West Wing is in my opinion the best example of competency porn.
this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2026
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Really all the Aaron Sorkin shows are like that.
The newsroom w/ Jeff Daniels
I'm a weeb, so Ghost in the Shell, ACCA: 13 Territory Inspection Dept., Planetes
Burn Notice was great for most of its run
Star Trek: The Next Generation.
That's emotional maturity porn
Ah yes, the TV show where every second episode is "captain, we fucked something up, and now everything's fucked".
The thing about true competency isn't that fuck-ups never happen, it's how you deal with fuck-ups when they do.
In TNG the crew are generally capable, professional, and most importantly pull in the same direction. When a problem happens they put their heads together and solve it without ego.
Compare to other (also good) space shows like Battlestar Galactica, where almost the entire plot is driven by secret identities, hidden agendas, backstabbing, and personal drama.
TNG is competency porn because while Individuals are flawed, the crew as a whole are together brilliantly capable.
TNG is a show about a utopian human society, where the individuals and society are moral and upstanding. It's a reflection of the best parts of our idealized selves. The characters are friendly, forgiving, and well trained. There is no substance abuse, and resources are unlimited.
BSG is about how our hubris led to the downfall of civilization and how we're wasting away, hopelessly trying to avoid extinction in the face of resource starvation, and constantly being on the brink of annihilation. The characters are the best of what's left, whatever that means, and it's only through cleverness and luck that they can persevere.
I honestly think BSG characters show competence better than TNG, because in BSG the deck is stacked AGAINST the characters, but they still pull through due to incredible talent. In TNG it's deus ex machina almost every episode as they "recalibrate the diteron maximizers and send more foonbahs to the replicar inverters"
I love both, but IMO BSG is a much better reflection of actual competence and realistic human personalities, complete with skeletons in closet, bad attitudes, drunkenness, arrogance, etc.
"Captain, it turns out the problem was these new guys that we've never seen before, again!"
Mr robot
So competent he has to create additional personalities to handle all of it.
Bob Ross’ Joy of Painting should definitely be in there
My Cousin Vinnie.
Marisa Tomei is indeed extremely competent at being hot.
That...black floral print open back body sock she's wearing in the porch rant scene is the most 1990's thing ever. It's more 90's than Achy Breaky Heart.
Sherlock Person of Interest For all Mankind
For all mankind is like that in the earlier seasons. The incompetence demonstrated in the last seasons is a major letdown.
Sherlock is good until the writers tried to subvert expectations to the point of ruining the show in the last season. It kind of ruins the earlier seasons as well though because none of it amounts to anything. If you can ignore all that and take the episodes individually it might still be enjoyable.
"Columbo"
Macgyver
Also, Stargate.
I mean compared to Stargate Atlantis, yea. Atlantis is like lets watch all these incompetent people scramble around and screw up. McKay has to run around fixing stuff everyone else messed up but also messes stuff up himself as well.
Alone
This is going to be a bit random, but it's what came to mind: from the show Dead Like Me, the character Rube. Just him, not the whole show. I always loved him for it.
Leverage
Season one was great. then they immediately dumbed down the show.
- Designated Survivor [Netflix]
This is a show about ...
US congress getting blown up and a much more low level member has to take over the role as President.
It does completely lose its steam after the first season and I don't think i'd watch it again because it's pretty preachy but it's an interesting enough concept
- Slow Horses [Apple TV]
This is a show about neglected, under-performing agents of british intelligence, who are exiled to Slough House and nicknamed Slow Horses, but ...
under the guidance of a hard-ass boss they time and time again manage to out-perform their colleagues at MI5.
(Or watch both via other means)
I find it interesting that the wikipedia artickes cites Apollo 13 and not The Martian. The Martian is like the most popular example of competency porn isn't it?
God, I love The Martian. Istg I could quote it line by line.
I love Slow Horses. Gary oldman is so fucked up in that.
Very fucked up, and yet he is also the most competent person in the agency!
I recently watched Dept. Q and was struck by how well all of the characters did their jobs.
The French Department Q films are really good too.
Great detective show.
It doesn't fall into the trap of making people too perfect. Most of the main cast have personal problems (some of them pretty fucking major) but when it comes to solving the crime they pull in the same direction.
I agree with you about some of the Wiki examples not making sense. I can understand it for Oceans 11 but not Pluribus.
I was curious too about Pluribus, so I went to the cited article, and this is their reasoning:
[...] long, satisfying sequences of the hive mind restocking a grocery store or harvesting dead bodies, in contrast to the halting, imperfect actions of Carol (Rhea Seehorn), who’s holding on to her independent mind with all her might.
It's like an AI watched the show, tried to pick out the good guys then wrote a review about it and posted to wikipedia.
The Bureau - (Bureau of Legends) amazing French spy tv show. They make some mistakes but most of the show is them working and being pretty competent.
Restaurant Impossible?
Chuck
Veep
edit I could not resist the chaos answer
Wouldn't that be the opposite?
The West Wing
Yeah who exactly is competent on that show?