Looking for recommendations for shows without an overall plotline

[Algeh]

I've been watching a lot of streaming shows lately with my dad, mostly working our way through all of the Star Trek stuff on Paramount+ (we finished Discovery and are working through Picard but not caught up yet), but occasionally stuff from Disney+ too (just finished Andor - I am so loosely attached to Star Wars as a franchise that I had Andor and Endor confused for a bit before I realized it was a person-name and not going to be a show with Ewoks in it), and I am honestly getting burned out on the "very intense set of 10-12 episodes with no filler or breathing space" format that seems to be common among a lot of what we've been watching recently. Even the "lighter" shows seem to feel the need to tie all of their episodes together with some kind of season-end payoff.

I'm not complaining about the existence of the format. I've been a fan both of serials and things with an overall plot arc since I was a very tiny Algeh watching My Little Pony multi-part episodes in the 80s, and Babylon 5 remains the show that I am able to most deeply get into the fannish weeds talking about to this day.

However, just like how I really like pizza but sometimes want to eat a salad or a cupcake instead, sometimes I would like to watch something where each episode stands alone and I don't need to keep track of larger plotlines. I'm missing the ST:TNG level of "you can basically watch these episodes in any order, and it mostly works", or at least the Old Who level of "you only need to remember who any of these people are or what problems they have for the next 4-ish episodes" and I'm just not finding things in that niche right now. Every time I think I've found a show generally like this, an Overall Plot emerges with time, Weren't We Just So Very Clever seeding it as we went along, and I just want a break from that even if the individual episodes can mostly be appreciated individually.

My preference is for SF shows since that's usually what's easiest to talk my dad into watching, but suggestions in other genres are also fine. I'd also prefer something set in a world that isn't relentlessly dark, terrible, doomed, post-apocalyptic and/or getting actively worse over time, but that may be too much to ask for in current TV SF.

Dad has streaming subscriptions to Paramount+, Disney+, Apple, Amazon, and I think HBO and Hulu. There are also possibly others that I am unaware of, since he'll subscribe to services whenever they start showing women's sports and those contracts can bounce around a lot to pretty obscure places. He does not have Netflix.

[Aedilred]

Well there's always Doctor Who.

Grimm was a bit like this, although there were still long-running plots.

They seem to be out of fashion in general though.

[llama-hedge]

Shows without an overarching plotline? My time has come!

Finding something like that is basically impossible in the modern age, so you have to go old-school.

Only a few if these are scifi, but they do fit the criteria of having self-contained episodes and not being hopelessly grim.

UFO: a secret organisation works to thwart an alien invasion. Blatant cold war allegory.

Space 1999: a radioactive waste dump on the moon explodes and throws the moon out of orbit, dragging a bunch of people who were on the moon at the time with it. Probably the darkest entry on this list. Similar in vibe to UFO, partly because it was made to use the new moonbase set from a season of UFO that never got made.

Hustle: about a gang of con-men who only con bad guys. The most modern entry on this list.

Knight Rider: there's a guy with a talking car. They fight crime.

The Champions: spies gain psychic powers, then use those powers to solve mysteries while keeping them secret from their boss. It treats its core premise sincerely while remaining moderately upbeat. You need to watch the first episode first because it explains how they got their powers, but the rest are completely self-contained.

The Avengers: nothing to do with Marvel. Spies without psychic powers. Not a comedy, but doesn't take itself seriously.

The New Avengers: 70s reboot of previous show. Pretty much exactly the same show with a different supporting cast.

Department S: more British espionage. You have noticed I like this genre. More unironic than the Avengers.

Jason King: one of the main characters from Department S gets his own spin-off. Whether your opinion of him there was positive or negative, this is unlikely to change it.

[Mechalich]

You might try Stargate SG-1. Aside from some initial setup to introduce the big players, most of the episodes are in the vein of 'the team went through the Stargate to planet X, met culture A, solved problem Y, and then came home,' especially in the early seasons.

[gomipile]

There's always slice-of-life anime. Granted, there aren't a lot of these that are specifically science fiction, but there are some.

Planetes would be my first recommendation. I've heard that ARIA The Animation is good, but I haven't seen it.

As far as science fiction anime with lots of episodic content, but some overarching plot, there's a lot of options. Cowboy Bebop may be the ur-example. Trigun might be a bit too "anime" depending on y'all's tastes, but it qualifies, too.

Outside of science fiction, but pretty easy to get into, there's Black Lagoon.

[Rynjin]

For anime, Detective Conan/Case Closed is an anime that is entirely episodic, it's basically just a police procedural in anime form. Lupin III is the same from the other direction (a criminal and his "heist of the week); the latter is a bit more entertaining IMO.

TV shows...any police procedural, as mentioned. This is your NCIS, CSI, etc. type shows. I liked Castle relatively recently, as well as Lucifer.

[Psyren]

What you're looking for sounds like an anthology series: each episode stands alone with nothing or very little in the way of continuity and you can just watch your favorite episodes in any order or no order at all. I highly recommend Black Mirror as a recent example of this format, the show as a whole focuses on near-future sci-fi focused on the dangers of technology (and... capitalism) with each episode being set in a different place and time with little connecting tissue.

Another great example is Amazon's Solos which is a series of standalome episodes where high profile actors like Helen Mirren, Anne Hathaway and Anthony Mackie (also in Black Mirror) act at themselves in a series of standalone stories. Only one season so far but highly recommend.

[JadedDM]

The original Quantum Leap. Five seasons, highly episodic, sci-fi, feel-good, and a lot of fun. (Note I am talking about the original show, not the new revival, which very much has an overall plotline.)

[Algeh]

Thanks for the recommendations so far!

In this particular case, I'm specifically looking for newer stuff, which I realize I didn't mention in my original post. Dad and I have been watching TV together (and separately) for many decades now, so the odds of finding an older (American or easily available in the American TV market) SF show that neither of us has seen yet but both of us are interested in seeing is pretty low. (An exception might be anything that was cable-only only prior to about 1995, as we did not have cable back then, just broadcast channels, but I know we had cable by the time the Stargate series came around because we watched it together on Showtime back when it first aired.)

[halfeye]

UFO:

Space 1999:

Hustle:

Knight Rider:

The Champions:

The Avengers:

The New Avengers:

Department S:

Jason King:

Mostly British and mostly going a little further back than the above (excepting the Avengers, which is really old):

Man in a Suitcase: Roving US ex-spy wandering about western Europe with good intentions and a gun. Made in Britain?

Man from UNCLE: UN based anti-crime James Bond style duo.

The Saint: Roger Moore before he got too old and played Bond. Quasi-crook takes down crooks.

Callan: Very dark. British spies against USSR agression, all the spies are people, some are darstards.

Bergerac: More recent cop show, set in small rich islands

All available on DVD so should be available for download?

[Delicious Taffy]

King of the Hill is practically made for this. There are some changes to the status quo every now and again, but nothing life-altering. Peggy falls out of an airplane without a parachute and the only consequence is a few episodes of her in a body cast and then the occasional mention of physical therapy. Even the finale is built for out-of-order reruns, so it's just like any other episode.

[Deadkitten]

It's always sunny in Philadelphia barely has any ongoing plot to speak of other than they are horrible people

[Myth27]

Person of interest, Grimm and Fringe have very little overall plot, Battlestar galactica also (the newer one around 2004).
You could also check out the orville, its described as a parody comedy of startrek but it's much more closer to a really good homage with some jokes

[runeghost]

Person of interest, Grimm and Fringe have very little overall plot, Battlestar galactica also (the newer one around 2004).
You could also check out the orville, its described as a parody comedy of startrek but it's much more closer to a really good homage with some jokes

I'll second The Orville.

I'd recommend against Person of Interest in this context. While it's a good show, and it seems like it doesn't have an overarching plot for the first season or two, by the (excellent) end, it's all plot all the time.

You might also want to check out Leverage. It's the same general setup as Hustle, but with a slightly different feel. (And it has what is easily one of my top ten moments on television, when

Spoiler: Spoilers for Leverage

Show

Due to a slight mix-up with their planning, the party's thief finds herself impersonating a high-end auctioneer. She gives lengthy descriptions of the history and inadequate security systems of an item she has herself stolen in the past, and casually destroys a "priceless" artifact she determines to be fake after a quick glance.

[Rynjin]

Lverage is great. If that show is "new" enough for the OP, I'd also recommend White Collar.