Five Television Shows That You Should Be Watching
This has been a great time for television. TV is no longer the desolate wasteland of crass, mindless drivel that it once was. To be fair, it hasn't been for a while. There are still reality shows and those shows that make you wonder how it got green lighted in the first place: Did anyone watch "Cavemen?" RIP "Work It." But for the most part, each network, broadcast and cable and now, Netflix, have multiple shows vying for your attention and no matter how hard you try, you are going to miss something. Thank goodness for summer. All the major network shows are on their summer hiatus so now you can spend this beautiful summer weather bingeing all the shows that you missed or didn't have time for during the regular TV season. Now, like I said, there are a lot to choose from, but here are 5 shows that I think everyone should be watching.
1. "Hannibal"
This show is kind of a cheat. NBC decided to hold the third season premiere of "Hannibal" for the summer. It starts tonight. Summer show or no, "Hannibal" may be the best show on television period. Creator Bryan Fuller has taken a story that most of us know and turned it on it's head. Rather than focus on the FBI agents working with and then tracking him, Fuller spends most of his time focusing on the titular cannibal. Mads Mikkelsen projects a different Hannibal than Anthony Hopkins. His Hannibal is well spoken, elegant and charming. He is able to work with the FBI and blind them to the crimes that he is committing while hiding the ingredients in the dishes he prepares for his famous dinner parties. The cat-and-mouse game being played out between Hannibal and FBI profile Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) is unlike anything you've seen on television.
Fuller has a seven year plan for the series and hopes to adapt all the Thomas Harris Lecter novels. This season will see his team tackle the events of Red Dragon so it's the perfect time to get caught up and enjoy one of the best shows on TV. It's hard to find new superlatives for the show since everything about it is amazing from the acting to the writing to the music. You can purchase the first two seasons on DVD and blu ray, download them from iTunes or watch them exclusively on Amazon Prime. The third season premieres tonight on NBC at 10/9c.
2. "Orphan Black"
If you wanted one good reason to watch this sci-fi show about clone sisters and the conspiracy that surrounds them, I can boil it down to two words: Tatiana Maslany. Maslany is the Canadian actress that brings Sarah Manning and the rest of her "sisters" to life on the BBC America drama. Maslany is the hardest working actress on television and she makes it look easy. She tackles multiple roles, sometimes playing two or more characters in the same scene and she is so good at embodying these women that you sometimes forget that you are watching the same actress portray them. There is brainy Cosima, tightly wound housewife Allison and damaged Helena. Sometimes Maslany is playing one sister impersonating another and if that doesn't blow your mind, maybe you need to check your pulse. It's not just Maslany's career defining performance that lands "Orphan Black" on this list. It's also the way that the show uses it's fantastic premise to touch on broader subjects like gender, sexuality and even scientific ethics. I could go on, but instead I'll just tell you that the first two seasons "Orphan Black" are available on DVD and Blu Ray, for purchase on iTunes and to stream exclusively on Amazon Prime. The third season is currently airing on BBC America Saturdays at 8/7c.
3. iZombie
Zombies are having a moment. It seems like our fascination with anything supernatural moves in phases. For a while it was vampires and now with the popularity of "The Walking Dead," it seems that zombies are what people are clamoring for and the CW is happy to give the people what they want. "iZombie" is not your typical show about zombies. It focuses on med student Olivia "Liv" Moore (Rose McIver) whose perfect life is turned upside down when she is slashed by a zombie at the worst college party ever. Liv awakens to find herself undead. She takes a job at the local morgue, where she eats the brains of her "clients." When Live ingests brains she also gets flashes of the deceased's memories along with some of their personality traits and special skills. Liv, pretending to be a psychic, uses these flashes to help the police solve murders.
iZombie is based on a comic book created by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred and adapted for television by Rob Thomas, the man behind "Veronica Mars." "iZombie" shares a lot with Thomas' previous series. Liv is acerbic and quick witted. There is a lot of humor and the show really challenges McIver. With each brain that Liv ingests, she becomes a different person for a bit and McIver excels at bringing these new traits to the front, but still keeping Liv, well Liv. There is a little something for everyone here with the supernatural and procedural elements and the show has already been renewed for a second season. Previous episodes are available to watch on Hulu Plus and cwtv.com. They can also be purchased on iTunes and Amazon.
4. "The 100"
"The 100" seems like a show tailor made for The CW. It's based on a popular series of YA novels. It has a post apocalyptic theme that is very in right now. It features a cast filled with telegenic twenty somethings. This isn't just "Hunger Games" for television though. In the future, nuclear war has made Earth's surface unlivable. The last remaining humans have fled and taken up residence in a series of interconnected space stations called the Ark. Since provisions are low, any offense, no matter how minor is dealt with with severity. As the series opens protagonist Clarke (Eliza Taylor) is shuffled onto a ship along with 99 other juvenile delinquents and is sent to Earth's surface to fend for themselves and hopefully not die of radiation poisoning.
"The 100" is intense and it doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of the world that that it's characters live in, like a lot of similarly themed shows. People die. Hard choices need to be made and there isn't always an eleventh hour save. Newcomer Taylor anchors the show as Clarke. She is an everywoman. She is charismatic and vulnerable and strong. She is doing the best she can and owns the choices that she makes, even if they aren't always the right ones. Unlike a lot of CW shows, it's not all about the young people. Equal focus is placed on the adults left on the Ark, which is a refreshing change of pace from other shows aimed at teens. The first season of "The 100" is available on DVD/Blu Ray and available for streaming on Netflix. The second season can be streamed on cwtv.com and Hulu Plus. Episodes can also be purchased on iTunes and on Amazon. It has also been renewed for a third season that is set to debut this fall.
5. The Americans
The television landscape has been littered with antiheroes from Tony Soprano to Vic Mackey to more recent entries like Don Draper and Walter White. FX continues with this tradition with maybe the ultimate antiheroes, Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings played by Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell. The Jennings are actually KGB agents living in Washington DC during the thick of the Cold War. It's a ballsy move to make the protagonists of your television show enemies of the state, but by focusing on the family that they have built since they entered the United States, you find yourselves rooting for them even while they try to take the country down.
Every aspect of "The Americans" is meticulously crafted. Each detail is perfect. Watching an episode is like being transported back to the early '80's. The clothes, the music it's all lovingly curated to create an experience. Modern audiences are so used to present day spy movies and television shows, so it's nice to see bad wigs and "cutting edge" tech that is basically just bugs, clunky phones and intuition. Rhys and Russell shake off their past television personas to embody these morally ambiguous parents, lovers and spies. The first two seasons of "The Americans" are available on DVD and are exclusively available to stream on Amazon Prime. You can purchase them, along with the recently concluded third season on iTunes and on Amazon. The series was renewed for a fourth season that is set to premiere early next year on FX.
So, there you have it. Five excellent shows that will get you through the hot, summer months. Who needs a good book on the beach, when you have a laptop, tablet or phone loaded with any of these shows? Are you fans of any of these? Are there shows that you think are undiscovered gems you want to let people know about? Let's hear about them in the comments.
This show is kind of a cheat. NBC decided to hold the third season premiere of "Hannibal" for the summer. It starts tonight. Summer show or no, "Hannibal" may be the best show on television period. Creator Bryan Fuller has taken a story that most of us know and turned it on it's head. Rather than focus on the FBI agents working with and then tracking him, Fuller spends most of his time focusing on the titular cannibal. Mads Mikkelsen projects a different Hannibal than Anthony Hopkins. His Hannibal is well spoken, elegant and charming. He is able to work with the FBI and blind them to the crimes that he is committing while hiding the ingredients in the dishes he prepares for his famous dinner parties. The cat-and-mouse game being played out between Hannibal and FBI profile Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) is unlike anything you've seen on television.
Fuller has a seven year plan for the series and hopes to adapt all the Thomas Harris Lecter novels. This season will see his team tackle the events of Red Dragon so it's the perfect time to get caught up and enjoy one of the best shows on TV. It's hard to find new superlatives for the show since everything about it is amazing from the acting to the writing to the music. You can purchase the first two seasons on DVD and blu ray, download them from iTunes or watch them exclusively on Amazon Prime. The third season premieres tonight on NBC at 10/9c.
If you wanted one good reason to watch this sci-fi show about clone sisters and the conspiracy that surrounds them, I can boil it down to two words: Tatiana Maslany. Maslany is the Canadian actress that brings Sarah Manning and the rest of her "sisters" to life on the BBC America drama. Maslany is the hardest working actress on television and she makes it look easy. She tackles multiple roles, sometimes playing two or more characters in the same scene and she is so good at embodying these women that you sometimes forget that you are watching the same actress portray them. There is brainy Cosima, tightly wound housewife Allison and damaged Helena. Sometimes Maslany is playing one sister impersonating another and if that doesn't blow your mind, maybe you need to check your pulse. It's not just Maslany's career defining performance that lands "Orphan Black" on this list. It's also the way that the show uses it's fantastic premise to touch on broader subjects like gender, sexuality and even scientific ethics. I could go on, but instead I'll just tell you that the first two seasons "Orphan Black" are available on DVD and Blu Ray, for purchase on iTunes and to stream exclusively on Amazon Prime. The third season is currently airing on BBC America Saturdays at 8/7c.
Zombies are having a moment. It seems like our fascination with anything supernatural moves in phases. For a while it was vampires and now with the popularity of "The Walking Dead," it seems that zombies are what people are clamoring for and the CW is happy to give the people what they want. "iZombie" is not your typical show about zombies. It focuses on med student Olivia "Liv" Moore (Rose McIver) whose perfect life is turned upside down when she is slashed by a zombie at the worst college party ever. Liv awakens to find herself undead. She takes a job at the local morgue, where she eats the brains of her "clients." When Live ingests brains she also gets flashes of the deceased's memories along with some of their personality traits and special skills. Liv, pretending to be a psychic, uses these flashes to help the police solve murders.
iZombie is based on a comic book created by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred and adapted for television by Rob Thomas, the man behind "Veronica Mars." "iZombie" shares a lot with Thomas' previous series. Liv is acerbic and quick witted. There is a lot of humor and the show really challenges McIver. With each brain that Liv ingests, she becomes a different person for a bit and McIver excels at bringing these new traits to the front, but still keeping Liv, well Liv. There is a little something for everyone here with the supernatural and procedural elements and the show has already been renewed for a second season. Previous episodes are available to watch on Hulu Plus and cwtv.com. They can also be purchased on iTunes and Amazon.
"The 100" seems like a show tailor made for The CW. It's based on a popular series of YA novels. It has a post apocalyptic theme that is very in right now. It features a cast filled with telegenic twenty somethings. This isn't just "Hunger Games" for television though. In the future, nuclear war has made Earth's surface unlivable. The last remaining humans have fled and taken up residence in a series of interconnected space stations called the Ark. Since provisions are low, any offense, no matter how minor is dealt with with severity. As the series opens protagonist Clarke (Eliza Taylor) is shuffled onto a ship along with 99 other juvenile delinquents and is sent to Earth's surface to fend for themselves and hopefully not die of radiation poisoning.
"The 100" is intense and it doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of the world that that it's characters live in, like a lot of similarly themed shows. People die. Hard choices need to be made and there isn't always an eleventh hour save. Newcomer Taylor anchors the show as Clarke. She is an everywoman. She is charismatic and vulnerable and strong. She is doing the best she can and owns the choices that she makes, even if they aren't always the right ones. Unlike a lot of CW shows, it's not all about the young people. Equal focus is placed on the adults left on the Ark, which is a refreshing change of pace from other shows aimed at teens. The first season of "The 100" is available on DVD/Blu Ray and available for streaming on Netflix. The second season can be streamed on cwtv.com and Hulu Plus. Episodes can also be purchased on iTunes and on Amazon. It has also been renewed for a third season that is set to debut this fall.
The television landscape has been littered with antiheroes from Tony Soprano to Vic Mackey to more recent entries like Don Draper and Walter White. FX continues with this tradition with maybe the ultimate antiheroes, Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings played by Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell. The Jennings are actually KGB agents living in Washington DC during the thick of the Cold War. It's a ballsy move to make the protagonists of your television show enemies of the state, but by focusing on the family that they have built since they entered the United States, you find yourselves rooting for them even while they try to take the country down.
Every aspect of "The Americans" is meticulously crafted. Each detail is perfect. Watching an episode is like being transported back to the early '80's. The clothes, the music it's all lovingly curated to create an experience. Modern audiences are so used to present day spy movies and television shows, so it's nice to see bad wigs and "cutting edge" tech that is basically just bugs, clunky phones and intuition. Rhys and Russell shake off their past television personas to embody these morally ambiguous parents, lovers and spies. The first two seasons of "The Americans" are available on DVD and are exclusively available to stream on Amazon Prime. You can purchase them, along with the recently concluded third season on iTunes and on Amazon. The series was renewed for a fourth season that is set to premiere early next year on FX.
So, there you have it. Five excellent shows that will get you through the hot, summer months. Who needs a good book on the beach, when you have a laptop, tablet or phone loaded with any of these shows? Are you fans of any of these? Are there shows that you think are undiscovered gems you want to let people know about? Let's hear about them in the comments.
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