I have a more comprehensive list. I haven’t included the Doctor Who reboot or Torchwood 'cause I’m already watching those. This time I’ve included a few shows which aren’t necessarily in the SF/fantasy/supernatural genre.
Of course, you are welcome to recommend other titles but I am not interested in zombies, Westerns, or any kind of violent cop/prison/life on the street dramas. Shows should be available from Netflix, so no Blake’s 7 or Covington Cross.
These are listed roughly in order of the date they premiered.
You’re in for a treat with both Eureka and Fringe, for sure.
I almost voted Sliders, but only found the first two seasons worth while before it went off the rails like the train in Super 8. And not in a good way.
Of the ones on the list, I’ve watched many episodes of Sliders, Dollhouse, and The Vampire Diaries; almost all of The 4400 and Supernatural; and all of Jericho and Terminator: TSCC.
My opinions: There’s a reason I only watched some episodes of the first three. I found The Vampire Diaries to be extremely boring…you like Twilight? Think of Twilight as a show instead of a book/movie. That’s what it’s like. You may like that, however.
Dollhouse was good, but seemed too convoluted and confusing. It was hard to follow.
Sliders was enjoyable, but a word to the wise: If you start it, know that they aired the episodes OUT OF ORDER for two whole seasons…so you may have to look up the “intended order” of viewing to keep continuity up.
Supernatural was good if you like supernatural stuff (obviously). I think The 4400 started out good…first two seasons are great…
…but then it really takes a downhill turn, IMO. It’s a slow degrade…and by the time I was done with season 3, I didn’t even bother with season 4. Plus it’s one of those shows that “just ends” with no closure (they didn’t know the show was getting canceled so they ended it on a cliffhanger–I spoiled myself after I got bored with it).
Still, the opening to The 4400 is among the best opening sequences to a show I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen other people praise it on here, too.
Jericho I wish I never wasted my time with. It had an interesting premise, but as I watched it, I eventually got to the point where I was asking myself why I was still watching. I have no idea how a post-apocalypse-type show could be so boring, but it was. It moved at a snails pace, not to mention, none of the characters seemed all that interesting…so watch at your own risk (unless you like slow storylines). It only has two seasons though (well, it has more, but they’re in comic book form, like Buffy turned to). To this day, I have no idea why I stuck with it through it all. I guess because I just hoped it would get better and kept giving it one more chance. It’s certainly a show that has good POTENTIAL to become a great show, but they did it all wrong…again, IMO, at least.
Now Terminator…THAT was a good show. Of those I’ve seen, I’d recommend that one the most. Very good. First two seasons are great…, well, the show only HAD two seasons, so I guess that’s like saying “It’s all good”. It does sort of suck in the final episode (and again, it ends on a cliffhanger with nothing being resolved)…but the trip to getting there was much more fun and very good.
Sinbad is pretty good. It’s a new one and probably unavailable to most people yet. It’s adventure very much in a Merlin and Robin Hood vein, though made by the Primeval folks.
I would also recommend Chuck, Reaper (good while it lasted), and Pushing Daisies.
Farscape is one of my all time favorites, it is sci fi action with amazing practical effects work/puppets.
It isn’t everyone’s cup of tea though, it focuses much more on characters and their interaction instead of big concepts and ideas like Star Trek. There is also a lot of weird stuff and humor, what is amazing about the show is how much attention is paid to character continuity. If someone says they hate cheese in the first season you better believe that is going to have some pay off eventually. It is about basically a band of criminals on the run from the government, but it is both deep and a whole lot of fun.
Ack I missed Sherlock for some reason. Add one vote to that.
I would whole heartedly recommend the not listed Being Erica. It was easily missed, airing mostly in Canada, although some of the seasons also made their way to the obscure Soapnet channel in the US. It’s about a down on her luck woman who meets a magical therapist who can send her back in time to “redo” each event on her list of regrets.
I voted on but won’t mention ongoing series other than Fringe, which is scheduled to have a complete ending, and which I recommend.
Series that were completed:
Lexx, the first two Stargates, Eureka, Primeval?, Legend of the Seeker
More importantly, series that were worth watching despite ending prematurely on a cliffhanger:
Stargate Universe, Terminator, Kings
Series that deserve special notes:
Dead Like Me had a sort of direct to DVD series capper that you should watch after the regular series.
Dollhouse’s finale is a flash forward, and continues an unaired final episode flash forward of season one. You should make every effort to watch the first season finale even if you have to rent the DVD.
Primeval has some sort of American spinoff. Not sure if it’s aired yet.
Lexx is Weird with a capital W, but can be enjoyable if you’re accepting of that.
The Dresden Files is only interesting to fans of the books. I HIGHLY recommend the books, but the TV series, while it got some things very right, suffered. I think it was the direction and editing. The actors were pretty good, the changes they made from the book worked pretty well, (Bob ruled!), but it dragged and was kinda boring - and this is from someone that has read each book multiple times.
Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis are worth a few episodes to see if you like it. I liked both. Warehouse 13 is surprisingly good, especially considering it’s a SYFY show. The male lead is a goofball, but if you accept that, it’s pretty good. Watch Farscape. If you don’t like it right away, give it several episodes. It’s worth it. I even liked the last season, off-the-rails Granny episodes.
Andromeda was a clusterfuck with some interesting ideas buried in it. Grimm is worth watching. I think it’s pretty good, with a good supporting cast, but I’ve fallen behind this season. True Blood is like a high-production-value soap. If you read people’s opinions on it, there’s been one good season, one really bad season, and the rest were tied for second worst. I watch it.
Heroes was surprisingly good up until the last episode of season one. Just a really, REALLY great show that they fucked over due to bad writing & lack of forethought. If ever a show suffered from making characters conveniently stupid, this is the one. So much promise, so much crash-and-burn.
Not mentioned: Justified. Watch it. Raising Hope: Watch it.
Farscape doesn’t really “hit it’s stride” until the latter third of season 1; up to that point it’s mostly Trek-formula “problem of the week,” but there are interesting tidbits mixed in there, as Farscape had a pretty good track-record on maintaining continuity. Seasons 2 & 3 rawwwk!, and after season 3, season 4 seems kind of anti-climatic.
And yes, there’s a good in-universe explanation of why Humans and Sebaceans look alike, even if we don’t get it until the Peacekeeper Wars miniseries.
Since it was a Henson Co. production, Farscape used puppets (quite good ones, too) for two of the main characters, Pilot and Rygel. Some people just couldn’t get past that and called Farscape “Muppets In Space!” which is a real disservice.
It’s really a messy, organic, anti-Trek (that’s the main reason my niece, a hard-core TNG fan, hated Farscape), with (usually) genre-savvy characters (“Welcome to the Federation Starship S.S. Butt-Crack!”), and the same occasional, in-universe, self-deprecating wink-and-nod to itself and its genre that Stargate: SG-1 used to good effect.
