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?
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!
Season 3 of From is airing rn! It’s brilliant imo. The mystery becomes deeper and more intriguing, as it meticulously unravels and we slowly begin to understand it. Though don’t get me wrong, there are still a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of confusion & uncertainty, and I felt the same way as you, as did probably most people watching it. Thankfully, the creators seem to be aware of this and apparently have planned out the story from the beginning specifically to avoid making the same mistakes as Lost (it’s helmed by a few of the key writers for that show, and they assert they learned their lessons with that experience). They’ve strongly reiterated that all the questions will be answered and everything will be explained and make sense, though who knows what form that will take. It seems like a Herculean task to weave it all together at this point and wrap it up cohesively but it sounds like we’re in good hands at least. There is a direction and that’s becoming gradually more clear as it progresses, even if it happens drip by drip. In the meantime, I think it’s quite enthralling and tantalising to watch.