TV shows about fairly normal people
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@Gąska said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
Started watching Killing Eve, and wow, the very first episode has a Polish VIP who's very uncooperative due to being drunk. Of course they've done piss poor job writing her lines, probably hoping nobody knows Polish enough to notice. It's funny how her calls for one more drink were subtitled as "[slurs]".
Edit: the main character telling the VIP to GTFO was 100% correct Polish, though. I also hope it's not a one-off thing.
Eve’s husband is Polish, though played by an Irish actor. Not sure his lines in Polish will sound right — they did to me, but then, I don’t speak Polish. OTOH, the couple of lines Eve’s (future) boss says in Dutch somewhere in season 2 or 3 sounded pretty poor to me, so …
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Just remembered Wisting.
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There's a Grey's anatomy spin off with firefighters called Station 19 that might be worth a look.
Edit: just noticed this bit
I also looked up Station 19, thinking that Grey's Anatomy spinoff would be good, but it has the exact same problem
So ignore me
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@Parody said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
Maybe Burn Notice? (Hulu)
It's also on Amazon. Lots of fun. We're rewatching this with the kids.
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@Gąska said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
Chicago Med
You will run into similar issues as you did with The Practice and Station 19. Chicago Med is a spin off of Chicago Fire and Chicago PD (there was a brief Chicago Law but it only had about half a season). The shows are fairly integrated with characters passing through and at least a few "cross over events" each season. We stopped watching Med because my wife couldn't stand some of the main characters. We still watch Fire and PD, though.
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Just remembered: Wallender.
There is also Southland which I personally rank as one of the best TV shows ever. Criminally underrated. It gets pretty heavy though which is why I originally didn't recommend it.
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I've asked my girlfriend and she's enthusiastically suggested 9-1-1.
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@remi said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
normal people from police officers to lawyers and judge
People, not disgusting, toxic slime molds.
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@Gąska
If you like realistic crime shows, Line Of Duty is one of the best I've seen.And of course the best series ever made: Bron/Broen. But beware of remakes (French and US), which are terrible.
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Ups, some of the suggestions reminded me of more stuff.
There's a whole lot of short, 6-12 episode BBC cop dramas. And then there's all the stuff BBC is doing with HBO, like Pretty Little Liars. None of this stuff is quite as procedural as it seemed you were asking for, but if you're enjoying Killing Eve, I can suggest cop dramas like:
HAPPY VALLEY <-- top recommendation of this kind of short cop drama.
Luther: good, but a little over the top sometimes. Somewhat similar to Killing Eve in ways I don't want to say until you've seen way more of that.
The Fall: Gillian Anderson plays cold, sexually detached detective in this thriller.
Life On Mars: I really want to see this, after ABC adapted it. Haven't had a chance.New Tricks: more like SVU or a standard cop drama, except most of the detectives are retired. It's fun.
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@Captain said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
Gillian Anderson
See also: Sex Education.
And by that I mean the series, not the phase in my life.
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@Zecc said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
not the phase in my life.
Depending on your age, Gillian Anderson may have had something to do with that as well
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@hungrier said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
@Zecc said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
not the phase in my life.
Depending on your age, Gillian Anderson may have had something to do with that as well
Never stop learning.
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@Deadfast said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
Just remembered: Wallender.
I didn’t much like what I saw of the British version, or the first Swedish TV-film version with that fat bloke in the title role, rather than the later TV series.
@Captain said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
HAPPY VALLEY <-- top recommendation of this kind of short cop drama.
+1. Not exactly a show that will leave you cheerful after watching it, though.
Luther: good, but a little over the top sometimes.
I gave up on this halfway through the first season. There was something very predictable or unbelievable to me in an episode, and I couldn’t be bothered watching the rest of it.
The Fall: Gillian Anderson plays cold, sexually detached detective in this thriller.
Watched the first season when it was on BBC. Not bad, but I wouldn’t recommend it, really. Didn’t seem to have overly much meat on the bones.
Life On Mars: I really want to see this, after ABC adapted it. Haven't had a chance.
I’ve not seen the American remake, but the British version is really good, and has probably the best final scene of a TV show that I’ve ever seen. Ashes to Ashes (the follow-up) isn’t quite up to the same standards, but still easily an above-average show, and it ties up a lot of loose ends. However, the whole series does involve unexplained/supernatural phenomena, not sure that strictly follows the brief of ordinary people doing ordinary things.
I also have a recommendation for a more lighthearted detective show: Shakespeare & Hathaway. Doesn’t take itself overly seriously, but it doesn’t go into comedy territory either.
Maybe I should also recommend Mr. Robot (again :)). If you don’t like shows and movies that give the Hollywood treatment to computers, watch this for an antidote.
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@Gurth said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
Maybe I should also recommend Mr. Robot (again :)). If you don’t like shows and movies that give the Hollywood treatment to computers, watch this for an antidote.
I've seen the first two seasons but haven't had time to watch it without my wife, who gets stressed out by Sam Esmail's direction.
It is awesome.
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@Captain It only gets better, really. Also a bit more disturbing (still?).
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If you're into something a little dark and sometimes disturbing, I like Criminal Minds. It's a bit formulaic, but that's really true of pretty much all crime procedural shows.
@Gąska said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
Shows I look forward to watching:
- Law and Order
You mention wanting shows with "personal drama" but Law and Order is usually devoid of that. There's occasionally some of it in L&O and its spinoffs, but they tend to stay on the case in hand and leave out the love triangles and stuff that seem pretty common in other shows like Grey's. Personally, that's what I like about Law and Order. Too many of the other primetime shows seem to be soap operas with the theme being a mere framing device, which I can't stand.
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@The_Quiet_One said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
@Gąska said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
Shows I look forward to watching:
- Law and Order
You mention wanting shows with "personal drama" but Law and Order is usually devoid of that.
You messed up quoting. Law and Order is under "shows I will take a look at if I run out of other ideas".
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@DogsB said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
@Luhmann said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
@DogsB
I also heard some talk about this Netflix series 'Cuties' sounded like it included fairly normal people ...He's looking for good tv, not entry to the sex offenders registry.
Netflix indicted by Texas grand jury over 'Cuties' film
Netflix has been indicted by a Texas grand jury for allegedly promoting “lewd visual material” of a child in connection to the release of the controversial French film “Cuties.” The grand...
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@El_Heffe said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
@DogsB said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
@Luhmann said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
@DogsB
I also heard some talk about this Netflix series 'Cuties' sounded like it included fairly normal people ...He's looking for good tv, not entry to the sex offenders registry.
Netflix indicted by Texas grand jury over 'Cuties' film
Netflix has been indicted by a Texas grand jury for allegedly promoting “lewd visual material” of a child in connection to the release of the controversial French film “Cuties.” The grand...
TIL that Netflix is a ham sandwich
(That said, a nice
grandstandgesture by that DA)
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@Unperverted-Vixen said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
Person of Interest.
+ Manyalthough it doesn't really fit the given criteria.....
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I’m kind of wondering why nobody recommended Better Call Saul yet. Maybe because Breaking Bad, that it’s a spin-off from, was in the original post as being too heavy? It’s about fairly normal people, though, is nowhere near as dark as its parent series and has plenty of lighter moments still.
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I've finished watching season 2 of Cobra Kai yesterday. While I mostly agree with you, I cynically accept people are struggling biased assholes making stupid mistakes no matter how well-intentioned they are. And this isn't limited to Johnny. There were others doing assholy things.
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The Atlantic just did an article on the type of "British cop drama" I was talking about. They listed a few I've seen and forgotten about and a few I haven't seen.
Broadchurch, Happy Valley, Shetland, Unforgotten, River, Vera, The Loch, Hinterland,
Oh, and Top of the Lake was good, in a similar style, but out of New Zealand.
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@Captain said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
Oh, and Top of the Lake was good, in a similar style, but out of New Zealand.
I thought it was greatly overrated, especially the second season. In the first they could have cut about two whole episodes’ worth of material (out of a six-episode series) and not really lost anything important, the second was just too much coincidence happening to be enjoyable. All IMHO, of course :)
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@Gurth said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
I thought it was greatly overrated, especially the second season. In the first they could have cut about two whole episodes’ worth of material (out of a six-episode series) and not really lost anything important, the second was just too much coincidence happening to be enjoyable. All IMHO, of course :)
It was slow and quiet, like smoking a cigarette in a winter field. ;-)
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@Captain I wouldn’t have minded a slow and quiet show if it all helps build the story. It’s the stuff in the first season that is totally irrelevant to the story that I’m complaining about, which the show keeps coming back to as if it’s going to go anywhere interesting.
Oh, another suggestion for normal people doing normal things in tragicomedy: Less Than Kind.
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@Captain said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
The Atlantic just did an article on the type of "British cop drama" I was talking about. They listed a few I've seen and forgotten about and a few I haven't seen.
Broadchurch, Happy Valley, Shetland, Unforgotten, River, Vera, The Loch, Hinterland,
Oh, and Top of the Lake was good, in a similar style, but out of New Zealand.There are apparently a lot of good cop dramas along those lines out of other European countries. I've not watched any of them myself, but I've read a few reviews over the years (and I know some are founded in common styles of crime novels over here; I'm told that the landscape is often almost as big a character in those books as the protagonist). There's been very much a market for such things over the past decade.
The more wham-bang action thriller stuff hasn't been so popular among show makers, and what appetite for them there was among the viewing population has been mostly satisfied by the deluge of shows out of the US.
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@Captain said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
It was slow and quiet, like smoking a cigarette in a winter field. ;-)
OOOhhhhhh, that reminds me of Tales From The Loop on Amazon. We could not make it through even the first episode. Horrible, horrible show. They were big into making scenes with lots of detail. Stuff looked pretty and all but they really dwelled on stuff for far too long without actually doing anything.
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@dkf said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
There are apparently a lot of good cop dramas along those lines out of other European countries.
And Canada. Well, that’s to say, I quite like Cardinal, but don’t know of any similar shows from there :)
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@Gurth Canada has Canada's Worst Driver and Canada's Worst Handyman, so it gets an A in my book.
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@Captain Somehow, I can’t quite put my finger on the reason but probably based on the titles, I don’t quite think of those as cop shows.
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This post is deleted!
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@Gurth Canada's Politest Crooks?
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We recently watched Tin Star on Amazon. They have the first two seasons. The third is currently (or was in November) running on Sky TV (?). Stars Tim Roth. Very good stuff. The wife and I both liked it a lot and are looking forward to the final season eventually. Would like to visit some of the places in Canada where they filmed. The scenery is amazing.
Under shows with not normal people, I'm currently working my way through Happy, which was originally on SyFy, now on Netflix. Lots of fun. Twisted. My wife doesn't care for this one, though.
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@boomzilla Hadn't heard of it as I've not got Sky Atlantic (the channel it shows on) but sounds good.
Will check it out
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I highly recommend Servant of the People. Only season 1 is on netflix, but it's subtitled. Obviously would help if you speak Russian.
It's a how about a high school teacher that makes a speech about politics that goes viral and then goes on to become the President of Ukraine.
The actor playing this character then goes on to become the President of Ukraine and is involved in the infamous phone call that gets Trump impeached.
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@boomzilla said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
We recently watched Tin Star on Amazon.
Is that the show about this Englishman who goes and becomes a policeman in rural Canada? With whatshername from Mad Men?
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@Gurth yes.
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@boomzilla I caught parts of a few random episodes of that, and it did look like pretty good show. But I never did try to watch all of it. Maybe I should.
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@boomzilla said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
We recently watched Tin Star on Amazon. They have the first two seasons. The third is currently (or was in November) running on Sky TV (?). Stars Tim Roth.
I used to work with a guy named Tim Roth. Everyone teased him about having the same name as a famous actor.
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@Mason_Wheeler said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
@boomzilla said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
We recently watched Tin Star on Amazon. They have the first two seasons. The third is currently (or was in November) running on Sky TV (?). Stars Tim Roth.
I used to work with a guy named Tim Roth. Everyone teased him about having the same name as a famous actor.
Imagine how tiring it gets for that actor fellow.
Tim Roth: "Work with? I don't even know anyone named Mason_Wheeler!
"
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I've been immensely enjoying Get Shorty on Amazon (originally on Epyx). Based on the same Elmore Leonard book as the movie but very different. The main character is the Irish guy from The IT Crowd.
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@boomzilla said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
I've been immensely enjoying Get Shorty on Amazon (originally on Epyx). Based on the same Elmore Leonard book as the movie but very different. The main character is the Irish guy from The IT Crowd.
I've only seen the original(?) movie with John Travolta - loved that!
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The Kominsky Method on Netflix is really good. Just based on the cast (Michael Douglas is the title character, Alan Arkin is his best friend) I figured it was worth a shot. We've watched the first two episodes and it's really good so far.
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@loopback0 said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
@Deadfast said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
@loopback0 said in TV shows about fairly normal people:
The Wire
Amazing series but about as light-heated as a mortuary.
There are enough moments to qualify it as "tiny bit light-hearted".
What do you mean? it's a non-stop laugh riot.
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Just started One Of Us Is Lying, which is on Peacock.
Basically the premise is it essentially stars The Breakfast Club - there's four high schoolers and one of them is a jock, one of them's a cheerleader, one of them's a brainy, preppy chick, and one of them's a drug guy. They all get sent to detention with a fifth guy who they all sort of know and sort of dislike.
And then one of them murders him at the beginning of the first episode.
And so now the whole Breakfast Club is acting suspicious and that's the premise of the show.
Through one episode, the execution, of the murder part and the concealing which one did it from the audience is very good.
The high school drama is dumb, although I suppose that has to come with the territory and I wouldn't like The Breakfast Club if they made it in 2021 about 2021 concerns either. It kind of reminds me about the dumb parts of the beginning of Arrow or Flash that they had to have because it aired on CW.
As I alluded to earlier in the topic, my wife and I have very different tastes in television. I suggested the show because I thought she would like it, but at least through one episode I've been pleasantly surprised.
The Kominsky Method (TV Series 2018–2021) ⭐ 8.2 | Comedy, Drama
