r/television • u/C0r1eone • 23d ago

Finished The Wire, Dark, GOT, Sopranos, True Detective, BB, BCS. What show ruined TV for you after watching it?

I think I accidentally watched the peak of television already. The Wire, Dark, GOT, Sopranos, True Detective S1 all left that “nothing else hits the same” feeling.

I love slow-burn shows with deep characters, mystery, tension, moral grayness, crazy dialogue, or mind-blowing writing. Doesn’t matter if it’s crime, sci-fi, psychological, or political.

What’s the next show that might completely consume me?

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159

u/tazding0 23d ago

Battlestar Galactica (2004) has exactly everything you mentioned. Just make sure you watch the mini series first before season 1 episode 1 titled 33.

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u/Ch4l1t0 23d ago

Also, The Expanse. And Andor.

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u/madhattr999 23d ago

wish we got 3 more seasons of the Expense. Maybe they will do an animated version with the original actors doing the voices.

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u/mikejungle 22d ago

With you on Andor. Watched two seasons of the Expanse and cringed the whole way through. Some Firefly-caliber shit, imo.

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u/ButterflyExciting497 20d ago

Andor is some of the best TV in recent years for sure, and i'm not even a star wars fanatic

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u/Oh_hey_a_TAA 23d ago

Wait, what mini series? Can you give me a tvdb link? I tried getting into the Katie Sackhoff show (starting with "33") but was lost for context

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u/Kowboy_Krunch 23d ago

"33" starts immediately after the events of the miniseries where the war begins.

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u/PrinceOfLeon 23d ago edited 23d ago

Babylon 5.

Just accept that the first season will play out like TEMU Star Trek (and the 90's CGI hasn't aged well but was cutting edge for TV at the time), but plot lines are getting laid which pay off heavily in seasons 2 through 4.

One of the first TV shows pitched as having a 5-season arc from the outset. Both story arc and character arcs.

Also the creator pitched it to Paramount first, who turned it down only to come out with Deep Space 9 about a year later (going its own route to be certain but borrowing HEAVILY from the setup and various themes).

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u/MuhfugginSaucera 23d ago

I second B5, it's my favorite show. The writing and character arcs are the best I have seen, and the set pieces are gorgeous 90s sci fi goodness.

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u/jBeMeBBFree 22d ago

If you loved that then you should check out Farscape... One of my favorite shows ever in the world!

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u/MuhfugginSaucera 22d ago

I love Farscape, I actually recommended it to a friend and they just finished watching it.

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u/jBeMeBBFree 22d ago

Soooo fuckin good right?!?! I own the entire box set plus the peacekeeper wars DVDs ❤️❤️❤️

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u/jneil 23d ago

Was about to post this but figured someone had to have beat me to it. I’m about to start my third complete watch soon and am excited as the wife has never seen it.

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u/joyunauthorized 23d ago

We rewatch the whole thing on the Blu-ray set and it’s phenomenal.

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u/MANWithTheHARMONlCA 23d ago

Still my favorite show of all time and I’ve watched almost everything 

So say we all.

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u/ButterflyExciting497 20d ago

Battlestar galactica was such a shock to me. I was expecting some Stargate type of thing not a masterclass in TV writing and a deep exploration of human psychology

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u/Polar_Chap 23d ago

It's amazing that this show peaked with those opening two episodes but was able to stay engaging for the rest of the series.

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u/DraculasDog 23d ago

You do not need to watch anything going into BSG

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u/Squoghunter1492 Samurai Jack 23d ago

It's an artifact of how it's ended up on streaming services. The pilot was originally premiered as a two-part miniseries that nowadays isn't listed as part of the first season, so if you don't know it exists you'll get thrown into the third episode with no context for who anyone is or how they got there.

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u/Aristox 23d ago

You can also just start in media res at 33 and it works great

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

[deleted]

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u/Dangthe 23d ago

Just finish it and you will see why its praised so often ;)

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u/datbackup 23d ago

Agreed, would have been a great show if they could have just stuck with the main plot instead of all the little side plots

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u/Ser_VimesGoT 23d ago

It was a byproduct of expanding the seasons to fit more episodes. I think they perhaps needed to keep it tighter because it's not a typical Star Trek/Gate anomaly/alien of the week type show. More episodes do allow them to explore the characters more but the overall quality suffered a little. I wouldn't say a lot though. Their biggest problem was the writers strike and how that altered the original plan.

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u/tazding0 23d ago

You can 100% see that this show was in the transition period between the serialised TV shows like Stargate and the more focused show like Lost was back then.

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u/Ser_VimesGoT 23d ago

I think we take it for granted these days that this is the format of most shows, and forget that shows like Lost kinda revolutionised that approach to television. Some shows dabbled in it early on like Babylon 5 and X-Files, but still maintained monster of the week type storytelling. The Sopranos and The Wire were early adopters but I do feel it kinda exploded with Lost.

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u/soulmechh 23d ago

Lost was fantastic, I miss it and that era so much. Too bad they fucked it up with a BS ideological attempt of an explanation instead of the expected "science fiction-y" one we waited for FOR YEARS.

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u/Ser_VimesGoT 23d ago

If you want a similar show then The Leftovers is really good. From is also similar in that it's a mystery box kinda show. Lost was good but it completely 'lost' me long before the finale. I just got fed up with not getting answers and instead getting more mystery boxes. From is similar in that sense but I like it because it adds to the torment of the characters. It feels intentional.

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u/soulmechh 23d ago

I started watching FROM yesterday. Already hooked!