HBO is a powerhouse of series development. Programming that is thought provoking and rewarding. Here is a list of show that you can watch to chew up downtime while quarantined or sheltering in place. I am skipping the obvious like Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, Curb Your Enthusiasm, House of Cards and Game of Thrones and looking for some less and perhaps older series to enjoy. This is a drama heavy list…sorry.

DEADWOOD

This may be the best written show ever produced on television. It boldly considers our relationship to community, our American identity, individual vs government, women’s rights, racism and violence. All that heady thematic content is rolled into an action and tension filled drama with an extraordinary ensemble cast lead by Ian McShane, Molly Parker and Timothy Olyphant. There is plenty of laugh out loud humor as well. You will root for the good guys, and there are many. You will feel each character’s pain…and their little triumphs. Cut short by HBO in the middle of its 5 season arc, this third season can be seen as incomplete but within that rocky season Gerald McRaney’s performance is breathtaking. The best news is that after you watch the incomplete series, you can watch DEADWOOD the movie, released in 2019, which ties up the story with so much beauty, love and suffering that the epic feels complete. There is a disturbing plague arc in the first season that will resonate in the current COVID climate. More than anything David Milch’s vulgarity-populated poetry is our modern Shakespearian language and should not be missed.

NEWSROOM

Newsroom is well-paced, politically-demanding tale of integrity in an economically controlled, media overloaded world. As with Deadwood, the final seasons were compressed into a single season making the third series a bit overloaded and scattered, but the first two seasons are stellar. The ensemble cast all have real charisma and acting props. The series deals with the idea of redemption, a favorite theme of mine. The individual characters’ redemptions are a metaphor for our potential social redemption toward healthier more compassionate and honor-bound world. Aaron Sorkin takes his rippling “The West Wing” dialogue to a whole new level in this three season show. Sam Waterston is, as always, a treat. Jeff Daniels has the stature to hold the lead role with strength and subtly. There is humor here as well, lots of it. Olivia Munn, Dev Patel, Alison Pill and Jane Fonda all shine. This one goes down fast.

THE LEFTOVERS

For the philosophic and spiritual, The Leftovers is Damon Lindelof’s epic tale, based on the novel, of a world after “the rapture”. This is a very intimate personal journey for our main characters even within the cosmic scale of the story. The ensemble grows and evolves over the seasons. The first season is great, although there are many who see it as an unnecessary prelude to the rest of the series, but for me it is powerful and enriching. The story is full of enigma and enlightenment. The acting is complex and realistic. Some actions feel unmotivated because we are kept out of their perspective over most of the series. This is one for folks who like “The Handmaid’s Tale” on Hulu. Paced pretty slowly, this is not a bingable show. Each episode takes some time to reflect on and consider and the issues and events can be hard to take, let alone digest, but the reward is astronomical.

OZ

I LOVE THIS SHOW!!! It is certainly not for everyone. The violence and sexual situations are graphic and intense. The acting is stellar. Actors dance their way through intricate character transformation and growth. There are few heroes but there are heroic humans full of hope, love, pain and integrity. The series takes some time to watch. Death is around every corner. Some storylines never really complete. The final seasons of the six seasons are less successful but the first three seasons are magnificent. Little of the series is episodic with arcs spilling through and over seasons so you need to stay committed. There is a surrealism and literary nature to the storytelling, which we see less often today. Most of the story is narrated almost poetically by Harold Perrineau’s Augustus Hill giving context to the action on the screen. If you like “Orange is the New Black” or “Wentworth”, this is for you (although less humor here and much more violence).

BAND OF BROTHERS

If you liked “1917” or “Saving Private Ryan”, this is the series for you. The miniseries tell the tale of the members of Easy Company in WWII and is adapted from Stephen Ambrose’s novel. The intercut testimonials by actual veterans of the company give weight to the story. It is episodic, spanning multiple battles in the European theatre of the war. The characters are complex and heroic but the thematic approach is revisionist, making clear the horrors of war while extolling the virtues of the warriors themselves. The Episode ‘Why We Fight” is a standout but each episode is well structured, potently shot and written with care. The ensemble cast is charismatic and likeable. We care about these men and we suffer their pain and losses while feeling the explosion of every shell and tank blast. This is one of the more important series on this list and a single season of 10 episodes.

TRUE DETECTIVE - (Season 1 only)

Being really specific here…. I don’t much like season two or three, partly because they just don’t live up to the scale and depth of the first season. The pseudo mystical “Yellow King” murder mystery is captivating enough but set McConaughey and Harrelson free to act to their fullest potential and you have a masterwork. Tense, moody, and apprehension filled, the swirling pulpy murder mystery is solved in parallel to the swirling enigmatic backstories of the damaged protagonists. The cinematography is beautiful with imagery that burns into your brain and the series conclusion is satisfying and well-earned.

CHERNOBYL

Chernobyl is relentless in its despair and heroism. The clever construction of the series makes the macro polictical story as available as the micro interpersonal story. The horror of the accident and its painful human aftermath is contrasted with the horror of political and ideological bureaucracy. As a statement about the historical event, Chernobyl should be taken as a work of historic fiction as opposed to documentary. It is a commentary on our focus on politics, nationalism and public relations in a crisis at the cost of human lives. It is prophetic, reflective of our system and worth pondering. Skarsgård, Harris and Watson take complex characters and let them live in the subtext. We watch them develop psychologically and morally even as they decay as result of the medical consequences of the event on their own persons. Their characters are whistleblowers and risk it all for others. They carry the responsibility for their decisions and we see real human heroism, individuals sacrificing their life for the community. The color grade and cinematography is awe inspiring and the soundtrack haunting. The editing choices are equally magnificent making it an all around well made film.

WATCHMEN

The original Watchmen comic created a universe of superheroes to confront the conservative government in England and around the world in the 1980s. Alan Moore’s story began a full blown revisionist superheat movement. The world of Watchmen was small, intimate exchanges between characters, even within multilevel, multi narrative scale of the story. Damon Lindelof’s WATCHMEN for HBO again uses the structure of a small world to tell a huge story. This time the moves are off in confronting the madness of our multiple political ideologies. The focus of the story is on race and the value of human life. It will offend you. It will make you want to stop watching. It made people on all sides of the political spectrum angry. It tells a great truth. Regina King is spectacular in the lead and episode 6 may be the single best episode of television in 20 years.

THE OUTSIDER

The works of Stephen King have been the content of a series of movies and TV over the past few years. This series adapts a King novel but avoids the trap so many of the other films have become snared in. There is little or no nostalgia in “The Outsider.” The characters are, like all King characters, struggling with trauma. The murder in the community, deaths in their past, but those past moment are not embraced with some empty fondness. The past is pain and the present is where we can heal it. Each person must confront their pain to survive. Many do not survive, another difference from the raft of recent King explorations. In hard times, as we are living into day, having empathy, confronting evil and believing in love, real present love, not the faded and laureled love of the past, is our only path to salvation. “The Outsider” challenges us while it presents solid horror entertainment. The episodes are compelling, well-paces and the end of episode cliffhangers are perfect. Erivo’s Holly Gibney is one of my favorite characters of the year. Her portrayal is understated and fully human. Ben Mendelsohn brings Ralph Anderson to life with such complexity, suffering and charm that even in his most unlikable moments, you are with him. The rest of the cast is stellar as the tension never subsides. It feels like an episode of the X-Files if the X-files were really brilliant cinema.

SILICON VALLEY

I needed to put a comedy on here and this one is fun, funny and pertinent. The story of a computer start up comments on technology, friendship, economics, big business, and selling out. It is clever and irreverent. The production values are high and the ensemble cast knows exactly what they are producing. If you need a break from the serious tone of this list, Silicon Valley, which concluded its run in December 2019, is the ticket.

HONORABLE MENTION: WESTWORLD

Westworld season one is great. Great acting, great story, wonderful enigmatic western action. Westworld Season two is much more confusing,

very obtuse and not wholly satisfying as the characters moral compasses skew. We will see how season three holds up……Cinematically, it is well constructed, well acted, beautiful to watch and listen to. It may really frustrate you. Can’t really say more than that. I need it on the list in some fashion but I am hesitant to wholeheartedly recommend it.

Well, there you have it: hours and hours of programming to fill the days to come. What have we missed? Which of these should we reconsider? What comedies do you suggest we add? What makes HBO series so great? Let us know.

10 Great Shows On HBO You Can Watch While Quarantined