I think I’m about ready to give up on the FX series The Bridge. The overall story is interesting — a Mexican and US cop investigate a body found literally on the border that leads to a wider mystery — but there’s a lot of other stuff that bothers me. The lead US detective has Asperger’s syndrome, which might make her a great detective but the way she behaves there’s no way she’d make it first as a street cop, then progress through the ranks to become a detective in the first place.
But I can suspend my disbelief on that, what I have a harder time with is the killer who seems to be part sorcerer, techno-wizard and stealth-ninja. He’s able to temporarily cut the power to the border crossing to place the body, pull video off an FBI agent’s cell phone, cut off said FBI agents head and place it in a bag within seconds, stake a girl in the desert and broadcast her to the internet but somehow disguise where the camera’s filming from, kill a witness when the police are only feet away…
I get that they want to make the killer this huge threat, but all this gunk makes me think the killer is more Cobra Commander than Ted Bundy.
Usually, the summer TV season means lots of interesting fall shows go on break which are replaced with lots of uninteresting reality shows and other burn-off series the networks don’t have much confidence in. Last season was a bit different. Not much the networks did was successful and, other than a short lived but intense period of quality TV this spring, I didn’t find much of anything to watch last fall/winter on TV.
But this summer there are more than a few series I’m watching/planning to check out.
Under the Dome on CBS
Falling Skies, Sundays at 10 on TNT TNT’s drama about the remnants of humanity fighting back against an alien invasion sill delivers the goods. Now in its’ third season, a new alien race has been introduced that might just give what’s left of the human race the upper hand on the other alien invaders. But can these new aliens be trusted, or do they want the planet for themselves?
Family Tree, Sundays at 10 on HBO I’m digging this Christopher Guest improvised comedy about Tom Chadwick (Chris O’Dowd) who inherits a trunk of family heirlooms and decides to go on a genealogical journey to find his roots.
Under the Dome, Mondays at 10 on CBS I’m genuinely excited about this one about an otherworldly dome that suddenly covers a small town in Maine. My only caveats are; it’s on CBS and CBS isn’t exactly known for risky or innovative series, I quite liked the ending of the Under the Dome novel and CBS version of the series will be open ended with an eye to bringing the show back again next year if it’s successful. Still Under the Dome in 2014 then?
Underbelly: Badness
Underbelly: Badness Wednesdays at 9 on Audience Network (DIRECTV) I greatly enjoyed the first two seasons of this Australian series but thought the third was just alright but I didn’t care all that much for the fourth series or the three TV movies that followed. I only checked out Badness because there wasn’t much else on and I was happy to find that this series marks a return to greatness for this true-life crime drama franchise.
The Fall, Netflix Watching Hannibal the same time I started watching The Fall on Netflix almost gave me serial killer drama overload. Luckily, The Fall takes a different tact on serial killers. Here, Gillian Anderson plays Stella Gibson, a detective who’s trying to find a killer of women (Jamie Dornan) in Belfast, Ireland. In The Fall, the story plays out with Gibson searching for the killer and the killer planning his next attack. Gibson has got to be one of strongest female characters on TV, maybe ever.
Orange Is the New Black, available July 11 on Netflix This drama/comedy about life behind the bars of a women’s prison is by Jenji Kohan who also created the hit series Weeds.
The Bridge on FX
The Newsroom, Sundays beginning July 14 on HBO The second season of Aaron Sorkin’s drama about the inner-workings of Will McAvoy’s nightly new show promises to bring more intrigue and long Sorkin speeches to the cable news game.
The Bridge , Wednesdays beginning July 10 on FX Based on a Scandinavian crime drama of the same name, in The Bridge one detective from the US (Diane Kruger) and one from Mexico (Demián Bichir) must investigate the murder of a woman found literally on the border of these two countries.
Low Winter Sun 8/11, Sundays beginning August 11 on AMC This one is based on a British series. Here, a cop kills another cop but instead of getting away with murder finds himself stuck on the other side of the law.
Game of Thrones (HBO): Game of Thrones is the best of the best series in a spring season of a lot of great dramas.
Veep (HBO): I don’t think there’s been a lot of good comedies on TV recently but Veep is a big exception.
Mad Men (AMC): I think Mad Men‘s finest days might be behind it, but it’s still a great show.
Wednesday
The Americans(FX): I honestly didn’t think that The Americans was going to be a good show, let alone a great one when I first heard about it. How happy I am to be wrong.
Doctor Who (BBC America): Episodes of Doctor Who this year have been spotty at best but I still dig the Doctor and his new companion.
On the DVR
Orphan Black (BBC America): I watched one episode of Orphan Black and liked it but never got into it enough to check out other ones. All episodes are still on my DVR and I think I’ll end up watching them someday soon.
Looking forward to…
Arrested Development (Netflix, May 26): I think the return of my all-time favorite TV series of the last decade is a very big deal, not only for the return of the Bluth family but also for Netflix’s continuing commitment to quality original series.
