Eliot Waugh is my favorite

August 22, 2017 9:10 AM

I am done with Season 2 of The Magicians. I need more fantasy-based television with some caveats. New or old shows are fine.

I like:
Fairy Tales
Humans with supernatural abilities
Time Travel
Humor
Romance as a garnish and not the main dish

Things I don't want:
Horror, though some creepiness is okay
Science fiction
Zombies/people eaters
Endless fights
Crime-fighter type superheroes
Long journeys with a bunch of random, quirky characters

Things that are okay in small doses:
Elves, dragons and other non-human creatures
Storylines about what it means to be human, aka Pop Philosophy
Dystopia

I watched several seasons of Once Upon a Time, but I dislike both Peter Pan and Wizard of Oz, so when those two storylines took up an entire season, I was done. Game of Thrones has far too much violence/war focus for me. I did not like Buffy or Angel, but I did like Firefly. Westworld was pretty good and I am currently enjoying People of Earth. I saw 2 or 3 episodes of Outlander and will continue watching it. Stranger Things seems too creepy and Doctor Who falls flat for me.

posted by soelo to Media & Arts (14 answers total)

Best answer: Try The Dresden Files, I haven't seen all of them but seemed low on the creepiness scale. May need to be creative to find it's a bit old and only a season or two.
posted by sammyo at 9:29 AM on August 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: It's possible this show may lean a little too heavy on the "fights" and "long journeys" scale for your taste, but as far as high fantasy TV goes, I really liked Legend of the Seeker. (The fights are more of the "choreographed network TV sword fights" variety than the "HBO gore fest" variety, if that helps.)

Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me both have the humor, romance =/= main plot, and supernatural-ish elements you mentioned liking, although Dead Like Me definitely skews a little morbid. If you're alright with including animated shows in the mix, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra are both really solid shows as well.

Being Human and Grimm are two shows I hear a lot about, but I've never actually watched either of them.

Upon preview: YES YES YES to Dresden Files, OMG. The guest stars can skew a little campy, but the main cast are all brilliant. This show is like number two on my "WHY THE HECK DID THEY CANCEL THIS??" list.
posted by helloimjennsco at 9:43 AM on August 22, 2017

Best answer: OH! Follow up: if you can track down a copy of the mini-series The 10th Kingdom anywhere, that one will tick a lot of the boxes on your "like" list as well.
posted by helloimjennsco at 9:47 AM on August 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Seconding Legend of the Seeker. They don't waste time, they cram about 3 episodes worth of plot into a single episode! It is a journey-based show with fights, but it's a lot of fun so it's worth considering.

I'm told the books have some specific major problems, but the TV show simply does not include them, in case you research it and wonder.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 10:21 AM on August 22, 2017

If you enjoy musicals, Galavant might be right up your alley.
posted by burntflowers at 10:47 AM on August 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell ? Eddie Marsan is just so great.

The "Plot" section of that link is a good summary that doesn't spoil anything. And it's on Netflix.
posted by Ennis Tennyone at 11:00 AM on August 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
posted by Lexica at 11:01 AM on August 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

I really enjoyed the first two seasons of Sleepy Hollow. I quit watching after that and suggest you do as well, but I had a great time, especially with season one. It would seem to fit right in with your specifications: time travel, creepy but not horror (it was on network tv), humans with varying abilities, it was VERY funny at time, and the two leads had FANTASTIC chemistry of the friendship-maybe-more variety. Also, the two leads are extremely attractive. EXTREMELY.
posted by Aquifer at 11:25 AM on August 22, 2017

Best answer: Check out The Librarians!
posted by saturngirl at 12:38 PM on August 22, 2017

Both Timeless and Lucifer have FanFare posts which will give you some sense of what fellow MeFites think of the shows, and while the second may be a bit too "crime fighter" for you, that part of the show is usually done in service of pushing Lucifer to do some personal introspection.
posted by sardonyx at 12:47 PM on August 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Seconding Galavant. Its light fluffy fun and its two seasons just fly by if you're a binger like me.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 1:46 PM on August 22, 2017

I really like Grimm. It's a fun show and good character development. Currently included with Amazon Prime if you have that available to you.
posted by Autumnheart at 4:43 PM on August 22, 2017

You might like some Arthurian stuff! there's the recent BBC adaptation of Merlin, or the much older Sam Neill version (my personal guilty-ish favourite).
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 5:23 AM on August 23, 2017

You might like Highlander the series, or you might not. There's more romance in the first season than the rest. There's fighting, but there's a lot of other stuff going on as well. It's got a high cheese factor, but if you embrace that, it's quite fun (except for Richie, he's just annoying).
posted by rikschell at 2:04 PM on August 23, 2017