incredibly bad. I'd rank the first season an 8, but the second one a 2, giving to it an overall score of 5. It's fine to watch it but my advice is, watch just season 1; don't touch season 2 with a 10-foot pole; you'll regret the wasted time in your life.

The Spy - Israeli single-season show, infinitely better than Jack Ryan, in the same genre, and based on a real story of an Israeli Mossad agent who infiltrated Syria, that is so accurately depicted that this series could be a documentary. The main actor is the comedian Sasha Baron Cohen of Borat fame, and my jaw dropped at his ability to act in a dramatic story. Oh boy, this guy is good! The story is shocking and sad, not for the faint of heart; don't watch it if you're already depressed with the pandemic because it will make you sadder, but it earns an enthusiastic score of 10 from me.

The Last Ship - Definitely right wing, this one, and it will appeal greatly to fans of the US Military. It's about a pandemic that kills 90% of the Earth's population and turns countries into complete post-apocalyptic disarray, but one U.S. Navy ship is at high sea when the pandemic hits and escapes its effect, and it is equipped for virology research so it sets up to find a cure and to help people who are in dire situations. I enjoyed immensely the first season especially for the female scientist. That first season is a 9 out of 10. I don't want to reveal spoilers but the direction subsequent seasons took make it progressively less enjoyable so I grant it an overall score of 7.

 

Forged in Fire, Fishing Shows, Life Liberty and Levin.

 

Lockdowns have significantly increased my Netflix and Android Box viewing. I finally watched Game of Thrones, for example. And I went digging for older series which had 2 or more seasons. And although the acting wasn't always the best, I found myself enjoying Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. And just to round out my apparent 'kingdom' obsession, I watched The Last Kingdom. I also watched the entire season of Merlin, which I'd only watched on and off.

My real interest is always British - but I've seen most. But if you haven't checked out the following, I recommend them highly. The acting is always spot on!
Last Tango in Halifax
The Fall
Line of Duty
Body Guard
Doc Martin
Land Girls
Bletchley Circle

 

I really liked Hannibal- a series prequiling Silence of the Lambs, about an FBI profiler's complicated relationship with then-FBI-psychologist Dr. Lector. Though a somewhat different 'take' on Hannibal the Cannibal than Anthony Hopkins portrayed, Mads Mikkelsen channels very well the highly intelligent and sophisticated homicidal psychopath that you'll feel guilty for liking.

 

Darn, I've never heard of any of them, except that I know that there are fishing shows (I'm not a fisher).

 

Thanks, certainly the Brits have great series, and I've mentioned Bodyguard already; saw it, loved it.

 

Got to agree with you here. The first season was very watchable but it got progressively worse and became completely formulaic. I gave up somewhere in season 3.
Lots of Star Trek type military inconsistencies, since when would the captain of a ship lead dangerous landing parties for example.
I'm less generous than you, I'd give the first series a 7 but the subsequent seasons are really quite poor, only 5s IMO.

 

Yes I guess I was a bit generous. Your scores seem more accurate than mine.

 

Well, it's all subjective after all.
It's just another series that didn't know when to stop.
US TV seems to suffer quite badly from that.
They just keep going until the ratings drop rather than finish when they run out of good ideas.

 

Totally agree about Jack Ryan. It had a great first season but the second season tanked.

 

Exactly, this is why the most successful series in recent memory, the masterpiece I touted about called Fleabag, had only two seasons and concluded. Huge success everywhere, score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, people begged Phoebe to write/direct/act a third season, she said no. Ended on a very high note and will be forever enshrined as one of the best TV series of all time.

Another series that didn't know when to end and had a dreadful 3rd season was Designated Survivor. Great first season then worse and worse, preachy, and politically one-sided. I give it a 5 overall, after a 7.5 for the first season.

Not to forget the fiasco of Game of Thrones and Lost last seasons, both among the most hated of all time. Well some of these are British but I'm not just singling out US TV.

 

Some other comedies:

Curb your Enthusiasm - Larry Davis' absolute genius carries this phenomenal non-PC series with black humor and sarcasm, about a half-autobiographical selfish jerk, that is wickedly funny. No episode ever misfires. It's all pure gold. No doubt, a 10.

Veep - Interesting series to a certain degree but also formulaic and predictable after the foul-mouthed main character starts getting annoying. 6.

Silicon Valley - Series about computer geeks who have a promising start-up but never seem to be able to deliver fully. Again, excellent initial seasons, then worse, with one of the most interesting characters dropping out due to off-screen problems. Overall, 7.

 

Bates Motel
Black Mirror
Blacklist
Breaking Bad
Criminal Minds
Designated Survivor
Doc Martin*
Hell on Wheels
How to Get Away with Murder
Longmire
Monk*
NCIS
Stranger Things
Supernatural
The IT Crowd
Twilight Zone

* My library has curbside pick-up and a suspension on late fees right now.

 

If you are looking for good comedy-drama and have access to Amazon Prime then check out Loudermilk.
The main character is a grumpy, plain speaking, ex-addict, music journalist running an addict's re-hab group.
Genuinely laugh out loud but also moving in places.
Only 2 seasons but no dud episodes.

 

Based upon that choice, you might like After Life with Ricky Gervais

 

Been trying to find a way to pirate that for a while now...

 

I've been considering Prime. Do you think it's a good deal for what you get?

Edited to add: I'm assuming you like it or you wouldn't have it. ;-0

 

I have only watched a couple of shows on Prime...The Man in the High Castle (excellent) and ones I can't remember the names of (which tells you a lot). I wouldn't spend money on it - I get it because I'm an Amazon Prime member. There are tons of kids shows - if that makes a difference to you.