Basically similar to the Video Games Appreciation Thread and the Non-English Speaking Shows Appreciation Thread.
Tbf I give a lot of stick to American Shows in particular, so showing a bit of appreciation to the times where I personally believe that they've done well is only fair.
The same for the UK and any other English speaking nations TV output.
Hopefully you'll join in to.
Anyway here's my list that I'll try to update regularly.
1. Angel
Genres - Supernatural Fiction, Action, Horror, Neo-Noir, Tragedy
2. Battlestar Galactica (2003 Series)
Genres - Military Sci-Fi, Political Drama, Post-Apocalyptic Fiction, Space Opera
3. Dexter
Genres - Crime Drama, Psychological Thriller, Mystery, Dark Comedy, Police Procedural
I haven't watched the return Season, but I really enjoyed the Show's original run, including Season 8 away from the last episode as that admittedly was a trainwreck.
4. Game Of Thrones
Genres - Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Serial Drama, Tragedy
A fantastic Show apart from Season 8.
Although tbf to Season 8, it's a 10/10 compared to most of the output that Hollywood has put out over the last 3 to 4 years imo.
5. Spider-Man: The Animated Series
Genres - Superhero, Action-Adventure, Sci-Fi
I've got into this Cartoon more recently (as tbf I wasn't even born in 1994) so I obviously couldn't get into it back then.
But anyway I really enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, yes it's dated in certain areas, but in a weird way it actually added to the charm of the series for me, especially as I'm really in an anti-stiff writing type of mood right now, so I think I just appreciated that this Show had character.
And tbf to the Show, a lot of the episodes (especially in the sequel seasons) get really fun and interesting, and like typical Superhero stories the Rogue Gallery and other supporting characters become bigger and bigger as it goes along.
If you can get past it's age, it's a really fun Show that I wish we would see more often in modern American output.
Obviously there are still good modern American Shows still out there, but I would like to see a Cartoon more like this series, but just with more modern Animation.
6. Farscape
Genres - Sci-Fi
7. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genres - Sci-Fi, Action-Adventure
8. Life On Mars
Genres - Sci-Fi, Supernatural Drama, Period Drama, Police Procedural
9. From
Genres - Sci-Fi, Horror
Yes I like a more modern American Show, they're out there.
But seriously this Show is good, I'm just waiting for the second Season to finish so I can start bingewatching it.
Harold Perrineau as Boyd Stevens & Scott McCord as Victor were my two favourite performers/characters of the first Season.
But tbh they were all good.
And the last thing I want to rave about is the theme tune, it really fits the Show imo.
10. Reacher
Genres - Action, Crime Drama, Detective Fiction, Thriller
A very good first Season imo.
11. Tron: Uprising
Genres - Action, Sci-Fi, Cyberpunk, Comedy, Drama, Superhero
It should've had more episodes imo.
It was such a good Show.
12. Arcane
Genres - Action, Adventure, Drama, Science Fantasy, Steampunk
13. Gotham
Genres - Crime Drama, Action, Superhero
14. Criminal Minds
Genres - Police Procedural, Thriller, Crime Drama, Mystery
I haven't watched the Criminal Minds: Evolution run yet.
But I did really enjoy the original run for most of it's run, it could've done with less cast upheaval though.
15. Mindhunter
Genres - Crime Drama, Psychological Thriller
16. Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genres - Action, Adventure, Comedy Drama, Fantasy
I've got to watch The Legend Of Korra eventually, just to see if it can be as fantastic as TLA.
17. Parks & Recreation
Genres - Sitcom, Mockumentary, Political Satire, Cringe Comedy
18. Iron Man: The Animated Series
Genres - Superhero, Action, Adventure
I couldn't find a great trailer for the Show, so I'll explain it the best that I can.
The first Season is more like a Masters Of The Universe type of Show from what I know of that franchise. Now I found the Season to be fun, yes it's formulaic but I liked the characters and I just enjoyed the tone of the Show.
Season 2 is more dark in tone, and they essentially do a soft reboot of the Show in the way the characters are positioned in the story.
Now Season 2 was my favourite Season, I really enjoyed a lot of the episodes in that Season, and the new theme tune (which I forgot to add earlier) was an absolute banger.
19. Gilmore Girls
Genres - Comedy Drama
Not normally my kind of Show, but I do really like Gilmore Girls.
Especially the first 5 Seasons.
I think what I personally really enjoyed about Gilmore Girls is the Stars Hollow residents, they're all so eccentric that they make the Town come alive.
Plus on the Drama side, I do think that Lorelai & Emily's dynamic was handled much better than I feared initially, Emily is not made into a constant bitch in the dynamic which can make for an interesting watch between the two of them.
20. Merlin
Genres - Medieval Fantasy, Adventure
21. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Genres - Police Procedural, Sitcom
22. SpongeBob SquarePants
Genres - Comedy, Surreal Comedy
23. Castle
Genres - Mystery, Police Procedural, Crime, Comedy Drama
24. Family Guy
Genres - Animated Sitcom
25. Bones
Genres - Police Procedural, Comedy Drama
26. The Sandman
Genres - Fantasy Drama, Supernatural Horror, Superhero
27. Harper's Island
Genres - Mystery, Drama, Horror
28. 24
Genres - Serial Drama, Crime Thriller, Espionage, Action
29. Star Trek: Enterprise
Genres - Sci-Fi, Action-Adventure
30. Johnny Test (2005 Series)
Genres - Science Fantasy, Action-Adventure, Comedy
There is a revival Series on Netflix, but I haven't watched it yet.
The original Cartoon I remember being really fun though in a goofy kind of way.
31. Dark Matter
Genres - Space Opera
32. American Dad
Genres - Adult Animation, Animated Sitcom
33. Lost
Genres - Adventure, Mystery, Serial Drama, Sci-Fi, Supernatural Fiction
The last couple of Seasons went off the boil imo, but overall it was a fun Show I think.
34. NCIS: Los Angeles
Genres - Police Procedural, Military, Action Drama
35. Law & Order
Genres - Police Procedural, Legal Drama, Mystery
I haven't watched the revival run yet, but I do think that the original run was really consistently at a high quality imo.
36. Sonic Boom
Genres - Animation, Short, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
For me this is probably the best Sonic Show that I've personally seen.
I mean tbf Sonic X has been years since I've properly seen it, but I remember that it was decent at the time, probably my second favourite.
And I just never took to Sonic Underground as a kid, maybe I was harsh at the time tbf.
But I hated Sonic Prime, it saw itself as more like a Movie than as a TV Show.
I personally would prefer a Season 3 of Sonic Boom than a second Season of Sonic Prime, because imo Sonic Boom understood that it was a TV Show and not an 8 episode Movie, plus it's humour reminded me of Parks & Recreation a little bit, which you can't go wrong with that imo.
I personally think that Sonic Boom is the most underrated Cartoon of all-time, it deserved so much more love than it got.
37. Gravity Falls
Genres - Adventure, Mystery, Surreal Comedy
38. Phineas And Ferb
Genres - Science Fantasy, Surreal Comedy, Musical
39. Cold Case
Genres - Crime Drama, Police Procedural, Mystery
40. Atlantis
Genres - Adventure, Fantasy, Drama, Romance
It's from the creators of Merlin, but commercially it didn't do as well and got cancelled in the second Season.
Now imo whilst I don't think that the Show was perfect, I feel like it was a fun Show, and less stiff than most of the BBC's output over the last 10-15 years.
I remember Season 2 in particular really warming up, oh well I guess it's not meant to be for some Shows.
I do hope that the BBC will make more fun Shows like Merlin & Atlantis again someday.
41. Smallville
Genres - Action-Adventure, Coming-Of-Age, Superhero, Teen Drama
42. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genres - Police Procedural, Mystery, Drama
I'm separating it from CSI: Vegas (which tbf the first Season did grow on me as it went along) but it's no Crime Scene Investigation imo.
The cases and the characters were just in a different league for the first 10-11 Seasons.
43. The Amazing World Of Gumball
Genres - Animated Sitcom, Black Comedy, Fantasy, Satire, Slapstick, Surreal Comedy
44. Sanjay And Craig
Genres - Comedy, Slapstick, Adventure
45. Regular Show
Genres - Animated Sitcom, Urban Fantasy, Surreal Comedy, Black Comedy, Science Fantasy, Blue Comedy
46. The Closer
Genres - Crime Drama, Police Procedural
47. Monk
Genres - Police Procedural, Comedy Drama, Mystery
48. Psych
Genres - Detective Fiction, Police Procedural, Comedy Drama
I've yet to watch the Psych Movies, but I really enjoyed the Show.
Shaun & Gus are still to this day a really funny duo imo.
49. Sinbad
Genres - Action-Adventure, Fantasy, Family Saga
A shame that it only aired for one Season.
50. Pac-Man And The Ghostly Adventures
Genres - Science Fantasy, Comedy, Superhero, Action, Adventure
I remember watching this last year and it being really fun to watch.
And yes it's a kids Cartoon, but I honestly don't care as long as I think that the Show is entertaining, that's all that should matter to anyone, just like the Shows that you like rather than if it looks cool to other people.
Tangent aside, this Cartoon had fun episodes imo, I would've liked a third Season.
51. The Fades
Genres - Supernatural, Drama, Horror
A real underrated gem in the UK circuit.
It's a shame that it only had one Season.
52. The Cramp Twins
Genres - Comedy
53. True Detective Season 1
Genres - Anthology, Crime Drama, Detective, Mystery, Thriller, Neo-Noir, Southern Gothic.
I haven't seen the other Seasons, but they're all different characters and stories in each Season so you don't have to watch all of them anyway.
With Season 1 I would say that it does most of the things that it sets out to do really well, bar the ending which I think could've been better, considering how much buildup was given to the case.
Other than that though it is a very good Show imo, and the two leads have a very strong dynamic.
54. Aaron Stone
Genres - Action-Adventure, Sci-Fi, Superhero
Obviously this Show is aimed towards younger audiences so don't expect really gritty or realistic storytelling.
Imo Aaron Stone is just a fun Show to just binge through if you're struggling to find new Shows to get into, because the characters are fun, the stories are decent for what the writers are allowed to do, and it never really lags in terms of excitement in the episodes.
Obviously if you're really anti-cheesy Shows then probably avoid Aaron Stone.
55. Pair Of Kings
Genres - Fantasy, Adventure, Sitcom
Season 3 could've been better in certain areas, but the first two Seasons are hidden gems imo.
Again don't expect the humour to be incredibly mature (this is still Disney remember) but overall it was a very good Show at what it was doing.
Like Aaron Stone it shocked me at just how much fun Pair Of Kings actually was imo.
56. Black Ops
Genres - Comedy, Thriller
This will probably be a controversial recommendation for numerous reasons (I haven't checked reviews) but I can tell that it's style won't be to everyone's taste, and of course there will be the anti-Woke crowd who'll hate the Show regardless due to current Politics.
Regardless I personally think that it's funny, imo it's nice to see a Show about a predominately black cast and it actually having jokes and a storyline at the same time, and the storyline isn't about how they are black 24/7.
Yes the Show does make jokes about them being black, but who honestly would care about that? If it weren't for the fact that it's such a rarity nowadays to get black characters just being good characters these days I honestly wouldn't even mention their race in this post.
The Americans honestly need to look at Black Ops as a template to get well written comedic black characters onto their screens again.
If I've offended any black person with my post then I apologise as it wasn't my intention, I just want to see every community get represented well in fiction, whether they're playing serious roles or comedic roles like Black Ops.
Honestly it's a funny Show imo, and tbh I have to thank my Mom for recommending it to me as I tbh did have reservations about the Show that thankfully hasn't been an issue for me.
57. The Rings Of Power
Genres - Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
I honestly don't understand the hate for this Show (away from the claims of wokeness) because to me whilst I don't think it's as good as Reacher, From, or The Sandman out of the newer Shows, I do think that it's a decent first Season still.
I mean we have the mystery of who Sauron is, the Show actually doesn't make out like every man is some evil beast like certain Shows (and there is more than a few American Shows having that issue lately) or making out that every guy is lame and useless (some of the men in this Show are shown to be intelligent or magically strong) and I get the criticism that Galadriel isn't depicted like she was in the LOTR trilogy, however people do need to be fair and remember that this is meant to be set long before the LOTR trilogy, so of course Galadriel and Elrond are going to be different to their Movie counterparts.
I also liked the fact that the Show actually felt ambitious with it's multiple POV's, and the fact that there was more than three main characters in the Show, because we are having a horrible trend lately of really tiny number of characters in Shows that clearly need way more main characters in them (I'm looking at you Mandalorian) so I am really happy that Rings Of Power actually has a reasonable sized cast for the type of story it is.
And to address the "woke" stuff, can it be annoying just seeing people being cast for forced diversity reasons? Yes it can, because by doing that you can very much harm the narrative of the story, and it's just going to be noticeable that the casting feels very OCD in how the diverse casting works.
However I will say that I think that Rings Of Power is not as woke as a lot of Shows that I've seen recently imo, like I don't think I sat there when watching the Rings Of Power and thought of Sadoc as "the black guy" or Galadriel as "the feminist character" they to me were likable characters that I could invest in without feeling bored out of my mind, or being really annoying with heavy handed Political messaging, they were just characters in the first Season, and in my view pretty good ones.
And I personally have a soft spot for Galadriel because she reminds me so much of Claire from a Manga/Anime series called Claymore, and I really would love to see more of those types of female characters again where they're feminine in look and general personality, but are really ****ing strong.
58. The Loud House
Genres - Comedy
59. Horrid Henry
Genres - Children's Television Series Comedy
60. Chop Socky Chooks
Genres - Action, Fantasy, CGI Animation
I really enjoyed this Cartoon back when it aired, it's a shame that people didn't seem to appreciate it's style back then.
Tbh I think that the Animation industry in the West are killing for a Cartoon like Chop Socky Chooks right now, culturally diverse (but actually well written imo) strong humour (so many Shows in the West don't deliver on this aspect at the moment) strong character dynamics/bonds between the main three characters (again a lot of newer Cartoons are struggling to pull this off) and a good rogue gallery (Dr. Wasabi being an obvious one) alongside his henchmen Bubba & the Ninja Chimps, but also The Omnioni, Kobura, and Deadeye.
Like Tron: Uprising, Chop Socky Chooks deserved a second Season imo.
61. Robotboy
Genres - Science Fantasy, Action-Adventure, Mecha
Technically there were three nationalities behind this little hidden gem.
1. UK
2. France
3. Belgium (the Showrunner is Belgian)
So on a technicality this Show can fit this thread due to some influence from an English speaking country.
Regardless though, this was a fun Cartoon back in the day, especially if you like the Mecha genre and Action.
62. The Cleveland Show
Genres - Animated Sitcom, Black Sitcom (as listed on Wikipedia)
A very underrated Cartoon imo.
63. The Casagrandes
Genres - Comedy
I think that due to the current climate in Hollywood, that unfortunately people have judged The Casagrandes perhaps a bit harshly because it's actually just a fun Cartoon, imo it wasn't as good as The Loud House, but it was much better than I had envisioned it to be when I first knew that this Show was going to happen.
Honestly it's just a normal Animated Comedy primarily aimed towards younger audiences, it wasn't being toxic with it's politics like I think that some people have probably got in their heads.
It was just a good old School family Comedy.
64. Alvinnn! And The Chipmunks
Genres - Comedy, Musical
I know that the people reading through this thread will probably laugh at me for this pick, but I genuinely think that the Show is fun to watch.
Yes it isn't the most deep Show in the world, but I also think that it might also be it's strength, as it's not trying to force Melodrama into the Show to try to come across as "relatable" and "deep" and "realistic" because in particular the relatable and realistic arguments that some audiences go for wouldn't work on a Show about singing Chipmunks, who all for some bizarre reason also attend the same class despite them not being triplets.
My point being that Alvinnn! And The Chipmunks willing to be unrealistic in certain areas, and not forcing high levels of Drama has imo created a much more entertaining Show, because in particular some Shows are too realistic that they forget to be fun, even other Cartoons that Alvinnn! Is having to compete with don't know how to let loose because they're scared of looking "silly."
Here's some Novels & Comics that I've also liked.
Novels:
1. The Rats
Genres - Horror
Comic Books:
1. Batman: Hush
Genres - Superhero
2. Batman: The Killing Joke
Genres - Superhero
3. Blade: Blood Allies
Genres - Superhero, Fantasy, Horror