Great Shows with Interesting Premises?
I was just thinking how many of the TV shows I've been loving recently have a really cool premise about the world (or, at least, the characters world).
From - People that enter this town are unable to leave (all roads lead back to town), get hunted by monster-people at night
Silo - 10,000 people live in a silo. Their history has been erased, they know nothing of the outside world.
Severance - People can disconnect their 'work-self' from their 'non-work' self via a mysterious company.
The Leftovers - Two percent of the worlds population vanish instantly.
The Devils Hour - It's hard to not give anything away in this one but the premise at the very start is a woman wakes up at 3:33AM every single day. Has a timelooping premise later on
What are some of your favorite shows in the same vein (interesting premise)?
One of my favorites is Person of Interest. A former CIA agent, "John Reese", is recruited by a mysterious recluse, "Finch", to stop crimes before they happen. He is given only one piece of information: the SSN of a single person involved in the crime. It's soon revealed (as in, within the first episode, so this still counts as the premise!) that the mysterious recluse receives his information from what he calls The Machine - a supercomputer AI that can predict premeditated crimes before they happen - and built a backdoor to provide him the SSN, but nothing more, in order to stop these crimes.
There's many mysteries nested within this basic premise, and the show's premise evolves from season to season, becoming an extremely interesting, both high-brow and action-packed exploration of the effect super-AI would have on our world, and how the government and individuals would grapple with creating such AI. It's really good, and I can't recommend it enough!
It does start as a relatively basic "procedural with a twist'", but personally, I found it compelling from the start, with better-than-expected cinematography and action. However, it really hits its stride about halfway through the first season, if I recall, so it's a show that rewards some patience.
Extreme spoilers on later seasons, for those who want to see if its worth it
In later seasons, other parties try to hijack the Machine for their own ends. The question of whether the Machine is sentient begins to be asked. And eventually, a competitor to the Machine - "Samaritan" - is created, which operates by a tyrannical and far more heavy-handed "ends justify the means" approach. This leads to a secret war between those loyal to the Machine, and those serving Samaritan. The show is ultimately about the delicate balance between privacy and protection, surveillance and safety, etc.Person of Interest is the best show I have ever watched.
Years ago it got me to reshape my career and move into AI. I even shared some of that on Tildes at the time.
Now I have it to thank for where I am :)
I really enjoyed it back in the day but I lost interest after season... 3, I think? I don't remember very well but I think I felt like it lost steam.
Fringe is my first thought. It's about a government/federal team that investigates criminal cases that involve fringe science, so basically sci-fi criminals operating in the modern world. While they investigate cases, I see that as more of a setup for the overarching plot, which involves the existence of another universe.
Manifest — a plane full of people disappears, only to reappear years later.
Snowpiercer — the world freezes over and the only survivors live on an endlessly looping train that circumnavigates the globe. Interesting class dynamics and societal evolution.
Russian Doll — a time loop with a twist which I guess I can’t give away. Really fun though.
Travellers — humans today are being replaced with indistinguishable agents from the future trying to manipulate our present to ensure their reality never occurs.
The Platform — people are stuck in a sort of silo. Every day food on a platform comes down from above. How much food you get depends on what the people above leave behind.
Second vote for Russian Doll. The main character is delightfully sassy.
I also liked Travellers at the beginning, but after a while (can't remember how much) it seemed to lose its way.
There was a whole string of these in the wake of LOST, the granddaddy of all of the high concept mystery box shows. The one that sticks out in my head was probably Flashforward, where everyone on earth blacks out for about half a minute and come back with a vision of what they were doing a year or so later. There was also Heroes, which followed a bunch of people getting superpowers after a "global eclipse," and was sort of like X-Men on TV, until it got renewed with no plans how to follow up, and then it became X-Men on TV.
Never saw it, but little warning about Flashforward: pretty sure it ended on a cliffhanger. Which is part of why I never watched it. Saw a recap episode randomly while channel surfing, and when looking into it later found out it got canceled after one season. Such a shame given how cool the premise was.
Yeah it ends on a massive cliffhanger because they had a 5 year plan for the show and we're only given one season. It was such a good show, I was so disappointed when they canned it.
Avenue 5 reminded me of Farscape. A great older sci fi series about an astronaut who ends up lost in space on a living ship (that's all in the pilot). Henson Studios (think the Muppets) is involved, so think Star Trek meets the Puppets, but with a great cast of characters and a lot of heart.
It's actually very similar in premise to Aniara, which is one of the bleakest sci-fi movies I've ever seen. Avenue 5 is a (dark) comedy though, whereas Aniara is very much not. Both very good, in completely different ways.
I should add that Season 1 of Avenue 5 is terrific. There was also a Season 2, which you can skip. IIRC the studio burned to the ground between seasons, and they did the best they could.
I always loved the premise of Death Note. I think I can't really get behind an interesting premise unless I think they manage to stick the landing, and Death Note's ending is fairly satisfying.
Two that come to mind on Netflix:
The OA - very trippy altered reality stuff. I only watched the first season. I can't really say more without giving it away, but I really enjoyed it. It also sources a favorite quote:
Alice in Borderland - people in Japan get pulled into a game that incentivizes them to kill each other. Originally in Japanese and dubbed/subbed for English. I only watched the first season, but the way it worked out was pretty interesting.
Taking the "the characters world" aspect of your prompt and taking some big liberties with it. Doesn't quite fit but I feel each of these shows provides an interesting perspective and world view
Reservation Dogs - ostensibly a coming of age story about native kids on a reservation but it's an absolutely beautiful show that explores the world of native culture that non-natives probably don't understand
Ramy - modern comedy about young Muslim American finding his way in the world. Deeply funny and really hits, especially if you're raised in any religious tradition
Shogun - based on the theme of this post, it's a bit of a stretch but it's a brilliant show that just envelops you in feudal Japan
Succession - the world , in this case, is the ultra wealthy and their power games
A couple I want to mention as ones with very myopic but fascinating world perspectives
How to with John Wilson - Bizarre documentary/commentary series about John Wilson's life experiences/philosophies through the lens of weird NYC. Not for everyone but if you like the oddness of someone like Nathan Fielder, this will be up your alley
Mr Robot - definitely has dystopian/techno-anarchist world views but so much of it is the perspective of the main character who you quickly learn is an unreliable narrator due to his litany of mental health issues
Severance: what if work you and home you were completely separate?
This is not science fiction or fantasy.
Giri Haji is about two brothers, a police officer and a gangster/mobster. The show is well done and their relationship is complicated.
I'm astonished that no one has mentioned DARK. It's a German series. It's extremely character driven; the people are complicated. And the story is... well... .complicated too. I can't tell you really much of anything about it other than that it's an onion with many layers.
Really, just watch the first episode. If you enjoy that, you'll love what comes later.