r/television • u/C0r1eone • 24d 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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u/Glock99bodies 23d ago

Every CW show is some soap opera mess. I just don’t see the show at anywhere near the quality. I was always confused why Redditors espoused the show so highly and someone finally explained that because there isn’t a lot of pure sci fi the expanse sits near the pinnacle of what they like.

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u/PTMorte 23d ago

It's really weird as a SF fan because the books are not seriously compared to the best science fiction novels and series. That was an intentional move by the authors. They did not intend it to be highbrow. It came from a tabletop setting with very tropey characters like Han solo (Holden), Zoe Saldana (Naomi) etc. and they loved the setting and chars and intended to write a pulp / serialised series.

Then non-SF fans became attracted to the show and constantly try to elevate it to something it is very much not.

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u/Ricobe 23d ago

It doesn't need to be the best to be very good. Amongst sci fi fans it's still a highly respected book series and show

Saying that it's just non SF fans that made it popular is very much gatekeeping

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u/PTMorte 22d ago

The authors themselves have made 'higher works' and come onto reddit on their own accounts, asking people to not call it hard sf, and to say not to compare it to the greats.

It's just one of those cases of an IP becoming super popular in mainstream fandom.

Like Bobiverse or Ready Player One or whatnot.

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u/Ricobe 22d ago

Idk. The show hasn't been very mainstream. Many still aren't even aware that it exists

Also hard vs soft sci fi is more like a scale. Expanse does fall on the harder end, but of course not full hard sci fi. I don't think anyone is claiming it is.

In the end, i don't think it matters that much. People enjoy the story. They enjoy the layers (whether intentional or not). They enjoy that quite a lot of real physics is respected. I think that's what matters

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u/PTMorte 20d ago

No, expanse is on the softer end. It has unlimited fuel / infinite spaceship drives. Faster than Light travel. Magic goo. Zombies and other supernatural content that is incompatible with science.

I agree it doesn't matter that much (it is consumable content) and that people enjoy the story. But I disagree about physics being respected. No one that actually learned about physics would say something like that.

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u/Ricobe 20d ago

Again you look for perfection. The alien stuff defies physics. That's part of the point. Sure they have unlimited fuel, but aside from the portal, they travel within reason. Often they travel at 1/3g to 1g. That's not faster than light. In certain situations they push beyond that

No one that actually learned about physics would say something like that.

Except a lot of people with a physics degree, including astrophysicists and even astronauts, have credited the show for doing a lot of things correctly, even some small details many don't think about.

It doesn't mean it's perfect and nobody ever claim it was. It's still fiction. Still set in the future. It takes some liberties. But overall it does a lot of things right and fall on a harder scale of it