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?

  • SupremeJerk9999
    45·
    5 hours ago

    TV Shows

    Must Watch

    • Breaking Bad
    • Better Call Saul
    • Chernobyl
    • Peaky Blinders
    • Dinosaurs

    Highly Rated (With Caveats)

    • The Wire: A timeless masterpiece, but the extremely slow pace requires pushing through the first season.
    • Band of Brothers: Excellent, but historically did Captain Sobel dirty—he wasn’t like that.
    • Primal: Extremely good, but the story ends at Season 2. Season 3 is an unnecessary overextension.

    Good Shows (Minor Caveats)

    • Narcos: Enjoyable until Escobar (the star) is captured, then it loses its appeal.
    • Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord (El Patrón del Mal): Less dramatic but more accurate and highly enjoyable than Narcos.
    • Dune: Prophecy & House of the Dragon: Good overall, but heavily woke. They take too many liberties and squander their superior source materials.

    Great for Uniqueness, Story, or Style (Major Caveats)

    • Game of Thrones (Seasons 1-4): The absolute best TV ever made. It doesn’t top Breaking Bad only because the later seasons are absolute garbage.
    • The Sopranos: Great episodic show, but slow. The overarching story wasn’t the main focus; six seasons could have been condensed into three.

    Shows That Don’t Live Up to Their Name

    • Dark: Starts great, but convoluted rules in Season 2 and Deus ex machina plot devices in Season 3 ruin it.
    • Shōgun (2024): Unremarkable. Unfaithful to the source material due to wokeness, specifically erasing Blackthorne’s protagonism because he’s white.
    • The Expanse: A convoluted, messy dumpster fire.
    • Westworld: A convoluted, messy dumpster fire.
    • Euphoria: Hot Gen Z garbage.
    • A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Pure hype with no justification to exist. Spends 7 episodes on Dunk, an absolute loser and terrible fighter.

    Anime

    Must Watch

    • Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Sousou no Frieren): A beautiful, clean, family-safe show with no fan service. The appeal is the whole package.

    Good Shows (Minor Caveats)

    • Noragami: Beautiful, but not a masterpiece; sequels dip in quality.
    • Psycho-Pass: Genuinely good Minority Report-style premise. Season 1 is amazing.
    • Mob Psycho 100: Good comedy, but relies on repetitive tropes after Season 2.
    • One Punch Man: Extremely funny great premise, but the quality drop after Season 1 shouldn’t have happened.
    • Dragon Ball / Dragon Ball Z: Legendary but too long (Kai is the shorter alternative).

    Great for Uniqueness, Story, or Style (Major Caveats)

    • Neon Genesis Evangelion: Very unique. The writer projected his mental issues onto a weird cast, the protagonist is a loser, and it has no proper ending.
    • Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood: Good, but overhyped. Suffers from forced humor, quality drops near the end, and a predictable “happily ever after.”
    • Fullmetal Alchemist (2003): Much darker, serious, and extremely good, but the animation is garbage.
    • Tokyo Ghoul: Only good until Season 2 before major quality dips.

    Shows That Don’t Live Up to Their Name

    • Death Note: The premise is so unbelievable it falls apart and becomes obnoxious in just a few episodes.
    • jpreston2005
      3·
      4 hours ago

      wokeness,

      I thought you had some interesting insights until I saw you list “wokeness” as a caveat.

      Then I saw how you rated one of the greatest Sci-Fi shows of all time, The Expanse, and knew I could discard everything you said.

      • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
        1·
        4 hours ago

        wokeness

        i assume he dint mean wokeness in the conservative sense, but adding “inclusive” characthers that diverges from the plot , alot of shows are like this.

    • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
      1·
      3 hours ago

      SEASON 6 of expanse was wierd, and i dint like the "stargate-esque ending.

      sandman, why gender swap lucifer, it has always been male, even in other lore. as far as angels go when they posses other humans, they can raceswap/genderswap all theyw ant. its not faithful to source material, there are several others. it would be wierd to do it to Mazikeen to.

      neon genesis, is all over the place. rebuild bring some of closure. wish they made the angels have better fights though.

      nobody mentioned invincible: season 1 was great, but season 2 and on, has been subpar due to degrading animation of the show. you dont have to hire every FAMOUS celebrity to VA the show, which likely took all the budget of the show. there are VAs for a reason. some of the VA do not match the characters they are playing at all.

    • pleiades@lemmy.ml
      1·
      5 hours ago

      I strongly disagree with these takes on Death Note, FMAB, and Evangelion, especially considering the fact that the endings of all three were great (counting EoE as the ending for Evangelion, since that was basically its purpose.) What do you mean the premise of Death Note is unbelievable? It’s not trying to be realistic whatsoever; it’s like if I said Harry Potter has an unbelievable premise because magic isn’t real. Seasons 5 and 6 of GoT are great too, the last couple episodes of 6 are the best in the show imo (I said this in another comment)