The Watchlist: TV.
Stop searching. Start watching.
The Watchlist is a ranked reminder of the best television and films you should watch now and tell others to watch later. Ranked on quality; notes on mood, time investment; standout qualities. Trailers endorsed. Photos: On your phone, touch and hold to save and remember.
Television:
“Moving,” (Hulu, 2023). I know, you were expecting “Severance” or something else. But this Korean series was also the recent No. 1 entry in my Best Of year end list and nothing has changed. Bastard Machine Archive: Appears in multiple posts. Mood: Action, paranormal, excellent storytelling. Time investment: 20 episodes in one season; a lot but worth it. Has been renewed because it was a global hit. Notable: Surprisingly emotionally powerful; unexpected everything.
“Severance,” (AppleTV+, 2022, 2025). Two seasons are in the bank now. If you haven’t watched, this is the time. Bastard Machine Archive: Reviews, mentions in multiple posts and full Box Set deconstruction of every S2 episode. Mood: Mysterious; futuristic but present; funny, odd, compelling. Time investment: 19 episodes; S1: 9, S2: 10. Carve it out. Notable: Excellent acting, off-kilter storytelling, ambitious.
“The Studio,” (AppleTV+, 2025). 10 episodes. The first season of this excellent (and accurate and hilarious and harrowing) send-up of Hollywood is current and will have its season finale 10th episode on May 21. Bastard Machine Archive: Post: “The Observer” and multiple mentions. Mood: Cynical, funny, self-referential but satiric; pop-culture current; intelligent and ridiculous. Time investment: 10 episodes. Notable: Runaway winner, most famous-people cameos.
“House Of Ninjas,” (Netflix, 2024). 8 episodes. It’s always a good moment in time when you find a series that way outperforms expectations, even if you didn’t know what your expectations should be. I think mine were “Ninja show, hell yes” and then quickly became, “Wow, this is such a great overall show.” Bastard Machine Archive: “Best Of” year end inclusion, multiple posts and mentions. Mood: Action-drama-family, funny, creative, surprising (which is, obviously, tough to pull off). Time investment: Only 8 episodes; the series has been renewed. Notable: Who knew a lovely family series was going to hide inside a story about ninjas and be a lot more than expected?
“Silo,” (AppleTV+, 2023, 2025). 20 episodes. The world-building here is tremendous and the story is captivating, if at times slow. But that’s part of the mood and not a negative. Immersive is good. Bastard Machine Archive: Multiple posts and mentions, plus full “The Box Set” deconstruction of all S2 episodes. Mood: Futuristic, claustrophobic, compelling, intriguing, smart, excellent characters. Time investment: This is a bigger commitment at 20 episodes and, as mentioned, many of them languid; make the time if you want a good story. Notable: Very good surprise turns, particularly at the end of each season, to keep you going; mysterious world sets the hook.
6. “The Kingdom,” (Netflix, 2019, 2020). 12 episodes; 1 extended special. Imagine an epic historical story with some of the best costumes you’ll ever see (movies included) and at the root of it is…a zombie series. That’s why there’s so much more to “The Kingdom” than you can imagine and precisely why you should watch. Bastard Machine Archive: Post: “The Observer,” plus periodic mentions since. Likely Best Of the year candidate for this year (the year I discovered it). Mood: Epic, immersive, taut, creative, surprising. But also: zombies; not too scary and plenty entertaining, but still: zombies. Time investment: Pretty easy — 12 episodes over two seasons and you’ll want to binge. I’m not going to recommend the “special” because it was setting up a new series that never happened but it continues the mood if you’re into it. Notable: Hats. Costumes. Best running scenes ever. Also: Hats, OMG.
“Culprits,” (Hulu, 2023). 8 episodes. One of the guiding principles here at the Bastard Machine Substack is that release dates don’t matter — only quality. In the world of Peak TV, so many series get lost to time and my goal is to find the good and great ones and let you know. How “Culprits” slipped under the radar in November of 2023 is lost on me, since I loved the whole limited series and yet never heard anyone talking about it. Change that. Bastard Machine Archive: Big feature in the “Deep Dive: Hulu” Vol. 1 series; multiple mentions. Mood: Action-packed thriller with a surprising love story tucked inside; addictive, fun, smarter than expected. Time investment: An easy, binge-worthy eight episodes. Notable: Excellently directed, very inventive, smart thrills.
“Asura,” (Netflix, 2025). 7 episodes. The appealing thing about ranked lists, at least for me, is that all kinds of moods can influence the rankings, and often there is flux in the follow-up rankings. For instance, I could make a good argument that “Asura” should be in the top three. Keep that in mind. Bastard Machine Archive: Fully endorsed in “The Observer” post, plus two additional posts. Mood: A seven-hour movie and I say that with love, not disdain. An excellent, evocative and touching (and funny) look at family from acclaimed director Hirokazu Kore-eda. There is no getting around the fact that the first two episodes are very slow, but you will be rewarded for staying with it. Time investment: Easy — even though the seven hours feel like 10, you’ll wish there were more. Notable: Readers will know I’ve written a lot about Kore-eda, and this is like a good book.
“Deli Boys,” (Hulu, 2025). 10 episodes. I’m not sure there was a ton of promotion for “Deli Boys,” from Onyx Collective, but there should have been. In a world where fully-formed brilliance like “The Studio” happens with a lot of money and high-end talent, it’s always great to find the little show that could. Bastard Machine Archive: Two appearances in “The Observer” feature. Mood: Light, fresh, creative, very funny. Time investment: One season only, easy to binge. Notable: Diverse, unexpected, rewards your discovery of it.
“Ludwig,” (BritBox 2025). 6 episodes. Already renewed for a second season. Sometimes light and breezy (but also smart and cheeky) wins the day. Bastard Machine Archive: Full post on the series and star David Mitchell. Mood: Delightfully old school murder mystery with precious little blood or violence; enjoyable “puzzles” to solve and an underlying, intriguing B-storyline. Time investment: Almost too easy; the Brits keep it brief. Notable: David Mitchell, as always.
Excellent list! It’s amazing seeing 3 Apple TV+ series on there seeing as they don’t release that many series. I just started Murderbot and found it delightful (if frustrating that I couldn’t just watch episode 3 immediately). I am 100% with you on The Studio.
I did finish “Rivals” by the way. I thought it was excellent. I had said earlier that it was Bridgerton meets Mad Men but I also should have mentioned the obvious homage: Dynasty. It ends on one helluva cliffhanger.
And in other news: my husband and I are watching Paris Is Burning. Very action packed which I realize makes your recommendations quite suitable for us to watch together. I will keep the rest of your list in mind!
You might just succeed in dragging me back to give "Severance" and "Silo" another chance ... meanwhile, thanks for all these recommendations: I'm bookmarking this post for future exploration.