favorite historical tv shows

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There was discussion about making a post where people could share their favorite historical TV shows, so I thought I would go ahead and do that: I'd love to hear people's favorites, and I'm always looking for recs.

A few of my own favorites, to start us off--I'm undoubtedly forgetting many, but here are a few off the top of my head that I love:

Black Sails - Early 18th century pirates. The first season starts out somewhat trashy, but the show quickly matures into a fascinating and beautifully-done meditation on the stories we tell--about history, about others, about ourselves--and what stories get preserved and remembered and what stories are forgotten or destroyed. Excellent LGBT rep. Four seasons.

The Hour - 1950s BBC news reporters. The cast here is stellar--Ben Whishaw, Romola Garai, Dominic West--and the production and writing utterly stunning. This isn't an era or a subject I would be naturally drawn to, but everything about this show is just so extraordinarily well done. Two very short (six-episode) seasons.

Deadwood - 1870s gold-mining town in South Dakota. The one, the only. A cult show for a reason--you either love it or you, well, don't--this show is incredibly well-acted and written like nothing you're likely to hear on television before or since. Three seasons.

North and South - Victorian England. The most goddamn romantic thing you'll ever see in your life. Based on the Elizabeth Gaskell novel, this follows a woman from the south of England and a man from the north, and deals with social and class issues in the mid-Victorian era while telling a nuanced and compelling love story. Also contains the best refusal of a marriage proposal scene ever. Miniseries.

ETA: I knew I was forgetting something important--the HBO John Adams miniseries. It's absolutely wonderful--the acting is incredible (almost everyone's perfect, but their Jefferson is especially perfect), the production is stellar, and it's for the most part quite remarkably historically accurate. A definite recommendation.

Comments

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Those are really interesting Black Sails thoughts--for me, while I'm interested in Silver, he's definitely one of my back-burner characters in terms of emotional priorities, so his arc's continuity is of less import to me. So what I tend to love about s3 and s4 is Madi (Madi!!) and Flint and the whole build-up to their alliance. That said, I've only watched the last two seasons once through, because I stop rewatching every time just before Miranda dies. I have my priorities, and I stick to them to a sometimes-ridiculous degree.

Garai is so utterly lovely; I still have never watched her Emma, which I eagerly look forward to doing someday. The Hour is really wonderful all around, and you just can't go wrong with that cast.

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Honestly, Silver isn't really my type of character, I was just so fascinated by his slow evolution through S1-2 that it was probably the thing I was most into besides Flint's backstory and relationship with Miranda. I am spoiled for a thing at the end, and really want to keep watching to get to that, so I know I'll go back at some point.

ughhhhhh I feel so bad because I love Garai so much, but I was not really a fan of her Emma. I liked the production, but I felt like she was miscast. I'm a huge outlier though in that the Kate Beckinsale Emma is my favorite Emma. I agree that Mark Strong is too harsh for Knightley, but I love Mark Strong, and Beckinsale Emma was exactly harsh enough while the other Emmas aren't. But I'd be interested to know what you think of that Emma; I'm interested in all Emmas.

Have you ever seen the Daniel Deronda with Garai? I DO recommend that, but then again I think Daniel Deronda might be like, my favorite novel, so perhaps I'm biased. It's interesting because Gwendolyn Harleth and Emma Woodhouse on the surface aren't that different, so it seems weird I loved Garai as the former and not the latter, but I think Emma is tons more self aware than Gwendolyn, and that ability to self critique is so important to Emma and I didn't see it in Garai.

...that is probably way more of my opinions than you needed to know.

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Flint's backstory/the flashbacks and his relationship with Miranda are my two highest priorities on this show as well, though I am fascinated by nearly everyone. I would highly recommend watching through to the end--the end of season 4 does a lot with storytelling and the fact that BS is in fact a Treasure Island prequel, though I'll admit I tend to loose track of that in the middle seasons. It's really great.

Oh, that's interesting about Garai's Emma--I'll admit that I haven't seen any Emma, so I'm only going off of what I've heard other people say. (I was never an Austen person as a kid, after strongly disliking Pride and Prejudice the first time I read it, so I only recently have begun dipping my toes back into the Austen world.) I'll definitely put the Beckinsale Emma on my list as well.

I haven't seen Garai's Daniel Deronda, though I've seen gifsets that have put it on my list already--it's good to hear that it has things recommending it besides Garai's face (though that tends to be recommendation enough).