For me, its Xena.
Few years back, height of covid epidemic, was living in homeless shelters. Overcrowded slums, everyone miserable, yelling, screaming, fights, abuse, rage. At one point, could feel the anger building in me. Powerless, a victim, desire for retribution. What good was trying to be better person, when all it meant was people walking over me.
Started rewatching xena, hadn’t in years. Big message of the show: when surrounded by hate, violence, it’s tempting to give in, to not be a victim. But you have a choice, to not continue the cycle, to make a better world. I so needed to hear that message at that time in my life.
What tv show helped you?
Breaking Bad. I made so much money after my meth improved (sorry for ruining your moving story with a bad joke)
No offense taken. Any bad joke is a good joke to someone else. =)
Star Trek, of course. Especially TNG has been the best role model for humanity that’s ever been on TV.
Yeah, TNG was the most inspiring, Captain Picard always commanded with integrity. The only time I can recall he disappointed me was when he sent Ro to spy and pushed her to do things she wasn’t comfortable with.
Mr. Wizard and MacGyver were big ones for me. They hit a curiosity and adventure sweet spot for me as a kid. Mr. Rogers and Bob Ross also helped teach me empathy and kept my artistic side interested.
I’m really grateful for the era I grew up in and the television personalities it gave me. It’s nice knowing that my influences have stood the test of time and I appreciate the foundation they gave my young mind.
If only I could keep that energy and inspiration going. Anxiety coupled with depression can really get you lost.
Star Trek and Xena too.
There’s two shows that I started watching in my formative years (16-ish) that had a big impact on me: Frasier and Smallville. Frasier is still one of my favourite shows of all time. Recently watched a bit of Smallville again and it’s… Not that good.
Babylon 5! I was born in 94, when it premiered and have always watched it (along with Star Trek). It was one of the first shows that really pushed the continuous plot over serialized and it makes rewatches a game of finding the hints.
I’ve said before that Babylon 5 is the more realistic depiction of if we had made contact with aliens over star trek (at least the early ones), but the heros are still that.
Babylon 5! I was born in 94, … It was one of the first shows that really pushed the continuous plot over serialized
Uhh… no. Dallas and other soap operas had long and convoluted plots decades before. One entire season was just a dream!
It’s pretty obvious that you’re under 30.
That and I don’t watch soap operas other than S.O.A.P. It’s a very different genre, but it has been called an opera in space before, so you’ve got that haha
Edit; I also has said ‘one of the first’ so non definitive. I just meant in terms of ‘prime-time television’. It seems like people didn’t like that.
I am curious where the down votes came from. I hope no one thought I was disparaging Star Trek. I love em both, they’re just different.
Firefly helped me realize perceptions are just that and don’t have much bearing on people, also that there is a liminal space between society and revolutionaries.
Deadwood helped me understand that personalities are expressed, refined philosophies.
Cowboy bebop reminded me how dreams and life are made of the same stuff and that nothing is permanent, stagnant or impossible.
Your comment about Deadwood is resonating hard with me. Very well articulated, thank you.
Appreciated
When I was young, I read “Call of the Wild” and “White Fang”.
Littlest Hobo was my fav show, about a dog helping people.
Twin Peaks
Star Trek TNG
Yesssss.
The expanse. Battlestar Galactica. Just how wild things get and the whole “what if” factor of where society is headed and what could be in the black beyond.
Ah yes, the expanse was peak for me too
Stargate SG-1
Same. This show had such a massive impact on the way I think and feel that I can still see the effects 20 years later.
Indeed.
All of the Star Trek show, especially TNG, Voyager and Emterprise, because I’ve watched them so many times when I was a kid at my grandparent’s house.
I was fascinated by the various captains. They were always so smart, capable, full of resources, curious, charismatic and generally great leaders, mostly coherent to their morals. They were basically badass scientist explorers and I identified so much with them without even realizing them.
Now whenever I find myself in any leadership position, I ask myself what they would do. I could choose to be logical and intellectual like Picard, empathetic like Janeway or brave like Archer. This shaped me more than I could ever imagine.
A newer show that hit me a bit hard is Pantheon, it’s sci-fi with a premise on AI, government and business control, cults, and has great animation.
Wow looking into this and it sounds like they did that show dirty. Completely gone from the app and s2 only released in certain countries on prime? Did it hit a little too close to home on the strike??
Reading Rainbow.
I’m old and I’m not kidding.
i’ll take your word for it
MASH, is a show that always makes me laugh. It’s also taught me to appreciate the things I have, because the characters in the show don’t have much, but they still find ways to have fun.
I’m surprised this doesn’t have more votes. MASH was just full of great episodes. Including probably the greatest series finale of all time. Just incredible.
I’ve been rewatching it and besides Corporal Klinger’s ongoing cross dressing gag being overly transphobic it’s still pretty good. Plus they got him out of drag eventually and even manages to be trans-sensitive, for the time. Still completely unacceptable these days but it was a very different time. I think it also shows how far we’ve grown.
How was it transphobic? The whole entire show is extremely critical of the wars (Vietnam in theory, and Korea in practice), the military, and the state of society in general.
Stating that it’s transphobic because it just depicts a common practice of draftees seeking non-dishonorable charge is like stating “Get Out” is a racist movie because it depicts racism.
The only hate ever depicted towards Klinger is by characters that are considered antagonistic. Not to mention the multiple plotlines that are extremely supportive of homosexual characters.
Save for the first three seasons with Hawkeye and Trapper’s overt “womanizing”, it’s an extremely woke show even by today’s standards. Alda even spoke out against his character being written as such. At most, it’s fairly misogynistic. I’m not really sure how you come up with transphobic though, unless you haven’t really watched it.
