suggestions welcome

[some_stars]

I'm on an unhealthy post-Homicide quest for the perfect TV show, at least according to my needs at the moment. It's pretty hard to find: it needs to be a drama, so that people can cry and clutch each other and be very intense, but it can't be too miserable and hopeless or I'll just feel bad (which is why I remain unable to watch The Wire). And it needs to not piss me off but also have some m/m slash options, because see above re: specific needs of the moment unrelated to quality. And it needs to be reasonably good, especially the acting, and not delay the emotional payoffs too long, and preferably be genre in some way although it doesn't have to be SF/F. And it just needs to click with me, in that indefinable and unpredictable way.

So far I have had no luck whatsoever. Really I think the problem is that it's impossible to follow Homicide; everything pales beside it. But my emotions :( They are especially turbulent tonight because some stuff came up at my tutoring appointment today, details unavailable but I'm feeling very unsettled and full of issues, and I need TV to hold me soothingly.

Comments

[shati]

How do you feel about wacky crossdressing disguise antics? It's dramatic I swear! There's plenty of crying and clutching and NEAR-DEATH and angst but just also NEAR-BOOBS and ridiculousness. (Some but not all of what the characters think are m/m slash options turn out to be m/f.)

[some_stars]

...yes, I think I'm ready for it now. I think this is the moment.

[holli]

Hm. I almost want to say S1 of Veronica Mars-- it's a perfect little jewel box of a season. But subsequent seasons cannot and do not measure up, so unless you stop at the end of S1 it's kind of disapponting.

(also, if you want to hop on gchat I am around!)

[some_stars]

man, I want to watch S1 of VMars so bad and I have forever, but I am just not the kind of person who can stop while I'm ahead, when it comes to TV. I would only end up hurting myself :(

[zeegoeshere]

Have you considered Friday Night Lights? It might not be genre-y enough for you, but it is certainly full of people crying and clutching each other and having emotional catharsis all over the place. I can't think of a TV show that has made me cry more often, and I'm generally not a TV-crier.

[some_stars]

Is it too sad? I've never gotten a clear read on the "everything is shit forever" level via fandom osmosis. (My limit is "the majority of things are shit, usually," with at least the possibility of a semi-happy ending for most characters.) Other than that it definitely sounds promising!

[zeegoeshere]

I definitely don't think of it as bleak--certainly sad events happen, but it's ultimately very hopeful and good about giving characters happy endings rather than making everyone suffer pointlessly.

[artkoala]

Ooh, seconding this recommendation, and it is, overall, a hopeful show. Things are sometimes horrible and wrong, but there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. And there are SO MANY FEELINGS.