TV shows with non-ordinary settings and characters

November 6, 2022 5:56 AM

My college-age daughter wants to find a new TV show to get into, or maybe a fiction podcast, and she wanted me to see if you guys could offer any good ideas. She’s not interested in anything set in the ordinary real world, especially not high school. Apocalypse or post-apocalypse, dystopia, or science fiction would be great. The main thing she looks for in a show is at least one character she really likes. Her favorite characters tend to be outsiders who are quirky or different in some way and also very competent at something.

Characters she likes include Murderbot, Spock, Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock, Kaz from Six of Crows, Odo and Quark from Deep Space Nine, Elnor from Picard, Rorschach from Watchmen, Belker from Hill Street Blues, Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy, Castiel from Supernatural, Jonathan Sims from the Magnus Archives and Wheatley from Portal. (She doesn’t at all feel like they have to be male for her to like them, but there just don’t seem to be many female characters like this.)

Some shows she has previously enjoyed: Shadow and Bone, Moon Knight, Our Flag Means Death (favorite character: Jim), Doom Patrol (favorite character: Larry), various Star Treks, Arcane (favorite character: Silco), Archive 81, Loki, Severance (even though she didn’t love any of the characters, it was just so weird and interesting she loved it anyway.) She also loved the Magnus Archives podcast. What else can you suggest? (Bonus points if you can mention a specific character you think she would like.)

posted by Redstart to Media & Arts (57 answers total)

How about "The Good Place". Definitely not the real world ( most of the time ) and features Janet as a hyper competent female character.
posted by roue at 6:01 AM on November 6, 2022 [9 favorites]

Sandman! She'll love Lucienne, I bet, and probably also Dream himself. Fifty-fifty for time in other planes and a very horror-supernatural leaning version of our world.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 6:03 AM on November 6, 2022 [8 favorites]

Basically all of the characters in Station Eleven fit that description, and the setting can't be beat.
posted by telegraph at 6:11 AM on November 6, 2022 [7 favorites]

Firefly? My memory's not good enough to recommend characters, but I do recall quirky and competent being a general vibe.
posted by fabius at 6:13 AM on November 6, 2022 [6 favorites]

Monk
posted by amtho at 6:13 AM on November 6, 2022

If she's already liked and watched some Marvel stuff and hasn't seen WandaVision, then that should be on her list--less for the characters, and more for the unreal settings.
posted by sardonyx at 6:15 AM on November 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

Seconding Firefly. And the character Kaylee, specifically.
posted by freya_lamb at 6:15 AM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

The Adventure Zone (starting with episode 1, the balance arc). It sounds like she'll really like Taako.
posted by meese at 6:18 AM on November 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

+1 for Station Eleven tv adaptation.
Maybe worth trying Locke and Key or The Peripheral.
posted by crocomancer at 6:27 AM on November 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

For podcasts, has she tried Welcome to Night Vale? Definitely other-worldly, but I'm not sure about the characters.
posted by toastyk at 6:37 AM on November 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

There are lots of characters to like in The Expanse (fantastically competent women of various stripes), and if she gets into... she'll love it. Strong endorsements for Station Eleven and Sandman. Locke and Key has a strong high school thru story, although heavily fantasy based. She might like the fiction podcast Spines. It's hard to describe, but definitely fantasy with a little bit of horror tinge. Wren, the narrator and main character is great.
posted by kimdog at 6:39 AM on November 6, 2022 [9 favorites]

The Leftovers-- some of the younger characters are really relatable. Killing Eve?
posted by BibiRose at 6:49 AM on November 6, 2022 [4 favorites]

Orphan Black. A mysterious entity has been making clones, and our heroine discovers she is one. Tatiana Maslany is astounding as she plays all the clones-- somebody said 'there are a half dozen amazing womens roles on TV right now and Tatiana Maslany is playing all of them'.

It's nominally set in the 'real world' but it's enough of a thriller/sci-fi romp that the real world doesn't get in the way too often.
posted by hovey at 6:54 AM on November 6, 2022 [14 favorites]

Andor: both budding rebel Andor and up-and-coming Imperial Meero are outsiders who are each in their own way surprisingly good at what they do.

Los Espookys: It’s kind of like a reverse Scooby-doo where the titular group gets paid to scare people. Plenty of comedic supernatural and absurdist elements. Renaldo is the group leader who only thinks about horror and Ursula is the more practical one.

Kantaro: The Sweet Tooth Salaryman: Kantaro is a hyper-competent sales rep for a publishing company who writes a secret dessert blog on the side. While the premise sounds kind of normal, I can’t emphasize how truly weird this show is. People’s heads turn into desserts, Sigmund Frued appears in the sky, there are musical numbers, and a squat contest.

What We Do In The Shadows Vampire mockumentary. Guillermo, the familiar, who keeps the Vampire household running is the standout character in a show with an all around great cast.
posted by chrisulonic at 6:59 AM on November 6, 2022 [6 favorites]

The 100
It gets wildly convoluted and very stupid, but is never really bad?? If that makes sense. There are lots of characters she can find to like, since most of the cast goes through a highly competent outsider phase as the story goes on. Loosely based on a book series if she's into that.

Also, two of the main characters from the TV show apparently got married in real life so that's nice.
posted by phunniemee at 7:04 AM on November 6, 2022

Inside Job is on Netflix. (And just announced season two!) She might really like protagonist Reagan Ridley.
posted by SPrintF at 7:05 AM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

I think she might really like Captain Isabel Lovelace, a character in the science fiction podcast Wolf 359.

Here is an intro.
posted by brainwane at 7:05 AM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Killjoys! It's set in space in a theoretical future. It has oceans of competence porn and every single character is a quirky outsider in one way or another. It starts out as heist-of-the-week but they laid down the overarching meta plot from the beginning.
posted by rednikki at 7:09 AM on November 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

As she’s watched a lot of Star Trek, has she tried Lower Decks yet? I get the feeling she’ll enjoy Boimler especially, but also Rutherford and Tendi.
posted by ejs at 7:11 AM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

The Expanse. (Tell her it gets much better after you make it to about episode 5 in season 1). I'm specifically thinking of Amos as a hyper-competent outsider, but Naomi could be viewed that way as well.
posted by Alterscape at 7:15 AM on November 6, 2022 [5 favorites]

Maybe she would like iZombie? It’s sort of a dark zombie not-quite-apocalypse comedy. It’s much better than the name would suggest. Here’s the description: “ When over-achieving medical resident Liv Moore attends a party that turns into a zombie feeding frenzy, she ends up joining the ranks of the living dead. Determined to pass as human despite her pale appearance and newly listless demeanor, Liv forms a plan to resist her drive to consume fresh human brains by taking a job at a coroner's office, where she can secretly snack on the brains of corpses delivered there. Soon discovering that she absorbs the memories of those she feeds on, she finds new purpose by posing as a psychic and working with a detective to help solve their murders.”
posted by lomes at 7:19 AM on November 6, 2022 [5 favorites]

Seconding Firefly, The Expanse, Sandman, The Good Place, Lower Decks.

Adding in Strange New Worlds. Favorite Trek series after DS9; no one quite as 'outsider' as Odo but the whole cast is strong.

An off-the-beaten-path choice: The BBC did a radio drama called Pilgrim that might appeal: A human, cursed by the King of the Grey Folk with immortality, wanders through life dealing with problems caused by the fey. Horror-adjacent monster of the week set up, with some ongoing threads.

Also Neverwhere, by Neal Gaiman. Available as a book, low budget miniseries, and radio drama. (I haven't listened to the radio drama, but can vouch for the others.)
posted by mark k at 7:24 AM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Travelers

I was disappointed the show lasted only 3 seasons.
posted by falsedmitri at 7:31 AM on November 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

Seconding Firefly, Expanse and adding Battlestar Galactica (from the 2003 remake). Hypercompetent outsiders abound. The titular ship only survives the apocolypse by having been relegated to the scrapyard, yanno?

I would also like to add Motherland: Fort Salem. It's a tiny bit high-school in that these are young adults in an educational setting, but it's actually about a matrilinear society of witches who have agreed to have their children conscripted to the military. They are engaged in battle with terrorist/freedom fighters, The Spree. Plenty of greyzone morality characters, plenty of competent outsiders including bad girl Raell who not only has a non-witch father but has grown up in a sort of backwoods where christianity has been mixed with the magic "work", also this frowned upon. But she's incredibly skilled so... they may have to suck it up...
posted by Iteki at 7:34 AM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Killjoys, Dark Matter, Almost Human.
posted by neushoorn at 7:49 AM on November 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

I just finished watching Am I Being Unreasonable on BBC iPlayer, if she can find a way to access it. It's set in the real world but it's haunted and the characters are quirky in the extreme. There are 6 episodes and each one seemed to completely change the point of view of the one before. It was eery, funny and sad and I can't stop thinking about it.
posted by maggiemaggie at 7:50 AM on November 6, 2022

It's just a limited series, not a full thing with multiple seasons, but I think Maniac (on Netflix) would fit. Jonah Hill's character is neurodivergent, the basic world setting is a kind of alternate future/mild dystopia, and then they get into the bizarre dream sequences.
posted by LionIndex at 8:12 AM on November 6, 2022

The ARIA series is an anime set on a terraformed Mars in the 24th century and follows a teenaged girl as she studies to become an Undine, or gondola tour guide, in city that is a recreation of Venice, which on Earth has long ago disappeared into the sea.

Three seasons - ARIA the Animation, ARIA the Natural, ARIA the Origination, and four OVAs (not quite a movie, more than an episode) - ARIA the OVA: Arietta, ARIA the Avvenire, ARIA the Crepuscolo, and ARIA the Benedizione (the last two you'll have to sail the seven seas for, they're not currently available legally in the West).

The main character, Akari Mizunashi, is the textbook definition of a quirky outsider who becomes very competent at her job. The series follows her and two friends as they train to get better at their jobs, with some odd adventures along the way.
posted by ralan at 8:27 AM on November 6, 2022

Miss Sherlock might work? Set in non-apocalyptic modern day Tokyo. But a competent and quirky Sherlock and Wato-san are women. It's terrific.
posted by mrsbartolozzi at 8:47 AM on November 6, 2022

Not sure if Buffy the Vampire Slayer is out because the characters start off as high school students. I've liked a lot of the same shows you listed as well as Buffy, so I would suggest that if she hasn't already seen it. She'd probably like Giles in particular.
posted by wondermouse at 9:32 AM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

I think she might like Critical Role. It's a pre-taped but unscripted D&D campaign done by a group of incredible voice actors, many of whom she'll probably recognize if she listens closely. Campaign 3 is going on right now and there are three female cast members she might love (Laudna, Imogen, and Fearne.) Magic, mystery, math, lots of ridiculousness, excellent storytelling/roleplay. My username is from one of its opening songs.
posted by The Adventure Begins at 9:35 AM on November 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts on Netflix - post apocalyptic cartoon, lead two characters are women, lots of snark.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:47 AM on November 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

Resident Alien - the lead character is an alien on earth, and there are three main female characters who get a lot of screen time and who are awesome.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:52 AM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Seconding Orphan Black. It is exactly what she’s looking for. It will bring her great delight. Really!
posted by saltykitten at 10:21 AM on November 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

Fringe

The 100

The Magicians

Adventure Time

Tales of Arcadia series on Netflix (trollhunters, 3 below, and wizards)

See
(jfc see is so good)
posted by Crystalinne at 11:25 AM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

The OA

(oh, but it's partly high school!)
posted by pjenks at 12:03 PM on November 6, 2022

People who are really competent at what they do? Characters you develop real affection for? Leverage, for sure.

Short summary: A crew of former grifters, hackers, and thieves who are all the best at what they do band together to use their finely-honed skills to fight for the little guy and punish big bad evil corporations and governments.

There were 5 seasons plus a recent bonus season called Leverage: Redemption, and there are probably no more episodes coming. There are definitely some real-world settings--in each episode they're doing one con/heist and those are often set in office buildings, stores, government offices, etc, and the bad actions they're pubishing are based on things that happened in the real world--but the focus isn't on the procedural or mundane aspects of those things, rather about how our heroes do their thing.

Each member of the crew is a complex and fully-fleshed-out person, and they develop complex, interesting, and non-traditional relationships with each other (very found-family). Most people who watch the show develop a strong liking for at least one of them depending on their personalities and inclinations. The affection for Murderbot makes me think she might like Parker.

Enthusiastic +1 to the previous suggestions for:
- The Good Place
- Orphan Black
- Adventure Time
- Killjoys

As for fiction podcasts, if she liked The Magnus Archives and is a fan of Castiel from Supernatural, then Welcome to Night Vale is in a similar vein and she would probably like it, too. Just note it takes a couple episodes for them to hit their groove.

And does she know about the Supernatural spinoff currently airing, The WInchesters? It's better than I expected it to be, similar quality to some of the less-great Supernatural seasons. I probably wouldn't keep watching it if it were a brand-new show, but it's a little nice/comforting to be back in the Supernatural universe again. Follows the boys' parents when they first met.
posted by rhiannonstone at 12:30 PM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

I also have to chime in to say that Legends of Tomorrow should be a good bet. Assuming that she either a) skips season one, b) returns to season one after watching a season or two of the rest of the show or c) starts with season one knowing that the show takes a hard left turn away from what it started out as, I think it might appeal to her.

The show starts with a small number of female characters and adds to them as the seasons go on, and not only does it add women, it adds people who are diverse and who exist across the entire LGBTQIA spectrum. While some are hypercompetent (at least in some ways), they're all also screw-ups in others, which makes them more relatable.

The premise of the show involves time and space travel and people whose jobs are to ensure the sanctity of the timeline, so there are lots of different settings. Despite that, it doesn't take itself too seriously (after season one), so it's usually a fun watch.

We covered Legends on FanFare and had enough participants who were well-versed in DC comics history that if she had any questions pop up while watching an episode, she might find some answers in the posts.

Also, speaking of time travel, she should check out Timeless.
posted by sardonyx at 12:36 PM on November 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

No one has mentioned Lost!?
posted by lewedswiver at 12:39 PM on November 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

Chiming in to say Orphan Black as well. My daughter's interest sound similar and we watched this together just post college during the pandemic.
posted by maxg94 at 12:51 PM on November 6, 2022

Oh yeah and +1 to Fringe and Lost. And JJ Abrams' other show from around the same time, Alias, though that one's definitely set in something closer to the real world--if you count romanticized, improbable spy stuff as something close to the real world.

They're all very character-driven, have engaging plot arcs, and have some mystical/supernatural element to them, even the spy show. And they all have at least one character who is the best at what they do.
posted by rhiannonstone at 1:02 PM on November 6, 2022

the Neverwhere audiobook is read by gaiman himself. it's terrific.
posted by j_curiouser at 1:13 PM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

+1 for Station Eleven and Killing Eve
posted by emd3737 at 1:37 PM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Has she tried Good Omens (angel and demon team up to stop the apocalypse)? Maybe The Witcher (monster hunting and magical war drama), but it's about to change lead actors.
posted by space snail at 3:41 PM on November 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

Umbrella Academy
posted by bookworm4125 at 4:13 PM on November 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

Digging down deep into the B-sides... Stargate SG1 had super competent people and Sam Carter and Daniel Jackson and Teal'c might appeal to her. Stargate Atlantis had... significantly less competent people, but Rodney McKay might appeal!

And I totally second Killjoys, Lower Decks, and Strange New Worlds.
posted by invincible summer at 5:20 PM on November 6, 2022 [4 favorites]

Watching His Bastard Son and the Devil Himself now, fits your description to a T.
posted by billsaysthis at 6:28 PM on November 6, 2022

Gentleman Jack on HBO. A queer, landholding woman in Yorkshire in the 19th century. She spent her time pursuing real estate deals, coal mining and investing as well as long-term romantic involvement with many women.

This is a based on a true story and Anne Lister's own diaries, written in code, so it may not fit the bill exactly. But she's a woman who asserts herself at a time when it was absolutely unheard of, yet she finds or creates a community/family for herself and interacts within the male-controlled business world.

Dead Like Me, a few years old, about a young woman who dies suddenly and unwillingly becomes a reaper. She whines and complains ... a lot. It's much more noticeable if you binge the show, but taken in small doses, it's rather life affirming and the characters are quirky and grow.
posted by typetive at 6:49 PM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Dead Like Me

This is great and reminded me that Pushing Daisies, another quirky Bryan Fuller show, also exists. Present day, but the main character is a piemaker who has the power to bring a dead person back to life if he touches them. They die permanently if he touches them again.

He has two friends, including the love of his life he can never touch (since he brought her back to life.)

Together, they solve crimes.
posted by mark k at 8:56 PM on November 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

iZombie
Ghosts (both UK and US are good)
posted by kinddieserzeit at 1:32 AM on November 7, 2022

I'd recommend Farscape over Firefly any day, almost every character is a hypercompetent outsider. And while it doesn't have perfect interpersonal politics, it doesn't have Joss Whedon interpersonal politics, which can only be a win. I've seen most of Trek except the extremely recent stuff and Farscape blows it out of the water.

She might also enjoy the 2015 miniseries of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
posted by terretu at 2:26 AM on November 7, 2022 [4 favorites]

Lower Decks for sure.
posted by asimplemouse at 2:31 AM on November 7, 2022

The Umbrella Academy is one of the best things I've seen in years, and it's emphatically not set in the ordinary real world. Part of the appeal is that I like the characters so much; I'd describe pretty much everyone in it as quirky and competent, albeit sometimes reluctantly so. Hard to say who she might like best, but my personal favourite is probably Five.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 4:50 AM on November 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

The Expanse is a great one, and it's available as both a TV show and audiobooks. If she enjoys fiction podcasts, she might like the audiobooks.
posted by Wilbefort at 7:01 AM on November 7, 2022

Warehouse 13. There are several characters that might hit the 'quirky and competent' spot.
posted by rjs at 10:31 AM on November 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

I love non-real world fiction about competent and quirky characters, although I really favor the female ones.

So I would second the recommendation for Stargate SG-1, especially for my forever favorite, the no-nonsense, steady as a rock Samantha Carter. This show does a great job combining plot-of-the-week episodes with the season arcs full of pleasingly over-the-top villains.

Also, big support for the recommendation of Farscape. A living prison ship escapes with a crew of former prisoners, a very lost Earth boy, and a disgraced pilot from the enemy side (the magnificent Aeryn Sun.) Everybody is very snarky, the Earth boy (John Crichton) is equal parts competent and an utter disaster, and things just keep getting weirder from there.
posted by See you tomorrow, saguaro at 5:32 PM on November 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

Try Crazyhead on Netflix. British, only one season. Normal young woman and oddball outsider young woman team up to hunt demons, prevent the apocalypse. Both are great characters, some really good support characters as well.
posted by dorey_oh at 12:13 PM on November 8, 2022