The First is a Hulu original series about the first manned mission to Mars, set just a few years into the future. It stars Sean Penn (mission commander), Natascha McElhone (from Ronin and other things, as an Elon Musk type character), and some other familiar faces, and the story takes place in greater New Orleans, as though the launch site and such are down there rather than Houston or the Cape. It's as much or more a drama about the people involved than a straight Sci-Fi thing and those parts are surprisingly well done. Penn is Penn and if you can't stand him, fine, but the acting is well done. Right now there is only one Season and its unclear whether or not there will be more, but I enjoyed it.

Similarly - Mars, produced by the Nat Geo people, is part Real Life and part Fiction and blends together modern news and interviews of the actual Elon Musk and other contemporary folks in the greater Space community with a purely fictional story about what would happen if we went on to actually pursue a (this ought to sound familiar...) manned mission to Mars in the coming couple of decades. It's clever the way it's put together, nearly documentary-like, and surprisingly well done for a Nat Geo original series. I've only seen the first season, but I enjoyed what I saw. Both this and The First are more about the human experience and challenges than special effects and such.

Anyone else see these?