Stories exist to incite emotional responses. People love nothing more than to cheer for their favorite characters, while simultaneously expressing their hatred for others. Everything's subjective when it comes to feelings, but what matters are the feelings themselves.
The last decade has seen a major uptick in quality programming with the advent of streaming platforms, with several critics noting that TV is in yet another Golden Age. There are too many incredible series to count across genre and style, but it can be safely assumed that the most powerful TV shows are those that influence their viewers' core emotions and leave behind a lasting impression.
10 Tuca & Bertie Is Comical Without Sacrificing A Single Ounce Of Pathos
Lisa Hanawalt's Tuca & Bertie is rife with surrealism and sensitivity, a combination that works excellently in its favor. It's lighter in emotional texture than BoJack Horseman, but delves as deeply into the undercurrents of character anxieties with a warmth that's truly unexpected from a series this absurd.
Tuca & Bertie was canceled after its first season but has thankfully been restored courtesy of Adult Swim. Its second season, currently in progress, maintains its delirium-inducing comical style without sacrificing a single ounce of pathos.
9 One Day At A Time Is Both Heartbreaking And Heartwarming
One Day at a Time is a remake of the 1975 show of the same name, except focusing on a Latinx single-parent household this time around. The series is designed like a sitcom with phenomenally funny slapstick moments, but it also explores the various intersections between sexuality, racism, mental health, immigration, and so on.
One Day at a Time doesn't make light of serious moments, either. There are innumerable scenes that are heartbreaking and painfully relatable at the same time.
8 Dear White People Is Intimately Self-Introspective In Nature
Dear White People has experienced its share of controversies; despite backlash, the show still stands as one of the best series of the streaming era. The interesting thing about Dear White People is not that it bluntly points the finger at a particular race, but that it is intimately self-introspective in nature.
All things considered, Black students at Armstrong-Parker House eventually come to terms with their own shortcomings over the course of the series, regardless of how white characters react to their personal growth.
7 Fleabag Takes Audiences On An Emotional Hyperloop
Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag is an incredibly moving story revolving around a woman who can't seem to find meaning in her life, no matter how hard she looks for it. This short British dramedy takes audiences on an emotional hyperloop from cheery to glum and everything in between.
Rolling Stone magazine called Fleabag a "tragicomic masterpiece," a fitting description. The titular character may or may not have found closure by the end of her arc, but she does realize that freedom, psychological or otherwise, cannot be achieved without putting in the work.
6 Lost In Space Is Anchored By Something As Simple As Love
Lost in Space is heavy with sci-fi aesthetic; however, its spaceships, extrasolar planets, robotic aliens, and funky landscapes are anchored in place by something as simple as love.
Parents sacrifice themselves for their children, a boy desperately tries to save his friend, and an extraterrestrial cyborg behaves far more humanely than most humans. Lost in Space is basically The Swiss Family Robinson, as it retains the heart of Wyss' novel even though the narrative is significantly revised.
5 How to Get Away with Murder Works Because Of Annalise Keating
How to Get Away with Murder is crafted with a delicate awareness for all things beyond the scope of the normative, centering on the heterogeneous mixture of blazing girlpower and debilitating insecurity that is Annalise Keating.
The ensemble cast makes for an incredible set of side characters, and given how seamlessly their experiences overlap with each other, they forge a bond that's almost unbreakable. Then again, it always comes down to Annalise to save the day and repair relationships, which she does without a shred of hesitation.
4 The Good Place Is A Hilarious Treatise On Ethical Philosophy
The Good Place starts simple: an overly sugary afterlife where self-designated stowaway Eleanor Shellstrop finds herself after dying in a shopping-cart-related accident. She meets three other characters — Tahani, Chidi, and Jason — all of who are in a similar predicament.
The show suddenly becomes a crash course on ethical philosophy delivered through both Chidi's lectures and in-universe character interactions, taking viewers on a hilariously poignant journey all about choices and the consequences that arise as a result.
3 Love, Death & Robots Subverts Preconceived Notions About How The World Should Be
Love, Death & Robots is an anthology tour of the human mind, albeit powered by a wildly beating sci-fi heart. It includes bizarre episodes like "Beyond the Aquila Rift" as well as touching tour de forces like "Zima Blue."
While the second season didn't quite live up to audience expectations, most episodes in Love, Death & Robots are built around a solid emotional kernel. From the thrilling justice of "Sonnie's Edge" to the bleak comedy of "When the Yogurt Took Over," this series subverts preconceived notions about how the world should be.
2 GLOW Displays Its Sentimental Strength With Fervor
GLOW is an exquisitely crafted television show. Its costume and set design are impeccable, the story is radical, and its "knockout writing" and "killer cast" help it mature into a work of art its creators can (and should) be proud of.
Like its characters on the wrestling stage, GLOW slams the breath out of its viewers by minimizing emotional ambiguity, further adding to the series' sentimental strength. It's quite unfortunate that it won't be returning for a fourth season, leaving its fans in the lurch.
1 La Casa De Las Flores Is Tender And Evocative
La Casa de las Flores earned instant acclaim for its layered perspectives on social class, mental illness, and queer identity. The show takes audiences through each of its themes with great tenderness, almost like a tour through the fragrant, rainbow-hued garden of human nature. La Casa de las Flores is a post-modern twist on the classic telenovela, made accessible to people outside the purview of most Spanish-language programming as a part of Netflix's international sphere.
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