We’re in the peak of the golden age of television. Or something like that. Here are a few new shows, including new seasons of anthologies, retooled projects, and sequels to classics.
Tag Archives: showtime
Favorite returning TV shows of 2015
Any show worth watching has already premiered in 2015 (thank you, Amazon, for waiting until the last month). Here’s a list of my favorite shows that returned this year. You’ll notice some heavy hitters missing. For instance: I unfortunately don’t watch Game of Thrones regularly. That means I realize that this isn’t a best of list. You can’t really argue with me on my personal taste. Also, this is based off of episodes airing in 2015 only; not considering the whole series. I actually left off one of my favorite shows from last year (How to Get Away with Murder) simply because this season isn’t living up to my expectations.
Here we go:
Top 10 television shows of 2014
I’ll keep this short and sweet. Here are ten television (streaming) shows I dug this year, in alphabetical order, and why I like them. I’m giving myself a tweet (140 characters) to explain why I like each release.
‘Homeland:’ what it was and what it is now
Showtime’s Homeland was about a bipolar CIA agent convinced that an American POW that was rescued was really turned by a terrorist group. If you haven’t watched any of the Emmy-winning show, stop reading now.
That was the initial premise of the first season. Then politics got in the way. No, not on the show; in real life. Carrie and Brody’s chemistry (Claire Danes and Damien Lewis, respectively) was undeniable. It wasn’t the most important aspect of the show, but it became one of – if not the most – luring and enduring. While the first season premise was only supposed to be the first season, people got it in their ehads that this POW storyline was what the plot was supposed to be. Like it was going to focus on Walter White breaking bad.
No, it never was supposed to be about Brody. That just happened because of Emmy wins and chemistry. Brody was supposed to die at the end of season one, but creators realized they had something in the Carrie+Brody storyline that they could explore. So Homeland seasons two and three became the last two parts of a trilogy of the initial premise. Brody wasn’t supposed to last that long. Now that he’s gone, the fourth season can finally do what the second season was supposed to do: show Carrie doing what she does for homeland security.
Carrie is in Kubal running drone strikes. Saul is in the private sector. Quinn is in Islamabad. Brody is dead.
There are still remnants of where the show wandered and lost its way. Carrie has Brody’s child; only the newborn is back in America with Carrie’s sister. This will be an insufferable plot because Carrie shouldn’t have kids and we all know it. Yet, it is already certain that it will be a reoccurring character development that is going to hinder the show’s political plots.
The aspects that hindered the previous seasons, particularly Brody’s family, are gone. Now the show can move on. What Homeland is now is not what it once was, but what it should have been. It’s a shell of it’s former self, but like Cheers it could be considered two shows in one. (For example: Cheers was able to rehash and last so long because it was really two shows: the Diane Years and the Rebecca Years.) This former Emmy queen might never be able to reclaim its crown, but it can climb back into contention. The show can become a smart political thriller with remnants of a love triangle.
Homeland premiered on October 5 with back to back episodes you can watch via YouTube below. It airs weekly on Sundays at 9pm via Showtime.
Predicting the 65th Emmy Awards
The 65th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards are this Sunday on CBS and will be hosted by the incomparable Neil Patrick Harris. That means it is time to make my annual picks yet again in hopes of doing better than the previous year. I was going to break this up into a multi-day post, but since I got these out so late I’ve included all of the major award. Check it out below.
Five new fall shows I’m eager to watch
The new television season effectively begins tonight and they means I’m going crazy trying to catch every new show that I haven’t been able to watch the pilot for already. While I’m excited for some returning favorites, here are some new shows (in alphabetical order) that piqued my interest.
Why ‘Homeland’ is a winner
Why is Homeland so good? It won instantaneous critical acclaim upon its release and grabbed the Golden Globe for Best Drama Series and Best Drama Actress (Claire Danes) and a nomination for Best Drama Actor (Damien Lewis). Now it’s up for nine awards at next week’s Emmy Award and will most likely net Danes her second major award for the series and is a serious contender to end Mad Men’s four year streak.
But why is it so good?
[Obvious spoilers follow]
10 returning shows I’m absolutely stoked for (and you should be too)
Narrowing this list down to five shows returning this fall was the most difficult thing in the world. So I didn’t. Instead I made it 10; which was still a difficult number. People might question why I left off perennial favorites, like shows about zombies and Prohibition era gangsters, but I’ve always had a quirky loyalty to certain shows and have followed a few of these from the beginning. Here we go:
ADAM VITCAVAGE 