I started writing this post like a week ago, but have been back and forth on it since then. There's no real reason why, just kind of got half way through the list and thought, no one gives a shit, why am I still doing this! Lol. Like why don't I just post up trailers, and be done with, rather than all this effort. But then I realised this is what I love. I love yapping away about shit that no one else gives a fuck about. I don't even care if you don't care, I just like talking about my TV, even if it is to myself! :)
Rizzoli & Isles:
This is a crime based drama focusing on the life's of the two women leads, who are work colleagues and best friends, police detective Jane Rizzoli and Medical Examiner Mora Isles. Rizzoli is very tom-boyish and Isles is the polar opposite. Like most of the show I watch, this was my sisters recommendation. It's currently in a mid-season break of the second series. It has its captivating moments that make it worthwhile, most notably towards the seasons finales, but mostly it's just nice and watchable. It's still early in the shows life, I think it has potential, but don't think I'd shed a tear when it's time was up. However, it is nice to see two women leads, maybe a female perspective could get into it alot more. I'll still be watching it.
The Good Wife:
A Law based drama, which you can guess by the title, focuses around the life of the lead woman Alicia Floreck. The series starts with the fall out from her powerful politician husband's public affair. This impacts her relationship with her husband, the impact on her children, the start of her own career as a lawyer. The series is a few episodes in to its third season, and the show gets better with each one. There are quite a number of characters involved in the show, so there's plenty to love and hate. There's some very good performances in it, and it's taken America by quite a storm last year, winning various awards. It's pretty emotional stuff, and big issues being played with. Again it's with a strong woman lead, and maybe a woman might be able to relate to it more.
White Collar:
Another crime based drama, but unlike the others, this is not based around violent homicide cases, but instead as the title suggest, white collared criminals such as forgers and art thiefs. This gives the show a slightly lighter feel than some of the other, but it is still capable of producing some heavier, darker moments. The show revolves around the undeniably beautiful Matt Bomer as Neil Caffery, who is an convicted arts forger extraordinaire. However, the detective that has chased him for years and finally arrested his man when we are first introduced to the show, Peter, offers Niel a deal to work with the police as an expert in the field to help bring down other criminals of that kind, in exchange for a jail sentence. This leads to a very weird and interesting partnership and friendship between the two. This is one of the shows that I think my sister would rate higher in the list, and on another day, maybe I would to. It's currently on a mid-season break of the third season.
Leverage:
Leverage is another crime based drama, but these are no cops trying to solve a case. They are a team of five thiefs and grifters who help the innocent get back at the rich and powerful who have done them wrong. The team consists of a Hitter, Hacker, Grifter, Thief, and Mastermind (Timothy Hutton) as Nathan Ford. Sometimes the bad guys make the bes good guys. If anyone has watched the British show Hustle, it is basically the same format, but about 10 times better. It's on a lot bigger scale, more action, more drama, more character development. If you like that show, you will love this. Due to the nature of the cases the team are dealing with, (ie. not murder and homicide) it gives the show a lighter edge, and quite an uplifting feeling. All of the five characters have a major role to play and a few of the characters story lines intertwined with each other, which is always exciting. It is currently on a mid season break of the fourth season.
The Mentalist:
This is a crime based drama focusing around a team of four police detectives and a consultant in the shape of Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) aka The Mentalist. He is a hypnotist and body language expert who has a way of seeing things and dealing with people which is very different to the way the rest of the officers go about work. He reads people and goes on hunches, alot of the times getting in trouble with his police bosses, but on the most part, he delivers and stays as an essential part of the homicide solving team. He starts working with the police in order to catch the mysterious, elusive serial killer Red John, who murdered his wife and daughter before the show began. This brings a nice contrast into the show, as when Jane is dealing with a normal case, he is quite witty and funny, but when anything to do with Red John gets mentioned, he becomes very dark and vengeful. The show is a few episode into it's fourth season and I can truly say it's one that gets alot better. The first couple of seasons were watchable enough, but for me, it became repetitive and there wasn't much character development. However, the last season and the start of this have shook a whole lot of things up and it has drastically jumped up my rankings. Long may that rise continue.
Chuck:
Chuck is an action/comedy type situation. Even though, most of the other shows have funny, witty, light hearted moments in them, Chuck is the only one I would actually class as a comedy. It is about an average-joe computer nerd who accidentally installs the 'intersect' into his brain. The intersect is a government computer programme which holds all their secrets, as well as, enabling you to do whatever you focused on, i.e. martial arts, shooting guns, and whatever other stuff you have to do to take down bad guys. So this pretty much turned this regular nerdy guy into a super agent. He has a team of army veteran Casey and the gorgeous Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) who also plays his love interest to show him the ropes. These three are the main characters but there is a larger cast and some of the best characters on TV! This is more where the comedy side comes in. I can't talk about them all individually, but you'll just have to take my word for it. Something about Chuck is just instantly relatable and likable. Especially for me, with the whole Chuck/Sarah thing, him being a normal geeky guy, starting to fall in love for the first time with this stunning woman who is out of his league, and all the mishaps and awkwardness that comes along with it. It was a cool story the way it was done. It's currently in its fifth and final season. It was meant to finish after the fourth but due to fan pressure it was extended for a one more season, but I have just read that this one will only have 13 episodes, compared to the 20+ of the others.
Castle:
Castle is a crime drama based show. Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) is an award winning novelist, who starts working with the police in order to get an insight for his new crime thriller novel which he's going to base on a detective. That detective turns out the incredibly beautiful Kate Beckett played by Stana Katic. Similarly to The Mentalist, Castle becomes apart of a homicide detective team along with two other officers, led by Beckett. Castle and Beckett work well as a team, as she is tough, logical, and determined, whereas Castle is more theory based, throwing fantasy and wild stories about each case. From the very beginning of the show it is clear that there is sexual tension between the two, and as the show grows the chemistry only goes stronger. Without giving too much away, this slightly came to ahead at the end of season 2. Now I'm not very good with memory, and especially with all the stuff I watch alot of stuff gets mixed and confused, but the season 2 finale was one of 'those' moments, it was just so so sad. There relationship is one of the shows major pulling points, it is very well executed and continues to be done so, anyone who's into a bit of romance will love this. It's funny, because when my sister first told me about the show, I looked it up and saw Nathan Fillion and recognised him from TV and made my mind up that I didn't like him! But I gave it a chance, and oh my, how has this show changed that. It's currently in it's fourth season.
House:
House is a medical drama, and from all the stuff I watch is probably the most high profile and the one you've actually heard of. That is down to in no small part the pure awesomeness of Hugh Laurie who plays House. His Golden Globe winning performance in this show has not only made the show a massive hit worldwide, but also launched him into super stardom and the most recognisable character on TV. House is a diagnostician who takes on weird cases which nobody else can figure out but he enjoys the puzzle. He is also anti-social, rude, mean, unsympathetic, uncaring, obsessive and wild. As well as being a cripple and a drug addict. But he is the best at his job and the only one of his kind. But there is another side to this crazy doctor that most of the other characters don't get to see, but we as the audience have the privilege of doing so. There is pain, sadness, loneliness, and emptiness in his life. The show focuses on House's team solving cases, trying to save their patients, as well as, dealing with the personal life's of each of the characters. Since the success of the show, there have been other shows who have tried to imitate the House characters, (Not as well however) but when House came out, it was a breath of fresh air and unlike anything TV had seen. There was this genius of a man in a respectable position as a doctor, but he acted like one of the criminals you would see on a detective show. I remember sitting with my sister every Thursday night and watching it on channel 5 when it first came out over here in the UK. Ever since, I've been totally in love with House, the character and the show. This has been my favourite show and probably still is, but with the shock exit of Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) and Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) both main characters, the whole show has been left a bit up in the air. It is currently in it's eight, and possibly but hopefully not, final season.
Dexter:
Well I'm going to start by saying Dexter is a crime, drama, mystery, thriller, but is like no other show! Some shows take a while for you to get into and start to like, but I think I knew after the first few lines of Dexter that this was for me. Dexter Morgan is a Blood Splatter Analyst who works in the forensics department of Miami Metro. But he is also a serial killer. However, unlike most serial killers, he only goes after other criminals and killers. So there is always this moral issue of us liking him as a character even though he a murderer. As a child, his father who was a police officer saw this killer side in him and taught him a 'code' to only use it for good, and to not get caught. Ever since, his father has passed, but Dexter has lived to this code. An emotionless, meticulous, cold blooded killer. But he blends in with society and leads a 'normal' life. The show itself is very dark and graphic, with haunting voiceovers cutting through you like only (Michael C. Hall) voice could. Each season focuses on a big main baddy, who Dexter goes after, while killing other smaller murderers on the way. Unlike all the other shows which have like 20+ episodes a season, Dexter only has 12, every season. This means the show only lasts 3 months of the year with a 9 month break in between each season, this only adds to the excitement I think. Also, the network it's shown on doesn't have adverts so each episode is like 52 minutes long compared to 42. I know it's only 10 minutes difference but in TV that equates to a lot. Each episode just hits hard and a punch to the gut which takes all your breath away. And every episode of every season is like that, like a mini movie, it's unrelenting. It cult following has turned into a crazy fan base which keeps growing. The show is half way through season 6 and it is just as good as ever.
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