Asklemmy

The Good Place.

That show is so good! But the ending fucked me up for like a week.

Also, how are you watching Xena? I used to love that show when I was a kid!

All of the Star Trek show, especially TNG, Voyager and Emterprise, because I've watched them so many times when I was a kid at my grandparent's house.

I was fascinated by the various captains. They were always so smart, capable, full of resources, curious, charismatic and generally great leaders, mostly coherent with their morals. They were basically badass scientist explorers and I identified so much with them without even realizing it.

Now whenever I find myself in any leadership position, I ask myself what they would do. I could choose to be logical and intellectual like Picard, empathetic like Janeway or brave like Archer. This shaped me more than I could ever imagine.

Dark really sucks me into a dark damp place that is just really calming when I’m feeling down.

Firefly helped me realize perceptions are just that and don't have much bearing on people, also that there is a liminal space between society and revolutionaries.

Deadwood helped me understand that personalities are expressed, refined philosophies.

Cowboy bebop reminded me how dreams and life are made of the same stuff and that nothing is permanent, stagnant or impossible.

Stargate SG-1

Star Trek, of course. Especially TNG has been the best role model for humanity that's ever been on TV.

Twin Peaks

Star Trek TNG

The Good Place. My wife and I were going through some spiritual crisis as we were questioning Mormonism. We started watching the Good Place, not really knowing what it was. The philosophy and comedy came at just the right time. It's a great show.

MASH, is a show that always makes me laugh. It's also taught me to appreciate the things I have, because the characters in the show don't have much, but they still find ways to have fun.

Sliders. One of those accessible sci-fi shows that helped instill a love of the genre

Reading Rainbow.

I'm old and I'm not kidding.

Arcane. Hands down 10/10 on practically every possible metric, but the thing that really got me was the way they portray trauma and the subsequent impact on mental health. I work with folks who have experienced trauma and I thought this was one of the best depictions of the aftermath I had ever seen in media.

Also, this is a perfect depiction of a Greek tragedy, in the sense that everything ends in tragedy not despite, but because of everyone's best intentions. As the story unfolds you understand everyone's motivations and they all make sense. There's no perfectly good or bad characters, just a lot of people doing the best they can with the cards they were dealt.

The expanse. Battlestar Galactica. Just how wild things get and the whole "what if" factor of where society is headed and what could be in the black beyond.

X Files - scared the crap out of me. Wasn’t a fan of aliens and screw that one episode with the inbred family.

Babylon 5! I was born in 94, when it premiered and have always watched it (along with Star Trek). It was one of the first shows that really pushed the continuous plot over serialized and it makes rewatches a game of finding the hints.

I've said before that Babylon 5 is the more realistic depiction of if we had made contact with aliens over star trek (at least the early ones), but the heros are still that.

Whose Line is it Anyway. It got me interested in improv, which has become something I enjoy doing.

I'm not even kidding but planet earth the original series. I learned some life lessons from that one surprisingly.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

A newer show that hit me a bit hard is Pantheon, it's sci-fi with a premise on AI, government and business control, cults, and has great animation.

Mr. Robot; showing the worse of humanity, how far people will go corrupting once held morals the whole way. Not being able to understand oneself or the people around them, but still wanting and hoping to see people enjoy life.

I believe the series ended on a great note, though some may disagree.

adventure time and bojack horseman

Scrubs - landed at just the right time for me, fresh out of school and working through first real job/relationship. While my mates and I aren't Turk n JD close, we were closer than the typical dude-bro stereotype of the time and it felt like this show just made it a lot easier to love your best mate without the homophobic shame BS!

Mr. Wizard and MacGyver were big ones for me. They hit a curiosity and adventure sweet spot for me as a kid. Mr. Rogers and Bob Ross also helped teach me empathy and kept my artistic side interested.

I’m really grateful for the era I grew up in and the television personalities it gave me. It’s nice knowing that my influences have stood the test of time and I appreciate the foundation they gave my young mind.

If only I could keep that energy and inspiration going. Anxiety coupled with depression can really get you lost.

Six Feet Under, by far. It’s (in my opinion) the best show ever made. I never cry, but I cannot stop myself from crying at the end. It’s a perfect end to a perfect show. Its themes have a lot to do with themes in my own life and it changed my perspective on… everything? Nah, but a lot of things. Especially grief.

I was elated that my now-spouse who is a mortician had never heard of it… watching it again with someone to whom the subject matter… mattered even more was an incredible experience.

Mr. Wizard's World. MacGyver. The A-Team.
And all the cooking shows on PBS in the 80s.

I've always been someone to tinker and break things apart to create new things. I've always been a problem solver.

Oh - and I pretty much got my entire sense of humor from Three's Company, Mork and Mindy, Cheers, and Mash.

Gilmore Girls. I know the show has some problematic humor but it's one of the best shows I've ever watched as far as characterization is concerned. The writing and the characters have a way of sucking you into the story that I haven't really found in any other show.

Big bang theory. Sheldon made me realise that I am often selfish, compulsive neurotic, socially inept, an asshole without realising/ wanting it and super intelligent.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Just a damned good show all around that showed younger me a lot of what makes compelling stories work.

The Simpsons raised me. It was a paternal and maternal figure, and friend. It prepared me for the rest of my life.

While young, x files and South Park. While older, Twin peaks, which I only watched recently including the new season 3.

When I was young, I read "Call of the Wild" and "White Fang".

Littlest Hobo was my fav show, about a dog helping people.

Twin peaks X-files Xena

Malcolm in the middle

National Geographic. Mutual of Omaha. Reading Rainbow. Magic School Bus. Bill Nye the Science Guy. Ghostwriter. Mr. Rogers Neighborhood

I grew up on PBS and books. Couldn't tell you if it was good or bad, but that TV had a lot of of impact on me.

Friends

ER almost made me become a doctor, I could have easily seen myself going down that path. I thought it was much more expensive in my country for medical school than it actually was, so I didn't go into medicine because of that, and then after I realized I was wrong about how much it would cost it made me realize okay maybe I wasn't smart enough to be a doctor to begin with.

Silicon Valley inspired me to continue working hard on one of my Java-based personal projects. I'd love to say it's a hugely massive success and I have hundreds or thousands of customers, but it's still just a personal project for fun at this point and probably always will be.