It’s tough picking one.
But that’s why I’m asking. It’s easy to do a top 3, even easier to a top 5.
But when you have to choose a singular show? When you’re forced to pare it down? What sticks above the others for you?
Babylon 5 for me.
It’s got plenty of issues but it’s still my darling and despite all the behind-the-scenes BS it’s still the best long-form sci-fi story I’ve seen onscreen.
Edit: Screwed up the title. Bad Dalacos.
I’ll go with “The Good Place”.
To me the show has everything. Comedy, Surprise, deep emotions, and it even is educational. If also is full of positivity, which in today’s times seems harder to do right.
Where lesser shows might have drawn out the ideas over multiple seasons, they constantly moved on from one setting to the next.
And they nailed the finale.
The good place is such a feel good show. It’s never great laughs, but after each episode you just feel a little warmer inside
The greatest TV show of all time, Star Trek: The Next Generation.
I grew up on it so I feel like I’m pretty nostalgic about it but watching it helps me reinforce my value system. It taught me young that our differences are what make us strong and that we can triumph against great odds if we can learn to accept each other and work together. In a world where violence and hate seem so prevalent every day, that message hits a lot harder than it did when I was a kid. Throwing on an episode of TNG lights up that little spark of hope I have left for our species. Well, as long as it’s not episode 4, Code of Honor. Lmao.
Love me some TNG. The scene where Picard berates Riker and La Forge for not trying to get along with Barclay was informative and sadly beautiful.
Also, the episode where La Forge’s visor tech saves a planet where blindness would’ve been eliminated at birth is still a “go-to” of mine as an example of why we need IDIC.
I am currently watching seaQuest (yes it’s in camelCase). Somebody described it as “Star Trek under the sea” to me. Fair enough, I like it.
The plots are OK, but nothing compared to TNG’s psychological insight and complex morals.
SeaQuest unfortunately gets weird towards the end. But i loved it anyways. I thought Darwin was so damn cool lol.
Archer. Even if you include the 3 “coma seasons” it’s still some of the most consistently funny TV there’s ever been.
The Wire. It’s the best TV show ever made and will almost certainly always be that. Nothing else comes close.
Absolutely brilliant show. Quality wise is up there at the top in writing and acting. Although for me personally, a lot harder to watch and enjoy long term, like I loved it when I watched it and I have great memories of it but I’m not sure I’d rewatch it.
The scene where they say fuck and only fuck like a hundred times in 10 minutes still fascinates me to this day in what good acting can be. And the character that’s always whistling… (Sorry I can’t remember their names, it’s been so long) what an amazing role and actor.
The whistling guy was Omar, a stick up man. His scene while on the stand getting cross examined by the dirty lawyer was one of the most memorable scenes of the whole series. https://youtu.be/P3i36ybA8Ms
The actor unfortunately died a few years ago but was excellent in The Wire and also excellent in Boardwalk Empire.
Surprised it wasn’t mentioned before. It’s not the genre I like but I’ve heard it in the same breathe as B5 so many times I know I’m missing out on something great.
watched it this year for the first time. It’s in my top 3. It made Idris Elba famous and I loved the character.
Hands down, it’s first by a mile. It’s in a field of it’s own. I also doubt I’ll ever watch something as good again. Though I will say, the first season is the worst of all the seasons, and one might not understand what they are missing if they stop there.
Band of Brothers
I can watch this once per year and never get tired of it
Such a good show!
Burn the land, boil the sea, you can’t take the sky from me….
The movie has a quote that breaks me.
“I am a monster.”
An antagonist who knows they don’t get redemption. It was a new thing for me. Shouldn’t, but was.
I’m a leaf on the wind 😭
The show I’d have to choose if only one is allowed. Not a single bad episode, amazing actors that loved their roles and became a family and it shows. And the best spaceship in all of SciFi.
I don’t know, Red Dwarf is as suprisngly resilient and comfortable ship.
Better call Saul. Such a great character study. Fun high jinx. Every major character has an arch. Deals with corruption, justice and revenge. The choices they make, where it leads them, and how they reckon with it. It was the show breaking bad tried to be.
I watched it through all seasons for the first time this year and it’s so good. Agreed on the character archs and breaking bad. I had given up after season one with too much lawyer stuff and not enough illegal activity but very glad i picked it back up.
Star Trek TNG
It’s almost impossible to say just one because the other 2-3 that I thought about just hit different depending on my mood. Comedy vs drama vs Sci fi etc.
True Detective Season 1. I have never watched a better show than this although there are many good ones out there as well
Yeah it’s hard to choose. I’ll probably go with Chernobyl, because there’s no bad episode, and everything from the writing, acting, to the score and cinematography is amazing.
there’s a lot of clever, tightly written, whimsical comedies out there but the venture bros reigns supreme
there’s a lot of clever, tightly written, whimsical comedies out there
Frisky Dingo still hits it best for me, in that regard. But the humour is so abstract I have a hard time recommending it.
That’s a pretty Batman choice.
Jollyrancher82, never get henchmen.
Stargate SG-1.
I’m not saying it’s always better than every other show, but it’s my personal warm feelings favourite ♥️
I’ve seen all of it like 4 times.
It hits a lot of great points. Consistent story. Great characters. Loads of content you can binge.
Also episodes I can just enjoy without needing several episodes of backstory. They do little flashbacks when you need relevant info from a previous episode.
Those are rookie numbers!
Yeah SG1 is just consistently awesome. Super fun show that doesn’t take itself too seriously but still tells really thought provoking stories.
And there’s a good amount of it, the story is internally consistent and the characters are likable.
I’d have chosen Firefly, I never get tired of it, and I just love it.
So many other amazing shows though, a few already mentioned in other comments, like BSG would be a close second to Firefly.
But there are some shows that haven’t been mentioned and I think they deserve it just as much. And because having to choose only one would make me regret losing these other ones, here they are:
Breaking Bad, it absolutely fascinates me and I just can’t get over the character development and the writing and acting from the whole cast.
And probably the newest show that for me is on the very top, and actually I must admit it might have gone past the other ones (except firefly), Arcane. Everything about it, I love. The writing, the animation, the music, the characters, the world building, the character growth, …
If I choose Firefly, I’d regret not choosing Arcane, but I just can’t not choose firefly.
I think arcane s2 had some great stuff but a lot of it made very little sense or was outright bad imo. This is from someone who’s deeply immersed in runeterra (which might be a bad thing in this case)
Oh? I’m surprised, I think your comment is the first negative opinion on Arcane that I see (to be fair, I wasn’t really searching for them either). So I’m curious if you don’t mind explaining further, what for example did you find outright bad or making no sense? I would love to hear your opinion, also about season 1 as you specifically mention season 2, was the first better for you? I personally cannot say there was a lot bugging me and usually plotholes or characters acting against their role and background and personality just for the story’s sake bother me plenty.
For context, I did know about runeterra and a bit of the stories from before Arcane came out, but I would never consider myself versed in it. I did read some of the background stories officially posted by Riot, some of the comics, and played a bit of league and legends of runeterra, but of course there’s not that much story in the games anyway.
Let’s see if I can remember, if I am factually wrong skit anything please correct me as it was some time ago. Also on phone so might autocorrect something I don’t notice.
S1.
Expectations: very low.
Seeing the kids grow up, slowly showing you all the points where Vi gets angry and powder gets messed up. Silco seems like a standard violation but gets emotional and instead of just using Jinx for his own gains he’s ready to die for her like she’s his own child.
They managed to make the vi Cait romance realistic under weird circumstances which was fresh to see. I enjoyed seeing Viktor and Jayce rise and fall in separate directions.
Was not a big fan of the chemtech depiction how you just pumped it into people and they were super soldiers that only Jayce and Vi stood a chance against. Also the vander ww hints didn’t excite me really.
S2.
Expectations: sky high
Starts off great, the tension between the uptown people and downtown which messes with Caitlin and Vi. Didn’t enjoy ambessa much except for her interactions with the black rose which was pretty cool.
The ww/ambessa/singed union didn’t make sense at all to me. She’s looking for something to up her army but following a random monster makes little sense to me. Now add Viktor to that mess and all of a sudden Warwick is not just a chemtech junkie gone monster but a necessary ingredient for Viktor to transcend.
Heimer and ekko in time was great tv, normally I’m skeptical about these kinds of side quests but this was amazing.
Jayce in time had its moments all in all pretty cool.
The endgame is where it all collapsed imo. The city invasion with like 20 soldiers running around in the harbour, ambessa vs Caitlin duel felt unnecessary imo, jinx/vi/vander fight felt forced even though Jinx probably needed to die but the manner was silly.
I get that it’s hard to close out when the scope is so big but I was disappointed.
So I guess it mainly boils down to high expectations and poor execution on certain parts. But as you can read from my review I am a fan and will definitely check out s3.
Cheers!
I read Schuiten and Peters graphic novels in the 80s, and Arcane seems like such a rip-off that it just turns me off
Interesting, I didn’t know them and it seems like I might enjoy it. I’ll have to check it out.
The animation studio of Arcane is a small French company, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the artists have grown up reading those graphic novels and were inspired by them. Rip-off sounds a bit harsh though, or is it more blatant than what I could see on a quick search?
The one show I can always hit shuffle on and as long as it’s before Browder it’s gonna be good, Stargate SG1.
Ahh I like the Fargate too. Claudia Black was delightful.
I did miss O’Neill though. “Two LLs” holds up three fingers
The other one has no sense of humor.
That show is packed with fun Easter eggs, when Sam starts daring someone and is humming in the elevator, it’s the MacGyver theme song which Anderson did not expect
Ted Lasso. The tempo and overlapping subplots interspersed with rocketship sized fireworks - it’s like a song.
