31 Days of Halloween Day 26: Best Genre TV Shows
False Positive Tips: Best Genre TV Shows –
Here’s a list of some recommendations for some of my favorite pulp tales of the surreal, fantastic, and macabre in live-action TV series format.
There’s a list for Best Animated TV Series and another for Best Anthology TV series.
Favorite Genre/ Pulp TV Series
In no particular order.
WARNING: Some of these trailers contain SPOILERS.
Still On the Air:
Locke & Key (2020–)
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Stranger Things (2016–)
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Ozark (2019–)
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The Mandalorian (2019–)
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Completed Series…
Hannibal (2013–2015)
If you happened to watch Bryan Fuller’s other show, Dead Like Me, Hannibal delivers the most awesomely meta crossover ever.
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Fringe (2008–2013)
Do yourself a favor, skip Season 1: Episodes 9 and 12.
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The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
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Brand New Cherry Flavor (2021)
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Game of Thrones (2011–2019)
Yes. I’m the one who liked the entire series. It had pacing issues at the end, but I appreciated the payoffs.
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The Magicians (2015–2020)
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Partial Series…
Carnivále (2003–2005)
Canceled after 2 seasons.
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Firefly (2002)
Canceled during the first season, but the movie finishes the story: Serenity (2005). Skip the opening series title theme song.
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Penny Dreadful (2014–2016)
Watch seasons 1–2. Skip s3 and pretend it doesn’t exist.
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Supernatural (2005–2020)
Watch seasons 1–5. Skip the rest or find a best-of list of episodes to guide your viewing.
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Castlerock (2018–2019)
Watch season 2. Skip the first season.
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American Horror Story (2011–)
Watch season 1 & maybe, Season 9. Skip the rest.
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If the List Kept Going, Maybe…
Ash vs Evil Dead (2015–2018)
Angel (1999–2004)
Fargo (2014–)
The Orville (2017–)
Dollhouse (2009–2010)
Babylon 5 (1993–1998)
Continuum (2012–2015)
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Watch seasons 3–7 and skip s1 & 2. Or find a best-of list of episodes to guide your viewing.
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>>SEE ALL 31 DAYS of RECOMMENDATION LISTS>>
What are some of your favorite science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, crime, or sword & sorcery TV series?
Oof. I vehemently disagree with the inclusion of Locke & Key. Joe Hill’s graphic novel series was great, but the screenwriters made so many changes to the story, and almost all of them were for the worse. The show is really just terrible fanfic.
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
For example, halfway through S1 of the show, Dodge’s brilliant plan to get the keys is to break Sam Lesser out of prison, even though at this point, Dodge is free and powerful and in possession of multiple keys (as are the Lockes), and Sam is a crazy person who brings approximately nothing to the table. Compare to the graphic novels, in which Dodge helps Sam break out much earlier, and it actually makes sense, because at this point, Dodge is still trapped in the wellhouse and extremely limited in what he can do. Sam frees him, not Bode. (Yes, ‘him’. There’s gender-bending in the graphic novels too, but they don’t insult the reader’s intelligence by trying to make a shocking reveal out of the whole Lucas-is-Dodge thing.)
Or, for another example, the music box key. In the show, the Lockes have it, and they use it for dumb high school shenanigans, and nobody ever even considers that maybe they should try using it on Dodge. Compare to the graphic novel series, in which the dumb high school shenanigans never happen, and the key is used sensibly in the struggle between the Lockes and Dodge. (The key is also a little less OP and a little more stylish, mechanically, in the graphic novels. I have several complaints like this about changes to the key designs, but those complaints are relatively unimportant.)
There’s just so much stuff like this that makes the characters look like complete morons in the show, especially in comparison to their graphic novel counterparts.
I get it.
I agree with most of your points. I, too, prefer to see clever characters with clear intentions.
No doubt, the comics’ writing and plotting are way more successful than the show.
The show has some staggeringly rough parts, but most of the other shows on my list do too.
With its many faults, I still think the show is better than 99.5% of its competition and that’s why it made my list.
But, as said, I totally get it. When parts of any content trigger my peeves beyond my tolerance, the whole gets tainted and I can’t enjoy the content.* The tipping point varies, but once reached, the content is ruined for me.
(*Little-to-no tolerance for fundamental failures: Picard (2020), The Twilight Zone (2019), The Umbrella Academy (2019). Higher tolerance for promising setups with strong writing, but still ruined forever by failed payoff and/or deterioration of quality, etc.: Battlestar Galactica (2004), Lost (2004).)