I’ve been rewatching Community recently and it definitely fits the bill. It has incredibly good writing.

But more than that, Community gives me the impression that is has an infinite budget. Not a ridiculously big budget like some shows and movies do… an infinite budget. The difference being that they don’t waste a cent. There isn’t a single thing on screen that doesn’t serve a purpose. No ridiculous effect or expensive crane shot added in just to flaunt their budget. But if an episode’s script actually called for a particular shot to be done, they would move heaven and earth to make that happen. That’s what it feels like.

In my head I compare it to having unlimited vacation days at work. Case studies have shown that workers take fewer vacation days when they can take as many as they want, compared to when they have a set number per year. So in the analogy, a show with a set ludicrously high budget will use every last cent of it even for pointless frill, whereas a (hypothetical) show with an unlimited budget would only use however much money is necessary to create the show. Somehow, Community became that show. … It probably has to do with how frequently they actually went way over budget in practice.

I fucking love Community.

• Mister Roger’s Neighborhood
• Twin Peaks
• Frasier
• Futurama
• The Wire
• NCIS S1 to like S5
• Fringe
• Peaky Blinders
• Orphan Black
• The Good Place
• Severance

Sons of Anarchy

Lost (until it sucked)

The Middle

The Office (US)

Animal Kingdom

My Name is Earl

Young Sheldon

Funny thing about Young Sheldon, When I started watching it, I had never watched Big Bang Theory, and honestly, now that I have, I don’t even really like it, but Young Sheldon is better than it deserves to be.

Can’t believe Ted Lasso hasn’t been mentioned

While I don’t think Arcane is perfect, esspecially with the pacing issues, I think the character writting was phenomenal. Silco and Jinx in particular are both extremely empathic, and you feel bad for them and potentially even want them to succeed despite their despicable actions. Ambesa is far too rushed, but she’s still a fairly deep and multifaceted character (and benefits a lot from having a book to provide background). Honestly, the characters who are weakest, in my opionion, are the ones with most focus: Vi, Cailyn, and Victor. All three of them feel rushed and lacking in both depth and development.

Full Metal Alchemist:Brotherhood (Nearly perfect)

The first 9 seasons of the Simpsons (great little 22 minute stories. Character depth is episode dependent, but some of the best episodes of anything television has ever offered.)

Battlestar Galactica (Had some iffy plotlines along the way, but great character development and intriguing story)

The Leftovers, Maniac, Mr. Robot, anything by Sam Esmail really.

Bojack Horseman

Slow Horses

The Good Place. It starts off deceptively shallow but by the end it became one of my favorite shows of all time.

Dark. The constant time travel makes it hard to keep track of what’s going on a lot of the time but if you can manage, it’s very rewarding. Great character development. Not the best ending, but good enough.

Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad have some poorly written characters but the well-written ones are very well-written.

I didn’t include any shows based on books because I felt that would go against the scope of your question.

Andor

Ozarks. The Killing (english version), Shogun

Firefly.

House. I remember fuckall from the past 40 years of watching tv but that one show is etched in the feels.

Dirk Gently

Based off a book based off a script for a Dr Who episode that was too weird by the guy who wrote Hitchiker’s Guide, starring Frodo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILZE3AUsrqI