Not OP but I'll give you a break down of my thoughts on what makes it good:

1. Narrative format. Elliot "breaks the fourth wall" by speaking to the audience in voice overs, which results in some interesting dynamics and plays an important part in both the plot and his character development. It's probably one of the most effective uses in voice over narrative in TV since Wonder Years.

2. Direction. The direction of the show is just unique and also very effective. The camera shots, framing, angles, are all used to help influence our views, feelings towards characters, and understanding of what's happening. After season 1 there are some very well done scenes that make use of long shots and revealing of scenes as things unfold on and off camera.

3. Characters. Like Sopranos, these characters are treated very much like real people. They get into crazy situations and it effects them. We see how it effects them over time. They change, their relationships and dynamics to one another change, and all of this effects their choices and the larger plot. It's a psychological show, with a psychologist as an occasional character (like Sopranos), so it takes into consideration how the psyches of people work. And there are some fascinating characters, some who aren't even main characters, and they all have complicated depth.

4. Plot and story. Mr. Robot is a show that moves forward while still returning to past effects. The plot develops with each season, though season 2 is a little more character focused, and it kind of just keeps unfolding. But, essentially, the plot and story is all really about Elliot and Mr. Robot, which is why 1, 2, and 3 of my list here are handled so carefully. It needs those elements to work well for its story to be good. And so there's an attention to all of it that helps it become a well crafted story.

Overall, it's good TV because it's aware of its medium and craft and how to use those effectively. This also makes it a bit too "pretentious" for some, because it very much is trying to make an art out of it, it's aware of what it's doing. That's not for everyone. But I think if you enjoy character driven stories it's still good even if it feels a little too meta or pretentious at times.

It does use similar fantasy scenarios as Sopranos, where it delves into the mind of the protagonist like we do with Tony, but it really pushes on that farther and takes it up several notches. That can be too much for people when it happens, but it's not every episode either.

Anyway, that's what I think makes it good. It's firing on all cylinders and fits the genres I like. But your own tastes may differ.

That's just weird ngl.

Portia Doubleday was written off Mr Robot because her and Rami Malek broke up inbetween seasons

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Good question. The one that comes to mind is Bob’s Burgers. It was pitched with a very dark premise but then gradually became less PG as Loren Bouchard realized it would be alright if he just wrote about a family and just slice of life stuff. If you watch the first episode and then one from today, you’ll see how the show now caters to what I believe is a demographic that watches the show for comfort rather than humor and edge.

The fans really love the characters, as though they’re their own family from what I can tell. I recently listened to a podcast where Andy Richter mentioned to H. Jon Benjamin that he cares about what Bob’s family is up to as though they’re real or something which I thought was hilarious.

It’s almost as if he missed the entire point of the show lol. His complaint is literally the source of the protagonists motivation

I read the book and I'm enjoying the slow pace of the Tencent TV series.

I'm actually quite jealous really. Because they're doing a fairly small book over 30 episodes, each 30-50 minutes long, they really do get to include almost everything. Poor Wheel of Time with a larger book only got 8 episodes, and a drastically changed and shortened story as a result.

Lots of potential. Had no clue the Ted Lasso team was involved with this- I can’t remember the last time Harrison Ford played anything close to just a normal dude, so that alone makes this worth the watch

Yeah definitely the biggest one for me personally. He was amazing as Jimmy.

Though I still loved the show after he was gone.

You might like this WGA roundtable interview with the Star Trek writers and producers from the 90s era and today. It's long, but it's a terrific look at the nuts and bolts of what it takes to produce Star Trek.

I have one for you that may or may not count as retconning.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Seinfeld, but it’s said that Kramer at the start of the show hasn’t left the building in years, yet that is never really a thing as the next season progresses. It actually completely ignores this revelation about him pretty quickly and he’s like a completely different guy soon after this and you’d never think he was this recluse who never left his apartment for years.

I imagine I'd work my ass off and bring a draft of a one-minute scene with, say, 15 jokes sprinkled throughout – they'd probably tell me to just quit if I'm not going to be serious about my job: we can't have so few jokes in such a timespan.

And car horns

My little pony is the obvious answer

The official podcast hosted by Marc Evan Jackson (he played Shawn), was pretty close.

Twin Peaks did a great job of reconning. Specifically Mark Frost. David Lynch would film some crazy abstract scenes and Frost would work backwards and explain them. (Bob, Judy, the Red Room...)

Not just swear words. The creativity they put into insults in general is astounding.

"12 years a slave to jerking off" is one of my favorites but it's so hard to pick just one.

"No. I am your father."

Dean Winchester (and to a lesser extent, Sam) and "Baby", the 1967 Chevrolet Impala featured throughout the show.

I mean, we’re all talking about it.

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Play the emergency tone, now your bosses’ bosses’ boss gets solitary? Sounds like a plan!

I mean, I get their point tbh.
Rick and Morty has some great episodes, but some really terrible ones as well. It's very hit or miss IMO.

No, they're both fantastic shows but I wouldn't say they fit in the same category

Yeah ignore this guy. Season 1 is great, season 2 is meh (but amazing on a rewatch) and then season 3 and 4 get progressively better.