Tell me what to watch on television.

[gement]

I have Netflix Streaming. I have all day. I have watched very few sci-fi serials since 1997. Whedon and Whoniverse franchises are nearly the only exceptions. Until 1997, I watched all the schlock SF I could get my mitts on, including Forever Knight and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, and a few others that were so terrible they only got three episodes.

Tell me what cultural touchstones you think I should geek out on with you, and I'll give it a shot. I'm loopy enough to mimic the receptive state of wide eyed wonder usually only conferred upon drunks and impressionable teenagers up past midnight.

Bonus if you suggest some specific touchstones that are either good summary introductions or fantastic single eps, something to narrow down from "all 20 seasons of...". For example, I'd recommend that someone in my position watch Sherlock, which has only 3 episodes available on Netflix, or Heroes, but only season 1. (That is where I stopped, and I hear I made the right call.)

Also if you know of any speculative fiction on Netflix streaming with non-crap representation of marginalized identities, I'm likely to watch that preferentially, even if it's not the format I suggested above.

Comments

[moominmuppet.livejournal.com]

I've been fond of both Hyperspace and Spaced, although each has its flaws. They've both got Nick Frost, and Spaced also has Simon Pegg (although Spaced isn't SFF, just funny as hell). If you're into the two of them, you'll probably enjoy these, if they're not your taste, skip right past.

I'm not sure if Farscape is on streaming at the moment or not, but if it is and you haven't seen it, that's one of the best out there, absolutely.

[gement.livejournal.com]

Noted! I was hanging out in Internet fandom but not actually consuming any television when Farscape and Lexx were on, so they're high on my list. Do you have any episode recommendations shorter than "dig in"?

I've seen a bit of Spaced. I came to it via Black Books, oddly enough.

[moominmuppet.livejournal.com]

I find there's enough character development, and enough change to the dynamics over time, that it's a bit hard to pick up in the middle with Farscape. I do find the premiere episode necessary but slow and boring, and it takes a while to start to resemble the actual tone of the rest of the show. After that the first season has a lot of good stuff in it.

[dianthus.livejournal.com]

Farscape was the very first thing I thought of. Lexx...can be seen as pretty offensive, although I loved it. Lexx is on Hulu Plus (or maybe just plain Hulu? It requires an account because of adult content.)