MJ's Very Subjective Guide To Television
Forever Faves: God help you if you follow me on Tumblr. You have probably seen more than you ever wanted to of these.

Black Sails: Hello "rewatching Black Sails" is my permanent state of being, once I get to the finale I immediately start from the beginning again with no shame. Did you know "shame" and "civilisation" and "storytelling" are the main themes of the show - did you know people have delved into meta even about the artwork in the backgrounds of scenes because there is that much symbolism and foreshadowing in this show? If it were a novel it would be a literary masterpiece. Much to untangle. Shakespearean-level soliloquys. LGBT+ characters. Violence and humour and political tension and somehow builds to insane levels of nuance. Did I mention pirates?

The Terror: S1 (it turned into an anthology show) is based on the Franklin Expedition but with a touch of horror and survival genre tropes as well as a lot of attention to historical detail. (THE WRITERS CARED SO MUCH ABOUT THEIR HISTORY I CRY -) If you have ever wanted to watch 129 Victorian British men die in the Arctic of scurvy, lead poisoning, stabbings, cannibalism and monster spirit bears and do it all whilst ruminating on Victorian masculinity, the colonial mindset, tenderness and compassion and brotherhood, this is the show for you. It's a-okay if at the start you can't tell any of the men apart. (Based on a book by Dan Simmons but don't read the book it's trash, the show treats its women and gay characters and basically everything way better. I thank god every day that the television show did not put in the sex scene set in a platypus pond.)

Derry Girls: Another always-rewatching except this one is the light comedy kind. Sitcom set in '90s Northern Ireland. The girls are genuinely the most accurate disaster-teenagers to ever exist on TV and you will die laughing. The first episode with their group detention is iconic. Will not take you long at all to get through!

Currently Watching:

The Great: I am also recommending this show about Catherine becoming empress of Russia. Comical period drama. Begins with Catherine's marriage to Peter, who has Cash Lestrange's face but Kristoffer Lestrange's idiocy. I'm only halfway through but she's plotting a coup so. I love.

The Good Fight: I just started season 4 which begins with Diane Lockhart, Christine Baranski as a lawyer, having an alternate-reality episode where Hillary Clinton won the election. Sharp law show that isn't afraid to deal with current events and politics and is also extremely off-the-wall. Season Three even featured catchy little songs/animated shorts in the middle of the episodes.

Edit: also I really need people I know to watch Succession, primarily so they can then watch the greatest parody video of all time and laugh with me.