1 Topic by piraterepublic (edited by piraterepublic 2026-05-04 06:10:38)

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Topic: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

there is a lot of garbage out there.
but there are some very unusual but very well done tv series or movies..

many of these are unpopular for many reasons
usually lack of advertising or they are confusing or unpredictable
to the masses who need a strait line from a to b to understand or like anything..

i am looking for any suggestions..
and here are some examples of what i am looking for

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency  https://next-episode.net/dirk-gentlys-h … ive-agency
season 1 was fantastic and exactly what i am looking for quirky wise
(no i have not read the books, but i dont think this the books could be this good)

dust bunny 2025  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23172090/    quite good

pushing daisies    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0925266/   not as good as the two above...

dead like me    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348913/   about the same as pushing daisies

penny dreadful   https://next-episode.net/penny-dreadful  95% fantastic except for dorian dipshit really
( and i think they had no grand plan them thinking every season is likely the last) the core of the show was just visually
and poetically out standing..

black sails       https://next-episode.net/black-sails   90% fantastic sure they get lost in the side story a few times but the core is simply the best pirate story ever told.... and no one does a good pirate story usually...

santa clarita diet  https://next-episode.net/santa-clarita-diet   very very good bordering on fantasic

so kick out your suggestions...
what ever you think is not the same old formula tv
what you think is weird, unusual,  or quirky but fantastic.

i know what i like, but i am looking for what i dont know i like.

2 Reply by WilliamDrakeMcGregor (edited by WilliamDrakeMcGregor 2026-05-03 18:30:29)

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

Comparing with Black Sails, the intensity of https://next-episode.net/banshee might interest you.
If you like Dirk Gently, maybe give https://next-episode.net/truth-seekers a go - it's not on the same level of "chaotic" though.

Not really fitting to your examples - but these are shows I would describe as "unusual, confusing and unpredictable":
https://next-episode.net/blood-drive
https://next-episode.net/brand-new-cherry-flavor
https://next-episode.net/carnivale
https://next-episode.net/devs
https://next-episode.net/happy!
https://next-episode.net/legion


If you want to add "fun" to it all, probably:
https://next-episode.net/future-man
https://next-episode.net/interior-chinatown (still haven't fully understood this show smile )
https://next-episode.net/lodge-49 (Season 1... I don't know how to describe it)

Deserved more runtime:
Abbys | Dead Like Me | Devs | Firefly | Gangsta. | Jack of all Trades | Kevin (probably) saves the World | Lodge 49 | Mrs. Davis | NYC 22 | Powerless | Roadkill | Special Unit 2 | Stumptown | Surface | The Brave | The Crazy Ones | The Finder | The Middleman | Truth Seekers | Two Weeks to Live | Whiskey Cavalier

https://next-episode.net/user/WilliamDrakeMcGregor/

3 Reply by Wizard

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

https://next-episode.net/the-lost-room

Just rewatched it again recently.

DRM "manages access" in the same way that Prison "manages freedom".
http://xkcd.com/488/

Wizard's Website

4 Reply by some_one

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency


Pushing Daisies & Dead Like Me


Penny Dreadful
Maybe Bodies (2023)?

Bit difficult to make recommendations if we don't know what you like about those shows. Some more random stuff:


WilliamDrakeMcGregor wrote:

https://next-episode.net/brand-new-cherry-flavor

Also: Undone

5 Reply by scushman

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

small prophets

6 Reply by SgtSaint

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

  • Farscape (Obviously)

  • Dollhouse

  • Fringe

7 Reply by mrverene

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

mrs. davis

8 Reply by LuC

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

Well, if you're gonna write in "Farscape (Obviously)" you really should include Lexx

9 Reply by inkblot (edited by inkblot 2026-05-05 16:25:25)

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

LuC wrote:

Well, if you're gonna write in "Farscape (Obviously)" you really should include Lexx


I like odd or weird stuff, but I drew the line at Lexx. It was over the top odd, just could never quite get into it. But Farscape, was weird or odd enough to remain interesting.

One might say it was so far off the beaten path, that no matter what, I would never get right into Lexx. Like watching a film in a foreign language without proper subs.

But Dollhouse and Fringe are good examples. Lets include Warehouse 13 and Eureka as well then smile

10 Reply by SgtSaint (edited by SgtSaint 2026-05-05 20:39:53)

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

inkblot wrote:

But Dollhouse and Fringe are good examples. Lets include Warehouse 13 and Eureka as well then smile

  • Lexx: I don't get stoned so… too far out there

  • Warehouse 13: 100%

  • Eureka: Oh yeah

  • Librarians: Effectively the source concept of Warehouse 13

  • Altered Carbon: Does it fall in to 'odd' or just 'unique concept' ?

  • Raised by Wolves

  • Witchblade

11 Reply by inkblot

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

Continuum
Travelers
Dark Matter
12 Monkeys

12 Reply by SgtSaint

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

inkblot wrote:

Continuum
Travelers
Dark Matter
12 Monkeys

Hmmm... I never thought of Continuum as 'unusual'.  Just sci-fi with a time-travel theme.
Dark Matter (2015) - 'unusual'?  "Light space romp" maybe. The final season and half started venturing into "odd" territory.  I find it fits well with "Lost Girl" and even shared some cast.  Lost Girl could be called 'Unsual' while we're at at.
Dark mater (2024) - Parallel universes... doppleganers... If we're calling this 'unusual' then we have to include 'Sliders' since this is just that with a modern dark make over.  But yeah, I can fit them both in 'unusual'.
I haven't see Travelers or 12 monkeys (series) so can't say.

13 Reply by inkblot (edited by inkblot 2026-05-07 04:20:05)

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

SgtSaint wrote:
inkblot wrote:

Continuum
Travelers
Dark Matter
12 Monkeys

Hmmm... I never thought of Continuum as 'unusual'.  Just sci-fi with a time-travel theme.
Dark Matter (2015) - 'unusual'?  "Light space romp" maybe. The final season and half started venturing into "odd" territory.  I find it fits well with "Lost Girl" and even shared some cast.  Lost Girl could be called 'Unsual' while we're at at.
Dark mater (2024) - Parallel universes... doppleganers... If we're calling this 'unusual' then we have to include 'Sliders' since this is just that with a modern dark make over.  But yeah, I can fit them both in 'unusual'.
I haven't see Travelers or 12 monkeys (series) so can't say.

Continuum had a certain Canadian feel for me, same with Dark Matter, several shows during that decade did that for me. Like Dollhouse. I think they were being filmed in Canadian locations.

Its like when I walk past my wife's sewing room, and she is watching one of her shows, I can tell if she is watching a soap, the colours are more vibrant and the sound tends to echo a bit or sound like the room is half empty.

Creeps me out. The actors tend to have caked on makeup etc etc. Or more then a normal person requires.

For me its not so much as the actual content. Its the feel or vibe I get, along with the type of weed I am smoking.

14 Reply by piraterepublic (edited by piraterepublic 2026-05-07 08:04:22)

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

i should have said none of the half baked "in search of"/xfiles  remakes qualify
its not "unusual" if you (usually) poorly TRY to be unusual.
that kills things like
librarians, fringe, warehouse 13, eureka, evil, legends of tommorow, X-FILES etc.

scifi is hardly unusual, its futuristic. that is not to say it might be crazy.

russian doll was unusual  as i remember
the tick was unusual, even the cartoon was unusual from the 90's but then that was its gimmick
( i honestly dont know how a COMIC cartoon could be anything but unusual as a live action)
but is it unusual or is it trying to be unusual.

example
dust bunny..
a horror trope, from start to finish, but with almost every body not the usual victim
and the ending everybody should expect if it was a fairy tale.

everything about that is unusual.  and the fact anyone made it is also unusual.
(and i guess we have to thank cheap FX as the movie would NEVER have been made even 10 years ago)
but it was not written or presented as a "unusual" story. it just was in every way.
it was outside of any box you might try to put it in.
other then the "unusual" box.

fringe on the other hand was a xfiles remake with stories and plot not half as good.
but both were deliberately writing "unusual"

i am not sure i am explaining as well as i should.  i need sleep.


some good suggestions in there. and here is another couple

wonderfalls  https://next-episode.net/wonderfalls
better off ted   https://next-episode.net/better-off-ted

quite unusual stories overall

15 Reply by inkblot

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

piraterepublic wrote:

fringe on the other hand was a xfiles remake with stories and plot not half as good.
but both were deliberately writing "unusual"

I disagree.

I though of Fringe more along the lines of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Tales From The Crypt and Night Gallery. I am sure there are others, but I have not watched them all. smile

16 Reply by piraterepublic (edited by piraterepublic 2026-05-07 15:37:21)

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

inkblot wrote:
piraterepublic wrote:

fringe on the other hand was a xfiles remake with stories and plot not half as good.
but both were deliberately writing "unusual"

I disagree.

I though of Fringe more along the lines of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Tales From The Crypt and Night Gallery. I am sure there are others, but I have not watched them all. smile


i would agree with you, but xfiles was all those plus a slice of cake. it was almost the pinnacle of the genre.
fringe was definitionally a xfiles rip.
the others were short stories akin to "the amazing tales" magazines of the 50's
none of their skits had any relation to the others. no common characters or story line.
i dont know if xfiles did that first, but it did that structure the best even to this day.
fringe ripped off a lot of stories from other places, it was a mix mash of a show.

17 Reply by scushman

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

Fringe
Small Prophets
12 Monkeys
The OA

18 Reply by Phanlix

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

Legion was probably the weirdest show ever that I actually liked.

19 Reply by inkblot

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

piraterepublic wrote:
inkblot wrote:
piraterepublic wrote:

fringe on the other hand was a xfiles remake with stories and plot not half as good.
but both were deliberately writing "unusual"

I disagree.

I though of Fringe more along the lines of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Tales From The Crypt and Night Gallery. I am sure there are others, but I have not watched them all. smile


i would agree with you, but xfiles was all those plus a slice of cake. it was almost the pinnacle of the genre.
fringe was definitionally a xfiles rip.
the others were short stories akin to "the amazing tales" magazines of the 50's
none of their skits had any relation to the others. no common characters or story line.
i dont know if xfiles did that first, but it did that structure the best even to this day.
fringe ripped off a lot of stories from other places, it was a mix mash of a show.

You have a very unique perspective on this. I shall respect it and bow down.

20 Reply by WilliamDrakeMcGregor

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

Some more that I consider unusual:

American Gods
Mr. Robot
Obituary
1899

Deserved more runtime:
Abbys | Dead Like Me | Devs | Firefly | Gangsta. | Jack of all Trades | Kevin (probably) saves the World | Lodge 49 | Mrs. Davis | NYC 22 | Powerless | Roadkill | Special Unit 2 | Stumptown | Surface | The Brave | The Crazy Ones | The Finder | The Middleman | Truth Seekers | Two Weeks to Live | Whiskey Cavalier

https://next-episode.net/user/WilliamDrakeMcGregor/

21 Reply by piraterepublic (edited by piraterepublic 2026-05-08 06:15:28)

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Re: what is your favorite unusual tv show or movie?

WilliamDrakeMcGregor wrote:

Some more that I consider unusual:

American Gods
Mr. Robot
Obituary
1899


damn i forgot about obituary, i need to go look to see if there is going to be a next season

i was very disappointed in American gods the book and its on my list  to watch just to see how it was done.

season 1-3 of banshee were very good, season 4 got lost..