I’m recommending the Showtime series “The Affair,” now streaming its five seasons (the show ran in 53 episodes from 2014-2019), as a challenging and perceptive ethics show. Covering, as you might guess, a sexual and romantic affair involving two couples and their extended family, and the chaotic consequences the illicit relationship triggers, the “The Affair” reaches into relationship ethics, friendship ethics, marital ethics, parenting ethics, community ethics, legal ethics, academic ethics and artistic ethics, and probably more: I’m finally watching the whole thing after seeing the third and fourth seasons a few years ago. Wrapped up in those larger categories are questions involving honesty, loyalty, conflicts of interest, empathy, and abuse of power.
The one irritant in “The Affair” is the scarcity of genuinely ethical or admirable characters. The closest is probably the primary victim of the affair, the adulterous writer’s wife, played by Maura Tierney (of “ER” fame). One aspect of the show that will benefit many is how awful so many of the parents portrayed in the show are: if you question your parenting abilities, “The Affair” will restore your confidence. (So far, my favorite moment was when a grown daughter finally orders her incredibly over-bearing, toxic and manipulative mother out of her home, saying, curtly, “I hate you.”
There’s more than ethics, of course, to keep you engaged: a murder, fights, vicious arguments, graphic sex, nudity, and lovely Montauk scenery that made me homesick for Cape Cod and Provincetown. One scene that got me thinking was when a betrayed husband, pushed to the breaking point, pulls a gun on his wife and her lover, and seems distraught enough to shoot somebody, maybe himself. The rest of the gun-brandishing husband’s family is in the room too. What’s ethical conduct in such a situation?
I have my doubts regarding whether the show can sustain five seasons, but based on what I’ve seen so far at least, I’d love facilitating a life ethics course using it.
Ethics Alarms 
“The one irritant in “The Affair” is the scarcity of genuinely ethical or admirable characters.”
Sounds like “House of Cards”. We saw Ruth Wilson, one of the stars of “The Affair” in BBC’s “Luther” with Idris Elba where she plays a psychopath. The show is horribly violent but dealing with an unethical cop and how he brings in the bad guys is interesting.
Not just House of Cards. It feels like a majority of shows that have been released during the golden age of streaming has few to zero admirable characters. I think it’s people liking their entertainment more dark, gritty, and “real” but it’s 1) old hat and 2) not more real. Most people are decent, but entertainment seems to be purposely swinging the pendulum as far the other direction as possible.
And Maura Tierney is of “Newsradio” fame!! Who’s ever heard of ER?
Even before that I’m thinking of The Shield and Sons of Anarchy (these two by the same producer) and The Wire. These were good shows with interesting ethics angles that also had few (or no) characters that were ethically admirable (that didn’t end up dead).
Yep, it probably predates mass streaming by a short time. Breaking Bad is another early example, but there are probably minor characters in it who aren’t horrible people.
Netflix’s “Arcane” is a good show with a gritty tone and a tragic theme where nothing seems to go right, but it does have characters who at least TRY to do the right thing, and even the least admirable characters are at least sympathetic. It’s a steam-punk fantasy setting (I’d call it “magi-punk”) so it may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but I think our host would appreciate its numerous ethical dilemmas.
Liar Liar!
-Jut
Another ethics show. “Luther” is terrific, but almost anything with Idris Elba is terrific.
Have not seen this bit of entertainment, However, judging from your description any ethics course based on “The Affair” would be brief. The content would be, “Having an affair is unethical, immoral, and destructive! Thus, DO NOT HAVE AFFAIRS.”
That part of the story, yes. Then we have the other things, like: if your husband has an affair, and is going to leave you, how much revenge to you exact at the expense of the children? Any? None?
None. No revenge. Acting out of revenge is absolutely unethical!