Editing Approved Television (section)

==Historical==
*'''1864''': Danish mini-series about the War of 1864, in which Prussia makes its first step toward unification of Germany - by conquering Schleswig from Denmark. The series is a rare treat of depicting mid-19th century warfare '''without''' being yet another American Civil War media, while also having sufficient budget to deliver it in a war epic format.

*'''Arthur of the Britons''': The 1970s Arthurian legend series, mostly famous for giving it a "muh realism" makeover - but without making it drab, boring or covered in mud. While it removes all of the magical and fantastical elements (along with good chunk of characters you might attribute to king Arthur), it's still first and foremost an action-packed swashbuckling adventure with lots of swordplay and court intrigues. While [[Pendragon]] doesn't share the aesthetics, it sure as hell takes the premise of this series. Being British, it's also very short.

*'''Band of Brothers''': The series follow the Easy Company, 506th regiment of the American 101st Airborne Division from training till cease-fire, through all the major battles of the Second Front and then some. At this point a staple of WW2 media, the series is known for both solid performances and, more importantly, considerable research put into the portray of the conflict as a whole and specific engagements, rather than doing the more typical "Hollywood War Hero" approach - right down to interviews with the real people portayed in the series.
**'''The Pacific''': Off-shot of the above, done decade later for the Pacific Theater (duh) of the WW2, this time around tracking 1st Marine Division. Same qualities as above and the added benefit of being done in a different era of television, allowing far more bloody scenes, but in the same time not indulging in it. As a whole, both shows are probably the closest out there to "the US grunt experience during WW2" in accessible format when mining for ideas, atmosphere and the sort of engagements you can pull for similarly themed games, both TTRPG and minis.

*'''Black Sails''': A prequel to Treasure Island mixed with historical pirates of the 1700s and the history of the pirate republic of Nassau. Features a ridiculously awesome soundtrack. Starts off good but a little rough, but then comes into its own in season 2. Obviously good stuff for a pirate-themed game, but a lot of the subplots is flashed out enough to work for other settings as well.

*'''Czarne Chmury''' ["Dark Clouds", or literally, "Black Clouds"]: It's the 1660s and even in hard-earned peace dark clouds are gathering over the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The freshly sovereign Prussia is already plotting with Brandenburg against the Commonwealth. A young, daring colonel of the Prussian Dragoons switches sides and goes on a mission to the Polish capital to inform about the plot against the Polish crown. One of the most quintessential swashbuckling series ever made, with the added bonus of unique, rarely used setting: late 17th century PLC and slowly, but surely rising Prussia. Easily accessible on Youtube with multilingual subtitles, with only 10 episodes.

*'''Deadwood''': Another HBO series, focusing on the settlement of Deadwood and its development from mining camp to frontier town. The attempts to make the town and its world come alive are glorious. Excellent performances across the board, with the standout being Al "Fuck That Cocksucking Motherfucker" Swearengen. GMs looking for how wild and lawless frontiers can become platforms for adventurers should check this out, and steal as many subplots as you can for your [[Deadlands]] game.

*'''I, Claudius''': A BBC miniseries based on the book of the same name from 1976. While dated, both in historical accuracy and production values, it's still one of the most accurate depictions of Ancient Rome in television. Also known for fanservice to rival most modern shows, and for a rare appearance of '''BRIAN BLESSED''' ''without a beard.''

*'''Marco Polo''': A Netflix exclusive series, Marco Polo follows the famous Italian merchant while he tries to survive in the court of Kublai Khan, the grandson of [[Genghis motherfucking Khan]]. While not historically accurate it is certainly very entertaining with war, political intrigue, and [[Slaanesh|concubines out the ass.]] Also [[Mongols]]. If anything, the character One-Hundred eyes makes the show worth the watch because of how badass he is. Seriously; a Daoist monk that Kublai blinded with a spitting cobra because he wouldn't teach his martial art to his generals. [[Awesome|And he can still kick ass while blind]].

*'''North and South''': ABC's mini-series regarding build up to and then the outbreak of the American Civil War, as seen through the perspective of Dixie Orry Main and Yankee George Hazard, a lifetime friends who find themselves on the opposing sides of the conflict. Borderline soap opera, so take warning. Despite that, it is still a ground-breaking production for the entire slew of ACW-themed movies and series from the 80s and 90s, aged like a fine wine.

*'''Robin of Sherwood''': You probably know the title song from it without even knowing the show. Unlike the countless attempts to make Robin Hood-themed TV series, this one is actually good. Really, really fucking good. In fact, it's so influential, pretty much every single future incarnation of Robin Hood is looking at this series for inspiration and rip-off (not to mention the entire string of copy-cats in the late 80s and early 90s riding on its popularity), while Errol Flynn swashbuckling and romancing got reduced to parodies and spoofs. Has three seasons, but as a Britbong production, that means only 26 episodes in total.

*'''Rome:''' It's HBO so the tits and ultraviolence spigot is still wide open, but this one actually does some good world building and political intrigue on the side. There is a good chance every Romaboo you know came from watching this show, or at the very least it gave them a massive heaping dose of what they crave. Just don't try to use it as a point of reference for historical campaigns.

*'''Spartacus: Blood and Sand''' A faithful historical narrative about the third servile war and the various social pressures that precipita... phhht no I'm kidding it's wall to wall tits and ultraviolence. Despite being a relentlessly silly 300 wanna-be that had no business ever being green lit it actually managed to be a treasure trove of feels and [[awesome]], due in large part to unusually solid writing and some heroic performances by actors like John Hannah, Lucy Lawless, Craig Parker, and Peter Mensah. 

*'''三国 (Three Kingdoms 2010):''' Widely regarded as the best (for the west at least. In its native country its a [[skub|different story...]]) and most accessible version of China's most famous story (essentially their Iliad). Almost a hundred hours long, epic scope, tons of actors, and legions of extras (you can buy them by the bushel over there). Almost worth it for Chen Jianbin's [http://youtu.be/l8e4LBSscVo?t=35m8s gloriously dickish Cao Cao] alone, but there's plenty of other reasons to stick around. The entire thing is available on youtube and elsewhere because CCTV could not give two shits about licensing it outside of the country.
** There is also '''三国演义 (Romance of the Three Kingdoms)''' from 1994, just as readily available. For what it's worth, it is considered the superior adaptation of the two and also has (slightly) less episodes to go through.

*'''Vikings''': History's bid to gain at least a fraction of GoT audience, while also catering to reenactors, historical witzs and just about general audience, since, duh, vikings. Very well-researched and tightly written, the show comes with very high initial quality. Unfortunately, it also suffers greatly from seasonal rot after first 2 seasons and utterly pointless continuation at this point, so be warned about highly visible drop of quality with each season.