TV Series and Movies We Watch
5 min readOct 19, 2020
We like all of this stuff and think most people will as well. It isn’t in order of preference but I’ve listed my favorite shows in bold type and intend to add explanations to those entries.
Series
- Six Feet Under (HBO). The series ran 5 seasons beginning in 2001 and follows the lives of the Fisher family, who run a funeral home in LA. The series and every episode thereafter begins with a death. They occur in all of the ways that can possibly happen— usually sad, sometimes tragic or horrifying and once in a while even funny. We see the family’s grief and how differently cultures and individuals process grief and celebrate the lives of the departed. The other half of the show is seeing the Fishers grow and change and eventually discover their own happiness. That process is something we all relate to and is not unique to the Fishers but their family business does not allow them to live with their heads in the sand like many of us might. They have no choice but to see the fragility of life and must find a way to weave that knowledge into the life they want to live. I don’t typically rewatch shows but I’ve been through this series a couple of times now and I’m about ready to give it a third viewing. 20 years ago I identified more with the children but by the last viewing I could relate more to the parents on the show. As I’ve aged and death has intruded more and more into my own life, the show again takes on new meaning for me. Watch this with your significant other and it will lead to countless hours of discussion. Six Feet Under has left me with a perspective on life that has stuck with me and changed me. If you aren’t yet convinced to watch it then view it so that you get to experience the payoff of possibly the greatest TV finale ever filmed. The final episode feels as if it were written before the first episode and ties everything together in a unique and satisfying way.
- Deadwood (HBO). Unlike Six Feet Under, there is little in Deadwood that is going to change your life but the more time you put into the show, the more you will get from it. Even after a third rewatching, I pickup more about the characters and their motivations. Deadwood is filled with carefully crafted dialogue inspired by the Victorian literature that educated people of that era may have been reading but then replacing every third word with a random swear word. It is possibly the grittiest series you will ever watch, with people carving a path for themselves in a lawless world. Every character has enough depth to feel like one of the leads and the never-ending schemes of the town’s residents are constantly creating tension. The series ended abruptly at the 3rd season with a less than stellar send-off but a recent 2019 movie helps salve that wound a bit. Lastly, it might be worth keeping the subtitles on to be sure you are getting all of the dialogue and do not multi-task on your phone while watching. You’ll miss everything of value and only catch the occasional shooting. This isn’t that kind of show.
- My Brilliant Friend. Until this very moment I had forgotten that this series is in Italian and that we have to read subtitles. I do not care and neither will you. The series follows two young girls and their lives into adulthood. They and their entire town are enveloped in poverty with even the town’s envied rich people being looked down upon by the middle class in the big city. There is no better example of the way poverty or expected societal roles can hold down the best and the brightest save for a rare stroke of luck or helping hand from a caring individual. All of the shows characters have depth and move through their lives with complex motivations. Best of all, they do not act like robots forced to act out one dimensional personalities assigned by the writers. A jealous and controlling mother might slap her daughter for her desire to escape the slums and then seconds later be giving her money for books. Everyone is torn and tortured and fighting one another while also fighting against a world that pressures them to remain hopeless. We are a few seasons in with at least one more ahead in 2021. I cannot wait.
- Sopranos (HBO)
- Boardwalk Empire
- Fargo
- Marvelous Ms. Maisal
- Halt and Catch Fire — Think early 80s tech boom. If you grew up in that era or are in tech for a living, you’ll love it.
- Hell on Wheels
- Euphoria
- Hannibal — Hard to believe this aired on CBS. Visually stunning art but using blood instead of paint. Then they weave in beautifully crafted dialogue from brilliant, but troubled, characters. It’s a well-choreographed dance with the dancers clothed in knives.
- Handmaid’s Tale
- Succession
- Killing Eve
- Billions
- Madmen
- Silicon Valley
- Breaking Bad
- The Wire
- Mindhunter
- The Killing
- Ozark
- The Expanse
- Battlestar Galactica
- Perry Mason
- Normal People
- Westworld
- Ray Donovan
- The Terror
- SMILF
- Ozark
- Homicide: Life on the Streets
- Damages
- Yellowstone
- House of Cards
- Watchmen
- Wentworth — Jill loves this and I didn’t want to watch it but I kept seeing parts of it and eventually dove in. Wow! The season finales give you some crazy M. Night twists that will blow your mind.
- Better Call Saul
- Peaky Blinders
- Shameless
- Sons of Anarchy
- Mr. Robot
- Archer
- Atypical
- Narcos
- The Crown
- Dead Like Me
- Orthodox
- GLOW
- Master of None
- Fleabag
- American Horror Story
- Penny Dreadful
- Breaking Bad
- The Patriot (Amazon) — From the name it sounds like another Tom Clancy series but it isn’t. It’s funny as hell. I laughed my ass off as this folk singing, depressed, and burnt out CIA operative makes his way through missions that always go awry.
- The Shield — One of the only network TV series from my list. It is uneven at times but worth viewing if only to get to the last few episodes.
Reality TV
- Alone
Limited Series
- The Night Of
- Band of Brothers
- The Spy
- Wormwood
Documentaries
- A Band Called Death
- The King of Kong
- Wild Wild Country
- Icarus
- Becoming Bond
- Making a Murderer
- Challenger: The Final Flight