If I were to watch one show from your country, what would you recommend?
We can obviously skip English language shows as those are all well known. I’m sure other countries also have great shows that are not that popular. Ideally, something original and specific to this country, not some big Netflix show that’s the same a shows from any other country.
To start, from Spain I would recommend “Riot Police”: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10883660/
Great story, great characters, great acting. It covers universal problems like police brutality and corruption so it’s accessible to anyone but it also shows them though a Spanish prism that makes it unique.
Australia: Lano & Woodley
It’s only funny to Aussies and has a specific kind of humour, but I get very patriotic over it
Germany: Der Tatortreiniger (or: The Crime Scene Cleaner) is about about someone who, well, cleans up after somebody died. While this job is most often portrayed from the side of organised crime the protagonist Schotty is just your average guy with a weird job. Most episodes start out with him having some preexisting notions and he encounters someone who challenges them. The first episode it’s a sexworker, the third is a over the top gay man who, after they are forced to spend some time together, starts making much more sense to Schotty by challenging his stereotypical boomer mentality. In other instances, for example when he encounters the most comically on brand group of Nazis, he stands his ground. Really good show, especially when you consider how fucking woke it is for being produced in 2013!
US: The Wire
I’m German and I couldn’t recommand any show from my country in good conscience.
There’s “dark”, but that’s a pretty well known netflix series.
I tried that one but found it utterly boring.
Same :)
Crime Scene Cleaner (Der Tatortreiniger) is pretty great.
Sounds interesting. Thanks!
There is also a British version created by Greg Davies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cleaner_(British_TV_series)
The overnight Bernt das Brot broadcasts on Kika. You’re welcome.
Tap for spoiler
mist
Bernd
Not a TV show but a TV movie, “Die Welle” was fantastic.
Im original, bitte.
They made that into a movie? We had to read that at school.
If you are in the USA you can watch it in tv every day.
Not even “Alarm für Cobra 11”? 😁
Kommisar Rex 😄
Tatort is OK when you happen to stumble on a good one. Avoiding the Schwarzwald version is a must. It’s so, so bad.
There is a lot of trash being produced, but I think Der Tatortreiniger and Stromberg are German shows which can definitely be recommended.
Yeah, those two might be the only silver lining. Maybe “Die Anstalt” as well, though that’s a very specific kind of show.
“Die Anstalt” is goated, yes. On the more lighter side I like Pastewka, Sketch History (basically Germany’s Monty Python), Die Familie Heinz Becker, Mitternachtsspitzen, Kalkofes Mattscheibe and Loriots as well as Gerhard Polts movies and series (very dated though sometimes timeless).
Stromberg is Germany’s “The Office”, btw.
As someone not from Germany but living there, I would recommend Tatort (Münster) and Traum Schiff.
I love it, but even if it’s not for everyone I feel like every country has cheesy shows like these and its interesting to see the German version.
Tatort Münster is definitely the best one.
I remember enjoying Deutschland 83 and the subsequent series. Even just from a set design and historical perspective.
I’m not German but would absolutely recommend Babylon Berlin!
Ijon Tichy!!
I want to second this! trailer
Also, if you want something more classic, we also have Raumpatrouille Orion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftDXbIDfce8
That’s very cool. I didn’t understand more than a word here or there, but it’s really neat.
“Nicht nachmachen” is strongly recommended
No! That’s actually a prime example for everything that is wrong with German TV. An interesting concept for a show ruined a by cringey dialog and performances. I’d totally watch a US or British remake of it … but in German? No thanks.
I had the exact same thought
In Finland: ”Queen of fucking everything”
I was waiting for something from Finland. Thanks!
You’re welcome.
Canada: The Kids in the Hall.
But there are a few I really like. Orphan Black, Letterkenny, Shorzy, Littlest Hobo, SCTV, Fraggle Rock, Schitt’s Creek, Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High (not the newer ones with Drake), The Red Green Show, Reboot, Transformers: Beast Wars (or as it was known here just “Beasties”) Street Cents, This Hour has 22 Minutes, Mr. Dressup…really hard to just pick one.
Corner Gas? Kim’s Convenience?
Kim’s Convenience was ruined by its last season and getting cancelled (or whatever happened to it).
Pretend it got cancelled a season early. It’s a bit of a GoT situation, but to a lesser extent.
I’m a lumberjack!
Trailer Park Boys, too
Kaamelott is a good French short format comedie series. Most of the humor is based on puns, word plays and quiproquo, it would be absolutely impossible to translate and it wouldn’t be funny to anyone who isn’t absolutely fluent in French. No need to thank me for this useless recommendation.
quiproquo
Nice dual-language pun.
UK: I’d recommend Slow Horses on AppleTV. Gary Oldman heads a cast of misfits from an MI5 unit of rejects. Drama and comedy in a perfect blend.
You spelled father Ted and Black Books wrong.
I’m usually the guy who cries that the TV show/movie isn’t as good as the book, but in this case the show is much better than the books. The author tries to be clever and just comes off as snarky.
They adapted another of his books “Down Cemetery Road” with Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson. Enjoy
Yes, we’ve watched that; it was excellent. I do enjoy the books too.
Along similar lines, Dept Q.
Edinbrugh based cold case squad works out of the basement of police headquarters. The boss has severe PTSD after being shot on the job, and his subordinates are equally broken.
Another excellent show we thoroughly enjoyed!
US: Everything by Mike Judge is gold, so for a live action show its indisputably Silicon Valley. Personal fave sci-fi was Babylon 5. Out of animation - Pantheon.
Mr Inbetween is probably the most popular, but if you want an Australian version of The Office I would highly recommend Utopia.
Seconding Mr Inbetween cause it deserves it.
Thirding Mr Inbetween. Very good and kind of a fresh take on the topic. I’ve watched it a couple times already. Wish they would have made more but at the same time it ended up very well.
I said no English language shows but I forgot about our friends from the other side of the world. Shows from Australia and New Zealand are not that popular so thanks for the recommendations. We did have “Heartbreak High” in the TV in Poland though :D
Ah, my bad, I was just excited to talk about some of ours 😅
I’ve been watching Fisk and really enjoying it. The first season of Danger 5 is short but was peak TV
Danger 5 is another great one!
Germany, but limited to comedy (cause I don’t really watch any shows, but if I do then it’s comedy):
- Stromberg - a German office show, focused on just one department with an absolute dickhead for a boss. But the worker characters are great too.
- Pastewka - a series of the actor/comedian Bastian Pastewka where he basically plays himself in his private life. Often compared to Curb Your Enthusiasm, but while there are similarities it’s a totally different character IMO.
- jerks - basically the title, two friends who are jerks. They’re often getting into awkward situations and try to resolve them with lies and brazenness.
I love them all three, hard to pick one as the best. Probably Stromberg.
All of that sounds like cringe comedy. I’ll be skipping those. Thanks for the warning, I guess 😆.
Yeah that’s a good general description of all three lol. Guess I’m more into that than you :D
Stromberg is our adaptation of “The Office”
From Greece, To Nisi (The Island) is the best I’ve seen. It’s about an island where they used to move people with leprosy.
Eteros Ego (The Other Me) is supposed to be one of the best but haven’t gotten around to watching it yet. It’s a crime show that’s a sequel to the movie with the same name. The movie is on YouTube with English subs.
Umbre . Romanian HBO production about a mob enforcer that’s trying to keep his family and job separate. Pretty good and should be decently easy to find with English subtitles.
Not from South Korea but my favorite show on all of tv is “Chef vs My Fridge”
2 guests give their order to 8 chefs and 2 of them cook for only 15 minutes to fulfill that order. However, they may only use what is in that guest’s fridge/pantry. So sometimes it’s a lot of good ingredients, sometimes hardly anything to cook with.
It’s so funny. Each chef has their own character and I love how they converse with each other. It’s hard to pick a favorite since they are all so different (but Namno is the best). It’s the only show (next to taskmaster) that I wait impatiently for it’s release each week.
Sounds very similar to Ready Steady Cook from UK which was really fun. I will try to get it, thanks.
I don’t have Netflix so I use kisskh.co. adblocker recommended
The Netherlands has a couple good series. A recent hit (dutch/belgian production) is “undercover”. It’s about a Belgian cop that goes undercover in the organisation of a dutch drug dealer. Very fun with lots of peculiar cultural references.
A personal favorite though, is a 1995 childrens show called “lang leve de koningjn” (long live the queen). It tought me how to play chess in a very fun and engaging way.
Your honest to god staple is New Kids on the Block and the 2 movies.
Dutch tv seems very focused on drug shows, crime shows, etc.
Undercover looks good but with a title like that it’s hard to find. I don’t see it anywhere (outside of Netflix obviously) but I will keep searching. Thanks.
Or maybe “Baantjer”, a pretty fun crime show. Not spectacular, but very Dutch.
