Once a time for little but repeats, reality, and game shows, the summer months are now filled with original scripted series – some on cable, but many you may never have heard of on streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and CBS All Access.
I’ve been analyzing television/video for roughly 30 years, and the fact that I am just now discovering some shows that have already been on for three or four seasons should tell you something about how many gems are out there worth finding. And, of course, there are many shows that you probably have heard of but not watched, available for streaming. For example, my wife had never seen Breaking Bad (one of my favorites), so we started watching it this month on Netflix (we just finished season 4).
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Here are some of the best series we’ve been bingeing over the past couple of months.
Bosch (Amazon Prime Video): This is not only the best procedural drama currently on television, it might be the best procedural drama ever on television. Titus Willever is perfect as the brilliant, tough as nails, flawed and haunted detective Harry Bosch. The ensemble cast of regulars are spot on for their respective roles – Jamie Hector as his partner, Madison Lintz as his daughter, Amy Aquino as his friend and boss, Lance Reddick as police chief, and Troy Evans and Gregory Scott Cummins as fellow detectives. The guest stars have been a string of superb character actors who you will immediately recognize (if you’re over 40) and wonder where you’ve seen them before.
Each season focuses on one main crime that Bosch and crew need to solve, along with one or two related or not-so-related crimes. The murder of Bosch’s prostitute mom when he was 12, how it has impacted who he is today, and his relentless efforts to solve the crime, is a thread that has sewn its way through all four 10-episode seasons.
Glow (Netflix): This surprise Netflix summer hit from last year provides a behind-the-scenes look at the 1980s syndicated TV show, the low-budget Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.
Alison Brie, as an unemployed actress who becomes a GLOW star, and Marc Maron as a washed up “B” movie director who leads the ladies to fame, are standouts. Along with an excellent, diverse ensemble cast of misfits, they make this way more fun than I expected. It took three or four episodes to get rolling, but then my wife and I were hooked. Season 2 is a blast from start to finish.
Queen of the South (USA): The USA crime drama’s uneven first season got better and hit overdrive in seasons 2, and 3, as Camila Vargas (Veronica Falcon) and her former protégé, Teresa Mendoza (Alice Braga), battle for supremacy of a drug cartel. Both are seductive and conniving, occasionally vicious, and always captivating.
Claws (TNT): This dark TNT comedy centers on five manicurists who own a nail salon in Central Florida and are trying to get out of their life of crime (laundering money (for the “Dixie Mafia” in season one, and the Russian mob in season 2). It is much funnier than it has any right to be, which makes some of the violence more unexpected and jarring. Niecy Nash, Dean Norris, and Carrie Preston stand out among a The Good Fight, fine ensemble cast.
Rick and Morty (Adult Swim): My 19-year-old son got me hooked on this Adult Swim animated piece of brilliance a few years ago. It follows super-genius (and boozy) scientist, Rick, as he drags his not-so-bright grandson, Morty, on wild adventures through other worlds and alternate dimensions. I think New York Magazine TV critic, Matt Zoller Seitz had the perfect description in when he wrote that Rick and Morty “…tightrope-walks the line between highbrow clever and lowbrow brilliant…” You’ll either love it or say “huh?” Seasons 1-3 are available on Hulu.
The Good Fight (CBS All Access): The great Christine Baransky stars, along with Cush Limbo and Rose Leslie in this female-driven legal drama (and spinoff of CBS’s The Good Wife). A woman over 50, a woman of color, and a lesbian make a diverse team that is as much in (or out of) control professionally as they are in their relationships.
Sexual harassment has been dealt with here in a more thought-provoking way than is typically seen on television. The Good Fight is great TV – it’s well written, well-acted, and has something to say. And while there is a clear anti-Trump tone, this is also perhaps the only show on TV showing its few Trump supporters in a positive light. Just the right mix of drama and humor and the excellent cast and writing make this great TV.
Star Trek Discovery (CBS All Access): Taking place a decade before Captain Kirk’s original five-year mission, the series follows the exploits of the U.S.S. Discovery as it seeks out new worlds and new civilizations, and battles Klingons.
Star Trek TV series (except for the original) are not known for strong starts – Both Next Generation and Deep Space Nine didn’t really get rolling until season 3. But Discovery hit the ground running from the get-go, and continued motoring along with only a minor misstep or two along the way. As a fan of four of the five previous Star Trek series, I was expecting to be disappointed. I wasn’t.
Sonequa Martin-Green is excellent as science officer Michael Burnham, a human who was raised on Vulcan by Spock’s father, Sarek. But you don’t really need to be familiar with the Star Trek universe to like this one. It has the potential to become another classic.
Mindhunter (Netflix): In the late 1970s, FBI hostage negotiator Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and veteran agent Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) pioneer behavioral profiling of a new type of murderer – the serial killer. Anna Torv also stars as a psychology professor who helps them categorize the killers and predict future behavior.
Rises way above a typical procedural. Smart, compelling, and cinematic. You won’t want to wait for the next episode – and if you have enough time, you don’t need to. If you enjoy series such as Criminal Minds and Hannibal, you’ll probably like this too – but keep in mind there’s no convenient murder of the week that conveniently get solved by the end of each hour. This aims much higher, and, for the first season at least, hits the mark.
Killing Eve (BBCA): Sandra Oh received an Emmy nomination for her role as the title character, a bored, but ambitious MI5 security officer, but Jodie Corner is the real revelation as a mercurial and brutal female assassin.
Eve is tasked with hunting down the psychopathic killer. As they become equally obsessed with one another, a fierce game of cat and mouse ensues. Men are the peripheral characters here (and most of the victims). The first season’s eight episodes are available on demand, and on Hulu before year’s end.
Marvel’s Jessica Jones (Netflix): Krysten Ritter shines as Jessica Jones, given super strength in a medical experiment that saved her life after a car crash killed her family. She’s a reluctant hero, brooding and haunted by her past. She swears, drinks too much, and is equally likely to explode in desire (and casual sex) as in violence – the type of woman you never see on television.
Its first two seasons were surprisingly strong social commentaries on male/female relationships and the abuse of privilege and power, focusing on topics such as addiction, sexual harassment, rape, retaliation, and redemption – subjects seldom dealt with on television, and never in the Marvel universe at large. Traditional female roles – sidekicks and “the girlfriend” – are the male characters in this world.
All 13 episodes of Season 2 were directed by women. One of Netflix’s stable of Marvel street-level heroes, which also include Luke Cage, Daredevil, Iron Fist, and The Punisher.
Ozark (Netflix): Jason Bateman (in his best and most nuanced performance) as a Chicago financial advisor who is forced to move to a summer resort community in the Missouri Ozarks with his wife (Laura Linney, who is also great here) and two kids to launder money for a drug lord. When they get there they also have to deal with local gangsters. Quirky, gritty, and dangerous characters and situations abound. The second season drops at the end of August.
Altered Carbon (Netflix): Science fiction cyber punk. In a dystopian future 300 years from now, new technology has transformed society by making human bodies interchangeable (if you can afford it), and death no longer necessarily permanent. Joel Kinnaman portrays the lone survivor of a group of elite warriors who were defeated in an uprising. His mind was imprisoned for years until a wealthy businessman gives him a chance to live if he solves his murder.
The second half of the first season is better than the first, but the entire series is gripping, and touches a surprising number of topical issues (income inequality being just the most obvious). Visually stunning production values, action-packed (and violent), it’s reminiscent of Blade Runner. It’s not for everyone (particularly the squeamish), but it’s great on many levels.
These just scratch the surface. If you have Netflix, check out House of Cards, BoJack Horseman, Marvel’s Daredevil, Luke Cage, and The Punisher, Narcos, Master of None, Stranger Things, The Crown, and Black Mirror. For those with Hulu, check out The Handmaids Tale, Marvel’s Runaways, and The Looming Tower. Amazon Prime Video viewers should check out Mozart in the Jungle, The Man in the High Castle, Goliath, Sneaky Pete, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. And traditional cable viewers can check out AMC’s Dietland, FX’s Snowfall and Pose, TNT’s Animal Kingdom, and Freeform’s Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger, among others. And let’s not forget you can always live-binge repeats of network favorites on TBS (The Big Bang Theory, Family Guy, Friends, Seinfeld, American Dad, 2 Broke Girls), TNT (Law & Order, Bones, Charmed, Supernatural, NCIS New Orleans, Hawaii Five-0), ION (Criminal Minds, Blue Bloods, CSI, NCIS: L.A., Law & Order: SVU), Nick-at-Nite (Full House, Friends, George Lopez, Mom, The Goldbergs), TV Land (Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens, Two-and-a-Half Men, The Golden Girls), Oxygen (NCIS, NCIS: L.A., Chicago P.D., CSI), and several other cable networks.
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