Intro
This is more than obvious, but there are millions of shows on TV. Comedy, drama, action, thriller, romance, sports, music, reality... the list is endless. For all the garbage out there further exploiting the corruption of capitalism by allowing shit shows to exist while costing millions upon millions to produce for basically no reason (here's to you Jersey Shore 👍), there are still a plenty amount of shows out there definitely worth checking out.
This list is simply about a few shows that have just come out, I just found out about and simply wanna tell you about. Shows that aren't your typical choices like Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Big Bang Theory, House of Cards, American Horror Story, etc that pretty much everyone is watching (at least on here). On top of that, this list is about a couple shows that I found to either provide extremely original story lines and concepts, or provide a newer, deeper and/or totally different perspective on concepts that have been discussed time and time again. So with that said, let's get it 😬
1- Westworld
This show has actually been delayed for the longest time for recasting, being the most expensive TV show HBO has produced and other shit, but it's finally arrived. And let me say that HBO could easily be onto its next big hit. As Game of Thrones is concluding, it's looking for its next masterpiece... and Westworld has the potential to be that masterpiece. It's only on its 4th episode (5th this Sunday); it's based on a 1973 film of the same name.
As simplistically as I can make it, it's a theme park in the not so distant future that takes place in the old west. The world is divided into guests (guests) and hosts. Hosts are essentially AI robots created in a lab for the sole purpose of entertaining the guests. This let's the guests do whatever they want in this world to fulfill the desires of the guests. If they feel like killing, they can. If they feel like fucking them, go HAM. These robots are sent into endless loops of reliving their lives day to day
The original movie is simply what you'd expect in a 70s movie, which is basically robots rising up and killing the guests of the park and out of control. Not really much substance to it. What makes this different is that, at least for the 1st 4 episodes that are out, it's focused a lot more on the morality of man, the God complex, parallelisms to religion and hell, what it means to be sentient and more. It also, as far as I know, is tackling a lot more concepts at a single time than any other TV show that I know of... or at least in this manner and with this level of technology.
As we find out, we realize that what the humans think of what the robots know and can do is a lot different than what they can do... sounds kinda confusing, but they throw a lot of shit at you early and, because it's so new, there's a lot of questions unanswered and a lot of concepts unexplained that are pretty complex from a psychological standpoint and I'm no psychologist and even if I did explain everything that's happened so far, it'd be a book...so watch it 😬
2- Black Mirror
God bless the British. Y'all come up with some pretty cool shows. Black Mirror is definitely one of them and has been met with virtually universal acclaim for nearly every single episode (there was only 1 I'd give a B+, although the relevance it has could give it an A). I might as well get this out of the way cause you'll figure out this pattern anyways; I like fairly realistic sci-fi shit. Not like aliens and laser cannons like Star Trek, but sci-fi in a more theoretical and conceptual sense. I'm also a huge fan of the Twighlight Zone. I love anthology. Partly because I don't feel overwhelmed in having to watch seasons upon seasons to catch up. Think of Black Mirror as Twighlight Zone in the 21st (or 22nd in some cases) century. While some of these concepts are inherently imporbable, it does do a reflection of modern society as it pertains to technology and how we use it
There are plenty awesome examples of this, but I'll go off season 3 episode 1 that just came out on Netflix (which just came out around a week ago), called "Nosedive"
To add a bit onto this explanation, these points are a form of currency where these "consequences" essentially affect where you can live, your friends, what you can use, where you can work, so on and so forth. I wanna give a few other episodes, but a lot of them have dope twists and don't wanna accidentally spoil anything such as "White Bear", "White Christmas" and "Hated in a Nation" (my favorite).
3- Man in the High Castle
Truth serum time! While I like the show, it constantly left me frustrated and unsatisfied. Then again, you could say that makes it a good show cause it makes me want to know more and keep watching. Moreover, it might also be understandable because the show is alternative history in which the axis powers won and the world is divided among them.
I'm a little rusty on the specifics because this show came out nearly a year ago (season 2 comes out December 20 on Amazon). But without spoiling too much, the show follows a girl named Juliana, who lives in San Francisco. Her boyfriend, who is secretly a Jew, a secret resistance agent from New York named Joe Blake, the trade minister of the Japanese Pacific States and an SS officer. This story revolves around the transportation and possession of these newsreels that prove to be powerful in some way or another
Admittedly, this show is my least favorite of the 3 I listed, but I still think it's pretty damn good. Not just because of the story itself, but the idea of it. I'll admit, part of my interest in TV and movies are how original they are. When every other show is either about zombies, reality television, alphabet crime dramas maybe a few alien shows, trope-y high school/college/office comedies, fantasy with a maybe a few other genres sprinkled in, it's refreshing to see something totally different. From what I looked up (not that extensive) and know about, alternative history as a TV genre is basically nonexistent
Conclusion
Well, that's pretty much it! I had a few other shows I thought about mentioning, such as Peaky Blinders or Bloodline (although the 2nd season was a letdown), but I didn't exactly plan on writing an essay and I know I'll forget something else and realize there are plenty of other shows I need to get to (I'm so far behind right now). But while this was a list for shows that were different and thought provoking in some sense or another, part of this list is just plain selfishness on my part so that I have people to talk to about these kickass shows. Thanks for reading! 👍👍👍
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