TV Shows: Recommendations for TV Writers
Whenever I’m teaching a TV writing class, I tend to avoid the idea that there are “important” or “classic” TV shows. I find this is often really subjective to the teacher. Much in the same way I am mad that I had to read and watch so many movies where women had no agency during all of my writing training. Chinatown is fine. Like. Mid at best. I stand by that. Generally, what I do is ask students what they’re watching and try to work those shows into my teaching as I go. I update this list a lot, so keep checking back.
The Big Ones Lately:
Reservation Dogs
This is such a clear look at theme and character. Each season, it seems as though the writers muse on whether these kids will survive because of their community or the individual lessons they’re learning. We cried and laughed at every episode. The Willy Jack character has an incredible arc over four seasons. A dive into fantasy and legend every now and then. Easily one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
Pachinko
If you’re looking for a solid adaptation, reading Pachinko and watching Pachinko is a great place to look. They feel like two separate entities and yet the bones and the themes are the same. These are some incredible performances and also the show lets the audience fill in some blanks for themselves while also being very clear about the ways one life can experience an era of history, while also projecting into the future generations of a life.
Station Eleven
This one is at the top of my list as adaptation, too. Here, the novel and the TV show feel like the same story but in a multi-verse. If one decision had been different (if Jeevan had taken Kirsten with him), the story has similar outcomes but an (arguably?) deeper sense of relation and ache. The fifth episode about the creation of a community is one of the best episodes of TV I’ve ever watched. The book is brilliant, the TV show is brilliant. I cannot recommend enough.
Battlestar Galactica
An absolute masterclass in genre. It’s all of the genres. The show is a family drama, political thriller, space opera, sci-fi, fantasy, adventure series. And somehow it blends all of those things together. Also, if you pay attention to the character arcs (particularly Mary McDonnel’s Laura Roslin), you find the perfect amount of change over seasons. The story keeps moving forward and keeps you guessing who the good guys and bad guys are in a way that broke ground.
A Large Spectrum of Comedy:
Strangers with Candy
It is wild offensive. And was so even by the standards of when it was made. Which also seems to be what it’s about. Amy Sedaris as a 49 year old high school freshman. It’s a send-up of 80’s after-school specials that also features Stephen Colbert as a closeted English teacher. Like, content warnings abound. More than one students has told me it’s one of those shows that they genuinely can’t believe got made — which also provides hope for their ideas.
The Durrells in Corfu
This one comes up when we talk about “soft” television. That is, the Hallmark movie crowd. This show does a really good job of making us care about its main characters, while also not going too deep on pointless conflict. You feel for the struggle of this family throughout, and you want to spend time with them. There’s also a really good look at how story points can build on each other. Over so many seasons, the family ends up with a veritable zoo on their patio. It feels so natural as it happens that it just sinks effortlessly into the background. A great lesson in how to develop multiple characters.
The Wild Cards:
The Leftovers
Except season one. Season one is deeply deeply bleak in a way that’s actually not at all entertaining. I use this show as an example of how one premise of an idea can not work, while another can. And the difference seems to be asking what will entertain an audience. I am not saying bleak can’t be entertaining. But the difference between the first season and second season seems to be a focus on asking “how to keep people watching.” Once the focus switches away from “a show about sadness” to a show that examines sadness while keeping the story moving – they’re off to the races. And Australia.
12 Monkeys
The TV adaption flew under the radar for a lot of people. But as time-travel shows go? This thing is so carefully crafted and put together that you are deeply invested by the end of it. Barbara Sukowa’s character smokes the entire time and also there’s an episode that answers what all time-travel shows get asked; “why don’t they try to kill Hitler?” Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek) also plays this bonkers character who acts as a guide through time for the audience. It’s a show that breaks your brain throughout and then puts it back together.
The Controversial Opinions:
Star Trek Voyager
It’s the best Star Trek. I’ll stand by that. It’s one of the few stories in the Star Trek universe that has a long-con premise built in, while honoring the bones of the original and spin-off shows. Each episode is guided by a procedural element and they come across adventures. But if you want to talk about a story engine that’s built to last, every decision the characters make has the underlying question for the season and series problems: “how will we get home?”
Avatar the Last Airbender
This came up so many times that it was the first thing I sat down to watch during the pandemic quarantine. Yes, made for children originally, but the story structure feels so organic and smart, that by season two, I was deeply invested in each character. The four seasons span a perfect example of how beginning middle and end work well together and build on each other. It draws comparisons to Miyazaki occassionally, and as one student pointed out that “Miyazaki is an eastern take on the western world, while Avatar is a western take on an eastern world.” Worth getting through some of the stuff clearly for children. The fourth season (and in particular the growth of the antagonist characters) will destroy you emotionally.