What TV show has had the most positive impact on you?

Definitely Next Generation. The world could be a nicer place if everyone watched and paid attention to it.

Duet from DS9 is still one of my favourite episodes of anything, ever. Could easily be in a lot of other shows/settings too

Have you read ‘How to be Perfect’ by Michael Schur yet? The Audiobook even has cameos by most of the cast.

Captain Picard very much became a Captain to all of us, I think.

Of course he's got some flaws for sure (his stubbornness, for one!) but he really set the bar for what a civilised person and a good leader should be.

He's principled, fact-based, fair in his judgement, respects the differences of others (both individually and culturally), solves problems with understanding and empathy rather than force, and he's forgiving of mistakes.

And he does all that while still being a "strong" man. In fact, it's these very traits which earn him the respect of his crew.

I'm glad I had Captain Picard as an influence in my childhood, rather than whatever youtube channel trying to make me angry for all the wrong reasons.

Same for me. It didn't even click in the beginning, I just enjoyed that the show seemed to be ultra relatable, and as things went on it started to feel all ooooo this isn't good I can identify with this many things.

It's just way easier to identify problems in others than in yourself because you have all these internal justifications and false ways of remembering events to your own benefit, but seeing it laid out neatly in a show and where the consequences are much more immediate and spelled out, it made me start self-reflecting on my own life.

It got me to the point of understanding and admitting that the depression I had carried around most of my life wasn't normal and that I was the main destructive force in my life at that point.

It was also nice the show covered a lot of different types of depression and anxiety. I feel most shows wouldn't have handled Princess Caroline, Mister Peanutbutter, or even Todd the way that they did. And nobody was up or down the entire time, which was another thing letting me tell myself I didn't have severe depression, because I had plenty of good moments too.

The show handled everyone pretty respectfully and gave them all realistic but positive outcomes, but didn't smooth over anything that would be pretty irreparable in real life. Things like Hollyhock needing to keep her distance or Dianne still being glad they met but knowing that she can't be around him felt very real and sincere, not placating by having everyone make up at the end.

I will say I just finished a rewatch, and parts of the last season did trigger me in a way I hadn't had to deal with in years now. I've been feeling more depressed this year than I have in a long time, and while a lot of the show made me glad of how far I've come, there's still plenty in my life I don't want to own about my past and it still makes me feel sometimes that I don't deserve to be happy and that I'm a bad person. It really put me in a dark spot for about a week.

Tuca and Bertie was another great one and carried on a good bit of what Bojack did, and I'm upset it got cancelled right as it was getting into the traumatic stuff. I would have liked to see that get the same chance to tell its story as it was telling a similar story but from a female perspective and having something similar for people dealing with the fallout of sexual assault could be helpful in the same way BJH helped people understand depression.

Same. It was great watching a show about a character dealing with depression (amongst other problems) in a realistic way.

I don’t think this all that cringe. I’ve still not found a show with such great character development for literally every character. Even the monkey who gives him advice on his first run. He’s there from the very first episode.