Thursday 31 August 2017

Ten TV Shows to Binge-Watch This Fall - The Jay Edition

It's no secret that the hubs and I have very different tastes when it comes to most things, television included. I was discussing my list of Ten TV Shows to Binge-Watch This Fall and, since he was less than impressed with my choices (there may have been an eye roll), I asked him to make a list of his own. This is what he came up with:


Tales from the Crypt
"A huge show in its day with massive stars and clever stories. Normally a good laugh. The Cryptkeeper alleviated the heaviness of the stories. I loved the one with Arnie as a school teacher."
Grimm
"Is tinged with sadness because of the way it ended. One of those shows that was going from strength to strength, getting better and better and then, to be told halfway through the season that you're going to be cancelled, it drives you mad. Its infuriating that something like Ash Vs the Evil Dead whose second series was crap got renewed but this got cancelled when it had so much potential. The idea of the wesen was genius, even if the CGI could be a bit hokey."
Banshee
"Nasty. Gritty. Adult. One of the surprise series of recent years. It didn't shy away from real visceral violence. Lucas Hood was such a great, clever character. It's about guy and girl do a robbery and steal from a criminal lord called The Rabbit who is the girl's father. The guy does fifteen years for the robbery but doesn't tell anyone where the loot is. He goes looking for the girl when he gets out and fate intervenes. He's in a bar where Banshee's new sheriff is killed by thugs so he takes the sheriff's place and, because he's a criminal, he goes after the town's criminals in a criminal way. Superb brutality."
Friday the 13th (the series)
"I always used to catch this late on a Friday night, coming back from the pub. In the end, I was looking forward to it. It had clever story lines. It's about a shop selling cursed object and the two people whose jobs it was to get the cursed objects back. Nothing to do with Jason, of course."
Sleepy Hollow
"I've only watched the first three seasons so far but I still recommend it. I stopped watching when they lost Nicole Beharie, when it lost a bit of momentum and had an overhaul of characters. It doesn't work as well but anything with the Headless Horseman has got to be fun, right?"
Brimstone
"Another one of those really annoying series because it was cancelled after only one series. Such an excellent idea and well. A clever storyline about a policeman who goes to Hell because he's taken revenge on the man who killed his wife. The Devil offers him a deal: more than a hundred souls have escaped from Hell and if he brings them back, the Devil will give him a second chance. In the same mould as Buffy but gruesome. I guess there were too many supernatural shows out there at the time like it."
Batman the Animated Series
"This worked because it was so stylistic. The imagery was sleek and almost Film Noir. Timeless, like you could watch it today and still think it was new. Bringing in Mark Hamill as the Joker was immense. It brought in all the old villains, plus villains I'd never heard of before. Being a marvel boy, I hadn't known of Scarecrow or Killer Croc until I watched this series so I'm glad I did."
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel
"It's hard to find something new to say about a show that's so iconic. Buffy was one of those shows that, although for teens and being in my twenties when it came out (hard to believe it's twenty years ago!), but I liked it because it spun a whole new mythos on vampires. Although it had a couple of awkward episodes, the story arcs were very good and they kept bringing characters in that made it better. Spike was one of those characters. You couldn't wait to see what he did next. Angel, the spin-off was the better, darker show. "Hush" and "Showtime" were my favourite episodes."
Forever Knight
"Here's one that came out during the supernatural glut of the Nineties. It's a little hokey but good pulp fiction viewing. It's about a cop that works the night shift who is a vampire - but a good vampire. Lacroix was always my favourite because he was an out and out bastard. I watched it because my mum made me but I grew to enjoy it."
The X-Files
"Must-see television in the 90s. Lost its way after the first five series but the return of the new series was nice to see. Absolute iconic show. One of those series that spawned a glut of similar shows."


I like quite a few of the shows on Jay's list, even if they didn't make mine. What do you think? Whose list do you prefer? Want to contribute one of your own? You know what to do.

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