I haven’t been watching much in terms of actual shows for a good while, then while listening to a podcast a host casually mentioned they had rewatched Chernobyl, how it still holds up, that there’s a reason it got as much acclaim as it did, etc. So I thought I’d give it a go and wow, loved it (still one episode left to watch).
Had me thinking, what else have I missed out on? What are some “absolute cinema” TV shows that still hold up and and are considered must watch?
I’m really surprised The Expanse didn’t get more of a mention here. Great scify series, and I don’t like series in general.
Its closer to hard sci fy than prob anything else, it has pretty realistic politics of exploitation, rebellion and inyterdependace in the near (few hundred years) colonisation of the solar system. There’s some gritty pewpewpew in space, balanced out by some space opera, with spectacular characters that have more depth than most and a story arch thats likely to make you binge it.
As an added bonus the series is 6 out of 9 (/10) books it is based on. There are some notable differences by the end but still you can… expand beyond what the series shows.
What resonated me the most in The Expanse is how tribalistic humans still are. Our lizard brain is having a hard time evolving with human development.
I watched the show and then within the last year listened to the audiobooks. In book 4? I think? Amos is talking to Peaches about how humans are tribal, and their tribes expand when times are good but shrink when times are bad. And yeah, it was kind of a mind-blown moment for me because I’d never thought of it that way before.
I liked that and also how most everyone lives in a moral grey area. Very few could you say are outright evil or good.
It’s biggest problem was the arguably not so good first season I think. Also the ending is kinda eh.
Other than that, it’s my favorite series since TNG. I absolutely loved it and I pity the people that couldn’t see past the first season
I tried to watch, but the actor who plays Holden overacts the edgy non-comformant so badly I couldn’t finish. Is that getting better in the later seasons?
Holden remains annoying, but the plot and the other characters make up for it. I think it’s a problem with TV where you don’t hear his thoughts and only the whiney stuff that comes out of his mouth
Yeah the plot pivots away from him a bit more. But you’re correct, his acting isn’t great. It improves, but not by a lot
I thought the 1st season of The Expanse was good, but the 2nd season was so bad that I stopped watching in middle of episode 2. The difference was pretty stark, almost as bad as the difference between the great season 1 of Spooks/MI-5 vs its god-awful season 2.
I’d recommend the first 2 seasons of Okkupert, and Firefly.
While I think Chernobyl is a great fiction series, there’s a huge amount of completely unnecessary lies in it, including the intro and outro about lies.
I couldn’t disagree with you more. Especially when you mention Firefly, which in my opinion was a mediocre slog that only got attention because it was cancelled.
Dang, I didn’t realize I had a nemesis until this very moment. I will die on the Firefly hill.
Haha cheers
I had to scroll way too far to find the Expanse.
Still hoping they bring the show back for the last 3 books. They were my favorite of the series
Considering the last 3 are like 30 years after, the actors all would be fine and could reprise their roles. It would work out great
I’d even accept an animated series at this point.
This is the main reason I cling to hope