What TV Shows Are You Watching? The 9th Is - Excuse Me - A Damn Fine Cup Of Coffee

[EvaDK]

^ The 1994 Stargate is probs my favorite Roland Emmerich film. Tried to watch some of the series that followed and it just wasn't for me.

But that's the normal whenever a theatrically released healthy budget feature film is followed up by a tv or streaming series on the small screen. They usually fall somewhere between cheap dreck and fanmade content, made purely to make a buck on a known IP while it is still relevant.

 

[EgonSpengler]

TV series based on films - remakes, sequels, spinoffs - that I liked more than the original movie (and three of these series are among my all-time favorites, adaptations or otherwise - I own tee-shirts for two of them ):

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)
Friday Night Lights (2006)
Limitless (2015)
M*A*S*H (1972)

TV series that I thought were worthy of the original movie (and, in a few cases, they're better than the movie's film sequels):

Agent Carter (2015) - Hayley Atwell
Alice (1976)
Alien Nation (1989)
Andor (2022)
Blade: The Series (2006)
Fame (1982) - A direct sequel, with many of the cast from the movie.
Hannibal (2013) - This is easily one of the best series on this list, and could be in the list above, if not for the fact that the movies it followed are all-timers, Manhunter and The Silence of the Lambs (one of 3 movies to sweep the major categories at the Oscars). I would rate Hannibal higher than Red Dragon, which I liked. I thought Hannibal (2001), the Ridley Scott movie sequel to Lambs, was not good.
La Femme Nikita (1997) - Peta Wilson
Highlander: The Series (1992)
In the Heat of the Night (1988)
A League of Their Own (2022)
The Mandalorian (2019)
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023) - A sequel to the American Godzilla (2014), not the Japanese movies, and Kong: Skull Island (2017). I think it's better than Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021). I haven't seen Godzilla x Kong (2024) yet.
Stargate: SG-1 (1997)
Stargate Universe (2009)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008) - A sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) that interrupts and surpasses the rest of the movies.

TV series that I haven't seen, based on movies that I liked, that other people have recommended:

12 Monkeys
Bates Motel
Cobra Kai
The Dead Zone
Fargo
High Fidelity
What We Do in the Shadows

 

[lymond]

12 Monkeys series I enjoyed a lot. The movie (which is an all-time fave) serves mainly as inspiration, while the show expands on it greatly, essentially creating its own mythos. The show is its own thing, but still feels like 12 monkeys. Only the first couple of episodes of the first season mirror the movie. Well done for a SyFy series. Though it always seemed like it would be canceled, SyFy was good enough to complete the story with 4 seasons. If you are ever in need of something to watch, give it a go.

For some reason, I thought you had watched the Fargo series, Egon. I'd watched the first two seasons back when they came out, both are very good, but Season 2 with Jean Smart I still consider the best of them all. Each season is stand-alone with no direct tie to the movie, at least that I've noticed, and I've seen the movie about 500 times..ha...def one of my top 5 movies. I'd say the show captures the spirit of the movie. However, I've recently watched Season 4, which was good but a tad bit disappointing at the end, but had a small tie-in to Season 2. I'm now two epis into Season 5 which stars Juno Temple, who is a marvel here. So far, Season 5 is the most Fargoiest with a couple of scenes directly inspired by the movie.

I think Dead Zone may have been a Syfy show too - I can't remember. (edit: ah..appears it was on USA back then when they actually did stuff). Good show and a bit of a small renaissance for Anthony Michael Hall at the time - he is very solid in Walken's role.) It lost a little steam near the end but should give you a good 4-5 seasons of entertainment.

 

[Kyriakos]

^"I know what you are thinking, Bob. You are thinking that I don't exist"

 

[EgonSpengler]

For some reason, I thought you had watched the Fargo series, Egon.

I've seen some episodes, but that's all. When it premiered on FX in 2014, I had already cut the cord, so I wasn't able to watch it except at a friend's house or whatever. Hulu acquired FX in 2020, but I haven't gotten back around to it. (The list of series I missed and would like to 'get back around to' is as long as my arm.)

 

[Birdjaguar]

Fargo has been excellent.

 

[EvaDK]

Fargo is excellent, yeah. Not so much the 4th season, but the rest. I really want the 3rd on blu, but it hasn't been released.

 

[lymond]

Fargo is excellent, yeah. Not so much the 4th season, but the rest. I really want the 3rd on blu, but it hasn't been released.

3rd is the one I haven't seen. Well, I watched an epi I think back then, but for some reason stopped - likely went on a long no tv spell - but the cast was great. Gotta go back and watch it. I thought the 4th season started out excellently, and Jess Buckley was a treat as the nurse, but things just went in some muddled directions. Still entertaining, lotta good stuff in Season 4, individual performances especially, but ultimately felt lacking in the end. All the plot points and wildcard players (that Fargo always has) did not come together satisfactorily. Even the tiny end credit scene (nod to Season 2) was like "whah? ...okay..so yeah the kid was that guy

Another thing to note is the production values of Fargo are top-notch for TV.

One can watch any season if you wish, but if you watch one season def watch Season 2.

 

[Kyriakos]

I had watched s1, back in the day. Can't say I liked it. The ending was ok.

 

[EvaDK]

The 3rd season is probably the most tragic of the five. In the sense that some of the characters you come to like are so downtrodden and dark. They set themselves up for the fate that awaits them. Yes, Jessie Buckley would be the reason for me ever rewatching the 4th.

 

[Synobun]

Finally, after several months, I got around to finishing the second season of Foundation. The first four episodes took me months to get through, but the second half was interesting enough to burn in a week. Still, that first bit... brutal.

Now to find the motivation to get through For All Mankind and Halo.

 

[JohannaK]

For All Mankind, my gf got me watching it and we enjoyed it very much!

 

[Comrade Ceasefire]

For All Mankind, my gf got me watching it and we enjoyed it very much!

How many seasons?
We got through the 1st season easily, but petered out during season 2 because it wasn't as space-based as S1. We're nearly out of shows to watch (our own fault because something is on about 8-10 hours per day in our place!) so it might be time to try again.

 

[Comrade Ceasefire]

Let's hope Nolan doesn't mess this up as badly as the last seasons of Westworld.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I rewatched the first episode of one of my favorite gloomy detective dramas, The Killing (2011). If you like bleak British crime shows and Scandi-noir, this one's for you. It's a remake of the Danish Forbrydelsen (2007), which I've never seen, and it's in the vein of things like Prime Suspect (1992), Touching Evil (1997), Broadchurch (2013) and Happy Valley (2014), all of which I'd recommend, if you like that sort of thing. I would also recommend it to fans of Mare of Easttown (2021) and the first season of True Detective (2014).

I looked for a trailer to post here, but they give too much away. One of them's 4 minutes long, which is just unnecessary, and the other one is for the first 3 seasons together, from when they debuted on Netflix. The premise is, Mirielle Enos and Joel Kinnaman play police detectives in Seattle. Enos' character is on her last day on the job, Kinnaman's on his first day as her replacement, and a teenage girl goes missing.

 

[JohannaK]

Al

How many seasons?
We got through the 1st season easily, but petered out during season 2 because it wasn't as space-based as S1. We're nearly out of shows to watch (our own fault because something is on about 8-10 hours per day in our place!) so it might be time to try again.

All of it, of course.

 

[EvaDK]

I rewatched the first episode of one of my favorite gloomy detective dramas, The Killing (2011). If you like bleak British crime shows and Scandi-noir, this one's for you. It's a remake of the Danish Forbrydelsen (2007), which I've never seen

 

[EgonSpengler]

Good trailer. Good show. Of course I'm sad it's ending, but I'm glad they were given a whole season's notice to wrap it up.

 

[Birdjaguar]

The Gentleman on Netflix starts off with a bang! A second son of an English Duke inherits the estate over his older brother. Alas, dear old dad was not quite what folks thought he he was.

 

[tjs282]

I thought The Gentlemen was good fun. But it is also very Guy Ritchie-ish.