Recommendations for new series to watch?

Cafe Society
1

Hi all - I’m looking for suggestions for new TV series to watch.

This isn’t comprehensive, but to give you some idea of our taste(s):

The wife and I have recently watched and enjoyed…

…The Wire
…Breaking Bad (neither were particularly recent, but good to get them out of the way)
…The Sopranos
…Twin Peaks
…Wayward Pines
…True Detective (season 1)
…Black Mirror
…Luther
…Treme

We are currently watching…

…The Leftovers
…Fargo
…Gotham

And we are waiting for new seasons of…

…Game of Thrones
…Orange is the New Black
…Better Call Saul
…Silicon Valley
…The Americans
…Sherlock

We weren’t so keen on…

…True Blood
…Mr Robot
…Getting on
…The Comeback
…Empire

Any suggestions welcome - thank you!

2

I’d watch:

Outlander

Daredevil - on Netflix and really good.

Jessica Jones - I have yet to see it, but heard great things

3

Daredevil has phenomenal action scenes, choreographed like dances, with completely gratuitous gross violence interspersed. The actors are pretty good, there’s a fair amount of comic relief, the villain is strangely sympathetic in some scenes, and there are long conversations that are every bit as compelling as the action. Good stuff.

Jessica Jones action scenes aren’t beautiful (so far, I’m three episodes in), but they’re effective. The violence isn’t gratuitous, it’s just brutal. The actors, especially the star, are top-notch. The villain is as unsympathetic and creepy a villain as I have ever seen, to the extent that he fills every scene, including ones he’s not in, with dread. The writing is fantastic. Great stuff.

Edit: One older show to recommend, given your tastes, is Deadwood. Incredible writing, great actors, just enough hilarity to spice up the grimness. Second edit: along the same lines, I’d recommend Rome.

4

based on your recently watched list, I would suggest The Shield I was unable to find it at either Netflicks or Amazon Prime, but I bought the entire series DVDs at Amazon for $23.00

If you liked The Wire, you will certainly like The Sheild

5

Check out Boardwalk Empire. Great series that ended last year.

I also just started Bosch on Amazon. So far liking it quite a bit.

For comedy, try Veep. Very good!

6

For comedy, I would add Aziz Ansari’s new series on Netflix called Master of None

Note: I’d skip the pilot, as it was weak. I’d go to the second episode and on, as they are way, way better.

In fact, I’d start with the episode called “Indians on TV” and then go back if you like it. It was really fun and funny.

7

Per the OP’s list:

Damages
Orange is the New Black
Shameless (the American version)
River
Bosch
Prime Suspect (the British version)

8

Thanks for the suggestions so far. We will make a start on Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Outlanders, Bosch, River, Shameless, and Master of None. Will also give Quantico, the Knick, The Man in the High Castle and The Affair a try - they have good reviews.

That should keep us busy for a while…

As it happens Deadwood is on my ‘watched it and liked it’ list (although omitted here);it had an almost literary feel - like the whole thing was one great metaphor. I seem to recall my other half didn’t like it when I tried to re-watch it with her, though.

Another one that I really liked (but that she didn’t care for) was Battlestar Galactica…

Boardwalk Empire I started but gave up on. As pretty, well-acted and well-produced as it was, its pace was just a little too slow for me.

9

It’s a few years old, but hubby and I were mesmerized by ‘Carnivale’ and nearly wept when it was finished.

“American Horror Story”? We may watch the ‘Freak Show’ season next, I don’t know if he’ll like it. He won’t even watch 5 minutes of “The Walking Dead”,
being a contrary sort.

We’ve enjoyed “House” and the A&E series of “Nero Wolfe” mysteries.

10

Terriers is available on Netflix. Killed before it was off the ground good. Excellent show.

11

Id recommend Law and Order Criminal Intent. It has great acting and writing. Vincent D’Nofrio plays a variation of Sherlock Holmes using psychology as his tool to catch the bad guy. The Chris Noth episodes are also great. His character is far grittier. The Jeff Goldblum later epis are decent.

12

Zeldar is right. Great show. Should have had several seasons.

13

I’ll second the US Shameless. The best show on non-streaming only services right now.

14

I’ve been watching a French series called Les Revenants. It’s kind of like The Leftovers, but instead of normal people disappearing, dead people are returning as normal. I can’t say if there’s an overarching plot, but it’s been a fine show so far.

15

OP should be aware that Shameless is profane, outrageous, hilarious, and borderline pornographic. If any of that is a problem, you won’t like it, but it’s won a number of Emmys. New season is coming up in January, by the way.

The Fall was a pretty good serial killer detective series set in northern Ireland, with Gillian Anderson in the lead role.

An excellent two-season series was Case Histories, starring Jason Isaacs as private detective Jackson Brodie. Based on the excellent novels by Kate Atkinson (PLEASE write more of these), it takes place in Edinburgh.

16

I’d recommend The Walking Dead. I notice you didn’t have Mad Men on your list, either.

17

I enjoyed **Orphan Black **much more than I thought I would, and look forward to season 4.

18

You asked for “new” shows.

But did you mean chronologically new or just “new to you”?

I ask because if you think you could enjoy a world with no smart phones, I could recommend some older TV shows. Some of the shows from the 70s and 80s are still very enjoyable today.

Would you like to try some of them? Or do you want to stick to shows that were produced within the past few years?

19

Rome is an outstanding HBO series. I liked it as much or more the second time as the first.

20

DCI Banks is a good British detective show. Not all that many episodes. Each is a two parter. Some PBS stations have carried it. Amazon has it.

Gracepoint season one is good. I think it helps if you’re not a Dr. Who fan.

Homeland is one of those divisive series. So hate it, some love it, some loved it and now hate it. Try it and see.