Recommendations for less mass-produced and more artistic tv

I recently watched the western animated show Scavengers Reign (on Max, now on Netflix IIRC) and found it quite good.

A slow burn, quiet exploration of an alien world and the characters stranded there, it does a good job of letting the story speak for itself and trusting the audience to piece together what's going on. Episodes are about 20-30 minutes each.

I also recently enjoyed "Fired on Mars" (also on Max), a funnier and more cynical story about a guy working for a big tech-bro company on Mars who is abruptly made redundant and has to figure out what to do with himself.

Arcane is fantastic, though dark. The art/animation is absolutely gorgeous and the story/characters rival anything I've seen on TV in terms of quality.

I'm more into films but my taste is peculiar in that regard (and frankly, it'd take too much time for me to think and list all of the films that fit your criteria), so I'm going to write about some series instead.

• Twin Peaks. Just a total madness of a series. I don't know if you'd like it, but I can promise you it will be a unique experience. I've yet to seen anything like it on TV.
• Atlanta. It has a linear and coherent story but they had plenty of standalone episodes where the series completely diverges from its main story line and yet they don't feel like a distraction. You said you wanted something where "a creative type was given a bit of freedom and went with it" and this one's absolutely that.
• The Rehearsal. Nathan Fielder's vision through and through. It's mindbogglingly unique and funny.
• Review. I have no idea why this show wasn't a big success. It was hilarious and completely bonkers. If you were ever curious about how it'd feel like to lead a cult or eat 30 pancakes in one sitting, look no further.
• The Leftovers. Might be the biggest turnover for a series, ever? I hated its pretentious and bloated first season so much that that I tuned into its second season just to hate-watch it but instead I ended up tuning into something that was thoughtful, interesting, and moving.
• The Knick. This one's very dark and it's very depressing and it has some disturbing scenes that will make you look the other way but it's also masterfully done by Steven Soderbergh.
• How To With John Wilson. A guy with a camera observing a city and its inhabitants. Turns out, that can be very interesting and beautiful.
• The Young Pope / The New Pope. Paolo Sorrentino, a filmmaker whose films I'm not fond of, brings some parts of that medium to longer form of storytelling and creates something not necessarily unique but beautiful and meaningful. It's not a Christian show by any means, but it does use Christianity to tell a bigger story. In that way, while telling widely different stories, it did remind me of Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ which in my opinion uses religion for the same means.
• Enlightened / Somebody Somewhere / Detectorists. These are not necessarily unique, but they're endearing and empathetic about how complicated people can be. You won't find ideas in it that are thought provoking but you'll get a warm feeling watching them.

Sense8 fits the bill here. It follows a group of 8 individuals across the world that are suddenly linked together. They can experience each other's thoughts, feelings, sensations, experiences, memories, skills... And they're all in grave danger because of their shared link. From the Wachowski's. Great acting, they really bring the characters and relationships to life. Great shots, it was shot on location around the world.

Fleabag is great if you haven’t seen it. I’ve also enjoyed Starstruck and Extraordinary. Normal People was excellent as well. I’ve really been into British TV as of late. The British version of Ghosts was also lighthearted and fun.

Not mentioned yet:

Somebody, Somewhere is Midwestern slice-of-life done with an ear for dialogue and carefully drawn characters that defy stereotypes. This show and its storytelling make you care about the entire cast, even when they're being the worst version of themselves. It's queer, low-key delightful, often pants-wettingly funny, and I may do the extremely rare-for-me rewatch.

Delicious in Dungeon (a/k/a Dungeon Meshi) gently satirizes every anime and D&D fantasy trope by adding Japanese-style food obsession into the mix. If you enjoy any of these things, I can't recommend the series enough.

My main area of interest is animation, and you are spoiled for choice when it comes to artistic movies and series there. Someone already mentioned Scavengers Reign, which I also highly recommend.

For something almost purely artistic I would suggest checking out Loving Vincent. It's about the circumstances surrounding Vincent van Gogh's death and each frame is literally a painting in van Gogh's style.

Another beautiful film I watched recently is Summit of the Gods. It's off a manga of the same name. The landscapes and music are breathtaking, and the story is very compelling. The original is in French but you should be able to find it dubbed in English or with subtitles.

I'll also recommend another French animation movie, Mars Express. If you're at all a fan of the original Ghost in the Shell, or the series Pantheon (which I believe is also a must-watch), you'll enjoy this movie.

Song of the Sea is another one worth checking out, with haunting music and a beautiful homage to Irish folklore. It was made by Cartoon Saloon who have made other beautiful movies (Secret of the Kells, Wolfwalkers), but that's my favourite out of all of them.

Fehérlófia is a very trippy movie based on a Hungarian folk tale.

The Thief and the Cobbler is an unfinished movie that was finished by loyal fans decades after it was produced. You can watch the full Recobbled Cut here.

There are honestly so many options out there I could spend an entire evening compiling more. Enjoy!!

Film
Embrace of the Serpent - follows a Colombian indigenous man who is the last of his tribe as he makes the same journey at two very different points in his life to help a white man find a sacred plant. Great commentary on colonialism/imperialism, the importance of preserving culture, and seeing beyond one's self.

The Fountain - A movie about a man struggling to deal with death and his own mortality told primarily through metaphor. Told simultaneously in three different time periods: imperialist Spanish conquistadors searching for the fountain of youth in South America, in contemporary times with an oncologist trying to find a cure for his wife's brain cancer, and in some far flung future where a man is floating through space with the tree of life.

TV
The Wire - a slow burn but a phenomenal exploration of the problem of systemic racism and poverty, organized crime, and law enforcement in Baltimore, Maryland. Each season explores different aspects of the systemic nature of crime such as where drugs come in from, how poor kids are ensnared into a life of crime, or even how enmeshed politicians are with crime. Follows characters from many different perspectives on both sides of the law.

Fargo - I've been really enjoying this anthology series which builds off the themes of the Fargo movie looking at morality through crime and law. Each season is well casted, and they all feel fresh and provide new perspectives on the themes. You could maybe argue there's some producer involvement, but I think the showrunners are given a lot of leeway. Some seasons are better than others, but none of them have been bad for me.

Animation
Revolutionary Girl Utena - this takes a while to get going as it starts off like a traditional magical girl anime but then dives a lot deeper into homosexuality, gender roles, grooming/abuse, and coming of age. It uses a lot of symbolism and surrealism to tell its story and does not hold the audience's hand at all. I think around episode 10 it really picked up and just got better and better all the way through the end.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica - this is another magic girl deconstruction, but it looks more at what it means to be a girl growing up, the loss of innocence, and the price you pay for being a magic girl. It's only 12 episodes and the tone drastically shifts around the 3rd or 4th, so if you do watch it give it a chance till then. It also uses a lot of dadaist inspired collage work to animate the witches.

Webseries
The Poly Couple - this is an exploration of a poly couple's relationship, mainly where they retell events that happened and integrate it into a more cohesive story. The episodes are short and generally there is a comedic tone, but the characters feel overall pretty nuanced.

Mr Inbetween is an incredible piece of television that I reckon suits this thread.

Created, written by and starring Scott Ryan as Ray Shoesmith, a bouncer who moonlights as an assassin for gangsters, criminals and wealthy clients.

Its only 3 seasons, with 8 or 9 episodes a season at 20-30 minutes a piece so it's incredibly easy to finish in a matter of days if you've got the time.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and couldn't wait to watch the next episode, very dark, very funny, great action and violence and just an overall fantastic show.

The Man From Earth

This is one of my absolute favorite movies, that I don't hear mentioned much. So I'm going to list a bunch of random other movies and tv that I absolutely love, and leave you to judge for yourself if my list has merit. Since I'm on the older side on this site, I'm sure there's some gems a lot of yall never seen. On phone, I'll update with IMDB links if I get to a laptop today. No particular order.

Movies:

• Dogma
• Life of Brian
• BASEketball
• Orgazmo
• Super Troopers
• Pi
• Requim for a Dream
• Waterboy
• Young Frankenstein
• Robinhood: Men in Tights (best Robinhood ever)
• The Producers (both OG and musical)
• The Fifth Element
• A Beautiful Mind
• Repo: The Genetic Opera

Terrible scifi miniseries, especially The Langoliers and Tremors. Basically look up everything aired on The SciFi Channel between 1992 and 2008ish.

TV:

• Psych
• The Twilight Zone (original)
• Sliders
• AP Bio
• The League
• Always Sunny in Philadelphia (stopped watching circa 2017 when had kids and less time)
• The Guest Book
• Warehouse 13
• The Dresden Files
• Stargate SG1
• Stargate Universe
• Under The Dome

The common thread of almost all of this is "more creative license, less hyper-optimized mass-marketing."

For other anime here are a handful specific directors you could look into along with a few things to check out from them, most of these are films but a few shows as well:

• Masaaki Yuasa — Mind Game, The Tatami Galaxy (show), Ping Pong the Animation (show)

• Satoshi Kon — Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Paprika

• Hiroyuki Imaishi — Dead Leaves, Promare

Not an exhaustive list by any means (pretty much all Studio Ghibli films by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata are worth checking out), but they're a few of the more standout creators I've seen over the years.

There was a show on Netflix called Living With Yourself with Paul Rudd that was fabulous and offbeat. I also really loved The Get Down, which is a limited fiction series about the early days of hip hop in New York. Great story there.

I really enjoyed the show Shrinking on Apple TV. Also currently enjoying Lessons in Chemistry on the same platform, and caught a bit of The Big Cigar but waiting for the rest of the shows.

You asked for “unique” and “creative” and what came to mind for me are films that I would describe as “imaginative” and “fantastical.”

It doesn’t look like anyone has mentioned them yet, so here are my recommendations:

• Three Thousand Years of Longing
• Everything Everywhere All At Once
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Father

Starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman. Hopkins plays an elderly parent with dementia and the film is told through his perspective. It's really incredible.

Tick, tick... Boom!

Stars Andrew Garfield and directories debut of Lin-Manuel Miranda. It's an adaption of a rock monologue by the guy who created Rent. It's about when he turned 30 and was still struggling to find success on Broadway. It's a musical that people who don't like musicals would enjoy. The direction and performances are really good.

Midnight Diner Tokyo Stories

Upvoted some of the excellent recommendations I see here. Strongly disagree with a couple of others. Of the shows you listed, I'm familiar with Children of Men, Stardust, Severance, Firefly and Mushishi.

If you liked Stardust, I strongly recommend the other adaptations of Neil Gaiman works (surprisingly, most of them have them?) There's a Coraline movie (stop motion animation), an American Gods show, a Sandman Netflix show (ongoing), a Good Omens show...

Speaking of Good Omens, I also enjoyed the Sky two-part adaptations of Discworld books, the Colour of Magic, Hogfather and Going Postal.

You listed an anime, but I feel like anime is a whole thing of its own. Any particular reason you listed Mushishi and only Mushishi? Are you looking for specific anime recommendations? Or for shows like Mushishi completely independent of the fact that it's an anime?

I'm a big fan of Wes Anderson stuff. He's one of multiple directors whose filmography you might enjoy checking out if you're looking for content that diverts from the norm, even if they share some common traits.

Possibly not what you're looking for when you ask for "artistic" stuff, but some of my favorites:

Curb Your Enthusiasm
Mostly improv. On HBO but especially the early seasons are very low budget and not mass produced. I'd say it's what Seinfeld should have been if it had not been on network TV and the most popular show on the air.

Childrens Hospital
Definitely not generic, made-to-order TV...there's also a spinoff on Netflix.

30 Rock
It was on NBC, but it was never particularly popular and basically only stayed on the air because the entire industry thought it was the funniest show they'd ever seen. Other Tina Fey/Robert Carlock collaborations have similar humor.

Limmy's Show
More absurdist humo(u)r. Scottish sketch show that blew up a bit in the years since it was on the air thanks to YouTube. You've quite possibly seen some clips or memes derived from the show.

Babylon 5
Sci-fi show from the 90s. Basically all just the creator's vision with adjustments made to keep it running as cast members left, etc.

The Wonder Years
Maybe it was made to have a decent amount of mass appeal, but it's really freaking good. I haven't watched enough of the new version to have a strong opinion on it.

Barry
Dark comedy. Hitman becomes an actor. Sorry, I didn't convey that properly. It's a dark comedy. Like...dark.

Try a Korean show on Netflix entitled ‘My Mister’ - it’s very famous for good writing.

definitely check out The Young Pope and The New Pope. perfect show.

you might also like Too Old to Die Young.

Check out Flowers. I found it hilarious, emotional, and dark. It has stuck with me for some time now.

If you want to watch something really under the radar and don't mind Louie CK, he made a 10 episode series called Horace and Pete. You can probably find it on Amazon Prime but at release it was only sold on he's website. The show is a cross between Always Sunny and anti-Cheers where you follow a dive bar owner and the people he deals with throughout the day. It's a subtle comedy and not everyones cup of tea. So give the first episode a try to get a feel for it.

If you like more obvious but awkward comedy, there's an HBO animated series called The Life and Times of Tim. It's a weird Slice of Life series where everyman Tim somehow finds themselves in the weirdest situations. I think the creator made a more recent series called Ten Year Old Tom by I haven't gotten to it.

Something a bit more serious would be Carnivàle. It's an HBO series where a magic healer falls in with a traveling circus and it turns into a whole Supernatural situation. Was sadly cut short but some amazing design and original storytelling to enjoy.

Garth Marenghi's Dark place is the sort of meta heavy comedy-horror that I think would have done much better if released today. Its one of those shows I can't discribe without spoiling but it stars Matt Berry and Richard Ayoade so that makes it's an instant classic for me. (speaking of Matt Berry: Toast of London is comedy genius, especially if you're interested in the entertainment industry)

And there a show I love but comes with very big trigger warnings: The UK version of Utopia, spesificaly season 1. It's dark, high stakes thriller that contrasts it's subject matter with amazing cinematography and direction. Just brilliant TV that could not keep it up to the end of season 2. But season one makes for a reasonable and complete story arc.

There was an animated movie called Robot dreams which came out last year, I think you’d like it.

Check out Patrick Melrose. It’s a BBC miniseries (5 episodes). It goes through the life of a drug addict. If you are adverse to seeing people taking drugs on screen, episode 1 will be difficult, but get through it. It’s worth it.

How far put do you want to go? Herzog, Jodorowsky, Bergman, Lynch are all very creative, imaginative, and largely unbound.

Red Dwarf for scifi comedy.

The Prisoner for some 60s spy gnosticism.

Videodrome for weird horror.

Max headroom for proto-cyberpunk.

God on Trial for something somehow both exceedingly bleak and optimistic at the same time.

Neil Breen for narcissistic weirdness.

The Electric Company for experimental kids educational goodness.

King of the Castle for an exploration of the transition from
Childhood to adolescence.

Look around you for offbeat comedy.

Angie Tribeca for a contemporary take on zaz humor.

Carl Sagan’s cosmos for science documentary.

Hee Haw from the 70s.