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?
TV Shows
Must Watch
Highly Rated (With Caveats)
Good Shows (Minor Caveats)
Great for Uniqueness, Story, or Style (Major Caveats)
Shows That Don’t Live Up to Their Name
Anime
Must Watch
Good Shows (Minor Caveats)
Great for Uniqueness, Story, or Style (Major Caveats)
Shows That Don’t Live Up to Their Name
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.
You are free to think whatever you like
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I generally don’t care whether a show is “woke” or not, but some people do, which is why I mentioned it.
Shōgun is an exception. It is based on an Englishman who achieved extraordinary things in feudal Japan. The writers seem to have viewed his story as a white savior narrative and rewritten Blackthorne into the exact opposite of the real figure.
The real Adams was intelligent, educated, skilled, a fighter, a sailor, a shipbuilder, adaptable, learned Japanese, became involved in politics, and rose to the highest position a foreigner could realistically achieve there. The show’s Blackthorne is given protagonist-level focus but is portrayed as slow-witted, oblivious, unable to adapt, and a complete underachiever. He accomplishes nothing significant and never grows into the role. His portrayal often makes him come across as if he has some kind of cognitive impairment.
Shōgun is still a great show, but Blackthorne holds it back. With Toranaga, Mariko, or another character as the lead, it could have been a masterpiece.
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.
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)
Evangelion has three endings, and I didn’t like any of them. They’re all abstract, symbolic, and open to interpretation rather than proper conclusions.
Game of Thrones is excellent through Season 4, and Season 5 is still good, even if it’s already slower.
From Season 6 onward, it falls off hard. The Season 6 finale isn’t bad, but I don’t think it’s a masterpiece. It wipes out years of complex storylines in one move just to simplify the plot, and that approach defines Seasons 7 and 8. By then, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss had already decided to end the show earlier than HBO wanted, despite the network being willing to keep it going.
I have high standards for TV, and Game of Thrones never came close to fulfilling the potential of its early seasons.
This is kind of the point, isn’t it? It asks the viewer to consider interesting questions, e.g. loving yourself and others despite the certainty of pain in life. It’s fair to say that it’s abstract and not for everyone, but it’s far from a bad or improper ending.
I can see the case for season 6 of GoT having worse plotlines than the prior seasons, but the direction and cinematography of those last two episodes were phenomenal, and more than enough to counter any issues with the plot. It’s some of the most excited I’ve ever felt watching a TV show, even if the plot wasn’t as good. I’m not going to defend season 7 and 8, those were at the quality of marvel movies
I see you’re unhindered by overall bad production, which is fine, you dont have to hate anything you watch really.
Im otherwise very bothered by sloppy production and writing.
Evangelion endings are a waste of time and energy imo, i consider the show fo have no ending and still enjoy it that way
Sure the show didn’t have the best production for the ending, but the production of EoE was amazing. It was well written, well animated, well paced, and resolved the plots in a satisfying way. I guess that any discussion beyond this is purely a matter of personal opinion, so idk what else to say
Ignore the death note comment. I fed my main points into Gemini Pro and it hallucinated that.
I fixed it now, take a look
Dawg, you did not need to use AI just to make that comment lol. I’m not sure what exactly was obnoxious about the characters of Death Note? I guess they’re dramatic, but that’s part of the fun of the show. Also, Westworld (Season 1, I’ve only seen that) was amazing, with a very satisfying conclusion, interesting philosophical questions, and good plot twists
I have no PC. You wouldn’t dare to write and format that on a phone, it’d take an hour or more.
If you can’t see the fake intellectuality and garbage dialogue from that show as bad, okay, one can really like any show if their weakest points aren’t a bothering factor for me.
I dont like those though, i like state of the art writing and production, and in the anime world Sosou no Frieren is an example: I simply saw no flaw in the show and where it does drop in quality it is negligible, absolutely staying way above garbage-level shows.
That’s what makes a masterpiece, not that it’s dlawless, but that it is crafted with much care everywhere, and it’s consistent. Shows nowadays have quality fluctuate a lot. Doesn’t ruin shows but the wider and frequent the variance the harder it is for the producers to keep it all together
There is no “fake intellectuality and garbage dialogue” at all imo. It’s just a game of cat and mouse where two people are trying to trick and one up each other, and it’s not really trying to be anything other than that. Frieren has a higher production quality and better art, but it came out over a decade later so that’s kind of a given. In terms of how well the stories are made, I’d give that to Death Note easily. Frieren has a very good story, but no anime besides Steins;Gate or Code Geass had me wanting to see what happens next like Death Note. I guess it just depends on how much you like thrillers/suspense?