Better Call Saul (2015-2022)
TV Shows | Drama, Comedy
Possibly the best character-driven TV series. Brilliant in everything from start to finish.
This is a collection of TV shows. None of the entries is formal critiques. I may describe something, or leave an entry or portions within it blank. Deal with it.
Almost all the entries will be titles I enjoyed or recommend or just want to mention on my website. So, if you ever feel like watching something in a particular genre, you can hopefully find something in here. Inevitably, there would be things you donβt agree with or find faults in. Such is the thing with creative arts.
I do notice details like the character's progression into their rise or doom, world expansion, thematic continuity across seasons, risks or new directions with pacing, episodic payoffs, dialogue craft, etc. The dialogue in a great TV show has a rhythm and specificity that can rival novels. Itβs compressed, weighted and replayable. People quote TV shows the way they quote books. But describing them requires research and understanding that I donβt see myself investing. I originally built this space just as an experiment mixing web development, automation and AI. But I kept it because it is my personal website after all, and thinking I need to explain any sectionβs purpose at length seems unnecessary. The published list is severely limited because I have to balance how much I automate vs publish and keep moving.
Overall, I choose to show this space because thereβs a human commitment visible in such media. They are fundamentally optimistic acts. To make a film, write a television series, craft a documentary or design a game is to believe that art and storytelling from your perspective matter. You may not appreciate its bits or its whole immediately. You may be halfway into a gameβs story before you begin to understand a characterβs motivations or a gameβs mechanics. You may like a movie only when rewatching it with an unburdened mind. You may care about a documentaryβs subject only after absorbing opinions about it online. All this is fine. I donβt believe creative artists ask for an audience that is perfectly primed to be their productβs advocates. This space is simply about listing the titles I liked and reasoning through them as time permits.