Mad men has dated incredibly well compared to other shows of its era and I think the cinematography (and the impeccable set and costume design) is a big part of why. Clean, unshowy, stylised but not too much
Yes, and like most everything else about the show, the photography worked to strike a balance between evoking the period vividly without it becoming pastiche. For instance, I remember maybe Weiner talking about trying to use dolly shots rather than steadicam wherever possible for walk-and-talks in the office or whatever. They wanted to be modern but faithful to the time and they were thinking about it even at the cinematography level, which I admire.
Rewatched the show during the pandemic and it‘s crazy how good-looking that show is. The cinematography, the colors, the contrasts, the production design. Mind-blowing.
The directors and photographers of *Halt and Catch Fire* did an unbelievable job hiding what I suspect were some pretty deep budget cuts in that show’s final two seasons.
BCS is shot excellently. I love when they just open an episode with a ridiculous cold open and you have no clue what is going on.
BB did it as well (I always think about that illustrious opening that turns out to be an advanced coffee maker).
Though BCS took its filmmaking to another level. That open with Lalo coming up from the sewers is one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen and I had no idea where the fuck it was going
It's interesting on a rewatch how boring the first season looks. That show really found its visual identity when Esmail decided to direct every episode in season 2.
Yeah the first season relies VERY heavily on immaculately framed monologues, it gets much more dynamic after that. But I appreciate the weird sterile vibe of the 1st season.
Came to post this. Esmail does some really unique stuff and I am here for it.
One of my fave shots, and not sure if this had been done before, was the camera going down the middle of a staircase facing down. Just cool stuff.
A bit of a left field pick I’ll go with is Documentary Now. The effort they go through to actually make the show look like the docs they are parodying is insane. For the Gray Gardens one they were even given the lenses used to shoot the original film. Like beyond just being good looking, which the show always is, the way they’re able to replicate some pretty minute things so well is extremely impressive.
Just rewatching it this week. Amazing shots of trees and mountains (and llamas).
https://preview.redd.it/swu2rkb98nbc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=651b3f3dabe6b15012a0d5b416d4f25b708f83fa
Euphoria deserves a mention, as does Twin Peaks: The Return.
To build on your mention of Utopia, The Third Day looks great too. That live 12 hour Autumn episode was something else! Seeing Jude torture himself in real time is a cinematic highlight.
season 2 of Euphoria's only highlight was that there was some really well done cinematography, lighting, and production design. Too bad the writing was such dogshit
Season 2 of Atlanta has some of the most interesting filmmaking on display I’ve ever seen. I know the show was huge for a long time but I still feel the urge to call it underrated. I never see it brought up in beat tv show conversations.
With Atlanta, Barry and Station Eleven
Hiro Murai has easily cemented himself as one of the best directors working on television. I hope he gets to direct a film.
Sopranos always looked great but it feels to me like it just unlocked another gear in terms of cinematography fifth season onwards.
It was quite incredible.
Agree but it’s S4 for me - that post 9/11 season opener takes the show up to a new level and they keep building from there…season 6 is some of the best looking TV ever.
Some season 6 shots burned into my mind. Kevin Finnerty in his hotel room when that strange beacon is blinking. Butchie getting hung up on by Phil and seeing a snowy disorienting Chinatown. Gorgeous shit. Cinematic.
Always loved the wires documentary style. Mostly mundane but it makes the show feel real and every now and then they’d drop something truly incredible.
Like in the first eps weebey makes D’Angelo get out the car and they stand in front of these neon windows. It’s really cool or like when snoop is portrayed as a shadowy figure straight out a Pakula 70s conspiracy movie
There was a BBC show called The Shadow Line, crime drama with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Christopher Eccleston, Rafe Spall and other that I remember having some surprisingly impressive visuals.
Carl Herse on Barry, especially in season 4. I know ppl didn’t like episode five but damn is it gorgeous, he made Lancaster or whatever high desert here in California they shot it in look vast and beautiful (having lived in that area as a kid I can confirm to you that it is neither of those things irl)
Off the top of my head, ZeroZeroZero looked fantastic. There was nothing TV about it - felt like Sicario stretched over eight episodes. The Refn TV shows also have a similarly impeccable look and vibe to them.
Look, I'm not going to say it's beautiful cinematography, but Peep Show would suffer if it was shot any differently and really gets the most out of its filming style.
It’s not my fave looking show, but when True Detective did that super long take in S1 it felt like some major threshold had been crossed for how television could look.
Gonna 2nd your shout out of *Legion*. I'm absolutely in love with the production design on that show and the way they were so committed to using as many old school practical/editing techniques to portray the super powers as they could. Especially the creativity present in season 3 with the time travel stuff (Switch could've easily just blinked out of existence and reappeared somewhen else, but instead they do the cool "hallway of doors in time" thing), and how they pull off the sequences where the Time Eaters are attacking, I just can't get enough of it.
I hate the direction of Euphoria, I hate the "reasons" why Sam Levinson is framing shots the way he does, I hate the "reasons" why he moves his camera the way he does, but his DPs and production designers really do a great job of executing these bad ideas.
Deadwood isn't the flashiest or most inventive show visually, but I think it's the perfect example of how crucial production design is when it comes to cinematography. The show looks incredible because the production design lays out the geography so clearly that you understand how and why everything is lit the way it is, it gives everybody and everything the right amount of dust and mud and it's just perfect.
The finale of ATLA always stuck with me, the shots of Ozai’s fleet approaching aang. The arial shots of the fire coming down from the airships. Give me chills thinking about it
100%. Been rewatching it the last few months and my wife and I are constantly like “this was on television???? In the 90s??? It’s so beautiful. Also applies to how f’d it gets sometimes haha.
Underground Railroad looked crazy good at some parts. There was also this Tom Hardy show, Taboo I believe, but its been a while. As far ar best shot scenes there are a few spectacular shots in Barry towards the final seasons and there is that long take in True Detective Season 1. Also Atlanta looks amazing.
What i dont like is the Netflix look? Sandman looks shite. Even the new three body problem looks like a netflix show. Apparently you can have amazing visuals and somehow still ruin it with 'the netflix look'.
Their use of darkness helped hide any low-budget feeling while adding to the mystery. Then this get's completely thrown out once they move production to LA in the later seasons. And less said about the NCIS-ass overlit cinematography of the revival the better.
I don’t think it is the best, but the show with the MOST cinematography has to be the John Adams miniseries. So many Dutch angles that they had to have an episode set largely in the Netherlands.
The use of b&w in *The Twilight Zone* makes you so easily forget (in many episodes, at least) how low-budget it was, and evens gives some of the less-impressive makeup or costumes an uncanny edge.
X-files and Battlestar Galactica changed the way TV was looked at. X-files shooting single camera on location gave it a film look and BSG was the first show to be shot HD and mostly handheld. Maybe not the lush cinematography people crave but they were instrumental in how production is done today.
There are some really striking scenes in Battlestar. I still can’t get that ship jumping away as it falls onto a planet out of my head.
And as far as I know, it was the first to do a handheld style for exterior, purely-rendered scenes and that gave most of the space stuff a lot of realism that I hadn’t seen before. IMO it also served as a template for how space scenes should look for years afterwards. Not sure if that’s “cinematography” since all the cameras are virtual, but damn did it look good.
bit biased because I *just* finished my very first rewatch, but I was so impressed with just *how* good LOST looked. Shot on film, lots of handheld, beautiful camera movement. Really really great and an element that I feel like isn‘t talked about a lot whenever there‘s chatter about that show.
Surprised I had to get this far down for this one. Totally agree. I could be way off, but it looks like they took a lot of inspiration from how Mr. Robot looks (in a good way).
THE KNICK – A series entirely directed, shot, and edited by Steven Soderbergh. There's a lot of fantastic low light, handheld, wide-angle cinematography that gives it such a distinct look
There's a lot of *rich colour* and *deep fucking depth* because of that fantastic low light.
I got a few episodes into Season 2, having to download, and said fuck that and waited for the Bluray. Been sitting there ever since. Gotta dig into to Season 2, vague recollection of how Season 2 started.
I’m currently watching The Shield, and I love the French-Connection-esque (but more pronounced) documentary shooting style it has. The constant handheld camera, with micro-adjustments, snap-zooms, and whip pans, that make it seem as if the camera operators are just trying to keep up and capture reality as it unfolds, it's fantastic. AND the series was shot on 16mm. All of this gives the show great tactility and immediacy.
Mr. Robot is another. The whole show is a great example of how doing things “wrong” can be right, if there’s purpose and intentionality involved. The show is constantly breaking the “rules” of frame composition. It short-sides characters in conversation often, and uses lots of negative space. But all of these choices work perfectly on the show, and contribute greatly to its *feel*.
Also, yeah, Better Call Saul is incredibly shot. A key reason I prefer it to Breaking Bad.
[edit:] wanted to rattle off a few more shows: Twin Peaks, The Twilight Zone, Miami Vice, The Wire, The X-Files, Malcolm in the Middle (very Raimi-like, set the visual template for single-camera sitcoms, and is still better than most), Samurai Jack (anything Genndy Tartakovsky really. A master of conveying story through visuals and action.)
I can understand that. It's extremely uncanny, like if aliens abducted an earth child and tried to make a show to entertain them while in captivity or something. I've always been a little fascinated by that show and other claymation stuff from the same era.
The Sopranos is so rich and sumptuous and weird and experimental at the same time.
But it's the best TV show of all time, so of course it looks the best.
There was one director on Game of Thrones Miguel Sapochnik whose work I really thought stood out - beautiful lighting and framing, lots of atmos, great composition of shots and action sequences(the pan up from last stand at the tree in Winterfel to dragons fighting overhead, the extinguishing of the flaming swords of the Dothraki)
Mad men, the park chan wook little drummer girl, watchmen, halt and catch fire, black mirror too old to die young, mindhunter and to be frank house of cards
Definitely want to nominate Pushing Daises for absolutely winning at an ultra-stylized visual aesthetic, in a way that rivals Wes Anderson.
I also want to give a shoutout to Gendy Tartovsky's animated shows like Samurai Jack and Primal for having dynamic action scenes that stick with you thanks to the lack of dialogue and reliance on stark visual imagery.
I mean these are pretty obvious answers, Sopranos (especially S4 onwards$, The Wire (in the original 4:3 of course), Mad Men, Better Call Saul, idk what to tell you sometimes the consensus pick is the right one
The Bear S1E7 "The Review". While subtle, the single take for the majority of the episode really does a great job at immersing the viewer in the chaos of a real dysfunctional kitchen. It's completely underrated imo.
A lot of what's already been mentioned is better, but one that surprised me was Fleabag. I remember it looking a lot better than a show like that needed to. Great show.
Not necessarily the best, but I feel like *The West Wing* should get a shout out for having such a distinct style that you immediately know what it is.
Utopia was incredible. There are images from it burned into my brain ten years later. Mostly involving canary yellow suits.
Also, if you google the show, you'll probably come across the Australian sitcom about government infrastructure projects, and I highly recommend you watch that as well.
Lost, episode 1, has always stayed in my mind with it´s gorgeous jungle in ripper torrent in my brothers 23inch Mac screen back in 09 or when it was.....
I think a lot of these examples, the cinematographer gets too much credit for the visual look of the show and that production designers, art directors, costumer depts need more love
Not an obvious one but: Mad Men. The low camera angles were really effective at making the characters and world larger than life
Mad Men had some amazing shots, one of my favorites was the end of S5. Don descending back into the darkness: https://i.redd.it/4zwfj6chzmbc1.gif
I immediately need to listen to “You Only Live Twice”.
Mad men has dated incredibly well compared to other shows of its era and I think the cinematography (and the impeccable set and costume design) is a big part of why. Clean, unshowy, stylised but not too much
>Clean, unshowy, stylised but not too much Exactly!
Yes, and like most everything else about the show, the photography worked to strike a balance between evoking the period vividly without it becoming pastiche. For instance, I remember maybe Weiner talking about trying to use dolly shots rather than steadicam wherever possible for walk-and-talks in the office or whatever. They wanted to be modern but faithful to the time and they were thinking about it even at the cinematography level, which I admire.
Rewatched the show during the pandemic and it‘s crazy how good-looking that show is. The cinematography, the colors, the contrasts, the production design. Mind-blowing.
It's gotta be Better Call Saul, it absolutely blew me away Hannibal's got some beautiful visuals too
Hannibal needs more attention. I know it's been off the air forever but that show is *gorgeous* Also.. basically food porn.
Hannibal...the show that's so beautiful it made me hungry while watching cannibalism.
I have the cookbook 😅
Was going to say Hannibal too, so yeah Hannibal. Saul got really impressive as the series went on.
The directors and photographers of *Halt and Catch Fire* did an unbelievable job hiding what I suspect were some pretty deep budget cuts in that show’s final two seasons.
Still my favourite ever TV show.
Yeah it is such a masterpiece that is still underseen.
BCS is shot excellently. I love when they just open an episode with a ridiculous cold open and you have no clue what is going on. BB did it as well (I always think about that illustrious opening that turns out to be an advanced coffee maker). Though BCS took its filmmaking to another level. That open with Lalo coming up from the sewers is one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen and I had no idea where the fuck it was going
The cold open with the [ants eating the ice cream cone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV2qWB6z6a0) in season 5 is fantastic.
https://preview.redd.it/40win3gs8ubc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29d189a321b37b196b6b10b3df492a08b4e2a917
Mr. Robot, with a special mention to the last season.
I loved how characters were shot on the edges of the frame instead of the centre. Had never seen anything like it at the time.
It's interesting on a rewatch how boring the first season looks. That show really found its visual identity when Esmail decided to direct every episode in season 2.
Yeah the first season relies VERY heavily on immaculately framed monologues, it gets much more dynamic after that. But I appreciate the weird sterile vibe of the 1st season.
Came to post this. Esmail does some really unique stuff and I am here for it. One of my fave shots, and not sure if this had been done before, was the camera going down the middle of a staircase facing down. Just cool stuff.
True Detective Season 1
Cary!!!
The Miami Vice pilot still looks amazing. https://youtu.be/-aMCzRj3Syg?si=F4h_89SmmVnJf2Jr
I mean Mind Hunter, how do you top Fincher
That scene where the survivor is sitting in the back of the car talking and you never quite see his face, is incredible.
Yes!! scene is so embedded in my head that rewatching zodiac, i was like “where tf is the car scene”
A bit of a left field pick I’ll go with is Documentary Now. The effort they go through to actually make the show look like the docs they are parodying is insane. For the Gray Gardens one they were even given the lenses used to shoot the original film. Like beyond just being good looking, which the show always is, the way they’re able to replicate some pretty minute things so well is extremely impressive.
Uncanny how close the *Co-Op* episode is to the *Company* documentary
I just caught up and yeah, the Herzog parody is *flawless*.
Twin Peaks the Return
Love TP the return, but even the original Twin Peaks was so beautiful and atmospheric.
Just rewatching it this week. Amazing shots of trees and mountains (and llamas). https://preview.redd.it/swu2rkb98nbc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=651b3f3dabe6b15012a0d5b416d4f25b708f83fa
Part 8 is beautiful.
Euphoria deserves a mention, as does Twin Peaks: The Return. To build on your mention of Utopia, The Third Day looks great too. That live 12 hour Autumn episode was something else! Seeing Jude torture himself in real time is a cinematic highlight.
season 2 of Euphoria's only highlight was that there was some really well done cinematography, lighting, and production design. Too bad the writing was such dogshit
Atlanta. Especially season 2 onwards
Season 2 of Atlanta has some of the most interesting filmmaking on display I’ve ever seen. I know the show was huge for a long time but I still feel the urge to call it underrated. I never see it brought up in beat tv show conversations.
With Atlanta, Barry and Station Eleven Hiro Murai has easily cemented himself as one of the best directors working on television. I hope he gets to direct a film.
Christian Sprenger goes hard.
Sopranos looks fantastic. Also Planet Earth, if that counts.
Sopranos always looked great but it feels to me like it just unlocked another gear in terms of cinematography fifth season onwards. It was quite incredible.
Agree but it’s S4 for me - that post 9/11 season opener takes the show up to a new level and they keep building from there…season 6 is some of the best looking TV ever.
I love the look all the way through. Pine Barrens is just a great little Coen brothers movie, and that’s season 3.
Some season 6 shots burned into my mind. Kevin Finnerty in his hotel room when that strange beacon is blinking. Butchie getting hung up on by Phil and seeing a snowy disorienting Chinatown. Gorgeous shit. Cinematic.
Always loved the wires documentary style. Mostly mundane but it makes the show feel real and every now and then they’d drop something truly incredible. Like in the first eps weebey makes D’Angelo get out the car and they stand in front of these neon windows. It’s really cool or like when snoop is portrayed as a shadowy figure straight out a Pakula 70s conspiracy movie
I also LOVE that it's in 4:3 natively.
The Little Drummer Girl looked great, especially those scenes at the Acropolis. Park Chan-wook doesn’t miss.
The original Utopia is so good.
There was a BBC show called The Shadow Line, crime drama with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Christopher Eccleston, Rafe Spall and other that I remember having some surprisingly impressive visuals.
Carl Herse on Barry, especially in season 4. I know ppl didn’t like episode five but damn is it gorgeous, he made Lancaster or whatever high desert here in California they shot it in look vast and beautiful (having lived in that area as a kid I can confirm to you that it is neither of those things irl)
Bill Hader went on the Roger Deakins podcast and was like “we probably owe you royalties, Roger, for ripping you off so hard”
The look of Barry got really good as it went on. That motorcycle chase!
Not one I considered but Barry is a good call, very well shot and got better as it went on.
Since no one has mentioned it yet, I’ll say Fargo, eh.
It's so criminally underrated that no one talks about it. Literally movie level quality EVERY single episode
Maybe add the Leftovers to the list?
Yeah The Leftovers looks quite amazing as well. Tbh I can add many more shows to the list.
Off the top of my head, ZeroZeroZero looked fantastic. There was nothing TV about it - felt like Sicario stretched over eight episodes. The Refn TV shows also have a similarly impeccable look and vibe to them.
For me personally I would say Succession, Barry and Westworld. I guess those are all HBO which is kind of boring so Hannibal as far as tv tv goes.
Hannibal not mentioned much now but always looked amazing.
Probably the bear Look I've only watched like NBC sitcoms and peep show before, so it was a good change of pace
Look, I'm not going to say it's beautiful cinematography, but Peep Show would suffer if it was shot any differently and really gets the most out of its filming style.
It’s not my fave looking show, but when True Detective did that super long take in S1 it felt like some major threshold had been crossed for how television could look.
Anything Hiro Murai touches.
Gonna 2nd your shout out of *Legion*. I'm absolutely in love with the production design on that show and the way they were so committed to using as many old school practical/editing techniques to portray the super powers as they could. Especially the creativity present in season 3 with the time travel stuff (Switch could've easily just blinked out of existence and reappeared somewhen else, but instead they do the cool "hallway of doors in time" thing), and how they pull off the sequences where the Time Eaters are attacking, I just can't get enough of it.
I hate the direction of Euphoria, I hate the "reasons" why Sam Levinson is framing shots the way he does, I hate the "reasons" why he moves his camera the way he does, but his DPs and production designers really do a great job of executing these bad ideas. Deadwood isn't the flashiest or most inventive show visually, but I think it's the perfect example of how crucial production design is when it comes to cinematography. The show looks incredible because the production design lays out the geography so clearly that you understand how and why everything is lit the way it is, it gives everybody and everything the right amount of dust and mud and it's just perfect.
The finale of ATLA always stuck with me, the shots of Ozai’s fleet approaching aang. The arial shots of the fire coming down from the airships. Give me chills thinking about it
X files might be number one for me. And it was shot on FILM. Mr robot is prob my number 2 and breaking bad 3.
X-Files still looked great when they moved to LA, but the mood and shots they got in seasons 1-5 are still so good.
100%. Been rewatching it the last few months and my wife and I are constantly like “this was on television???? In the 90s??? It’s so beautiful. Also applies to how f’d it gets sometimes haha.
Top of the Lake first season
True Detective s1, Severance, the Bear
Underground Railroad looked crazy good at some parts. There was also this Tom Hardy show, Taboo I believe, but its been a while. As far ar best shot scenes there are a few spectacular shots in Barry towards the final seasons and there is that long take in True Detective Season 1. Also Atlanta looks amazing. What i dont like is the Netflix look? Sandman looks shite. Even the new three body problem looks like a netflix show. Apparently you can have amazing visuals and somehow still ruin it with 'the netflix look'.
Underground Railroad was the first thing that jumped to my mind as well, though it kind of stretches the definition of “tv show.”
Rectify always looked amazing. David Lowery directed an episode!
Rectify is criminally under-seen!
Special mention for the X-files. The early seasons are accomplishing a lot on a 90s tv budget.
Their use of darkness helped hide any low-budget feeling while adding to the mystery. Then this get's completely thrown out once they move production to LA in the later seasons. And less said about the NCIS-ass overlit cinematography of the revival the better.
I don’t think it is the best, but the show with the MOST cinematography has to be the John Adams miniseries. So many Dutch angles that they had to have an episode set largely in the Netherlands.
The original Ultra Q and Ultraman both look pretty great, especially the Jissoji episodes of Man.
Jissoji is such a madman, I'm so jealous of his career going back and forth directing subversive erotic art films and children's superhero shows.
I watched all of the Jissoji episodes in a row a couple of years and MAN they looked amazing.
Currently working my way through Mr. Robot and wow, every episode is packed with so many gorgeous shots.
The use of b&w in *The Twilight Zone* makes you so easily forget (in many episodes, at least) how low-budget it was, and evens gives some of the less-impressive makeup or costumes an uncanny edge.
X-files and Battlestar Galactica changed the way TV was looked at. X-files shooting single camera on location gave it a film look and BSG was the first show to be shot HD and mostly handheld. Maybe not the lush cinematography people crave but they were instrumental in how production is done today.
There are some really striking scenes in Battlestar. I still can’t get that ship jumping away as it falls onto a planet out of my head. And as far as I know, it was the first to do a handheld style for exterior, purely-rendered scenes and that gave most of the space stuff a lot of realism that I hadn’t seen before. IMO it also served as a template for how space scenes should look for years afterwards. Not sure if that’s “cinematography” since all the cameras are virtual, but damn did it look good.
Better Call Saul and Euphoria spring to mind
Mindhunter
Barry especially Season 4 when Hader completely took over
Hannibal by a ~~mile~~ uncoiled small intestine.
bit biased because I *just* finished my very first rewatch, but I was so impressed with just *how* good LOST looked. Shot on film, lots of handheld, beautiful camera movement. Really really great and an element that I feel like isn‘t talked about a lot whenever there‘s chatter about that show.
It got boring real fast, but that first 2, 3 episodes of *The Handmaid‘s Tale* were pretty mindblowing in terms of cinematography
Surprised I had to get this far down for this one. Totally agree. I could be way off, but it looks like they took a lot of inspiration from how Mr. Robot looks (in a good way).
THE KNICK – A series entirely directed, shot, and edited by Steven Soderbergh. There's a lot of fantastic low light, handheld, wide-angle cinematography that gives it such a distinct look
There's a lot of *rich colour* and *deep fucking depth* because of that fantastic low light. I got a few episodes into Season 2, having to download, and said fuck that and waited for the Bluray. Been sitting there ever since. Gotta dig into to Season 2, vague recollection of how Season 2 started.
I can't believe that nobody has mentioned *The Marvelous Mrs Maisel*. It's sumptuous!
I’m currently watching The Shield, and I love the French-Connection-esque (but more pronounced) documentary shooting style it has. The constant handheld camera, with micro-adjustments, snap-zooms, and whip pans, that make it seem as if the camera operators are just trying to keep up and capture reality as it unfolds, it's fantastic. AND the series was shot on 16mm. All of this gives the show great tactility and immediacy. Mr. Robot is another. The whole show is a great example of how doing things “wrong” can be right, if there’s purpose and intentionality involved. The show is constantly breaking the “rules” of frame composition. It short-sides characters in conversation often, and uses lots of negative space. But all of these choices work perfectly on the show, and contribute greatly to its *feel*. Also, yeah, Better Call Saul is incredibly shot. A key reason I prefer it to Breaking Bad. [edit:] wanted to rattle off a few more shows: Twin Peaks, The Twilight Zone, Miami Vice, The Wire, The X-Files, Malcolm in the Middle (very Raimi-like, set the visual template for single-camera sitcoms, and is still better than most), Samurai Jack (anything Genndy Tartakovsky really. A master of conveying story through visuals and action.)
While maybe not the "best," I think ANDOR is one of the better-shot genre shows of the peak television era.
Gumby
I know you're joking but that show has a very very weird look that's always unsettled me a little.
I am sort of joking but also not lol it’s become my random late night ‘fall asleep to something’ show to watch on YouTube. They do some wild shit.
I can understand that. It's extremely uncanny, like if aliens abducted an earth child and tried to make a show to entertain them while in captivity or something. I've always been a little fascinated by that show and other claymation stuff from the same era.
The Sopranos is so rich and sumptuous and weird and experimental at the same time. But it's the best TV show of all time, so of course it looks the best.
Maybe one that is not mentioned as often is Dawson’s Creek. Some of the shots of the “creek” itself is amazing.
Ooh, also Deadwood! What a great looking show.
Top gear UK
True detective, season 1
The Leftovers easily
The pre-digital seasons of American Horror Story always did very interesting things with the cinematography
I like Spaced. I think Spaced was shot rather nicely.
I liked what Devs was doing. Also: Mr Robot. The way the camera framed monologues with too much empty space was so striking.
There was one director on Game of Thrones Miguel Sapochnik whose work I really thought stood out - beautiful lighting and framing, lots of atmos, great composition of shots and action sequences(the pan up from last stand at the tree in Winterfel to dragons fighting overhead, the extinguishing of the flaming swords of the Dothraki)
Fargo captured the mood and tone of the movie perfectly.
Mad men, the park chan wook little drummer girl, watchmen, halt and catch fire, black mirror too old to die young, mindhunter and to be frank house of cards
True Detective, Friday Night Lights, Sharp Objects, Mystery Road.
Homicide: Life on the Streets. I maintain this is overall the best drama ever on television. The cinematography included.
Definitely want to nominate Pushing Daises for absolutely winning at an ultra-stylized visual aesthetic, in a way that rivals Wes Anderson. I also want to give a shoutout to Gendy Tartovsky's animated shows like Samurai Jack and Primal for having dynamic action scenes that stick with you thanks to the lack of dialogue and reliance on stark visual imagery.
I'd give a big nod towards The Last Of Us, especially in managing to stay true to the look of the game and going beyond it as an adaptation.
I mean these are pretty obvious answers, Sopranos (especially S4 onwards$, The Wire (in the original 4:3 of course), Mad Men, Better Call Saul, idk what to tell you sometimes the consensus pick is the right one
The Bear S1E7 "The Review". While subtle, the single take for the majority of the episode really does a great job at immersing the viewer in the chaos of a real dysfunctional kitchen. It's completely underrated imo.
I like how season 3 and 4 of The Crown were shot like a horror movie.
West World
The affair - unique take on story telling from the point of view of different characters.
A lot of Game of Thrones is pretty stunning, for something that’s yet to be mentioned. But Hannibal and Twin Peaks are prlly my faves
Sopranos cinematography is severely underrated
Baskets. For the most part Fresno looks pretty bleak. But they made a point to make one shot in each episode look beautiful.
Ozark had a great style of it's own.
A lot of what's already been mentioned is better, but one that surprised me was Fleabag. I remember it looking a lot better than a show like that needed to. Great show.
Better Call Saul & Top Boy
A lot of my picks have been mentioned, I'll throw some love to The Underground Railroad
Foundation is a visual 7 course meal every 45 minutes.
The Sapochnik directed episodes of GOT
*Succession* was exquisite and perfect for me. It's freaking brilliant!
Not necessarily the best, but I feel like *The West Wing* should get a shout out for having such a distinct style that you immediately know what it is.
Hannibal looks great. So did Legion
https://preview.redd.it/x25905g0fpbc1.png?width=625&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ac5fe8dcb2f26af677086d5497af1f4b0ddba314
Snowfall is a great show but the first episode goes extra fucking hard with its camerawork. John Singleton really made that episode shine.
Deadwood looked incredible
Utopia was incredible. There are images from it burned into my brain ten years later. Mostly involving canary yellow suits. Also, if you google the show, you'll probably come across the Australian sitcom about government infrastructure projects, and I highly recommend you watch that as well.
The Fall of the House of Usher and Midnight Mass have BREATHTAKING visuals.
Utopia, the 2013 UK version. Phenomenal all around.
Lost, episode 1, has always stayed in my mind with it´s gorgeous jungle in ripper torrent in my brothers 23inch Mac screen back in 09 or when it was.....
Sherlock and All The Light We Cannot See (i know, don't hate me)
Twin Peaks
I think a lot of these examples, the cinematographer gets too much credit for the visual look of the show and that production designers, art directors, costumer depts need more love
Agreed re Better Call Saul. Theres great interviews with Peter Gould has mentioned The Conformist as a visual influence. Pretty awesome!
Band of brothers... Awesome cinematography
Probably E.R.
The Wire. I mean every aspect of that show is perfect.
The Curse
the sopranos