Glad it was helpful and will continue to be maybe? Everybody has so many good suggestions here. Sorry again to you (and everyone) for being so late in responding. The time and the year slipped away and now I'm back in ready mode. Cheers!
I've been hearing good things about 'Light Shop' (Hulu), so I checked out the trailer, and there's a surprising note about its pedigree. It's gone immediately to the top of my list:
I watched plenty of stuff this year, but not a lot felt Top List worthy.
I thought 'The Frog' was one of the prettier shows I've seen, but I got impatient with the pacing. The time jump twist was neat, but wanted some explanation of why that's there and how everything was connected.
There's a predictable slickness to "prestige television" that's always rubbed me wrong, and I got both from 'The Sympathizer' and 'Shogun.' Obviously, both were great shows, but something about the grandiosity (and knowing it) gives me this lingering bittersweet aftertaste. It's hard to pinpoint, but something I've been getting since 'Boardwalk Empire.'
I'm still compiling a Year End List, but stuff that sticks out as noteworthy:
High School Return of a Gangster (Hulu/Disney+) — This started as a goofy body swap comedy of a mafia boss being thrown into a bullied high schooler's life. He leans on an aloof classmate to fill in the gaps of his new life, and while they never explicitly go there, the sexual tension between the two was an unexpected turn.
Sleep — This is the last film of the late Lee Sun Kyun (Parasite) about a couple who deals with a sleepwalker's increasingly disturbing episodes. I thought it was going to be a thriller, which Korean cinema does very well, but it was a straight up well-done psychological horror.
Rebel Ridge, Furiosa, The Wild Robot, The Shadow Strays, and Perfect Days all make the list, but those are all fairly well-covered in Western media.
I'm currently watching 'Mr. Plankton,' a road comedy about a terminally ill criminal kidnapping his ex to seek out his biological father. It meandered until about Episode 3 and now I'm totally invested in its outcome.
This is an excellent rundown of this I'm hoping to get to (at least some of it). I wanted to start Light Shop earlier but felt like things were going to be too depressing for the moment, so I have put it on hold. Sleep sounds interesting! I looked at the picture of the High School Return Of A Gangster thing and just couldn't, but maybe one day. After all, part of these lists and suggestions are about overcoming whatever obstacles turned us off/away in the first place and didn't start something.
Yeah, 'High School Return of a Gangster' was all the goofiness you'd expect from its marketing tile, which was why I was so surprised to see the premise reveal itself: gangster body swaps into a suicidal teenage boy, then pieces together the boy's life of being bullied for his sexuality from the target of his love interest. It sounds better on paper.
I should be finishing up 'Mr. Plankton' this week, which has been a very good take on the road journey genre with some amazing performances. After that, I'll jump into 'Light Shop' and will report back.
P.S. Lest you think my critical thinking skills are non-existent, I was aware in terms of the story everything pointed to the end is nigh but I guess I was in deep denial.
Fringe. 2008. I think I deserve some Goodman love. BTW, I’ve been slowly savoring season 5 and after watching episode 11, I thought I’d check to see how many are left, thinking that since there have been 22 episodes in other seasons, I have more to look forward to. Shit. There’s ONE left. I don’t think I’m ready for it to end.
You have TONS of my love for powering through like 900 episodes of "Fringe." You were relentless! Savor that ending. Or just the experience. But I love that people have gone back as far as "Homicide" and "Fringe" and apparently some foreign series with 23 seasons. That's the spirit, everyone!
Shetland on Britbox is excellent. First few episodes of season one didn't grab me when I first watched years ago, but went back to it and it's grown into my favorite mystery series. Set in the Shetland Isles of Scotland, bleakly beautiful scenery, wonderful melancholy score, and extremely well plotted stories. I'm halfway through season nine. I started watching season two of Sherwood and just from watching "previously in season one" I had flashbacks to how emotionally intense and acted it was and I may rewatch season one to capture the emotional continuity that often is lost when there are several year gaps between seasons. I'll add another voice to saying Babylon Berlin ranks with the best series ever on tv. Someone else commented that one fascinating aspect is how it captures characters' lives in a time in history when they don't know what's about to happen. One can see the forces at work building but the characters have no idea of the horror about to descend. One more police series, Spiral, is great, which for the life of me I don't remember if it's on Britbox or Mhz Choice, but it's the French answer to the Wire. Not quite as brilliant, but excellent nonetheless.
I love Shetland and it has become my modern day go to joke that I once reserved for "the blood bath that was Cabot Cove." I mean, damn man, a lot of bad shit goes down in the Shetland Islands, but I still want to visit IRL. Also, yet more love for BB and I haven't heard of Spiral but will take note (and I've already said the Mhz Choice is probably going to happen here in the joint household).
Interesting! I think I've only heard of Anora and had put that one off because I found the actress so annoying in her FX series but plenty of people are saying she's the key to this thing working, so I've changed my mind and will check it out.
Yes, Better Things. Loved the show but her character was so grating (on purpose of course for the teenage experience) that it made me not want to see the film. But I will.
Thanks Tim, for a generous, expansive year of viewing commentary. I enjoyed quite a few of your recommendations. All the best for 2025, look forward to reading your every word.
First off, thanks for the post. It's helpful to take stock each year/quarter of what we've discovered and see what we want to add to our lists.
I did see some of the Asian shows (notably Alice in Borderland due to Tim's recommendation - thanks again). I really enjoyed Kingdom and Squid Game (haven't started S2) so would think there's lots of Korean shows waiting to be discovered.
From the list I did enjoy 6, 9-12, 14 (earlier), and about to finish 15. And of course, Black Doves (renewed!)
For what's coming up...we're mostly done with recent series (e.g. Jackal) and are taking in the last episodes of Silo and The Agency (want to finish The Bureau but it was pulled because this was coming up.)
Upcoming: Severance, Wolf Hall S2, CB Strike, SAS Rogue Heroes, and Mythic Quest are the ones known to be coming back soon (and some have already aired in the UK.) Keeping an eye out for new stuff too. Appreciate everyone's suggestions!
Thanks for the kind words about the list and yes I think it's great that we're all getting tips from each other. Btw, we started "Kingdom" tonight. Just the first episode. Definitely continuing. Holy hell, those costumes are amazing.
'Kingdom' is Netflix's first foray into funding a Korean production, and it's pretty underrated: the feudal political intrigue meets zombie mayhem mix worked like a less bloated 'Game of Thrones.' I do hope creator/writer Kim Eun Hee continues that world, but it's been awhile. I was meh on her recent exorcism show, 'Revenant' (Hulu), but am excited for the next installment of the time jumping crime procedural 'Signal.'
If there's interest, I can conjure up a list of some of the noteworthy Korean shows over the past few years. Since the pandemic and Netflix's massive investment into the industry, there's been a wellspring of neat and novel shows.
I, for one, would love a list of noteworthy Korean series. Based on your comment here, KB demanded that we try "Kingdom" tonight and we watched the first episode and we're all in.
I just went back and watched the trailer to 'Kingdom' and noticed that the second-in-charge villain is played by Ryu Seung Ryong: our hulk-tastic invincible strong man in 'Moving.'
Oh, a List. Yeah, let me think on that and get back to you.
Yes since we had watched Moving so recently he was the first one to pop out. Then KB noted an actress from the recent Korean monster series (I didn’t watch) and I said, “Don’t forget she was in Sense8”!
Kingdom was a very interesting take but it seems to have been dropped after S2. I really hate the thing about Netflix that they often just let series fade away without even announcing that they are cancelled. It's highly annoying.
From what I could dig up, this one's not entirely in Netflix's hands. Netflix first dove into the Korean industry by licensing shows that were made by Korean studios. 'Kingdom' was the first they fully funded, but the pay was so bad, that a lot of the studios preferred to stick to the licensing model. 'Kingdom' was constantly over-budget and an arduous shoot, so I think it was just a tough project to sustain.
If you haven't seen it, Kim Eun Hee did a prequel film 'Kingdom: Ashin of the North,' which she described as a bridge to Season 3. So, she's got more story in her.
Just saw a few PBS updates: S4 of Astrid (a/k/a Bright Minds) - 1/5; S2 of Funny Woman - 2/2, and S2 of Wolf Hall on 3/23. Announced but no dates yet: S6 of Unforgotten, as well as an English remake of Astrid called Patience that's coming out later in the year.
I watched a LOT of non-English language television in 2024.
FWIW, it inspired me to organize a global television awards for the year. And the list of 34 winners is a pretty good starting point for exploration if you'd like to catch up with some of what you missed.
Thanks Tim! I’ll have to check out the remaining series and some of the movies I haven’t seen yet on your list. I have enjoyed all of those I have seen so far. There were a few other series I liked as well: Hacks (Max), Bad Sisters (apple), Agatha All Along (Disney; like another reader mentioned in the comments, I too didn’t expect to like it as much as I did), Formula 1: Drive to Survive (Netflix), Arcane (Netflix), What We Do in the Shadows (hulu), Somebody Somewhere (Max) and Say Nothing (hulu). Happy New Year everyone!
I had felt like this year was pretty mid. But I finally hit the show of the year. I only started the latest season in December. And it required me to sign up for yet another streaming service! But there it is. Babylon Berlin. From Germany. It’s now on Mhz Choice and the new season is Season 4. It’s 12 episodes long and I only have 4 episodes left. My God it’s great. It’s crime fiction but also gives historical insight and I think some commentary on today. It’s very daring, too. It’s based on a book series which importantly only covers the waning years of the Weimar Republic. It doesn’t get into Hitler’s reign. And you realize, oh that’s rich text! We just finished an episode where there was a scene with Nazis (SA) attending a show with performers in drag. And it’s like yeah - that checks out. There are also Jewish characters who have their own flaws and problems. Poverty is everywhere. Importantly, this show does not have any sense of foreboding. None. No one including the camera knows what the future is. The world it exists in and its characters are very complex. It’s just a fantastic series!
A note on Mhz Choice: the subtitles are well done. I have noticed on other services that subtitles have deteriorated. No doubt due to AI. Truly dreadful. But since it’s their whole business Mhz Choice puts up clear subtitles in a good font and size with no errors.
I realize a lot of series you recommend are perfect for my husband and I to watch together. So after Babylon Berlin we’re going to watch Sherwood. Several others might interest my husband as well.
I have heard SO MUCH about Babylon Berlin and it is definitely a candidate for my next long haul watch. KB and I are also thinking about getting Mhz Choice.
To survive post election I watched 19! episodes of Tartort, each 90 minutes. Tartort: Dortmand and Tatort: Streets of Berlin. All solid police procedurals with detectives who are of course troubled in one way or another. I don't know about the quality of the other entries in this series which began in 1970. I wouldn't say it rises to a Best of list, but the fact that I watched and enjoyed almost every episode says a lot as I get impatient easily.
Germans flipping love police procedurals. They eat all the American ones up. But Tatort is the most popular show in the German speaking world. It airs on Sunday nights. There are different iterations as Michael mentions. I tried to watch them with my husband before, but with no subtitles I was lost. My German is okay but not for a murder mystery. Too hard.
I found a decent THR article on it. Quote:
It’s hard to overstate the impact of Tatort (Crime Scene) on German pop culture. The show, which airs every Sunday night on public broadcaster ARD, regularly draws more than 10 million viewers. Top-rated episodes have peaked at more than 14 million, a 40 percent-plus share of the country’s overall TV audience.
I just subscribed and am still exploring. My husband really likes Tatort Austria so we’re going to try that out. But I am definitely looking for more suggestions myself!
By the way, if you have Hoopla from the library you can watch Babylon Berlin there. It’s all there. We wanted the subscription for HD video.
Tim wrote: "If you got to something in 2024 that was made in 1974, I think I love you." In 2024, I started watching Homicide: Life On The Street, for the first time. I love you, too!
You are my HERO for watching HLOTS for the first time! That is tremendous! I haven't mentioned this in a while but have in the past: Few pieces of television made me cry like Pembleton attending the cop-suicide scene in full dress blues. I mean, I think I've seen that enough to know I just can't watch it without totally losing it.
I haven't seen much of the TV you list -- other than "Slow Horses" and "The Gentlemen," both of which are terrific for different reasons -- so you've done a service here in pointing the way to more quality viewing. The only film on your list I've seen was "Hit Man," which was great, and prompted me to (finally) take a look at "Boyhood," Linklater's astonishing real-time coming of age film that took 12 years to make -- with the same actors -- and pulled it off seamlessly. It's the best film I saw in 2024.
Much like John Sayles, Linklater doesn't get the credit he deserves for doing offbeat, interesting, truly humane movies. His "Before Trilogy" (what I think of as his "Sunset trilogy" -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_trilogy) is wonderful, taking the essential concept of "My Dinner With Andre" - which was a surprise hit with my generation back in 1981 - and ran hard with it to craft a three film set, again with the same core actors, over an 18 year span. Watching those three films is a profoundly rewarding cinematic experiencce. Nobody else that I know of is making movies like Richard Linklater. In some ways, his work reminds me of Marcel Pagnol's "Marseille Trilogy" -- which is high praise indeed.
On that note, thanks for another year of great columns, posts, stacks, or whatever we're to call these offerings. All the best to you and my fellow Substack readers and writers.
It seems a long shot, I'll admit, but may the new year surprise us all in a good way.
I'm shifting my mind, Michael, to a broader kind of "how can I make 2025 good for me (and loved ones etc.) regardless of what's happening around me." I'll admit, I can only do that with my total news black out, which is in full effect. I'm actually very good at it.
I have NOT completed the Linklater trilogy and this was a great reminder to do that, and maybe even to just start all over.
Linklater remains, I think, curiously underrated.
Also, I'm old enough to remember a young entertainment writer, ahem, being asked by the SF International Film Festival if I wanted to talk to this dude who made some movie called "Slacker," and obviously I said yes.
Also, I love that Boyhood is the best film you saw in 2024! Dates and years are meaningless with art.
Tim had mentioned 'Past Lives' in his film list and I felt that shared a lot of DNA with Linklater's 'Before Trilogy.' There's lot of conversations that run over this undercurrent of pathos and yearning, but it's all very sticky and realistic.
I was waiting for this. Loved to hear your favorites. And I bookmarked also your TV Talk Machine podcast episode. With the holidays I am behind with everything, but I will get to it, and to comment Silo, which I didn’t include in my list, for the same reason as yours.
The shows I most enjoyed this year are Ripley, Bad Sisters, Baby Reindeer, My Lady Jane, One Day, Nobody Wants This, Industry, Fellow Travelers, Agatha All Along (which I didn’t expect to like), and Douglas is cancelled. And honorable mentions for me go to Fallout, Shogun and Mary&George.
I came back to Industry after a post-pilot bail and after hearing this season was better came back to it. Enjoyed it and S2 was pretty good too. Curious to see what they do next.
Thx, Tim, for your 2024 wrap up. Made a watch list from yours. I enjoyed Shrinking (series) and Conclave (movie) ~Cheers 🥂
Glad it was helpful and will continue to be maybe? Everybody has so many good suggestions here. Sorry again to you (and everyone) for being so late in responding. The time and the year slipped away and now I'm back in ready mode. Cheers!
I've been hearing good things about 'Light Shop' (Hulu), so I checked out the trailer, and there's a surprising note about its pedigree. It's gone immediately to the top of my list:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUTranui_uY
I watched plenty of stuff this year, but not a lot felt Top List worthy.
I thought 'The Frog' was one of the prettier shows I've seen, but I got impatient with the pacing. The time jump twist was neat, but wanted some explanation of why that's there and how everything was connected.
There's a predictable slickness to "prestige television" that's always rubbed me wrong, and I got both from 'The Sympathizer' and 'Shogun.' Obviously, both were great shows, but something about the grandiosity (and knowing it) gives me this lingering bittersweet aftertaste. It's hard to pinpoint, but something I've been getting since 'Boardwalk Empire.'
I'm still compiling a Year End List, but stuff that sticks out as noteworthy:
High School Return of a Gangster (Hulu/Disney+) — This started as a goofy body swap comedy of a mafia boss being thrown into a bullied high schooler's life. He leans on an aloof classmate to fill in the gaps of his new life, and while they never explicitly go there, the sexual tension between the two was an unexpected turn.
Sleep — This is the last film of the late Lee Sun Kyun (Parasite) about a couple who deals with a sleepwalker's increasingly disturbing episodes. I thought it was going to be a thriller, which Korean cinema does very well, but it was a straight up well-done psychological horror.
Rebel Ridge, Furiosa, The Wild Robot, The Shadow Strays, and Perfect Days all make the list, but those are all fairly well-covered in Western media.
I'm currently watching 'Mr. Plankton,' a road comedy about a terminally ill criminal kidnapping his ex to seek out his biological father. It meandered until about Episode 3 and now I'm totally invested in its outcome.
This is an excellent rundown of this I'm hoping to get to (at least some of it). I wanted to start Light Shop earlier but felt like things were going to be too depressing for the moment, so I have put it on hold. Sleep sounds interesting! I looked at the picture of the High School Return Of A Gangster thing and just couldn't, but maybe one day. After all, part of these lists and suggestions are about overcoming whatever obstacles turned us off/away in the first place and didn't start something.
Yeah, 'High School Return of a Gangster' was all the goofiness you'd expect from its marketing tile, which was why I was so surprised to see the premise reveal itself: gangster body swaps into a suicidal teenage boy, then pieces together the boy's life of being bullied for his sexuality from the target of his love interest. It sounds better on paper.
I should be finishing up 'Mr. Plankton' this week, which has been a very good take on the road journey genre with some amazing performances. After that, I'll jump into 'Light Shop' and will report back.
P.S. Lest you think my critical thinking skills are non-existent, I was aware in terms of the story everything pointed to the end is nigh but I guess I was in deep denial.
We are all in denial. No worries.
Fringe. 2008. I think I deserve some Goodman love. BTW, I’ve been slowly savoring season 5 and after watching episode 11, I thought I’d check to see how many are left, thinking that since there have been 22 episodes in other seasons, I have more to look forward to. Shit. There’s ONE left. I don’t think I’m ready for it to end.
You have TONS of my love for powering through like 900 episodes of "Fringe." You were relentless! Savor that ending. Or just the experience. But I love that people have gone back as far as "Homicide" and "Fringe" and apparently some foreign series with 23 seasons. That's the spirit, everyone!
Shetland on Britbox is excellent. First few episodes of season one didn't grab me when I first watched years ago, but went back to it and it's grown into my favorite mystery series. Set in the Shetland Isles of Scotland, bleakly beautiful scenery, wonderful melancholy score, and extremely well plotted stories. I'm halfway through season nine. I started watching season two of Sherwood and just from watching "previously in season one" I had flashbacks to how emotionally intense and acted it was and I may rewatch season one to capture the emotional continuity that often is lost when there are several year gaps between seasons. I'll add another voice to saying Babylon Berlin ranks with the best series ever on tv. Someone else commented that one fascinating aspect is how it captures characters' lives in a time in history when they don't know what's about to happen. One can see the forces at work building but the characters have no idea of the horror about to descend. One more police series, Spiral, is great, which for the life of me I don't remember if it's on Britbox or Mhz Choice, but it's the French answer to the Wire. Not quite as brilliant, but excellent nonetheless.
I love Shetland and it has become my modern day go to joke that I once reserved for "the blood bath that was Cabot Cove." I mean, damn man, a lot of bad shit goes down in the Shetland Islands, but I still want to visit IRL. Also, yet more love for BB and I haven't heard of Spiral but will take note (and I've already said the Mhz Choice is probably going to happen here in the joint household).
Adding some of my fav movies I've seen this year in addition to the ones you mentioned:
- Anora
- Emilia Perez
- Robot Dreams
Interesting! I think I've only heard of Anora and had put that one off because I found the actress so annoying in her FX series but plenty of people are saying she's the key to this thing working, so I've changed my mind and will check it out.
Is it Better things you're referring to? I liked the series, but totally forgot her character. I only remembered her face.
Yes, Better Things. Loved the show but her character was so grating (on purpose of course for the teenage experience) that it made me not want to see the film. But I will.
Thanks Tim, for a generous, expansive year of viewing commentary. I enjoyed quite a few of your recommendations. All the best for 2025, look forward to reading your every word.
Let's kicks some artistic ass and be hopeful and enlightened in 2025.
Quick note - you may already know - Apple TV+ is doing a free weekend: https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2024/12/get-a-free-all-access-pass-to-apple-tv-the-first-weekend-of-2025/
First off, thanks for the post. It's helpful to take stock each year/quarter of what we've discovered and see what we want to add to our lists.
I did see some of the Asian shows (notably Alice in Borderland due to Tim's recommendation - thanks again). I really enjoyed Kingdom and Squid Game (haven't started S2) so would think there's lots of Korean shows waiting to be discovered.
From the list I did enjoy 6, 9-12, 14 (earlier), and about to finish 15. And of course, Black Doves (renewed!)
For what's coming up...we're mostly done with recent series (e.g. Jackal) and are taking in the last episodes of Silo and The Agency (want to finish The Bureau but it was pulled because this was coming up.)
Upcoming: Severance, Wolf Hall S2, CB Strike, SAS Rogue Heroes, and Mythic Quest are the ones known to be coming back soon (and some have already aired in the UK.) Keeping an eye out for new stuff too. Appreciate everyone's suggestions!
Thanks for the kind words about the list and yes I think it's great that we're all getting tips from each other. Btw, we started "Kingdom" tonight. Just the first episode. Definitely continuing. Holy hell, those costumes are amazing.
'Kingdom' is Netflix's first foray into funding a Korean production, and it's pretty underrated: the feudal political intrigue meets zombie mayhem mix worked like a less bloated 'Game of Thrones.' I do hope creator/writer Kim Eun Hee continues that world, but it's been awhile. I was meh on her recent exorcism show, 'Revenant' (Hulu), but am excited for the next installment of the time jumping crime procedural 'Signal.'
If there's interest, I can conjure up a list of some of the noteworthy Korean shows over the past few years. Since the pandemic and Netflix's massive investment into the industry, there's been a wellspring of neat and novel shows.
I, for one, would love a list of noteworthy Korean series. Based on your comment here, KB demanded that we try "Kingdom" tonight and we watched the first episode and we're all in.
I just went back and watched the trailer to 'Kingdom' and noticed that the second-in-charge villain is played by Ryu Seung Ryong: our hulk-tastic invincible strong man in 'Moving.'
Oh, a List. Yeah, let me think on that and get back to you.
Yes since we had watched Moving so recently he was the first one to pop out. Then KB noted an actress from the recent Korean monster series (I didn’t watch) and I said, “Don’t forget she was in Sense8”!
We are becoming very Korean actor knowledgeable
Kingdom was a very interesting take but it seems to have been dropped after S2. I really hate the thing about Netflix that they often just let series fade away without even announcing that they are cancelled. It's highly annoying.
From what I could dig up, this one's not entirely in Netflix's hands. Netflix first dove into the Korean industry by licensing shows that were made by Korean studios. 'Kingdom' was the first they fully funded, but the pay was so bad, that a lot of the studios preferred to stick to the licensing model. 'Kingdom' was constantly over-budget and an arduous shoot, so I think it was just a tough project to sustain.
If you haven't seen it, Kim Eun Hee did a prequel film 'Kingdom: Ashin of the North,' which she described as a bridge to Season 3. So, she's got more story in her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTqz2QYsSeY
It's in their DNA to do that, which is so annoying. I don't see it getting fixed.
I appreciate your reply, but I cannot like this comment. Damn you Netflix!!!!
Just saw a few PBS updates: S4 of Astrid (a/k/a Bright Minds) - 1/5; S2 of Funny Woman - 2/2, and S2 of Wolf Hall on 3/23. Announced but no dates yet: S6 of Unforgotten, as well as an English remake of Astrid called Patience that's coming out later in the year.
This is me writing things down because I haven't watched any of these (though I think I watched parts of Wolf Hall back in the day?).
Wolf Hall - been a while but you'd likely remember. Mark Rylance, Damian Lewis, and a host of others.
I watched a LOT of non-English language television in 2024.
FWIW, it inspired me to organize a global television awards for the year. And the list of 34 winners is a pretty good starting point for exploration if you'd like to catch up with some of what you missed.
https://www.allyourscreens.com/latest-news/too-much-tv/3108-too-much-tv-the-global-television-awards-special-edition
You have given me more than one good rec, as you know. I'm now watching so much more international fare.
Thanks Tim! I’ll have to check out the remaining series and some of the movies I haven’t seen yet on your list. I have enjoyed all of those I have seen so far. There were a few other series I liked as well: Hacks (Max), Bad Sisters (apple), Agatha All Along (Disney; like another reader mentioned in the comments, I too didn’t expect to like it as much as I did), Formula 1: Drive to Survive (Netflix), Arcane (Netflix), What We Do in the Shadows (hulu), Somebody Somewhere (Max) and Say Nothing (hulu). Happy New Year everyone!
I think I'm just going to binge the final season of WWDITS because I love it but also don't want it to end. Good shows on the list, btw. Adding some.
It was so good too!
Happy New Year! 🥳
I had felt like this year was pretty mid. But I finally hit the show of the year. I only started the latest season in December. And it required me to sign up for yet another streaming service! But there it is. Babylon Berlin. From Germany. It’s now on Mhz Choice and the new season is Season 4. It’s 12 episodes long and I only have 4 episodes left. My God it’s great. It’s crime fiction but also gives historical insight and I think some commentary on today. It’s very daring, too. It’s based on a book series which importantly only covers the waning years of the Weimar Republic. It doesn’t get into Hitler’s reign. And you realize, oh that’s rich text! We just finished an episode where there was a scene with Nazis (SA) attending a show with performers in drag. And it’s like yeah - that checks out. There are also Jewish characters who have their own flaws and problems. Poverty is everywhere. Importantly, this show does not have any sense of foreboding. None. No one including the camera knows what the future is. The world it exists in and its characters are very complex. It’s just a fantastic series!
A note on Mhz Choice: the subtitles are well done. I have noticed on other services that subtitles have deteriorated. No doubt due to AI. Truly dreadful. But since it’s their whole business Mhz Choice puts up clear subtitles in a good font and size with no errors.
I realize a lot of series you recommend are perfect for my husband and I to watch together. So after Babylon Berlin we’re going to watch Sherwood. Several others might interest my husband as well.
I have heard SO MUCH about Babylon Berlin and it is definitely a candidate for my next long haul watch. KB and I are also thinking about getting Mhz Choice.
And starting Sherwood S2 this week!
I will be curious to hear your thoughts on Sherwood S2. I have committed to watching the first season but I don't know what the verdict is yet for S2.
Thanks for this. I had started Babylon Berlin on Netflix and found it interesting.
What else of note is on Mhz Choice?
To survive post election I watched 19! episodes of Tartort, each 90 minutes. Tartort: Dortmand and Tatort: Streets of Berlin. All solid police procedurals with detectives who are of course troubled in one way or another. I don't know about the quality of the other entries in this series which began in 1970. I wouldn't say it rises to a Best of list, but the fact that I watched and enjoyed almost every episode says a lot as I get impatient easily.
Damn! That's quite the commitment. Well done (on a show I had never heard of until this thread).
Germans flipping love police procedurals. They eat all the American ones up. But Tatort is the most popular show in the German speaking world. It airs on Sunday nights. There are different iterations as Michael mentions. I tried to watch them with my husband before, but with no subtitles I was lost. My German is okay but not for a murder mystery. Too hard.
I found a decent THR article on it. Quote:
It’s hard to overstate the impact of Tatort (Crime Scene) on German pop culture. The show, which airs every Sunday night on public broadcaster ARD, regularly draws more than 10 million viewers. Top-rated episodes have peaked at more than 14 million, a 40 percent-plus share of the country’s overall TV audience.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/german-series-tatort-sale-mhz-choice-1235623535/
I just subscribed and am still exploring. My husband really likes Tatort Austria so we’re going to try that out. But I am definitely looking for more suggestions myself!
By the way, if you have Hoopla from the library you can watch Babylon Berlin there. It’s all there. We wanted the subscription for HD video.
GREAT TIP ON HOOPLA! Yay. I have that and could check it out. But Mhz Choice suddenly seems intriguing to me.
Tim wrote: "If you got to something in 2024 that was made in 1974, I think I love you." In 2024, I started watching Homicide: Life On The Street, for the first time. I love you, too!
You are my HERO for watching HLOTS for the first time! That is tremendous! I haven't mentioned this in a while but have in the past: Few pieces of television made me cry like Pembleton attending the cop-suicide scene in full dress blues. I mean, I think I've seen that enough to know I just can't watch it without totally losing it.
I haven't seen much of the TV you list -- other than "Slow Horses" and "The Gentlemen," both of which are terrific for different reasons -- so you've done a service here in pointing the way to more quality viewing. The only film on your list I've seen was "Hit Man," which was great, and prompted me to (finally) take a look at "Boyhood," Linklater's astonishing real-time coming of age film that took 12 years to make -- with the same actors -- and pulled it off seamlessly. It's the best film I saw in 2024.
Much like John Sayles, Linklater doesn't get the credit he deserves for doing offbeat, interesting, truly humane movies. His "Before Trilogy" (what I think of as his "Sunset trilogy" -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_trilogy) is wonderful, taking the essential concept of "My Dinner With Andre" - which was a surprise hit with my generation back in 1981 - and ran hard with it to craft a three film set, again with the same core actors, over an 18 year span. Watching those three films is a profoundly rewarding cinematic experiencce. Nobody else that I know of is making movies like Richard Linklater. In some ways, his work reminds me of Marcel Pagnol's "Marseille Trilogy" -- which is high praise indeed.
https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/1264-the-marseille-trilogy?srsltid=AfmBOorBZ0aafKuXspgNryG7UDSfmu69gPycUDI69NRbflTvwmMRsimX
On that note, thanks for another year of great columns, posts, stacks, or whatever we're to call these offerings. All the best to you and my fellow Substack readers and writers.
It seems a long shot, I'll admit, but may the new year surprise us all in a good way.
Onward, into the mist...
I'm shifting my mind, Michael, to a broader kind of "how can I make 2025 good for me (and loved ones etc.) regardless of what's happening around me." I'll admit, I can only do that with my total news black out, which is in full effect. I'm actually very good at it.
I have NOT completed the Linklater trilogy and this was a great reminder to do that, and maybe even to just start all over.
Linklater remains, I think, curiously underrated.
Also, I'm old enough to remember a young entertainment writer, ahem, being asked by the SF International Film Festival if I wanted to talk to this dude who made some movie called "Slacker," and obviously I said yes.
Also, I love that Boyhood is the best film you saw in 2024! Dates and years are meaningless with art.
Tim had mentioned 'Past Lives' in his film list and I felt that shared a lot of DNA with Linklater's 'Before Trilogy.' There's lot of conversations that run over this undercurrent of pathos and yearning, but it's all very sticky and realistic.
Agreed! Paths not taken or missed are, I think, always good fodder because it can be twisted in so many ways.
I was waiting for this. Loved to hear your favorites. And I bookmarked also your TV Talk Machine podcast episode. With the holidays I am behind with everything, but I will get to it, and to comment Silo, which I didn’t include in my list, for the same reason as yours.
The shows I most enjoyed this year are Ripley, Bad Sisters, Baby Reindeer, My Lady Jane, One Day, Nobody Wants This, Industry, Fellow Travelers, Agatha All Along (which I didn’t expect to like), and Douglas is cancelled. And honorable mentions for me go to Fallout, Shogun and Mary&George.
I've read from others the same thoughts on Agatha All Along. Interesting.
Also thanks for liking the year end list (and even more challenging -- the podcast!).
I came back to Industry after a post-pilot bail and after hearing this season was better came back to it. Enjoyed it and S2 was pretty good too. Curious to see what they do next.
I haven't followed but I heard somewhere it wasn't picked up.