If you follow our In focus regulars, you might’ve noticed already, that we LOVE a good TV show.
With Netflix and other streaming giants ruling the scene and with the audience and budgets of the latest series being so impressive that any A-list Hollywood celebrity is keen to devote a few years of her life to filming in a TV show, what used to be just a plain time-killer for housewives, is now the coolest and trendiest way to spend free time. The problem is, how to choose the right show to watch? There are so many! Well, here are some of the best TV shows of the last five years, all watched and approved by focus editors.
Black Mirror
While we’re biting our nails in anticipation of Season 5, you have a great chance to enjoy the previous four without rushing.
To be honest, Black Mirror isn’t EXACTLY a show that’s premiered in the last five years. It was launched by the British television channel Channel 4 back in December 2011. But their big break really only happened in 2015 when Netflix purchased it and attracted some pretty big names like Daniel Kaluuya (also seen in Marvel’s Black Panther), Rory Kinnear (appeared in Skyfall, Spectre and Quantum of Solace), Hayley Atwell (agent Carter in, you know, Agent Carter), and the absolute darling Jessica Brown Findlay from Downtown Abbey… Trust us, we’ve barely even covered the tip of this enormous iceberg. Season 5 alone features Miley Cyrus, Andrew Scott and Anthony Mackie.
So, what’s the buzz all about? Black Mirror is a nerve-wracking sci-fi series that happens in the high-tech near future (or sometimes even these days), where all the technologies we already know and use – social media, dating apps, AI, AR, etc. take the next step and, quite often, take over the world. What would the world, literally ruled by the number of likes you receive in a day, look like? What if you were playing an AR game without knowing whether you were in the real world or whether it was still a game? Would you still love your husband the same way if you replaced him with a look-alike robot?
Black Mirror seasons are painfully short – only 3 to 6 episodes. But each episode is an eye candy of talented acting, a captivating plot with intriguing twists and amazing filming.
P.S. Don’t judge the whole show on the first episode of the first season. Each episode is a complete story, happening in a different place, time frame and with different characters, so you won’t see the UK prime minister making love with the pig any more! Disgusting, we know. The next episodes are way less disturbing.
Big Little Lies
Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley as three main characters? Sign us in! But Big Little Lies is so much more than just three amazing actresses depicting emotionally troubled women living in a provincial town in California. 16 Emmy Award nominations are the best proof for that.
The scenery for this TV show is so beautiful, you almost wish you could live in Monterey yourself – this magnetic mixture of California and Scandinavia, where dark waves crash beside the brick and wood cafe and where giant family houses all feature outstanding swimming pools and panoramic views over the beach. Wouldn’t this be a dream come true? But hang about for five seconds and the ugliness of living in a small wealthy town will show up in all its glory.
Big Little Lies is a story of a murder but it’s also about the interrelationships of these women and the issues they have at home. You won’t find out who the killer, or even who the victim is til’ the very last moment. And trust us, it’s so addictive, you’d better have nothing planned from the day you start watching it!
P.S. Season 2 adds Meryl Street to the already pretty impressive list of A-list celebs starring in this TV show (did we even mention Alexander Skarsgård, Adam Scott and Zoë Kravitz in supporting roles?)
Good Girls
- We can’t wash all this fake money ourselves. We need help.
- What now? I’ll just go and ask Sarah’s school teacher if she’s looking for a side gig?
Good Girls’ first season is jam-packed with jokes that will make you laugh so hard your abs will hurt. At the same time, there is so much drama it will make you sweat.
Get ready to discover Christina Hendricks’ enormous talent in a whole new way. This time she plays a loving wife and mum of four from Detroit who suddenly discovers a true talent in crime. Hendricks plays her role so brilliantly that it’s really impossible to take your eyes off her. To be fair, Retta as Ruby, her best friend, and Mae Whitman as Annie Marks, her younger sister, are just as outstanding, convincing, funny and frightening at the same time.
And then there is the plot. With everything a typical criminal show should involve – fake money, drugs, kidnapping and even murders – on the one side, and loads of very sensitive, touchy family topics on the other – Annie’s daughter is trying to figure out whether she identifies herself as a girl or as a boy, Ruby’s daughter is very sick and needs expensive medication and a kidney transplant, while Ruby hardly has enough money to pay for food, and Beth’s (Christina Hendricks) husband is cheating on her and loses all their money by making bad business decisions.
While the first season was more of a comedy, the second one definitely gets darker and more brutal. What will the third one bring?
The Good Place
Ok, let’s take it easy for a change and watch something funny after all that drama, shall we? Adorable Kristen Bell plays Eleanor Shellstrop who suddenly finds herself in the afterlife. Welcoming ‘architect’ Michael explains that she’s made it into the Good Place, where all her dreams will come true, no one needs to work, nor is anyone expected to pay at a frozen yoghurt cafe. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for Eleanor to realise that she’s ended up in paradise by mistake…
There are already 3 seasons and while the last one certainly struggled a bit to keep up with the level of hilarious jokes and unexpected twists of the first two (sorry to disappoint you), watching this TV show is still a great stress-reducing therapy.
Dead to me
This show is as funny as it is… hm, not funny. This Netflix dark comedy stars the dazzling duo of Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini. Their characters meet at a support group for those who have recently lost their family members. Jen’s (Christina Applegate) husband died in a nasty hit-and-run and it seems that only the optimistic and a bit clumsy Judy (Linda Cardellini) can understand what she’s going through right now. Of course, Judy is going through some really shady stuff in her life as well and Jen is always there to cheer her up and clean up her mess. How much will that change when Jen finds out what viewers already know … that it was no one else but Judy, who accidentally hit her husband with a car?
The Bold Type
You didn’t think this article would be complete without at least one show that pictures the life of magazine editors, did you? The Bold Type is a daring, brave and extremely accurate series about what goes on behind the doors of most magazine offices. Ambitious career goals, tough relationships with advertisers and business owners, endless grand parties, beautiful photoshoots, the impact social media has on our daily life and editors risking their reputation to highlight the truth and uncover sensitive topics and social problems people don’t like to talk about.
Though this series is complete fiction, The Bold Type nevertheless is based on some real facts. Scarlett magazine, where three main heroines are working, is an acknowledgement to Cosmopolitan US with everything – from office interiors to article topics, to model’s poses for the covers reminding us vividly of the Cosmo’s brand-book guidelines. And one of the main supporting characters, Jacqueline – the wise, experienced and very stylish editor-in-chief of Scarlett magazine – was indeed inspired by former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, Joanna Coles.
Very feminine and feminist, this show will definitely inspire you to pitch a story or two to focus 😉
Chernobyl
This show is honestly so good and so difficult to talk about (no words suffice to compliment it) that we’ll just leave a link to our previous attempt right here.
This historical drama is mostly based on the memories of people who lived in Pripyat, the city serving Chernobyl, when the catastrophe occurred. Their stories were collected by Nobel laureate, Svetlana Alexievich, in her book, Voices from Chernobyl. Clearly, the miniseries is so much more than just a book made into a show. The amount of scientific facts and accurate details proves there was a lot of research behind Chernobyl. It’s an incredible job, given how well the KGB and Soviet Union could hide what they didn’t want to be found. And it’s very important to know what really went on in Chernobyl 23 years ago and how many people really sacrificed their lives to save the planet from the disaster.
Most of the scenes were filmed in Lithuania, that still boasts whole districts with an authentic Soviet atmosphere, and feature a decommissioned nuclear power station, also known as ‘Chernobyl’s twin sister’. And while producers smartly decided not to make their actors speak with Russian accents, they made them make notes in Russian, wear authentic clothes and even hide behind the classical curtains, found pretty much in every appartment of that time, that makes any person who has been to the Soviet Union at least once scream, ‘I believe!’ Hands down, this is one of the best depictions of the Soviet era and mentality on screen, ever!
The Night Manager
The stunning Tom Hiddleston as the main character would already be enough to add this British miniseries to your ‘must watch’ list. But The Night Manager is worth it for many more reasons. It’s like James Bond for girls – the main character is still a cool secret agent who travels from one beautiful location to another and all that, but now he’s finally, TRULY irresistible (no offence, Daniel Craig!)
Since we’re talking big names today, The Night Manager has no shortage of them. Think Hugh Laurie, Olivia Colman, David Harewood, Tom Hollander, and Elizabeth Debicki all in one place.
Patrick Melrose
Just like The Night Manager, the Patrick Melrose miniseries is based on a book. Benedict Cumberbatch’s genius shines in its entirety as he plays a wealthy aristocrat and drug-addict, Patrick Melrose, who tries to overcome his own demons and life-damaging addictions. From episode to episode we learn more about Patrick’s cruel father (played by another outstanding actor – Hugo Weaving) and negligent mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and the reasons behind his current behaviour. But who wins in this battle – his past or his future?
Maniac
There are many reasons for people to make bad decisions. In Annie Landsberg and Owen Milgrim’s case, (Emma Stone and Jonah Hill) its broken relationships with her mother and sister and a disputed diagnosis of schizophrenia that ruins his whole life respectively. Their own fears and problems bring them both to a dodgy three-day pharmaceutical trial for a drug that is meant to fix all the problems in one’s life. Will it, though?
P.S. Don’t watch this miniseries alone or shortly after Black Mirror – the dark hypnotising style, the ideas, and the outcome are so similar, your brain will struggle to tell them apart. And Maniac is so worth its own place in your memories!