The 2013/14 TV series was an interesting one. I didn’t find myself watching too much network TV but that was more than made up for with series on cable. Last year there were a few surprises with new series like True Detective and Halt and Catch Fire and a few letdowns like The Leftovers and the returning Falling Skies.
Agents of SHIELD ABC September 23
I’m a fair-weather fan of Agents of SHIELD at best, but I did get back into the show somewhat towards the end of its first season — Deathlok participating more in the show really helped for me. When Agents works it’s an interesting series about normal people trying to keep the world safe from rogue gods and super villains. When Agents doesn’t work it’s a low-budget made-for-TV take on The Avengers without the special effects.
The Goldbergs ABC September 24
The Goldbergs isn’t a great show, it isn’t groundbreaking and neither is it much different than what’s come before. But it does have a lot of heart and each week I do find myself getting wrapped up in the Goldberg family and their exploits in 1980-something Philadelphia.
Sometime after the new year
The Americans
I think that The Americans is one of the best series on TV that for some reason doesn’t get the attention it deserves. It’s is both an examination of life in early 1980s America and an exploration of relationships AND a thrilling spy drama to boot. What’s not to love?
Community
Surviving the firing of series creator Dan Harmon, then a truly dismal season without him, then the return of Harmon and finally being cancelled by NBC, Community is set to return – not to TV, but Yahoo.com – for a sixth season sometime in the near future. SIX SEASONS AND A MOVIE!
Game of Thrones
With Game of Thrones each season, if not episode, adds more and more new characters, plot twists and new storylines. Next season entering its fifth season, I am starting to wonder if this great mass of plot and characters and story is actually headed to a conclusion or instead a great collapse at some point in the future? That being said, the last few seasons of Thrones have made for excellent TV.
Halt and Catch Fire
Me and about 14 other people are watching Halt and Catch Fire but like The Americans it’s really a great, overlooked show. Some compare Fire to series like Mad Men that have similar character types. But I’d argue that whereas Mad Men is about building something great, even if in the end it’s destroyed by excesses and arrogance, Fire is about trying to build something great but ultimately falling short.
Mad Men
Mad Men is set to end its run on AMC sometime in 2015. My question is, will Don Draper make it to the 1970s as a haggard middle-aged washed-out ad-exec, or will he leave a “good looking” corpse behind in the 1960s instead?
Hannibal
Hannibal shifted gears in its second season. If the first was the character of Will Graham questioning his identity then the second was all about what happens when several extremely smart FBI agents pit themselves against genius serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Hint: it doesn’t turn out well for the FBI agents. The third season of the show looks to be Hannibal on the run with the FBI left to pick up the body parts.
True Detective
True Detective was a weird existentialist drama about two detectives hunting a serial killer in 1990s Texas. The show brings up all these metaphysical questions about everything from the nature of good and evil to the structure of the universe. And somehow series creator Nic Pizzolatto is able to wrap all these disparate elements together into one compelling drama. Next season is starts a new story and is set to premier sometime in the summer.
