I have systematically educated myself on quality TV series in 2023
When it comes to TV series, I used to be quite uncivilized. Then I watched Breaking Bad in 2022 and realized that Prison Break isn't the only good show out there. This is why I decided to make it my mission to educate myself on quality TV series in 2023. The plan was to watch one show each month, and I've done a pretty good job so far:
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January: Better Call Saul. A riveting masterpiece. Watched all of the seasons in one month.
February: The Wire. Perfect. I only watched the first season and was left wondering if the seasons that follow are better or form a cohesive storyline from beginning to end, like in BB.
March: Oz. Absolutely captivating. I've always loved prison movies and shows.
Gap week 1: Chernobyl. Flawless masterpiece. Super scary in that perfect, quiet way. And just the right length.
April: The Sopranos. This was a little weird after seeing Edie Falco in such a different role in Oz, but I soon got used to it - and learned to wonderfully hate her Sopranos character. Furthermore, I only watched season 1, and was again left wondering if this is one of those stories that get better with every season.
May: House of Cards. Well, I learned that I hate politics after all. What I mean is that the series was perfectly produced and that the acting and writing and directing and set design and everything else, technically, was perfect. But the topic left me feeling icky after each episode, and so I only watched the first season.
June: Succession. Now here's a show where you can happily hate every character! They're all bad guys, more of less. (Roman is probably the least bad of them all, though.) Watched seasons 1 to 4. So delicious. So entertaining. I absolutely loved the improvised feel that some of the scenes have! Also - how intimidating is Brian Cox?!
(Gap week 2: Had other things to do, didn't watch TV.)
July: Entourage. Watched seasons 1 to 4 and absolutely loved it. Such quality TV, so much fun. Huge respect to Kevin Dillon's acting; his character is an actor who seems to be acting even in his private time, which is exactly true to the character (unlike the character's brother, also an actor, who seems more genuine in his private time, which is also true to character). Hard to explain, you just have to see it for yourself.
August: Sherlock. I was a little skeptical about the premise - Doyle's characters in the 21st century - but the show had an incredible rating on IMDb, so I decided to go for it. It delivered. I watched the entire series. It was funny and morbid in just the right ratio. Mycroft is probably the best character. Martin Freeman does the best acting. Some plot twist were genuinely shocking.
Gap week 3: Black Mirror. Having watched some singular episodes already a couple of years ago, I decided to cherry-pick some more for the third gap week. San Junipero is a horror story, which is something that most people don't realize. USS Callister is entertaining and beyond scary. Nosedive made me even more smugly proud of my lack of social media presence than I already was. Beyond the Sea is just my kind of scifi.
September: Stranger Things. Just watched the pilot, and it does seem promising. Scifi is great to begin with. We'll see how it turns out.
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That's all so far. I'll update the list once I have some idea of what October and November will look like.
All in all, it's been a well entertained year!
RK