Television is one of my passions in life; that is, good telvision is one of my passions, which is something that can be difficult to come by. That’s why it bothers me when some great shows are being produced across the Atlantic and yet nobody here has even heard of some of them.
Yes, we do get most recent shows from the US, but a lot of them tend to air on those weird channels that you wouldn’t bother watching until you’ve sat through the same episode of QI three times in one night on Dave.
I’ve chosen four of my favourites and I encourage you all to seek out and view these shows.
Breaking Bad
From the people that brought you: (Some of) The X-Files
Who you’ll know: Bryan Cranston (Hal from Malcolm in the Middle)
Where you’ll find it here: FX
Breaking Bad is an amazing drama series that airs on AMC. Bryan Cranston stars as Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher whose life has been little more than pedestrian. When we come into the show, Walt finds out that he has terminal lung cancer.
With only a few months left to live, Walt decides that he must provide for his son and pregnant wife after he’s gone. To this end he does what any other loving father would: he starts producing and selling crystal meth.
Like any good drama Breaking Bad has its fair share of comedic moments (sometimes dark) that helps to ease the tension of the situations that Walt finds himself in now that he is a drug dealer working under the alias ‘Heisenberg’.
Chuck
From the people that brought you: The OC
Who you’ll know: Adam Baldwin (Jayne from Firefly, Marcus Hamilton from Angel)
Where you’ll find it here: 3e
Chuck is best described as an spy-action-comedy series. It focuses on Chuck Bartowski, a man in his mid twenties who works in his local electronics superstore. This changes (somewhat) when Chuck has all of the CIA’s top secret intelligence downloaded into his brain (just suspend your disbelief for that part).
Chuck finds himself launched into the world of spies, saving the world on a regular basis. Of course, he has to keep this a secret from his family and work colleages (his dead end job becomes his cover), leading to many hilarious consequences.
Dexter
From the people that brought you: The Sopranos (well, the first season anyway)
Who you’ll know: Michael C. Hall (David from Six Feet Under)
Where you’ll find it here: FX
Dexter airs on Showtime in the US and thus has what we’re come to love from cable shows like the Sopranos: swearing and nudity.
Dexter Morgan is a blood spatter analysist with the Miami metro police department. While he’s not working on forensics, however, he is satisfying his self-named ‘dark passenger’ and carrying out well-devised murders.
The twist with Dexter’s serial killer character is that he only murders murderers, as he lives by a code taught to him by his cop father.
How I Met Your Mother
From the people that brought you: Eh… nothing really
Who you’ll know: Jason Segel (Freeks and Geeks, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall)
Where you’ll find it here: E4
So this show has been getting a bit more airtime and promotion on E4 recently, but it is certainly not to be mistaken for a dud Friends ripoff.
How I Met Your Mother is a sitcom of a father’s retelling of the story of how he met his wife to his children. These stories generally involve drinking in bars, sleeping with various women that aren’t his wife and many other things that he certainly shouldn’t be telling his kids.
Of course, the majority of the show is set here and now while the future father, Ted Mosby, is in his twenties, living in New York with his friends, including womanizer Barney, and hanging out in the bar downstairs from his apartment. As you can see, this show is certainly nothing like Friends at all.
