40 of the best TV series from HBO. Part 3 (Topic)

After a two-week break, back to our roundup of the best HBO series. We present to your attention the following 10 films by rating, each of which is also a kind and unique masterpiece.

Two weeks should have been enough to watch a couple of interesting projects from ourpast issues. And when the problem of which series to watch next weekend loomed on the horizon again, we were right there again with our sequel, which included multi-episode TV projects from HBO, the rating of which maneuvers in the range from 7.9 to 7.6 by KinoPoisk, which is for TV shows like you you understand, an excellent indicator.

Therefore, the films will be excellent in all respects.

21. Deadwood (2004-2006) 7.87

Many connoisseurs of westerns are accustomed to the fact that everything in them is shot romantic, beautiful and cute. If there are villains in them, then they will definitely be punished, and the Indians are never mocked at all. Are they being killed? Well, yes, it happened. But these were the "bad Americans", those who practiced slavery even before the civil war between the North and the South. Anyway, the people in them (in Westerns) are docile, everyone observes honor and dignity. Well, perhaps, except for whores in saloons, but what is the Wild West without them? We are looking at an excerpt in the author's (the most literal of all available) translation of Serbin.

Many of these connoisseurs, starting to watch this solid series, will be indignant, they say, what else is it? Filmed with some terrifying cynicism, everything is inside out and so disgusting, checkmate! And so on.

We dare to assure you that the film was shot not with "the greatest cynicism", but with "the greatest truthfulness." Don't like the truth? Aida then watch "The Last of the Mohicans", "Chingangchuk" or "Dr. Quinn: The Woman Doctor." Everything is real there, "in truth".

What kind of naive? Go somewhere in the wilderness of Siberian or Transbaikal, to some provincial village. Checkmate is guaranteed to you. And after sunset, there is also a knife under the rib, if you can't find a cigarette. And this is much worse than shown in the series. There is still a soft work in this regard.

And, to be honest, in the wilderness like Deadwood, every second was a rogue, from whom you could expect anything. Everyone was armed and the law was not a decree to anyone. And speaking of the sheriff, it's very funny that he lived so long.

In general, we will not retell the series, let's just say that the life of the town is presented without any embellishment. It has several heavyweight personalities, between whom there is sometimes a hidden and sometimes open struggle, and between them, somehow, the sheriff patrols (the famous "Hitman" of all times and peoples Timothy Olyphant, by the way), managing not to bring this struggle to extremes.

In 2019, a full-length film was filmed, completing the story and putting dots on the i's. Here's the trailer for anyone interested.

But, to be honest, the full-length ending did not come out at all what the fans of the series expected. But, as they say, they don't look a gift horse in the mouth. What is - what is.

ThanksHBO for bringing almost the entire company back together again.

22. The client is always dead (2001-2005) 7.84

The history of the family, which owns a very interesting (or - not very interesting - as for whom) business - a funeral home. And the story begins with the fact that the boss of all this "good" took, and even died, leaving his business in the care of two sons and a young daughter.

The eldest son, it seems, is nothing, but some kind of flying in the clouds. At first glance, he cannot be dragged into a family business with cancer or sideways. But the youngest son is a real master of the transformation of the dead into almost living (in appearance). Problems can also be with the sister, who at the time of her father's death decided to try drugs for the first time.

In general, the film is stuffed to capacity with solid black humor. No, he is not vulgar, just, you know, the topic concerns death. All humor on this score is traditionally considered black. But life is life, and whatever it may be, it will still end someday. And if you joke a little on this topic, it won't get any worse.

But the mood, on the other hand, will definitely raise, and how.

23. How to Succeed in America (2010-2011) 7.83

A story about how you can really get up (meaning - raise the bubble and become successful) in the States. To be called a business man and to be one are two different things. And two friends are well aware of this, and they call themselves such.

But in fact, their business is still going on with some creak. Forced to push third-rate clothes wherever and for whatever they have to, they believe in luck with might and main and wait for the day and the moment when, finally, a profitable business will turn up for them, which will take them to Aldimp success.

In the meantime, they are like a goose step to this Olympus. But it only plays into our hands. After all, the pitiful attempts of future superbusinessmen still look interesting. And, characteristically, instructive.

24. Vinyl (2016) 7.81

This masterpiece about the hard life of the same representatives of LGBT communities was filmed in 2016, on the wave of tolerance growing in people's minds. Although, as it turns out upon closer examination, this tolerance is present only in appearance and is limited only to films.

In life, for the eyes of homosexuals, as they called fagots, they are called so. As well as lesbians and lesbians remained. And nothing can be done about it. Our people on Earth everywhere live separately from the top of Beaumont, which orders the music itself, and dances to it. We eat what they give us.

In the film itself, the action takes place in the distant 70s and tells about the difficult life of homosexuals and lesbians at that time. Well, right, what about our time to shoot something? Today, same-sex sex, as well as marriages in half of the advanced countries, is “in law”. But then the poor representatives of LGBT communities had to, frankly, if not survive, then certainly hide from everyone and lead a double life.

We ourselves have nothing against the representatives of LGBT communities. Everyone should live the way he wants to, not adjusting to anyone. That's for sure. But we are very annoyed by the number of films on this topic. Soon there will be much more of them than about people with ordinary sexual inclinations. Although, according to statistics, there are 95% of them on the planet against 5. The curve proportion is obtained, don't you find it?

25. My genius friend (2018 -...) 7.80

The story is told on behalf of a woman who recalls her life in the backwater quarter of Naples in the 50s of the last century from early childhood to old age.

It is very interesting to observe the life of ordinary Italians in the post-war period. And they say that under communism they lived badly? No, thank you. There has never been such confusion, arbitrariness, lawlessness, connivance and oppression in the USSR.

In two episodes, the story is about how, as a child, the storyteller, a girl named Lena Greco, made friends with a gifted girl, Lila Cerullo. About how easy it was for her to study, and she had to sweat with all her might, about life in the quarter, about relationships between people, about how everything that happened looked like through the eyes of a child.

Further, the story is conducted on behalf of a teenager. Lena grew up and entered high school, but Leela could not due to lack of funds, backwardness and stagnation of conservative parents. It also tells about how difficult it was at that time to escape from this backwater into the world of big money, tall houses, clean streets and beautiful clothes.

In general, it will be very interesting. The series is teeming with dramatic twists, from which you either fall into anger, or you do not know where to get away from sympathy. Filmed - superb. The actresses just played with a bang.

26. Carnival (2003-2005) 7.73

This is a mystical story about the escaped prisoner Ben Hawkins, who arrived home just at the moment when his mother died, and the house was about to be demolished. Ben in the series was played by Nick Stahl himself, "John Connor" from the movie "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines." And it turned out quite well for itself.

The film is somewhat reminiscent of the novels of Dean Koontz. He also has everything saturated with mysticism and fantasy, there is a protagonist representing good or, if you like, the forces of light, and there is an opponent representing evil or the forces of darkness. And in the end, the two will have to come together in a climax.

Here, the role of "good" is played by the same Ben Hawkins, who after the funeral of his mother was sheltered by traveling circus performers. He, as it became known from the first series, has a hidden ability to heal animals and people, or even return them to life. As a child, Ben had a cat, which, unfortunately, died and was buried by his mother (they lived together then).

And what was the mother's amazement when she saw that her son dug up the cat and nurses it in his arms. Having shouted at him and tried to take the corpse of the animal from the boy, she was horrified to discover that the cat was alive. And from that moment on, she denied her son, believing that the gift of resurrection was sent down to him by Satan himself.

Since then, Nick has never used his powers again. But in the very first episode he raises a non-walking girl to her feet. It is shown how the vegetation in the garden decayed during the healing. That is, life is not taken from anywhere. To heal someone, Nick must take a portion of the vitality from someone around him (even if from vegetation). And only he can choose whom and at whose expense to heal or resurrect.

His opponent is a priest, with whom from the very beginning it was not all right, and in the future it will become "worse and worse." Until the very end, he was sure that he was doing the will of God. Naive fool, you say. No, the lost sheep, we say.

Let's be right together. And watch with great interest the two-season journey of good Nick to a bad priest. Or vice versa.

27. Abandoned (2014-2017) 7.72

Someone might mistakenly think that this series is a direct sequel to the feature film of the same name with Nicolas Cage in the title role. No, it was a separate film based on a cycle of works by Tim LaHay and Jerry B. Jenkins. He had planned sequels, but after the failure of the first film, the franchise, as expected, decided to "hack to death".

The series is based on the novel by Tom Perrotta, where overnight only 2% of the population left our world. In the film, with Cage, more than half of the people disappeared. But the meaning is almost the same. All in prostration, where have people taken? Which wind? For what? And what will happen to the rest? Did Thanos snap a finger? Or the Martians, as in "War of the Worlds" with Tom Cruise, "evaporated" the people?

We already know all the answers to these questions. Get to know you too. The series is filmed excellently, the full-length film of the same name is not suitable for him. He picked up a bunch of prizes, awards, nominations, becoming, in fact, a cult.

But 6 planned episodes were not allowed to be filmed. We limited ourselves to three. It's a pity.

28. Tales from the crypt (1989-1996) 7.67

The most stellar series ever produced in Hollywood, and it was filmed with money and under the strict direction of HBO. Who only did not act in episodes of the series, and who only did not film these episodes! Among the actors were such stars as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Billy Zane, Daniel Craig, Steve Buscemi, Ewan McGregor, Tom Hanks, Mark Dacascos, Whoopi Gldberg, etc. Michael J. Fox, Robert Zemeckis, again, managed to sit in the director's chairs. Arnie Schwarzenegger, Tom Hanks, etc.

A distinctive feature of the show is its calling card - a viciously mentally unstable and, at the same time, humorous host - a puppet Crypt Keeper. All stories were shot based on the comics popular at that time and were created with soul, zeal and high financial costs, which is perhaps no less important than the first two points.

The series itself is an anthology and, in fact, consists of separate episodes that are not related to each other in meaning. But all 7 seasons (93 episodes and 2 full-length films "Tales from the Crypt: Demon of the Night" (1995) and "Tales from the Crypt: Bloody Brothel" (1996)) have one common moral: "Don't dig holes for others, you will fall into one of them yourself "or, another interpretation:" You reap what you sow. "

There were cartoon episodes in them, and funny, and creepy, and creepy-funny, and they are all worth checking out. Even taking into account the fact that computer special effects at that time were not yet at their best ...

29. True Blood (2008-2014) 7.67

The series was developed by Alan Ball, who worked at the time on the project "The Client is Always Dead", based on the series of novels "Vampire Secrets" by the American writer Charlene Harris. Yes, some parallels with Twilight can be drawn. But only a few. And just draw.

If in "Twilight" everything is furnished beautifully, elegantly and more or less in soft colors, then they cut through such a womb truth that just hold on. In "Twilight," love spun between an ordinary human girl and a vampire. From time to time a werewolf wedged in there. Here, the romance spun between an unusual girl (with telekinesis) and, again, a vampire. But in their relationship will continue to interfere with everyone who does not get it.

And the meaning here is not in the novel itself, but in the relationship of all individuals who make up the "serial beau monde". Here you can cry and laugh, and get angry and scratch your head. In total, 7 seasons (80 episodes) were filmed, so stock up on seeds. This will take a long time. Each episode lasts almost an hour!

Not counting the stupid, sore adverts for Von Beta and 1-X Beta.

30. Searching (2014-2015) 7.67

We have already raised questions about gays and lesbians when we discussed the "Vinyl" series. Here - everything is the same. Only the action unfolds already in our time, and the main characters in no way relate to music.

One of the three gay men who will be discussed in the series works as a simple waiter in a restaurant. The second is a programmer who develops computer toys, the third pretends to be an artist. Despite the hackneyed homosexual theme, the project existed for two whole seasons, after which it was closed as unnecessary, although a certain circle of fans who were interested in watching the adventures of gays in the gay capital of the world San Francisco protested against such "arbitrariness".

We were also interested. But we did not protest. And two seasons of adventures on this topic were enough for us.

Conclusion

That's all for now. Meet me in the final round of the best HBO series in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, look at what you liked from our current top. And if you don't like anything here, don't be bored. We have a huge database of films and TV series selections for every taste and color on our website, you will definitely find something for yourself.

We are saying goodbye to you, we wish you a cheerful and positive mood, and, as always, more cool films and TV series!

1 part of the top, from 1 to 10

2nd part of the top, from 11 to 20

4th part of the top, from 31 to 40

The Topic of Article: 40 of the best TV series from HBO. Part 3.
Author: Jake Pinkman