Daring, imaginative and explosive shows are taking over our television screens but not quite getting the recognition they deserve
It seems as if television series are taking over the realm of cinema with actors like Matthew McConaughey (who has recently won an Oscar), Kevin Spacey and Kevin Bacon taking on TV roles. And it’s not just actors. It appears that instead of making movies, DC comics is opting to beat Marvel by creating some of the best superhero shows such as Arrow and new shows, The Flash and Gotham.
However, without big names behind them eliciting mass attention, other shows get left in the dirt, no matter how epic they may be. Listed below are some of the more underrated shows of our time.
Hannibal
NBC/Sky Living
Whether you know him as Thomas Harris’ creation due to Anthony Hopkins’ legendary portrayal, or even as just a cannibalistic myth, we all know the infamous figure that is Hannibal Lecter. NBC’s Hannibal is based on Harris’ novel, Red Dragon, and stars Mads Mikkelson as Lector, and Hugh Dancy as the FBI Special Investigator Will Graham, who has the self-torturous talent of being able to empathise with murderers.
The show will be starting its third season sometime early-to-mid-2015, and it will have you curling your lip in disgust even as it awes you with its use of cinematography and visual arts, making the most brutal of deaths look somehow beautiful.
Melissa & Joey
ABC Family/E4
On a lighter note, Melissa Joan Hart’s family comedy is another show you should be watching but probably aren’t. The programme follows council woman, Mel Burke, as she struggles to raise her teenage nephew and niece, who have lost their parents to prison after a Ponzi scheme. Left penniless from said Ponzi scheme is Joey (Joey Lawrence), whom Mel hires as her male nanny. Hilarity ensues.
With comedy shows often trying too hard to earn a couple of laughs, frequently using sexual references as a comedic tool, this show takes a different stance. It uses family dynamics, overturns stereotypes, and at the root of it, is a feel-good family sitcom. Also, it includes my favourite cliché of characters who hate each other so badly that they fall head-over-heels in love.
The show is set to premier its fourth season on October 22 with 20 episodes lined up.
Bates Motel
A&E/Universal Channel
Alfred Hitchcock, Master of Suspense, brought Norman Bates to life in his film Psycho. As a result, he had a fair few of us hesitating to take a shower for fear of an oncoming dramatic theme tune and a bloody knife attack, which has subsequently been responsible for numerous myths and legends. In this prequel, Bates Motel takes Norman Bates and drags him back to his adolescence, revives his mother – and throws in a brother too. The show is, in one word, amazing.
British actor Freddie Highmore plays Norman and Vera Farmiga plays Norma, the mother. The chemistry between the two is indefinable, and because of that, slightly uncomfortable, which is no doubt exactly what the show is going for. It has you contemplating just how close a mother and son can be before it’s too close.
The show is now on Netflix and its ten-episode third season is to be released sometime in 2015.
Orphan Black
BBC America/BBC Three
Where to start with Orphan Black. Perhaps with Tatiana Maslany, who is worthy of all the bows. Not only does Maslany play the lead role of Sarah Manning, she plays multiple roles. Not one, not two, but… I may have lost count. The show revolves around a cloning conspiracy, where Maslany performs an unprecedented success in making every single version of herself appear as a different person, each with a different personality and history. There’s the suburban housewife, who is really a secret badass with a not-so-secret drinking and prescription drug problem, and then the Ukrainian psycho, who you ironically find quite endearing despite her casual attitude to slitting a throat. There’s even a male version that Maslany pulls off perfectly.
The show will resume with its third season in 2015.
Banshee
Cinemax/Sky Atlantic
Last, but most certainly not least, Banshee is a fictional town in Pennsylvania with a large Amish community. Fresh out of a 15-year stretch, an unnamed ex-con played by Anthony Starr steals the identity of the town’s new sheriff, Lucas Hood, after the man is murdered before he even starts the job. In doing so, new Hood dispenses his own version of justice while still dabbling in criminal activity himself. By his side is his tech savvy, no bullshit friend, Job, who isn’t quite as accustomed to the country life.
The show mainly centres around two crime lords trying to get to Hood, one to kill him and the other to manipulate Hood into turning a blind eye to all his deviance. The show is explosive with twists and turns at every end. It also deals with raw subjects of racism, religion and conflict, particularly between Native Americans and new age Americans.
The show is to release its third season in 2015.
Though these shows may not get the nominations they deserve, they are little diamonds in the dust.
Warnings: With the exception of Melissa & Joey, all shows are prone to heavy scenes of violence, brutality and graphic imagery of death. Banshee and Orphan Black contain nudity and sexually explicit scenes.
Image from: http://www.denofgeek.us/tv/banshee/63715/banshee-season-1-episode-6-wicks-review
