Approved Television

This a collection of /tg/-approved live-action television. Cartoons and animated series have been moved to Approved cartoons.

Action/Adventure

• Airwolf: A good-hearted mercenary pilot, his ground crew and their stolen super-advanced attack helicopter on their weekly mission for the CIA the Firm, having dog-fights, infiltrating secret bases and doing a whole lot of covert operations all across the world. If you ever wanted 80s techno-thriller in a format usable for tabletops, look no further. Series still has some impressive air acrobatics, especially given it was made for pocket change and using dolled-up civilian chopper.

• The Avengers: No, not the capeshit ones - the classy British ones. It started as serious noir spy fiction, but writers and execs quickly realised that spy fiction is more fun when you make it campy and sexy. And then the late 60s happened and everyone was on LSD, making it twice as weird. Absolute classic by itself, that influenced metric shitload of stuff for TV shows and even movies, and also being source of various popular genre cliches. What it does best, however, is the outlandish premise combined with very serious and methodical execution, so each episode is effectively a Plot, Ready to Use as one-shot material. Old enough that most of the series is still in black and white, yet still perfectly watchable.

• MacGyver: A wisecracking lanky guy that hates guns and solves issues at hand with his smarts and whatever random object he can get - how this can work out in the gung-ho 80s? Turns out: better than anyone expected. There is good chance you never saw a single episode of it, yet know the character, premise and the theme music, that's how big splash this series made. Aside the adventures that range from pretty mundane through espionage and capers to outright crazy (dream world episodes and ghost stories included), there is also a big source of creative traps and even more creative use of random shit to overcome them. Don't be afraid of the number of seasons, since the series is done entirely in episodic format, so you can plug in any given episode and still get everything.
  • MacGyver: Moderna: It exists. It's pretty contentious, to put that very mildly. Think of it more like an action comedy spoof of the original concept, set in modern world and focusing predominately on the wisecrack rather than smarts part of the character. NOT to be confused with MacGruber, an actual parody from SNL skids that eventually got its film and then series.

• Relic Hunter: Indiana Jane and Her Male Assistant on the weekly thrill of finding some lesser artefacts. An action-adventure(-comedy) show from the tail end of the 90s starring Tia Carrere in her prime, trying to cash in the success of Tomb Raider video games and doing so on a budget. This does have its advantages: it's quick, not overly complicated, and you get a set of over 60 adventures to throw at your party, or at least an open pit to mine ideas for how to handle clues, puzzles and dungeons (and their traps). Despite claims for otherwise, this series is directly responsible for Broken Compass RPG, as the game approaches its material in a way this series did, rather than being an Indy/Uncharted rip-off, so it kinda-sorta even has its own game already.

• Tales of the Gold Monkey: There was once an era where everyone tried to ride on the popularity of Riders of the Lost Ark. Some made cheap copy-cats, others borrowed the pulpy, adventure formula and run with it. This is how this series came to life. Meet Jake Cutter, an American former military, and now cargo pilot who gets himself tangled in 1938 into pile-up of espionage intrigue, war preparations and random (mis)adventures around the tropical island of Bora Gora. Pulp galore, with all characters being a step away from a walking cliche, but that "one step" is what makes them distinct and fun to watch. Unlike other listed in this category, Tales has more or less continuous plot, but in turn lasts only 22 episodes of a single season.
  • Archer: Danger Island is a season-long, self-contained spoof of the series, and can be watched on its own right, for far, far crazier take on the material, along with more "gamey" structure, suitable for a tabletop campaign without editing any-fucking-thing.

• Tropical Heat: He's a former DEA agent. She's a tourist agent. Together, they run a detective agency - by mostly hanging in a bar or on a beach, drinking piña colada and staying cool. Cheesecastic doesn't even start to describe this show, and it's sufficiently on the nose to completely avoid being classified as a crime series. Instead, it's low-level action and amateur sleuthing in a tropical resort, as envisioned by Canadians. But what it does so well is provide self-contained, easy-to-crack, action-packed "detective" plots and do it all in gusto. All while still being the kind of a show where the lead is named Nick Slaughter and main way of fighting crime is by punching it and dropping one-liners. Your character wishes to rock Hawaiian shirts like that.

• Zorro: A Disney-made late 50s series still shot in black-and-white that's responsible both for the lasting perception of the eponymous character and for setting in stone what even a "modern" swashbuckling should be like. Notable for sticking to the material from the countless novels and short stories, but also being one of the last productions to hire actual fencing champs for duel scenes, rather than doing good ol' block-block-block-lunge "fights". Endless source of episodic plots for dashing rogues and brave adventurers. Despite its age, still perfectly watchable, which speaks for itself.
  • Zorro: The 90s Cheese: A 1990 successful bid to revive the popularity of the character. While being constantly compared with the 50s classic, it still carries on its own right, delivering a blend of original plots and various nods to the source material. Along, of course, with early 90s cheese and gonzo. If you are thinking about the movie starring Banderas - it owes its existence to this series.

Comedy

• Blackadder: A historical comedy about the descendants of the Blackadder family, all named Edmund and all played by Rowan Atkinson (equally well-known for his sketch-comedy character, Mr. Bean), with each season taking place in a different period of British history, starting in the Middle Ages and ending with the First World War. Very British yet goofy in its tone and sense of humour with plenty of in-jokes for the historians, and plenty more for those who aren't. While the first season is considered to be mediocre by pretty much everyone (despite having BRIAN BLESSED in it as Edmund I's father), the writing improves in season two and keeps getting better, with season four's finale being a a masterclass in writing humour without sacrificing grimdark. If you ever wondered what kind of jokes would fit either of the Warhammers, look no further. Indeed, so well does Blackadder fit the 40k universe, he helped inspire Ciaphas Cain and someone else put the man himself there.

• Danger 5: A modern Australian spoof of WW2 spy fiction from the 60s, telling a story of international team of Allied spies on their mission to kill Hitler and stop him from conquering the world. Has that perfect balance between being campy and self-aware, without becoming self-indulgent or over-the-top about it. It also does pulp better than whole bunch of more "serious" media, so highly recommended if you are planning to run some Hollow Earth Expedition or similar.

• Hero Corp: A French comedy series about poking fun out of superheroes and cape stuff in general. However, rather than being some sort of obnoxious parody, it's simply a humorous take on the material, while having an assembly cast of interesting characters and balancing between self-awarness and plot-related humour. You probably know it already from the "Low Power Supers" webm that gets routinely posted in filename threads.

• Ghosts: Specifically, the BBC original. Alison, a girl next door, inherits a haunted manor house in the countryside. After a near-death experience, she starts seeing dead people, but rather than freak out she and her husband just roll with it. Hijinks ensue. On the whole, it's a good ensemble comedy with really well-defined and well-written characters, and an established, fixed setting that allows for comedic situations while still limiting the powers of the ghost characters. If you ever need plot hooks that involve ghosts or just general modern paranormal stuff, look no further, especially as this one takes the piss out of the whole concept.

• Mystery Science Theater 3000: A bunch of Minnesotans with robot puppets riff on terrible movies. Achieved legendary cult classic status after being canceled (since it confused and angered the norms and behind the scenes shenanigans) and spawned the venerable Rifftrax. Has come back from the dead on Netflix. Netflix version has some pros and cons, for example they seem to try and talk more often but in doing so their jokes became pretty lackluster, but with such a long break and with 10 ep seasons almost every movie is a hit (well, hit for this kind of show that is).

• Red Dwarf: The other long-running British cult sci-fi show. Follows the story of the remaining crew of the Red Dwarf, more specifically, a low-ranking technician who was accidentally frozen in time for 3 million years and is now the last living crew member, and possibly, the last living human.

• Scream Queens: A gleeful parody of horror genre in general and slasher in particular. A group of oversexed students is on their look out for a slasher killer that's apparently after their sorority. The series leaves no survivors when it comes to playing with all the cliches and plot devices from horror stories, while in the same time mocking and twisting them relentlessly. It is particularly handy if you want to see how to turn even the most cliche, by-the-numbers scenario into something compelling and fun.

• What We Do In the Shadows: Series spin-off of a 2014 New Zealand movie of the same name that kickstarted Taika Waititis career. Three old world vampires live together in Staten Island. Having failed through their own laziness to enslave the new world and establish the masquerade, an antediluvian shows up and tells them to do it properly. They’re basically fucked. Parodies and satirises pretty much every vampire trope and archetype from Bram Stoker to a certain sparkly mormon fanfic. If you love the genre (or the original film), you're gonna have a lot of fun here. Be warned - it takes a noticeable dip in quality after season 2.

Crime

• Breaking Bad The story of a high-school chemistry teacher succumbing to cancer turned meth maker and his junkie ex-student sidekick. A premise made special by its excellent writing that won Bryan Cranston and the creative team 10d100 Emmys for portraying Mr. Rodger's gradual slide into a paranoid drug kingpin without any sign of seasonal decay. This is how you RP, people! Take note.
  • Better Call Saul A solid spin-off series of the above. Well written, well acted, and pretty good at showing how the American legal system works. Most importantly, if you ever wondered what it takes to be a good Face, Jimmy is one of the prime examples to observe.

• Columbo Oldschool detective series without action, the investigation instead being an intellectual challenge. The protagonist, even though he is a Lieutenant of the Las Angeles Police Department, doesn't have a gun and is actually afraid of shooting. He has a wife who is only mentioned and never seen, because it's a running gag to not show her at all. The whole show's construction is unique in the way that the viewer can see the crime itself first, and then Columbo's investigation of it as he figures out how to catch the criminal. And the most famous gimmick being that Columbo acts like a complete moron, to throw people off.

• Glina ["Cop"] Amazingly good Polish neo-noir series. While it starts slow, after initial few episodes it turns into a modern masterpiece of crime series. Very oldschool in style, with a wide range of different cases, juicy dialogues (or at least juicy translation) and great performances. If you ever wanted to run or play an investigation game, accept no substitute for inspiration or direct rip-off.

• Midsomer Murders You need some inspiration for exotic murder methods and mysterious clues to use in your campaign? Here's the reigning champion of weird murders and bizarre clues. Originally described as "Agatha Christie on Acid", but later seasons veer more towards "Murder, She Wrote after a really long and ugly cocaine bender". Keep in mind though, having run for nearly 25 years, there is a fair amount of crap to wade through, but the nuggets of gold that can be found are more than worth it.

• Mindhunter A series dedicated to the history of criminal profiling, rather than typical case-to-case procedural. Instead of being a material to rip-off cases from, it's still invaluable source of ideas and hooks, precisely due to it subject matter: motive that goes beyond "greedy" and "insane", while still keeping things simple. If you are routinely running investigation-heavy games, this show can definitely help to sort things out and step up your game.

• Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased): Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk are running together a detective agency, until one day Hopkirk dies in a car accident. Except it was actually a hit, so now ghostly Marty returns and tells Jeff who killed him, hoping that catching the killer will let him rest in peace or something... which never happens, leaving him stuck. From there on, Randall keeps solving criminal cases, while Hopkirk runs the ghostly intel. Better than it sounds, while being a perfect occult detective pairing and just enough ideas how to use a supernatural sidekick for the job. Modern remake is purely optional.

• Remington Steele: She's a private detective with a fake male partner so clients will take her seriously, because it was the 80s and "muh glass ceiling" was the hot-button topic of the day. He's a con artist that impersonates the guy for shits and giggles. Together, they solve mysteries and look stunning while doing so. How good is it? Pierce Brosnan went from nobody to playing James Bond. How is it /tg/? It has the sort of plots and logic that players in your contemporary investigative game will follow, since that's how Mr. Steele operates, as he's not an actual PI. First four seasons only, the last one is trash made on contractual obligation.

• True Detective First season, anyway. Southern gothic meets modern investigation meets a whole plot reference to The King in Yellow. Very dark and climactic series, with solid performances and a bunch of ideas how to pull a modern "investigator" type of game Call of Cthulhu struggles so badly to market.

• Twin Peaks A somewhat skubworthy entry, given David Lynch's involvement, but a worthwhile watch, nonetheless. What starts off as a fairly cheesy whodunnit about the murder of the local homecoming queen soon reveals itself to be something more in line with paranormal surrealist horror. If you're not sure how to make your Call of Cthulhu game walk the line between the supernatural and the mundane, then this is your guide. Watch seasons one & two, then the film, and then season 3 for maximum authenticity.

• Wallander Swedish crime series, following the cases of the titular police inspector. Unlike typical TV series, each episode runs for around 90 minutes, being a feature-length, self-contained crime movie, but packed into serialised format. Your average police procedural wishes to be this good. /tg/-wise, it's the down to earth, old school modern investigation, without all the tech gizmos or over the top crimes and plots, making it far more applicable to your games than any other procedural.
  • Wallander: Anglophone A BBC remake of the above, the main differences being it's in English (but still set in the Swedish town of Ystad) and, being made by Bongs, it has only 12 episodes, despite running four seasons. Everything else is pretty much the same, so if you are illiterate or American and can't handle subtitles, this is the way to still give it a shot.

• The Wire Everybody else recommends it, so why not us? Grimdark crime drama about drug dealing in Baltimore and the justice system trying (and mostly failing) to stop it. Great characters, and fantastic writing and world-building already work to this show's benefit on top of smart film-making and genuine political intrigue. If you want a good primer on how to do Grimdark well, this is a very solid place to start.

Fantasy

• The 10th Kingdom: A cheesecastic 2000 miniseries that exposed average Americans (as opposed to nerds obsessing with "Buffy" and bored housewives watching "Charmed") to kitchen sink fantasy, urban fantasy and isekai, all in a single package - while taking piss out of the whole concept. And on Hallmark, no less! Ironically, the series is one of the best examples of urban fantasy done right and a great example of how to handle fairy tale motives without being grimderp.

• Beforeigners: He's an old cop with a drug problem. She's a Norse shieldmaiden straight out of the academy. Together, they fight crime! A Norwegian series dealing with involuntary time travel, written as a police procedural. Borderline comedy series, spoofing variety of time travel cliches, while treating itself serious enough to not turn into a shallow parody.

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The story of an average teenage girl who deals with all the average teenage girl things such as school, boyfriends and, eventually, college and adult life. She's also the chosen one, whose duty it is to defend the earth from demons, monsters, vampires, and whatever other nasty shit's out there. At times, the show is pretty cheesy (especially season one), at times it crosses into grimderp (like season 6), but all-in-all, it's a well-written urban fantasy show that redefined what television could be at the time it came out, and your OWoD campaign will thank you for taking inspiration. Theme song simply rocks. Has its own RPG running under Unisystem.
  • Angel: Buffy's edgy, noir-inspired brother. Slightly darker tone with a similar style of story-telling. Like most spin-offs it's not quite as good as it's predecessor, and you can't really watch it without the original, but if you loved Buffy, but wanted a more urban flavour, this is where you go, when season four starts.

• Carnivale: A group of depression era carnies are caught up in a Manichean struggle between the forces of light and darkness. One of HBO's first experiments with high concept, high budget fantasy. Died ignominiously after two seasons due to scripting problems, audience apathy, and grimdark overload; but paved the way for those who would follow.

• Game of Thrones: GRRM's pet project finally made it to the small screen. Combines the epic swords and sorcery of high fantasy with the nihilistic hopelessness of quasi-medieval life. Thanks to Martin's amazing horrible skubtastic writing and HBO's massive budget, this show has gone a long way towards making fantasy "respectable". It's known for containing gratuitous amounts of sex and violence even by the standards of the source material, and got progressively chunkier after the show writers made some questionable characterization calls and also ran out of Martin's books to cannibalise, but it's not like you'll find any other fantasy show on TV that was as well-funded as this one.

• Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: Concentrated nostalgia from back in the days when fantasy shows were relegated to Friday night time slots where they couldn't harm the general public. If you're a neckbeard in your thirties, this show probably had something to do with it. It operated on a knowingly anachronistic premise and has fun with it. Kind of embarrassing by today's standards, but it pioneered everything from CGI monsters to filming in New Zealand. Resulted in its much more famous spin-off series...
  • Xena: Warrior Princess: Before you knew her as an uppity Cylon or an insane Roman housewife, Lucy Lawless was the leather clad, god slaying, Amazon OG. If you're a neckbeard in your thirties (or a ca/tg/irl who liked Gabrielle a little too much), you probably fapped to it. The cultural cachet of this show is so great that even underage B& that never could have seen it will recognize the character.
  • Young Hercules: The prequel to Hercules. The main character has been portrayed by Ryan Gosling, before he was us.

• JourneyQuest: A no-budget series about the adventures of your typical party in the most generic campaign imaginable. Done by the same people who did The Gamers movies (and before they sold-out), so it doesn't even pretend to be serious. Unlike the podcast bullshit of the modern era, this one also doesn't pretend to be anyone playing the game, instead just fully embracing the silliness of the tabletop conventions as part of the plot - which is why it's also so relatable and never feels forced. If Order of the Stick were ever to have a life-action adaptation, this is it.

• Kingdom Hospital: As a TV series, this is an inferior remake of the Danish Riget. However, it makes that up with being far more applicable for /tg/ purposes. A cast of quirky characters - doctors, nurses and patients - are facing progressively weirder and weirder things going in the titular hospital, slowly coming to realisation it is a haunted place. And the forces of evil are doing their very best to get free, now that they have been noticed. If you ever needed to know how a session of Call of Cthulhu with fully random party would look like - this is it.

• Masters of Horror: An anthology resembling more a collection of short films than your typical TV series. Each story is directed by some legend in horror business, and by general rule those fantasy-themed stories are better than the sci-fi ones. Special mention goes to "Deer Woman", "Cigarette Burns" and "Fair Haired Child". Warning! Certain episodes require hefty dose of brain bleach to forget what you've just saw (not kidding), while other are more black comedy than actual horror.

• Pierścień i róża ["The Rose and the Ring"]: An adaptation of a fantastical novel by William Makepeace Thackeray... done by Poles... as a musical comedy miniseries... in the 80s. Despite sounding like a recipe for a disaster, it's a solid watch, with vibrant, well-defined characters and multi-layered plot distilled enough for kids to still follow, but also poking fun out of variety of fantasy and fairy tale cliches and, well, fanservice galore. If you ever needed an inspiration for a tongue-in-cheek, but not completely crazy game, look no further. Important note! While there is a film version, it's just an abridged variant of the series, so it's best ignored.

• 西遊記 (Saiyuki, or "Monkey" if you're a filthy gaijin): A 1978 Japanese adaptation of Journey to the West. While this is far from being the best adaptation, it is probably one of the most widely known outside of Asia (with the exception of Dragonball), thanks in part to the BBC buying the rights and producing a cheesy and hilarious dub for it. This is probably from where your Weeaboo GM got his most insane ideas.

• Supernatural: Started out as a horror series, but didn't stay there for long. A duo of ridiculously handsome brothers on their weekly hunt after all sort of supernatural creatures, with ever-growing library of lore. Skubtastic doesn't even describe any sort of discussions on the series, and it should have ended a decade before it eventually did. But it's still an open pit mine of ideas and entire plots to rip off for your own occult investigation. First three or five seasons, depending on your tolerance for multi-episode arcs (although season 5 does introduce Lucifer), everything after that at your own peril.

• Hexer: A shoe-string budget fantasy series (still one of the most expensive productions in native Poland) about - well, who else - Geralt the Witcher, made by Poles in 2001. The quality of episodes varies greatly, while the special effects aged like milk, but it's still a fun ride to take. This is how fantasy became for a while mainstream in Poland. Absolutely great music, which can be repurposed as a background for combat-heavy games. If you happen to get a DVD release and not just bootleg from TV, then the cinematography will be gorgeous too.
  • The Witcher: America: Netflix' own take on the now bestselling book series. Tries to be Game of Thrones, but focuses on a handful of main characters instead of the massive ensemble cast that GoT had. Has problems communicating own chronology and just like Hexer, quality of episodes varies wildly, but overall, it's fun, with Henry Cavill being surprisingly good, able to pull off the manly, yet emotionally stunted vibe. Also, lots of tits.

• Wizards and Warriors: A short-lived fantasy series from early 80s, mostly memorable due to being so heavily borrowing ideas and imaginery from early Dungeons and Dragons it almost ended with a lawsuit. Amazingly tacky, but still mineable in case of running old-school D&D games. And remember - those costumes won an Emmy. For real.

Historical

• 1864: Danish mini-series about the War of 1864, in which Prussia makes its first step toward unification of Germany - by conquering Schleswig from Denmark. The series is a rare treat of depicting mid-19th century warfare without being yet another American Civil War media, while also having sufficient budget to deliver it in a war epic format.

• Arthur of the Britons: The 1970s Arthurian legend series, mostly famous for giving it a "muh realism" makeover - but without making it drab, boring or covered in mud. While it removes all of the magical and fantastical elements (along with good chunk of characters you might attribute to king Arthur), it's still first and foremost an action-packed swashbuckling adventure with lots of swordplay and court intrigues. While Pendragon doesn't share the aesthetics, it sure as hell takes the premise of this series. Being British, it's also very short.

• Band of Brothers: The series follow the Easy Company, 506th regiment of the American 101st Airborne Division from training till cease-fire, through all the major battles of the Second Front and then some. At this point a staple of WW2 media, the series is known for both solid performances and, more importantly, considerable research put into the portray of the conflict as a whole and specific engagements, rather than doing the more typical "Hollywood War Hero" approach - right down to interviews with the real people portayed in the series.
  • The Pacific: Off-shot of the above, done decade later for the Pacific Theater (duh) of the WW2, this time around tracking 1st Marine Division. Same qualities as above and the added benefit of being done in a different era of television, allowing far more bloody scenes, but in the same time not indulging in it. As a whole, both shows are probably the closest out there to "the US grunt experience during WW2" in accessible format when mining for ideas, atmosphere and the sort of engagements you can pull for similarly themed games, both TTRPG and minis.

• Black Sails: A prequel to Treasure Island mixed with historical pirates of the 1700s and the history of the pirate republic of Nassau. Features a ridiculously awesome soundtrack. Starts off good but a little rough, but then comes into its own in season 2. Obviously good stuff for a pirate-themed game, but a lot of the subplots is flashed out enough to work for other settings as well.

• Czarne Chmury ["Dark Clouds", or literally, "Black Clouds"]: It's the 1660s and even in hard-earned peace dark clouds are gathering over the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The freshly sovereign Prussia is already plotting with Brandenburg against the Commonwealth. A young, daring colonel of the Prussian Dragoons switches sides and goes on a mission to the Polish capital to inform about the plot against the Polish crown. One of the most quintessential swashbuckling series ever made, with the added bonus of unique, rarely used setting: late 17th century PLC and slowly, but surely rising Prussia. Easily accessible on Youtube with multilingual subtitles, with only 10 episodes.

• Deadwood: Another HBO series, focusing on the settlement of Deadwood and its development from mining camp to frontier town. The attempts to make the town and its world come alive are glorious. Excellent performances across the board, with the standout being Al "Fuck That Cocksucking Motherfucker" Swearengen. GMs looking for how wild and lawless frontiers can become platforms for adventurers should check this out, and steal as many subplots as you can for your Deadlands game.

• I, Claudius: A BBC miniseries based on the book of the same name from 1976. While dated, both in historical accuracy and production values, it's still one of the most accurate depictions of Ancient Rome in television. Also known for fanservice to rival most modern shows, and for a rare appearance of BRIAN BLESSED without a beard.

• Janosik: A Polish 70s series about, well, Janosik, a famous 18th century Tatra Mountains highlander bandit doing the Robin Hood act. Or at least he does it in the series, robbing the crooked tax collectors, flipping to the evil noble lord, and giving back to the community. It doesn't even try to be true to historical events, instead going for high adventure stuff and various tall tales regarding the guy. Thus it is excellent material for all rogue party campaigns, given the sheer number of things happening over just 13 episodes and exceeding well beyond a set of capers. Epic music, too.

• Marco Polo: A Netflix exclusive series, Marco Polo follows the famous Italian merchant while he tries to survive in the court of Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis motherfucking Khan. While not historically accurate it is certainly very entertaining with war, political intrigue, and concubines out the ass. Also Mongols. If anything, the character One-Hundred eyes makes the show worth the watch because of how badass he is. Seriously; a Daoist monk that Kublai blinded with a spitting cobra because he wouldn't teach his martial art to his generals. And he can still kick ass while blind.

• North and South: ABC's mini-series regarding build up to and then the outbreak of the American Civil War, as seen through the perspective of Dixie Orry Main and Yankee George Hazard, a lifetime friends who find themselves on the opposing sides of the conflict. Borderline soap opera, so take warning. Despite that, it is still a ground-breaking production for the entire slew of ACW-themed movies and series from the 80s and 90s, aged like a fine wine.

• Robin of Sherwood: You probably know the title song from it without even knowing the show. Unlike the countless attempts to make Robin Hood-themed TV series, this one is actually good. Really, really fucking good. In fact, it's so influential, pretty much every single future incarnation of Robin Hood is looking at this series for inspiration and rip-off (not to mention the entire string of copy-cats in the late 80s and early 90s riding on its popularity), while Errol Flynn swashbuckling and romancing got reduced to parodies and spoofs. Has three seasons, but as a Britbong production, that means only 26 episodes in total.

• Rome: It's HBO so the tits and ultraviolence spigot is still wide open, but this one actually does some good world building and political intrigue on the side. There is a good chance every Romaboo you know came from watching this show, or at the very least it gave them a massive heaping dose of what they crave. Just don't try to use it as a point of reference for historical campaigns.

• Spartacus: Blood and Sand A faithful historical narrative about the third servile war and the various social pressures that precipita... phhht no I'm kidding it's wall to wall tits and ultraviolence. Despite being a relentlessly silly 300 wanna-be that had no business ever being green lit it actually managed to be a treasure trove of feels and awesome, due in large part to unusually solid writing and some heroic performances by actors like John Hannah, Lucy Lawless, Craig Parker, and Peter Mensah.

• 三国 (Three Kingdoms 2010): Widely regarded as the best (for the west at least. In its native country its a different story...) and most accessible version of China's most famous story (essentially their Iliad). Almost a hundred hours long, epic scope, tons of actors, and legions of extras (you can buy them by the bushel over there). Almost worth it for Chen Jianbin's gloriously dickish Cao Cao alone, but there's plenty of other reasons to stick around. The entire thing is available on youtube and elsewhere because CCTV could not give two shits about licensing it outside of the country.
  • There is also 三国演义 (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) from 1994, just as readily available. For what it's worth, it is considered the superior adaptation of the two and also has (slightly) less episodes to go through.

• Vikings: History's bid to gain at least a fraction of GoT audience, while also catering to reenactors, historical witzs and just about general audience, since, duh, vikings. Very well-researched and tightly written, the show comes with very high initial quality. Unfortunately, it also suffers greatly from seasonal rot after first 2 seasons and utterly pointless continuation at this point, so be warned about highly visible drop of quality with each season.

Sci Fi

• Babylon 5: It's the future, after humanity narrowly escaped extermination in a war with the Minbari (bone headed guys who are like the Eldar with the dickishness dialed down to mostly manageable levels) it sets up a space station in neutral territory to act as a center of diplomacy to try to avert another war which gradually gets embroiled in an ancient conflict between two powerful alien civilizations, the Vorlons and the Shadows. While most TV Science Fiction in the day was "this week's adventure" Babylon 5 set out to tell a grand story and (mostly) succeeded. The first space sci-fi to use CGI instead of motion control photography, so it hasn't aged that well visually.

• Battlestar Galactica: In a galaxy far, far away humanity is engaged in a war with a legion of cybernetic assholes called Cylons. In a total dick move the genocidal toasters feign a peace offering and decimate the human fleet, except for a a few starships which manage to escape. Organizing under the protection of the titular Battlestar-class Galactica this ragtag refugee fleet, assuming they are the only survivors, attempts to escape to the fabled planet called Earth.
  • Comes in two flavors: Original 1970s (Cheesetastic, but hilarious if you're into that sort of thing) and Immediate-Post-9/11-Reboot (Grimdark, and actually pretty good). Both recommended, but other than initial premise, the two are wildly different. Be aware going in that the modern version has a reputation for producing an especially terrible ending for the show(even more so in some circles then even Lost!).

• Dark: German time travel sci-fi available on Netflix. One of the very best examples of a closed time loop, all thanks to the forgotten technique of "plan your plot ahead of filming". Thus it manages to maintain a coherent story throughout three seasons. With typical German efficiency, everything shown is important and plot relevant, and every thread and question is tied up and answered at the end. You may want to take notes to keep track of everything - it gets very complicated. You may also take notes on how and why to plan the structure of your campaign.

• Doctor Who: The adventures of the universe's saddest time traveling bro. Absolutely ancient in canon and out (the show predates Star Trek by three years). Cheesy special effects, but it's got heart and (usually) good writing. It's bigger on the inside.
  • Torchwood: "Grimdark" spin-off of the above. Mostly just comes off as stupid, though. Notable for being the most popular (and least terrible) spin-off of the RTD era. Also notable is the sheer amount of aliens Captain Jack fucks. Skip to season 3 if you want the better half of this show's run.

• The Expanse: A Syfy adaptation of the novel series. Tensions are building between Earth, Mars and the Asteroid Belt when Phazon an unknown alien element gets discovered and throws everything out of wack. It's pretty grimdark and political, notable as one of the hardest sci-fi shows ever put on screen. The depictions of space travel are scrupulously realistic (except for the alien weirdness). The source novels were written by the assistants of George R. R. Martin, so the Expanse is basically the best-case outcome for the "Game of Thrones IN SPACE" premise.

• Farscape: Muppets in spaaaace! This show, produced by the Jim Henson company, is dark. Even media in self-professed grimdark settings rarely put their main characters through this much torment. You wouldn't think it when it starts out, the first half of the first season being notoriously cheesy, but the cheese you wade through at the start belies an intense series as every major military organization in the galaxy targets our hero for torture, mindrape, and death. Few stories to date put their heroes through such a gauntlet, but the audience follows John Crichton's journey from all-American hero to notorious interstellar terrorist from start to finish, rooting for him the entire way.

• Firefly: Traveller except about post-bellum Confederates IN SPAAAAAACE. Like most of the Whedonverse praising it on /tg/ will unleash a category 5 skubstorm.

• For All Mankind: Made by Ronald D. Moore (DS9, NeoBSG), For All Mankind takes place in a world where the Soviets got to the moon first kicking the space race into overdrive. Each season takes place in a new decade. If you like NASA and things with a hopeful tone, this is the show for you. You are free to skip first half of first season after watching the opening, as it's mostly alternate history world-building for the setting. You are free to drop it the second personal drama starts to be overbearing for you, because the dose only increases over the seasons - it's a soap opera IN SPESS!

• Jeremiah: A post-apo series done by the same people who did Babylon 5 - and it shows at times. Some twenty years ago, a plague killed everyone who was past their puberty. After the initial Lord of the Flies anarchy in a pre-teen wasteland, the world is trying to get back on track, with the original survivors now pushing 30. The show does a bunch of things right - episodic format with gamey plots, long arcs with payoff, post-apo that works beyond just "people in BDSM gear trying to kill each other" and decent conflict building and resolving - so what not to like.

• The Mandalorian: Take Star Wars blender, throw in Lone Wolf and Cub scenario and copious amount of spaghetti western, put on high speed and you've got this show. Decent action sequences and making good use out of own universe. Plot is very "gamey" in structure, adding extra use for /tg/ purposes. See the actual article for details.

• Maniac: A mini-series. It's value comes more from its inner stories (a bunch of capers, a fantasy quest, a crime story) than the overarching plot, which is... weird, to put that very mildly. Technically it's about a group of people participating in a drug test for a new wonder drug. What it is is bunch of visions they have while high as kites, while the researchers around them try to figure out what the hell is even going on. But due to its formatting, it's effectively 6 different one-shots crammed into a single series.

• The Prisoner: A 60s classic sadly fallen into obscurity, it tells us the story of an unnamed British spy that gets kidnapped by a secret organization after resigning for motives unknown. He is moved to a place only known as "The Village", a sort of idylic place inhabited by old and brainwashed special agents of many nationalities, where noone can escape. Incredibly ambitious for its time, it tackles themes such as identity and duty, while also making the protagonist fight with his wit and smarts his captors, while at the same time they keep him trapped in The Village. If you haven't heard about it, don't worry, you've probably heard about it because it has been parodied in The Simpsons once (twice if you include Rover!).

• seaQuest DSV: Basically Star Trek but on a submarine and staring that guy from Jaws. Like Star Trek, it ran for three seasons. Also like Star Trek, it was technically cancelled after every season. Unlike Star Trek, comes with distinctively different flavour each season: first one is almost science fantasy, second is strictly sci-fi and bordering on cyberpunk, third is military sci-fi.

• Spellbinder: A two-season series, or rather two thinly connected standalone series dealing with parallel worlds. Each "season" can be seen as separate story, as they only share one character (an extremely compelling villainess) and the general concept of alternative universe(s). Despite being made for kids, it's very much watchable even two decades later - think "Sliders", but good and with plot. It also comes with few pretty interesting settings with some rich world-building. A third season has been in development hell since 1998.

• Star Trek: It's Star Trek. If you were born some time in the last half century you probably heard of it're not a drooling mongoloid you've heard of it.

• Stargate: At first there was a Roland Emmerich movie based around the Ancient Astronaut theory and finding a Big Ring in Egypt which can take you to another world, which was an adequate science-fiction action romp. Even so, it did well enough to get a Television series in Stargate SG-1. It changed a few things about from the movie (usually for the better) and had a rocky first season (for the worse), but after that it became one of the better science fiction series. Plenty of action, excellent characters performed by excellent actors, memorable humor and succeeds both as an episode-to-episode series as well as with long continuity arcs. The last two seasons with the Ori are not as good.

• The X-Files: All possible and imaginable conspiracy theories about aliens mixed together for the show that redefined how to even make a sci-fi themed series. Plus monster of the week plots thrown in for a good measure. The show balances between being serious, self-aware, camp and horror. Following adventures of two FBI agents, both working in a sub-division dealing with "paranormal" cases, treated by rest of the Bureau as a dead-end in the career. Even if you don't have time to watch all episodes, you can pick up at any given moment and still catch up on the go with the arc story. (ProTip for new viewers: The show worked best in the stand-alone episodes. Most of the "arc" episodes are actually fairly dull and uninspired, while the arc itself is infamous for being fake and going nowhere. This is even more apparent with the attempts at reviving the series.)

Game Shows

• La Piste De Xapatan (The Xapatan Trail): A French game show from the '92 under a premise that's straight from a cheap pulp. Each episode, seven dudes have to cross a trail through a jungle, with various obstacles on their way and puzzles to solve, to get their hands of a sacred idol for "professor Gregory". Meanwhile a single chick is in a cave system looking for all the idols hidden in it. What's left of the male team eventually reaches the cave, figures out which idol is the correct one based on the solved puzzles and they haul it to the nearby train stop, where professor Gregory is waiting to exchange the idol for money. All done on a timer, since the train with Gregory departs, leaving the remains of the group with nothing and "stuck". Due to variety of the obstacles, it feels almost like a procedurally generated module and can be mined for loads of ideas for random encounters and how to structure your adventuring one-shots.

Unapproved But Minable

• Charmed: How the few bored housewives and wine aunts who didn't read Interview with the Vampire got introduced to urban fantasy. This series is borderline unwatchable if you aren't the target demographic or didn't come with the right mindset of strip mining it for ideas while being bombarded with cheese. Beneath the sclerotic outer shell is an entire pit mine of urban fantasy plots ranging from serious to comedic to just cheesy and building just enough lore (done with the typical late 90s "cultural sensibility" - meaning none whatsoever) to make it worthwhile. There is no order or rhyme here - after watching the first half of the first season, just pick an episode at random and start taking notes. Best experienced half-drunk.

• From: A mystery box series, except done in 2022, almost two decades after the original mystery box hype. This time the overarching plot is being trapped in a pocket dimension (or something like that) consisting of a tiny settlement that loops into itself and is being besieged by blood-thirsty monsters every single fucking night. What this series does well is answering all kinds of those "but what would YOU do if X" bullshit threads and general examination of a whole lot of mudcore wallowing in powerlessness. What it also does is being a mystery box series that loves shock value and is clearly written without any coherent plot or goal in mind other than "keep ratings high this season, or else". So: good for strip-mining ideas on regular people dealing with absurdly horrific situations, but horrible television to watch.

• Jericho: One of the poster children of the mystery box era of television. What it does right is the "post-apocalypse in your average small town". What it does bad is... pretty much everything else. While the fandom is batshit crazy enough that they blackmailed CBS into a second season and still expect a third 20 years later, the actual series is best used as an exercise of the concept of people dealing with an apocalyptic event here and now, rather than living X years after it and doing high-octane highway chases.

• Lexx: A truly bizarre science-fantasy show that is infamous for being overly-horny, cheesy and REEEEEEALLY fuckin' weird. There are some very strange, yet creative and unique, ideas here most of which were unfortunately too big for its small budget. This show's got everything from very phallic living ships, magical, inter-dimensional and ever-living space emperors and people eating the feces of the previously mentioned living ships for sustenance, as well a lot of potential plot hooks that could easily be reappropriated, and some really cool character concepts that are just begging to be done properly. If you want to create a setting that just feels alien and weird, then there's no better place to steal from.

• Threshold: Yet another failed mystery box series; this one is a techno-thriller produced by the guy who did DS9. An alien probe crashes into a US Navy vessel, then starts spewing an alien signal that does weird X-Files shit to anything it comes in contact with, most prominently turning people into superhumans driven to infect others and twisting things into a "triple helix" design. The government's top crisis planner recruits God, Commander Data, Tyrion Halfman and that guy from Cougar Town to figure out what the fuck is going on and stop the outbreak, even as the stress of the situation tears them apart. Cancelled before season 1 ended despite the star-studded cast and (according to Braga) having an actual start-to-finish plan, from the twin blows of not being Lost and CBS execs failing to understand how a mystery box series works. Any given episode could be turned into a session of Delta Green or Night's Black Agents with minimal effort.

References

One of many threads.