With tv being notorious for abrupt cancellations of shows, and this remaining the case with streaming, I’ve started focusing more on Limited Series (or mini-series). If you’re like me and had no idea what Limited Series meant at first, it’s basically a series with a fixed amount of episodes and, at least for those I’ve been enjoying lately, a guaranteed ending.
A few examples:
The Queen’s Gambit
Haunting of Hill House
The Pentaverate
What about you, have you found yourself going the same way with shows, and if so what are some you might recommend?
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Limited series as well. Otherwise, I wait for a few seasons before watching and before I do, I check online to see if they were cancelled.
I hope you watched all the other series from the Hill House creator, he makes one a year!
If you enjoyed The Haunting of Hill House, there’s also The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass (plus American Horror Story).
Completely different genres, but Chernobyl is a brilliant limited series; I also enjoyed The Last Dance (about Jordan’s last Championship year at the Chicago Bulls), and there’s also Tiger King - which was a cultural touchstone in the midst of the ‘Rona Lockdowns.
Baby Reindeer. One of the top rated new shows from 2024.
Aye that was a descent into insanity that one!
Seconded. Very good watch
Ok all of these are 1980s miniseries:
Shogun, the new version is great but so’s the original albeit it is a product of its time. Richard Chamberlain is great in this.
Lonesome Dove, great western miniseries starring Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall as retired Texas Rangers.
And the spoofs of miniseries from The Independent Film Channel are good too especially Will Farrell’s introductions of each episode: The Spoils of Babylon & The Spoils Before Dying.
Thank you for “miniseries”
“Limited Series” is US marketing bullshit to make it sound in short supply
Miniseries were huge in the 1980s and would be what my parents watched. We call them limited series because otherwise the GenX viewers like myself will feel old.
They’re still called miniseries elsewhere
That might not carry the same connotation outside Gen X Anericans
Glad to hear that about a miniscule percentage of earth’s humans
I loved Penguin recently, really fleshed out the Gotham Reeves and his team created. Also Collin Ferrell is just absolutely incredible under all the prosthetics.
Christina Milioti is amazing
Mare of Easttown springs to mind. It was pretty good and is a miniseries. 7 episodes that are about an hour each.
Please watch The Decameron (Netflix).
Limited series. People die, stories are told.
And every scene looks like a renaissance painting.
True Detective seasons have a great self contained formula that might fit.
The first season is phenomenal and creepy AF. The other three aren’t bad, with 4 being pretty good.
The Tenth Kingdom
Arabian nights
And
The worst week
Are all killer 4-6 episode masterpieces.
‘Fawlty towers’, ‘Stan vs. evil’ ‘galavant’ and 'better off Ted ’ are all shows that are 2 seasons or fewer that I highly recommend.
(Of course there’s also ‘Firefly’)
And ‘the good place’ will make you feel like you’ve only been watching it for a few hours, though it’s 4 seasons long. An absolutely amazing story.
I also really enjoyed that HBO series ‘Perry Mason’ at least for the first series, I haven’t seen the second yet. It’s pretty invested though
with firefly he did end the plotlines (brutally so in some cases) with the movie. Oh still so sad. dollhouse was not bad to and they got enough of a heads up to wrap it up.
I actually hate the trend towards shorter form content, but I’ve definitely enjoyed a few though.
Mind hunter
3 body problem
Blue eye samurai
For me it’s less to do with a shorter run and more to do with series getting a proper ending instead of the story being left unfinished.
That’s valid
Based on the books 3 Body has a lot of show left…
Or did it get the ol’ Netflix cancelation treatment
A quote by the creators said ‘at most 4 seasons’ so maybe there will be one more.
The absolute best mini-series I’ve ever seen was Over the Garden Wall
I haven’t been nearly as taken by it as all the Internet expected me to be. What about it is so charming for you? I want to love it but I’m maybe… Halfway though? But I’m not even sure about that I just sorta forgot it and haven’t gone back…
It was definitely aimed at the high school/college age range when it released, which I was in, so there’s a decent amount of nostalgia fueling it. But there’s also the fine details, the bizarre characters, and interesting stories. The humor is also right up my alley. What really nails it home for me are the last few episodes.
Thanks for your take. I know it’s short so I’ll try and get back to the rest and see if it comes together for me.
It’s sound logic, but it looks like Netflix don’t always buy / commission limited series - it’s also just a label they slap on something when they’re not going to renew it (e.g. fans were able to see that Bodies was cancelled, without an official announcement, because the tag was added later.)
I have found myself leaning toward series which have already concluded their runs. During the plague, I watched:
- Breaking Bad
- The Wire
- The Sopranos
- Justified
- Bosch
At present, I’m halfway through season 2 of Castle. Other shows I want to tackle are The Expanse, Chuck, and Burn Notice.
I do like your idea of sticking to limited series. I think an anthology series would also be good to consider.
For a limited series, Chernobyl is a good one to watch.
For an anthology series, good ones to try would be:
- Fargo
- True Detective
- American Crime Story
- American Horror Story
I completely agree. I highly recommend watching Band of Brothers and skipping the Pacific. Good choice on Haunting of Hill House. I love that episode with the long uncut camera shot (Two Storms). I’ll check out the other two.
Although they were only meant as examples, I have honestly enjoyed each of those I mentioned. I think they give a good idea of the variety to be found between something more thought-provoking, some horror, and something silly.
