Even if it sometimes hurts, because of course it will, whoever you are. Perhaps most of all, though, watch it for what it suggests about why it nearly always makes sense to be yourself. Though all the performances are relatively strong, Jones instantly becomes the center of gravity in every frame she’s in. Watch it for Jones’ forceful, vivacious, smart-as-hell portrayal of a defiant iconoclast who chose to value her own integrity over whatever it was society needed her to value. Watch it for an interesting depiction of 19th-century Yorkshire society with sleek, colorful production and a lot of beautiful high-contrast scenery rolling green fields and hedgerows starting to sprout factory smokestacks, or Lister’s frock coat and men’s hat and frank stare amid all those blonde ringlets and pastel silk gowns and sunlit yellow drawing room walls. Those diaries exhaustively detail her rather audacious life as a world traveler, coal magnate, landlord, mountaineer, and “Parisian,” which seems to be a common shorthand in 19th-century Halifax for “avid seducer of other women.” The series focuses on a timeframe in the 1830s dominated by Lister (Suranne Jones) returning to her family home in Yorkshire and setting her sights on nervous heiress Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle) as a companion. Gentleman Jack is drawn from the extensive (some 4 million pages) journals of Anne Lister, a landed class Yorkshire woman widely considered to be the first “modern lesbian” known to history. That word, “story,” is essential here, and it’s a massive sigh of relief that the creators know it. Matching the breathless plot of early Game of Thrones is an impossibly high bar, and one this show doesn’t quite clear, but it’s nevertheless a very good effort, full of tension, heartbreak, and those rare moments of pure triumph, that will delight fans of the Song of Ice and Fire universe and fare nicely even among those who just appreciate a great story. The ambition is in all the right places, with a terrific cast (led by Paddy Considine as King Viserys I Targaryen and Emma D’Arcy as his daughter and heir Rhaenyra) who are allowed to put their efforts into selling the political intrigue at King’s Landing. Martin’s gripping story of the Targaryen dynasty carry the heaviest weight. Would it be the brilliant first seasons, with great characters and even better plot, or the woeful supernova implosion of the end? The good news is, they chose the right path here in letting George R.R. The big question facing House of the Dragon, HBO’s new Game of Thrones prequel, was what version of its predecessor it would take after. Stars: Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaaint, Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, Fabien Frankel, Milly Alcock, Emily Carey, Graham McTavish, Matthew Needham, Jefferson Hall, Olivia Cooke, Harry Collett, Tom Glynn-Carney, Ewan Mitchell, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban 1 Ladies Detective Agency, The Deuce, Eastbound & Down, Years and Years, Vice Principals, EuphoriaĬreated by: Ryan Condal, George R. (And be sure to check out our lists of the best TV shows on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime while you’re at it.) With so much new programming coming to HBO now that it is streaming via Max (née HBO Max), expect the list to keep expanding in the coming months-and check out a list of everything else you can watch on Max.įor now, whether you’re in the mood for a re-watch or still need to see The Sopranos for the first time, you’re sure to find something to stir your interest on Paste’s ranked list of the best HBO series. Of note, in our latest update here we are sticking to a list of comedies and dramas, so no docuseries, sketch comedy, or talk shows-although HBO has great lineups for these as well, no surprise! But some of the dark, complex dramas are also some of the best TV shows of all-time (or at the very least, of the last decade). From Enlightened’s search for bliss to Veep’s devilish satire, HBO’s best series (along with some key miniseries) are not all dark, complex dramas. But dig deeper into the titles listed here, and it’s the range of artistic expression that becomes apparent. Many of the top shows in our list of the best HBO series of all time echo much the same sentiment: It’s no coincidence that their most common points of comparison, at least among critics, have been cinema and literature rather than the “prestige” programming of an earlier age. It’s HBO.” The premium cable network’s famed slogan, from an era predating “Peak TV,” projected an air of authority, of class, that defied the medium’s reputation as a lowbrow form.
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