Cultural Exchange: 5 Old TV Shows Worth Revisiting
& An Important Reader Survey
I recently read an article stating that almost 68% of Film and TV workers in the UK are currently out of work and another reporting that production spending is down by 45%. My team out in the US have told me it’s closer to 80% out there - “They’re just not making anything right now”.
Tough statistics - not just for actors and writers like me but also for audiences. The knowledge that there will be significantly less exciting new movies, TV dramas and comedies to dive into over the next couple of years is a disappointing yet unsurprising consequence of COVID and two (necessary but challenging) major industry strikes.
I’ve seen these stats directly reflected in the number of auditions I’ve had -about 50% less than the average year. Not that we’ve had an “average year” for a good while, of course. Screenwriting work has been just as thin on the ground so I’m grateful I’ve always worked in a diverse range of mediums and currently have novel writing to keep me going. I am, however, desperate to act again. I dream about it, pray for it, study it and train for it, hoping that when the next job finally comes, I’ll be ready.
I also spend a lot of time watching actors I really admire do their thing and, with fewer new shows to binge, I’ve recently begun delving into the archives. But have the shows I used to love stood the test of time?
Let’s find out…
The Leftovers
First up is the dystopian drama I’ve long cited as my favourite all time piece of television. I recently rewatched season 1 and some of season 2 with my fiancé and a friend who had never seen the show before. In fact, this friend had never watched a full season of any TV show before. Not ever in his whole entire life. Seriously! This meant our viewing party had to come with a disclaimer: Not all TV dramas are going to be as good as this. Do not let this show spoil you.
For those of you who don’t know, the The Leftovers begins with 2% of the world’s population suddenly disappearing. We see the chaos this unleashes in the opening few minutes of the first episode and then pick up three years later. We meet those “leftover” and learn about how they’re dealing with the grief and unanswered questions.
In the first season, there’s particular focus on the Garvey family, lead by single dad Kevin (brilliantly played by Justin Theroux, a very much underrated actor, in my book). Kevin is a local cop who never seems to have a day off. He’s exhausted, plagued by vivid nightmares (that may or may not be dreams at all) and struggling to raise a teenage daughter (Margaret Qualley) and her live-in best friend.
The show also stars Christopher Eccleston, who perfectly plays a priest who refuses to entertain the theory that the Departure may have actually been the Rapture. Because, if it had been, surely he would’ve been taken too, right?
In a character-centric episode, he battles to save his church from foreclosure. Back when I first saw it in 2014, it felt like the stand out hour of the entire season, but what has been most interesting about revisiting The Leftovers if that “Two Boats and a Helicopter” didn’t at all land with me in the same way this time around. Instead, it was “Guest”, an episode I barely remembered, that really blew me away. It focuses on Nora Durst, played by a mesmerising Carrie Coon, and a trip to New York that quickly goes awry and tells us so much about her character and how totally bad ass but broken she actually is. It made me realise that experiencing the same piece of art at a different time in your life can have a completely different effect on you. The more of ourselves we bring to the work, the more it becomes a conversation.
Paterson Joseph (more on him later), Amy Brenneman (who delivers a masterclass in face acting), the ever-brilliant Ann Dowd, the Carver twins and Liv Tyler round out the series regulars. Season 2 sees Regina King co-lead and, needless to say, she is just fabulous in every way.
The series is written by one of my favourite screenwriters, Damon Lindelof, who also wrote The Watchmen, in which King also stars. Many who watched his show Lost feel quite strongly that he failed to stick the landing and they didn’t get the payoff the audience deserved after six seasons of watching. However, I think the ending of The Leftovers is one of the best series finales I’ve ever seen. One that I’ll remember for a long time and that genuinely left me thoroughly satisfied. So, if you’re a disappointed Lost fan, you need not be wary. The Leftovers is worth sticking with.
And if all that weren’t enough to persuade you - the series is soundtracked by Max Richter and I can promise the score is truly stunning.
Peep Show
A lot of jokes don’t age well so I’m as surprised as the next person that, somehow, Peep Show is still hilariously funny more than 20 years after it first premiered. It’s a real testament to the talents of core writing team Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong. Armstrong is, of course, internationally famous these days as the creator of Succession and only a handful of people do satire as well as he does - I’d class his contemporaries and collaborators Charlie Brooker, Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris amongst the few.
Sure, there are a couple of quips here and there that feel dated and cringeworthy but, given this comedy was popular during the naughties, when casual misogyny and racism dominated British television, it’s actually quite ahead of its time, comparatively.
Along with David Mitchell, who plays awkward insurance broker and history buff Mark, and Robert Webb, who plays unemployed, wannabe-musician and frequent shagger Jeremy, the show boasts series regulars Paterson Joseph, Rachel Blanchard (of Clueless fame) and a young Olivia Colman (yes, the Oscar winner!). My favourite character by far, however, has to be drug-addled and morally-bankrupt Super Hans (Matt King) who steals every scene he’s in.
ER
I was at my parents house back in May last year when an old episode of ER came on the TV. I’d watched it fairly religiously as a teen but seeing it as an adult made me realise just how completely ahead of it’s time it really was.
I found myself astounded by how racially diverse the show was, with Black, East Asian and Jewish leads as well as main and supporting characters of South Asian and Latino heritage. Perhaps I took it for granted at the time. I was living in the states and growing up on a diet of Moesha, Martin and Living Single. Why wouldn’t TV reflect the world I was living in? When I moved back to the UK years later, however, the lack of progress when it came to on-screen representation here was very noticeable.
Croatian actor Goran Višnjić played Dr. Luka Kovač from 1999 until 2007 and, whilst his storylines weren’t always linked to where he came from, the writers did explore the deaths of his wife and children in the war. In 2024, watching a man grieve his family after they are killed in a merciless bombardment feels particularly striking. It’s hard not to think of the countless Palestinian men currently doing the same right now.
The show also deals with sexuality, racist and misogynistic micro-aggressions, living with HIV, addiction, abuse, chronic illness and mental health with nuance, sensitivity and often devastating impact.
I started rewatching from Episode 1 of Season 5, when Noah Wyle’s Dr. John Carter becomes a newly employed member of the ER staff. It’s a great place to join in on the action as Carter’s introduction to the precinct and its characters makes him the perfect vehicle for the audience. Ming-Na and Maura Tierney join the cast soon after and Eric La Salle and Anthony Edwards’ meatier storylines kick off in the following season.
I’ve also enjoyed spotting (sometimes barely recognisable) guest stars in the early throes of their acting careers: Gabrielle Union, Wentworth Miller and Shia LaBeouf, playing a character quite similar to how I imagine him to be IRL. There’s also Jim Belushi, Sally Field, in a recurring role she won a Primetime Emmy for, and James Cromwell, who also appears in two other shows I mention in this piece (points for knowing which!).
Honestly, I cannot recommend revisiting this show enough. It’s insane to me that the episodes I’m watching right now are over 20 years old considering how well they have aged and the fact that many of them feature more representation than a lot of shows produced in 2024 do. What’s happening on screen can only be a reflection of the diversity of the writers room and I only hope ER continues to be an example of how to make TV right. Truly addictive viewing.
Utopia
I originally watched this show when it first premiered in 2014 and it absolutely blew my socks off. What a wild ride and what an incredible imagination writer Dennis Kelly must have to conjure such a thing, I thought.
Then, six years later, the pandemic hit and I found myself listening to politicians saying, almost verbatim, lines I’d heard in Utopia. I forced my partner to rewatch the eerie, violent, dystopian thriller with me and he agreed: we were living the plot of this show. Or, at least, part of it.
It’s an ensemble piece led by Nathan Stewart Jarrett, Adeel Akhtar (one of the best to ever do it, for real) and Alexandra Roach. Paul Ready, who plays dweeby single dad Kevin in Motherland (another show I’d highly recommend), utterly transforms himself into Lee, a terrifying villain who works alongside Neil Maskell’s Arby, torturing and murdering their way across the country in pursuit of the mysterious “Jessica Hyde”. Our heroes, joined by ten year old accomplice Grant, end up on the run, targeted by the shadowy organisation Lee and Arby represent. But why? And what does a rare comic book have to do with it all?
Look out for a young Emilia Jones (who led Oscar-winning film CODA) and star turns from GoT’s Rose Leslie and Bridgerton’s Ruth Gemmell. Paul Higgins is brilliant as a quivering wreck of a government minister and eagle-eyed viewers will also spot the wonderful Paapa Essiedu (I May Destroy You) and Sacha Dhawan (Not Safe For Work).
It’s worth noting that this show is directed by one of my favourite all time directors, Marc Munden (take note of his distinctive style), and scored by one of my favourite composers, Christobal Tapia De Veer, who also created the absolute banger that is the White Lotus theme. All this makes for a visually spectacular and thoroughly gripping piece of television. Perfection.
Six Feet Under
I have fellow Substacker
to blame/thank for this one. Seeing her Six Feet Under related notes in my feed on several occasions gave me the nudge I needed to start rewatching and I’m so glad I did!Let’s face it: Alan Ball invented a genius format in having each episode start with the death of someone whose funeral the Fishers would be working on that week. It’s also very impressive that the writers on this show were able to think up so many novel ways of killing a person.
The Fisher family (and Federico) represent the full gamut of attitudes towards death and dead people. Nate is slightly sickened, Claire is desensitised, David never forgets the business side of things and Federico is an artist, who takes great joy in making sure that the deceased are as beautifully presented as possible. I thought of him whilst watching Love is Blind UK recently. When lovable funeral director Freddie is asked if he is “creeped out by the dead bodies”, he chuckles sheepishly and replies, “No… because I just look at them and think, that’s someone’s loved one.”
My heart!
Any show that examines family dynamics, especially through the lens of grief is always going to be a winner in my eyes (see also: This is Us). And it very much helps that the Fishers are flawed in such relatable ways.
Stand out episodes include “The Foot” and “The Room” (both Season 1), “The Liar and the Whore” (Season 2) and the season finales of just about every season but particularly the last one. I challenge you to watch the final ever scene of this show without sobbing.
What shows would you recommend revisiting? Let me know in the comments.
& Finally…
In the next couple of weeks, I’m going to start sharing some short fiction with you all and I’d love to know what format you would prefer it to come in. I’m keen to split each story over 2-4 posts.
Thank you for participating! And thanks, as always, for being here.
With love,
xK
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ER is a great shout. I need to go back to that. Lost is another one that passed me by but has stayed with audiences decades later.
Peep Show endlessly quotable comedy genius. There were better ones than this, of course, but I latched on to the following from Super Hans very early: “Tell you what, that crack is really moreish.” 🤣
Oh , and this audience insight from Jez: “Crunchy Nut Cornflakes are just Frosties for w*nkers.”
To which Mark replies, "Yeah, well, Frosties are just Cornflakes for people who can’t face reality."
Dobby (not in the cellar), the bit about Maltesers … it's all coming back to me now.
This was awesome (and not because I was mentioned) I’m always looking for new stuff to watch so perhaps I’ll try one of these. I’m currently watching Smallville for the first time and I’m not super impressed. Also Industry on HBO. Thanks for this write up and looking forward to what other suggestions you have