If you think of HBO, you probably think of the same series as everyone else: Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, The Wire… Masterpieces of television, yes, of course. But at the same time, don’t you feel like there’s still so much left to watch in a catalog full of wonders (and other series that aren’t as great)? We’ve explored HBO (and Max, its counterpart that offers series online and not on traditional television) to find 6 not-so-common and not-so-easy-to-recommend series that you will fall in love with at first sight. Because it can’t all be Game of Thrones.
Hacks
After four seasons, it’s impossible not to be in love with Deborah and Ava, the most dysfunctional comedy duo in television history. An egocentric elderly comedian seeking reinvention and a young, committed, activist writer come together to relaunch the former’s career. Along the way, there are many laughs, quite a few tears, separations, reunions, and a lot, a lot of friendship. Each season, the bar is raised a little higher, and you would do well to arrive on time for the fifth. That said: get ready to fall at the feet of Jean Smart. It can’t be any other way.
The essays
It only has two seasons, but Nathan Fielder has already changed the history of television forever with The Rehearsals. Based on a thesis (to improve in life and do things correctly, one can rehearse to perfection), Fielder plays in the first season with the creation of a family. In the second, making a giant leap by fixing airplane accidents and improving communication between pilot and co-pilot. The way to do it is the unexpected, and what will seem impossible to believe. A true tour de force and a monumental effort to carry out one of the most sensational absurdities of the medium.
Watchmen
Forget the comic. Forget the movie. Forget everything you thought you knew about Watchmen, because Damon Lindelof was able to reinvent Alan Moore’s comic and create a sequel that also serves as a reimagining and adapts to modern times. The result, from its spectacular start in Tulsa, is fantastic on all levels. Whether you know the comic beforehand or are new to it, this is much more than just a simple superhero series: it is a Polaroid of our society. Let’s see who can do something similar.
Creature Commandos
This is indeed just a superhero series, but it is anything but simple: James Gunn has begun his DC Universe with Creature Commandos, an animated series that brings together a group of the most unusual superheroes, each with their quirks, feelings, and life goals. What I didn’t expect while watching this supposed madness filled with gunfire, blood, swearing, and strange things was to end up feeling emotional. If this is what’s coming from now on in DC, count me in as a new and faithful believer.
Poison
It is one of the few series that Max has produced in Spain that has had a real social impact, and it’s no wonder: the life of Cristina Ortiz, “La Veneno”, gains depth when reinterpreted by Los Javis, with an incredible recreation of the context of her success, her fall from grace, and what she has meant for the trans community, both for better and for worse. That moment in the studio of Esta noche cruzamos el Mississippi is not easily forgotten. Absolute masterpiece.
How to with John Wilson
But for a masterpiece, these 18 episodes (divided into 3 seasons) of John Wilson, a New York documentary filmmaker who always carries his camera looking for the exceptional, the unique, the beauty of the everyday. And, little by little, unraveling the thread, he ends up in the strangest, most absurd, and fascinating places you can imagine, summarizing, in some way, the experience of being human. And all of this with discomfort, inappropriate jokes, and a breathtaking elegance. Is it my favorite series of the last five years? Well, frankly, it’s likely.
