Indirectly asking for recommendations on what to watch.
Since I watched Series 4 in 2021, I don’t think a week has gone by that I haven’t watched an episode, or at least a clip, of some iteration of Taskmaster.
I just discovered this show, and got sick and blasted through season/series 15, and loved it. I’ll probably go back and watch it all now.
I’d also really recommend the New Zealand and Australian versions! (NZ Series 1 takes a bit to find it’s groove but Series 2 is probably my favourite series of any Taskmaster)
Sorry for the over enthusiastic reply, this morning my friend got us both tickets to the Australian Series 3 studio record and I’m very excited about it…
Star Trek TNG. I’m slowly watching DS9 but it’s not as fun
DS9 gets way better in the last few seasons, IMO. Worth sticking with it.
I’m on season 3 now
Season 3 is good. Season 4 is where it starts to hit home run after home run.
Couldn’t agree with this more. First few seasons they find their footing, but when they do they have some of the most incredible story lines and pay offs. It has become my favorite.
If you’re really struggling you can probably watch the episodes rated 7.0+ on IMDb in seasons 1 and 2 and still get a lot of what’s happening in season 3 and later, but you’ll definitely miss some backstory. Deep space nine being stationary generally did a good job with continuing characters and stories over time imo.
DS9 actually turned out to be my favorite. Didn’t expect that at all going into it.
If you’re a fan of gritty police dramas, I continuously beat the drum for The Shield. It’s one of most tightly written series I’ve ever seen, with events from the very first episode affecting everything that comes after. Plots wind through multiple episodes and sometimes seasons.
All 7 seasons are currently on Hulu.
Schitts creek.
It was pushed so hard by Netflix when it first came out that I ignored it. Just seemed like an overdone rich fish out of water idea and I just wasn’t interested.
I finally got round to it when I think they did another promotional push. After watching it I basically forced every person I know to watch it and it is now a comfort show that I’ve watched a bazillion times.
But it is just so good.
As a Canadian, when it was first released I assumed it was being pushed so hard because it was Canadian content. Then when I got around to watching it I was so pleasantly surprised. My little maple syrup heart was so happy to see it recognized widely as the absolute gem it is.
Help me through this, because I watched the first couple seasons, maybe even the first three? To the point where the son opens up his own store.
I found it charming, quirky, and largely enjoyable. But then it just sort of felt repetitive? Like, I couldn’t see where the plot was going and the characters while enjoyable, I felt I’d enjoyed enough.
Is there a drastic uptick that I just needed to hold out for? Or at that point is the show pretty much what you sees what you get?
Yeah keep watching. David and the store is a big thing. The character arcs are worth it. Some very heartwarming stuff coming up with everyone.
If David didn’t have an effect on you? Why the fuck are you ending statements with question marks?
😂
I see it as a stand-in for the inflection people sometimes make irl when seeking affirmation for what they’re saying. Imo, it’s not bad as a way to add tone or subtext (“I get this might be an unpopular opinion; what do you think?”), but it is not grammatically correct in a professional email
I think it’s one of the few shows I’ve ever watched with genuine character growth. A ton of shows will have a character grow and then walk it back, or don’t even bother. Schitt’s Creek didn’t turn them into Mary Sues - they’re still flawed but they also learn how to look outside their bubble.
If it’s not clicking for you after season 3, it may not be the show for you. A lot of people didn’t love the first season as it found its footing, but everyone I know that loved it was fully invested in season 2.
Black sails.
Starts a bit slow but damn. I enjoyed the intrigue, political manoeuvering, and characters. You start of disliking some of the characters but they grow on you as they mature throughout the series.
Haven’t seen anyone mention Severance, which is one of my more recent obsessions. Everyone I watched the first episode with bounced off pretty hard, saying it was too weird. Man the payoff is amazing though, everything slowly ramping up to a crescendo in the final couple of episodes. Highly recommended if you like early Black Mirror.
Band of Brothers and Pacific
Well if you liked them remember there’s a new one by the same people; “Masters of the Air”.
It’s currently streaming somewhere (I myself fly the Jolly Roger, so idk where). There’s like one or two more episodes coming, we’re up to 8 or 9 by now.
Yes. Just started watching it and I think it’s just as good as the other two.
Based on the trailers back when Kung Pow: Enter the Fist released, I wouldn’t have thought anything about it. It didn’t seem like a good movie. But then I saw it because my mom made me drive my two younger siblings who wanted to see it to the theatre and nothing else was playing that I hadn’t seen so I just went with them.
It’s one of my top 10 favorite comedies.
I’ll take a pound of nuts
That’s a lotta nuts!
We taught him kung fu wrong as a joke.
Definitely Steven Universe. Random, ignorant people love to shit on that show just like random, ignorant people love to shit on the entirety of the furry fandom; and it does start more childish and unserialized. But hot damn does it get good later, and it was one of the most-helpful, intelligent, and positive experiences of my life.
Among many things I COULD talk about, I would just like to add that I’ve never seen a more thorough and accurate portrayal of autism than Peridot; and they don’t ever outright say what they’re doing with her, but even the green alien symbolism is there. Also how people respond to her, both positively and negatively, as well as her ability to learn to improve— so smart and good.
Dark on Netflix. I had started it once and gave up after 2 episodes, but came back years later and finished it. It’s now one of my all time favorite time travel stories. Lots of big, cascading mysteries kind of like Lost, but the ending was so satisfying!
Oh man. I loved it. The complexity made me feel smart and I absolutely loved how everything tied together in the end. At one point I was certain they had over convoluted the story and there was no way they were going to make it coherent again, but I was wrong.
You both might want to check out 1899.
Same production company and one of the main character actors is from Dark.
Should feel familiar even if you dont like it as much.
I loved 1899, I knew it was the same couple that did Dark and watched it right when it cam out and then 2 days later heard it was canceled wtf 😾
Netflix has performance anxiety. Just can’t finish good projects sometimes
One of my favorite show from the last 10 years, if not last 40 years
DUDE! You, me and literally EVERY SINGLE PERSON I know that watched it, bailed after an episode or two, but every one of us came back to it and all were blown away. So weird.
I can’t recommend dark enough.
White Lotus is what first came to mind for me. Left me on the edge of my seat. And during every episode I always felt like I KNEW what had / will happen, only to be debunked and on a completely new theory by the end of the next episode. Loved it and an looking forward to season 3.
That show is absolutely ridiculous and I am here for it. I didn’t realize they renewed it again seeing as it was originally meant to be a limited series with just the one season.
almost all of them
except the really bad ones, of course
Man, the bad one sucked.
Yeah, remember that one bad one that was really bad?
I kinda liked that one, to be honest. But I wouldn’t recommend it to others, no.
Halt and Catch Fire.
Yes! God this show is underrated. They got bit by the “oh look it’s another Mad Men” stamp in season 1, but then the show pivots in season 2/3 and becomes something unique and special. And then I spent season 4 with a tissue box nearby. One of my favourite shows of all time.
This is the only show in this thread that I agree was epic. The others were just meh to me.
Seconded. This show was far better than I ever expected.
Computers aren’t the thing. They’re the thing that gets us to the thing.
Yep, good stuff.
My somewhat spolier-lite to spoiler-free reccomendations:
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. I’d also recommend the original movie, but it’s kind of a different beast.
Really well done series that switches between long expository plot sequences, and really well done action sequences, in a pretty good display of budgetary efficiency. The plot exposition, dialogue, and investigative stuff kind of surrounds the action scenes with an actual sense of consequence and meaning, relative to most anime that I’ve seen, and the series as a whole is kind of much more grounded than most other anime, which is also incredibly refreshing. The medium is used in this case more to emphasize subtle differences between this potential near-future reality and our own, rather than kind of just, being an engine for bombastic and outlandish animation and repetitive trope-work. The series bounces between episodically structured plots, or, stand alone episodes, and episodes that deal with an ongoing seasonal plot, or character plot, and there’s a couple little progressions in there that kind of span the series if you’re paying attention. There’s not really any arcs, it’s just a good, focused show, front to back.
The Venture Bros.
Slow start, but it’s also probably one of the better pilot episodes, in my mind, of all time. Plenty of little comic book nerd references in there that are pretty enjoyable, and the comedy is pretty good at times while also tending not to venture into the offensive, except for maybe two or three instances that stand out in my mind, which is maybe somewhat impressive for an early adult swim show. I think, more than that, though, the series’ ability to juggle serial plots and episodic plots is kind of mind blowing and insane. One-off episodes and single characters get spun off into entire fully formed characters with arcs and backstories. Stupid jokes get expanded into much larger things than you would expect. It’s very well done.
Nichijou
Yeah, this one is pretty good, you should watch it.
It is genuinely unreasonable how good Arcane is.
I went in thinking OK, this is an animated show based on League of Legends, it’s gonna suck but at least the fight scenes will be fun, right?
Reader, I cried. You could teach classes on how good the writing in this show is. The last half hour of season one is, without question, one of the most perfect scenes in television history. A flawless masterclass in character development and believable conflict, paired with note perfect editing and some of the best animation you’ll find outside of a Miyazaki or Satoshi Kon movie.
This show is based on a god damn MOBA. It had absolutely no right going this damn hard and I fucking love them for it.
Arcane was such a an amazing show. Both because it was amazing on its own and because it made me go so crazy over show from a video game I care nothing for.
I’ve played 2 games of LOL in my life and I still loved Arcane to death. Season 2 can’t come fast enough.
And the soundtrack! Definitely among the best of the best. That’s actually how I got into it - I was listening to a lot of Bones UK ever since Pretty Waste was featured in Pistol Whip and I absolutely loved Dirty Little Animals. From there I started listening to the whole OST and after a week or two I decided it’s time to give the series itself a chance. I was blown away.
Speaking of, it’s also pretty unreasonable how much awesome music is there around LoL. I was already a fan of KDA thanks to Beat Saber (what is it with VR games getting me into LoL music?), and turns out there’s a ton of amazing music just because.
And that track from Sting. Fucking Sting! Absolutely kills me every time I hear it.
That was the only one I didn’t like when I was listening to the OST. Then I watched the series and oh my god it hits hard when you know the context… It’s amazing.
Yeah I went into it completely blind. Never played LoL but the animation style looked cool, so I’ll just check an episode for the animation.
And damn it was a well written. The only flaws were scenes where suddenly a dude has a hammer weapon, and it was like “where did that come from… oh yeah this is based on a video game so that’s probably his signature weapon in the game.” So they had to put it in there. But there were only a couple of things like that and it’s a really minor nitpick. And we can’t expect them to make LoL show without throwing a few bones to LoL fans, right?
Yeah it really doesn’t make sense how good that show is.
Yeah, they had to get in the obligatory scene of Jayce using the hammer just to keep up the pretence that this was in any way connected to LoL. Ditto Vi popping the bubble shield, IIRC.
On the other hand, the way they incorporated Jinx’s ult? Oh my God. Chef’s kiss. Flawless.
