You could do a fair bit of David Ramirez's Forever Watch with practical effects, and the story has enough twists that you could get a long season out of it. Basically set on a colony ship, where people have strange psychic powers, investigating sudden deaths that the regimented ship's society covers up. It might be better as an anime though.
The First 15 Lives of Harry August by Claire North requires almost no cgi, just period stuff and practical effects. Basically everytime certain people die, they are born again and remember their whole life. Of course someone decides to change the future.
In the Country of the Blind by Michael Flynn is about people who use statistical processes to predict the future, starting before lincoln. It could make good tv, especially with the steam punk element. Nice way to talk about machine learning and big data.
The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson. Basically these large sculptures start getting sent back through time something like 40 years, commemorating a warlord's victories. Really strongly written characters, and a good plot.