I became drawn to a certain category of shows that feel like a microcosm of human society represented by a small group of people with different personality types thrown together in a dire situation they can’t escape from. Survival themes are a necessity but it also needs some kind of speculative fiction element (scifi, supernatural, fantasy, etc) to add intrigue, mystery and up the stakes and scope/scale of the story even further.
A tier - Lost and From - these are the best of the best when it comes to this type of series. The gold standard to aim for.
B tier - Snowpiercer and Silo (haven’t seen past the first episode yet but I think it looks like one to check out). Also Wayward Pines was pretty good. Must include The Prisoner even though it’s kind of in its own wacky category. Yellowjackets, The Wilds, and The Society barely scrape in. I’m aware of Class of '07 and Wrecked even though they’re somewhat of comedies.
C tier - Under the Dome, La Brea, The 100 - these ones are quite a bit lower quality as you can see in the budget, acting, writing and overall production value. They don’t feel as prestige or premium, but they’re still enjoyable shows to me. I don’t even care how trashy they are at times, or most of the time. They tick that box for me, scratch that itch.
Movie tier: Not a TV show, but the movie/film “The Incident” (2014) by Isaac Ezban is uncannily like From and has elements of Lost too. Definitely wish this was a proper TV series.
I don’t have many examples of this kind of show that really match the likes of Lost and From, or even Under the Dome and La Brea which feel almost like they’re deliberately trying to recreate it. Currently watching Terra Nova to try to recapture that feel and it’s decent so far. I’d love more examples. And I can sort of include The Walking Dead even though it barely meets the criteria, because it just feels very similar to Lost in my opinion. The Rain, Into the Night and Les Revenants too, I guess. If Dark and 1899 count then those are probably A/B tier. I suppose that Fallout sort of fits the bill, very loosely.
On my radar:
Jericho (no speculative fiction element as far as I know but it sounds like a comparable vibe).
Persons Unknown
Dark Matter (2015 series)
What “group of people stuck somewhere” show did you fall for?
Maybe Delicious in Dungeon.
The newer Jumanji kind of fits your criteria, plus comedy.
You might like The Leftovers?
The recent Dungeons & Dragons movie sort of lightly fits your description, while also being unexpectedly good.
RIP Stargate Universe. We hardly knew you.
Yellowjackets- oops, you mentioned this one
Lost in Space (The new one) - Not what you meant exactly, but it works pretty much exactly
The Prisoner
Blue Gender (do you like anime?)
The Mist - It doesn’t get any better. Read the novella before you watch the movie. I haven’t seen the show, so I can’t vouch for that.
Black Hammer if you like comics. It’s excellent; give it a try.
The Grey - This movie is fabulous, and I literally do not understand the hate it receives.
Pitch Black - One of my all time favorites. Brilliant characters and writing.Upvote for The Mist. The movie ending is fucked. Even King admits it’s better than his original ending.
I think Stargate Universe might be something you’re looking for. If you don’t know anything about the movie or shows, they’re space exploration like startrek but with wormhole technology/portals on planets, left by an ancient and gone more advanced race. So, science and military guys going to other planets daily on exploration missions, without suits and ignoring that everything would get you infected or you might portal into a dead world without oxygen.
Anyway, the Stargate Universe show is where they portal into a derelict ancient ship, massive and highly advanced, but it’s running out of all resources, it’s not in their control and is fully automated, and they’re running out of time to find resources to keep the lights, air, and AC on, while also finding food. They’re also separated from earth and pretty much stuck on this ship or new planets that are also separated from earth. (They’re on the other side of the known universe and can’t get back.)
It was canceled early, after season 2, but was still very good within its niche.
Cube maybe? movie… 3% on netflix… kinda.
Interesting, a lot of the shows here are on my list of “they were really good but…”
Wayward pines S1 had me hooked, but s2 didn’t recreate the magic.
Terra nova only just started to get intriguing as it was cancelled (I’d love a continuation)
From S1 again had me hooked but also triggered “lost” style “do they have a plan where this is going?” Thanks for reminding me there is a S2
Ift never plucked out the elements that I enjoy from these, I hope there are more suggestions!
I found The Terror fairly compelling. Two ships stuck in the Arctic, 150 cranky sailors, maybe a dozen that actually have lines, and one super fucked-up hellbeast trying to eat them.
