It’s tough picking one.

But that’s why I’m asking. It’s easy to do a top 3, even easier to a top 5.

But when you have to choose a singular show? When you’re forced to pare it down? What sticks above the others for you?


Babylon 5 for me.

It’s got plenty of issues but it’s still my darling and despite all the behind-the-scenes BS it’s still the best long-form sci-fi story I’ve seen onscreen.


Edit: Screwed up the title. Bad Dalacos.

  • golli@sopuli.xyz
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    1 day ago

    I’ll go with “The Good Place”.

    To me the show has everything. Comedy, Surprise, deep emotions, and it even is educational. If also is full of positivity, which in today’s times seems harder to do right.

    Where lesser shows might have drawn out the ideas over multiple seasons, they constantly moved on from one setting to the next.

    And they nailed the finale.

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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      21 hours ago

      The good place is such a feel good show. It’s never great laughs, but after each episode you just feel a little warmer inside

  • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Archer. Even if you include the 3 “coma seasons” it’s still some of the most consistently funny TV there’s ever been.

  • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social
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    23 hours ago

    I was at first leaning toward Bojack Horseman, but after thinking it over, I have to say Babylon 5, too. That has a lot to do with how I experienced it.

    I first heard of it before it even aired, because they used Lightwave on the Amiga for the CGI sequences. I think I still have the VHS tape from the first airing of The Gathering. It turned out to be an interesting show. I quickly forgot about watching for the CGI, and found myself watching for the story.

    Not only that, but the shows creator engaged fans directly during production on CompuServe, and later, Usenet. (That was totally new at the time.) Since it was back in the ancient times, episodes aired once a week. We fans had plenty of time to discuss each episode, and speculate about where it was going.

    Then, And the Sky Full of Stars hit like a ton of bricks. (“Wham! Wham! Wham!” as JMS liked to say online.) The story, the imagery, and the music just created the perfect storm of grief and dispair, and we got the full treatment of what it meant to have a 5-year story arc. (Oddly enough, I just realized that it was also the 8th episode of Bojack in which that show demonstrated real depth, and started to get really good.)

    As the show continued, my personal life fell apart, as major depression took hold. I don’t quite recall when I stopped being able to catch it when it aired, or why. (I think it moved to cable after PTEN folded?) But it wasn’t until years later that I watched the 5th season, when I was scrabbling out of the deep hole of depression.

    Holy hell. Getting to the series finale was emotional enough, but That Scene hit like 20 tons of bricks. It was played well, yes, but I had known these characters for literal years by then, learned what they’d gone through, felt the weight of all that they had done and felt, and I cried for a long time. And it was amazing to feel anything so deeply, which is why the show will always be special to me.

    In many ways, I think that the streaming format robs us viewers of something vital. Binge-watching doesn’t allow time for the characters and stories to really settle in your soul. And then there’s no social group to share the experience with. I didn’t watch Game of Thrones when it was new, and I know that the experience wouldn’t be at all the same now. I did binge The Good Place last year, and the effect was like a summer thunderstorm—intense, but brief. It’s a great show, but didn’t affect me so deeply. As such, I’m glad I watched Bojack when it was new, to be able to share the experience online with other people. It was made for streaming, and the season-at-a-time release, so it couldn’t be any other way, but nothing will quite match the experience of a dedicated fan base and weekly episodes.

    • Dalacos@lemmy.worldOP
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      23 hours ago

      I was a lil shit then so I’m sort of glad I wasn’t on usenet to embarrass myself but at the same time I feel like I missed out on something great I could’ve been in on. Having JMS there and bare to answer any questions would be amazing. (I say this as someone that’s had him answer my Q’s in reddit AMA’s a couple times. So at least I got that.)

      /envy

      I used to be a big proponent of the binge-release. But as time moves on I find myself more appreciative of the weekly releases lending itself to conversation. Particularly for the mystery-box shows.

      Now I think of release format as a part of the artistry of the show itself. Arcane for example, releasing in segments of three by three and knowing ahead of time that that was how it’d be released, was a canny and smart way to do it. Similarly certain shows released (Like they used to) the first two episodes as a longer intro to the show then going to weekly is a smart idea too.

      IMHO, it should be part of the showrunners consideration how a show is released, rather than up to the company that’s releasing it. It’s an artistic choice that can dramatically change how the show as a whole is perceived.

  • prismatic@ttrpg.network
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    1 day ago

    Firefly, even after the deluge of post-marvel Whedonesque slop that has worn away some of the charm of the banter. Only a little bit though, it’s fortunately not quite the same.

    It managed to slip in just before they killed off episodic story telling for genre shows, but just after there was a very noticeable increase in production quality. So it’s got that rewatch factor nothing made after like 2005 has but without my girlfriend rolling her eyes at sets and costumes that were designed to be viewed on a tiny 4:3 CRT.

    Obviously there were other episodic genre shows made in this weird interstitial period but none have nearly as many banger episodes, even those that got additional seasons.

  • gramie@lemmy.ca
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    23 hours ago

    Chris Carter’s Millennium, from the late 1990s. The first season was not great, the third season was lousy, but the second season was spectacular!

  • _hovi_@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    For me personally it’s gotta be Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Such a fantastic story, and one of the few shows I’ve gone back and re-watched several times. Even got my gf, who is not into anime, to love the show too, though her favourite remains Avatar The Last Airbender.

    Honorable mention to Pantheon too, that one kinda broke me for a couple days. Just wish we got a bit more of the show so season 2 didn’t have to be as rushed.

    • Dalacos@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 day ago

      Honorable mention to Pantheon too

      I quite liked season 1, still need to watch season 2.

      Similar vein to that one I’d recommend if you haven’t seen it, Terminator: Zero. I went in with low expectations but it was surprisingly good.

      • _hovi_@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Oh really? I gave up in like one of the first scenes where someone was dodging a minigun or something like that

        • Dalacos@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 day ago

          Light spoiler: there’s a scientist that has conversations with AI that I found entirely intriguing. Can’t even remember much of the action.

  • Thteven@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    The greatest TV show of all time, Star Trek: The Next Generation.

    I grew up on it so I feel like I’m pretty nostalgic about it but watching it helps me reinforce my value system. It taught me young that our differences are what make us strong and that we can triumph against great odds if we can learn to accept each other and work together. In a world where violence and hate seem so prevalent every day, that message hits a lot harder than it did when I was a kid. Throwing on an episode of TNG lights up that little spark of hope I have left for our species. Well, as long as it’s not episode 4, Code of Honor. Lmao.

    • Dalacos@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 days ago

      Love me some TNG. The scene where Picard berates Riker and La Forge for not trying to get along with Barclay was informative and sadly beautiful.

      Also, the episode where La Forge’s visor tech saves a planet where blindness would’ve been eliminated at birth is still a “go-to” of mine as an example of why we need IDIC.

    • A_norny_mousse@feddit.org
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      2 days ago

      I am currently watching seaQuest (yes it’s in camelCase). Somebody described it as “Star Trek under the sea” to me. Fair enough, I like it.

      The plots are OK, but nothing compared to TNG’s psychological insight and complex morals.

      • thejoker954@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        SeaQuest unfortunately gets weird towards the end. But i loved it anyways. I thought Darwin was so damn cool lol.

  • MintyFresh@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Better call Saul. Such a great character study. Fun high jinx. Every major character has an arch. Deals with corruption, justice and revenge. The choices they make, where it leads them, and how they reckon with it. It was the show breaking bad tried to be.

    • HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      I watched it through all seasons for the first time this year and it’s so good. Agreed on the character archs and breaking bad. I had given up after season one with too much lawyer stuff and not enough illegal activity but very glad i picked it back up.