In a week’s time, 7 of the best series that you’re (probably) not watching will have experienced their season or–for shame–series finales, and now might be as good a time as any to catch up with them.
Honorable Mention: Welcome to Sweden…I’m sad to see this terrific, underrated Greg Poehler gem go since NBC has already cancelled it after two low-rated seasons and has burned off the remaining episodes On Demand rather than showing them on network. That’s cold NBC, almost as cold as going to Sweden to make the most unfairly ignored comedy on television.
Dishonorable Mention: Falling Skies…On the flip side, I’m thrilled that this crapfest is finally over. Tonight’s series finale will be a relief more than anything.
7. The Brink…This series may not be quite as sharp as it thinks it is, but Jack Black gives it his all and the plot is more compelling than the jokes so even if you’re not regularly laughing, you’re still probably drawn in. Plus, any comedy series that wants to be topical is already doing something right, and I’d rather watch a political satire than yet another “aspirational” HBO comedy about guys trying to negotiate million dollar contracts…which are also not very funny, by the way.
6. Tyrant…This series alternates between sharp and stupid on a weekly basis, but season 2 was–for me–much better than season 1, and even if I still want to strangle half the main cast for their stupidity, “Tyrant” is a show that benefits from the low expectations of the Summer and the serious lack of shows more interested in the Middle East than Middle Earth.
5. Mr. Robot…Every episode is a little bit worse than the one before it, and the season started to go astray in the middle episodes (I think it’s the fact that half the main cast is crazy and will do confounding things for reasons that don’t hold up to close scrutiny), but we’re still watching something that is at least trying to do for TV what “Fight Club” did for movies, and that’s a cause worth championing. Even if half an episode frustrates the hell out of you, there is usually at least one flat-out terrific scene in that same time frame.
4. Hell on Wheels…By now, AMC’s Western series is underrated for its continuing exploration of just how diverse the Old West really was since helping build the title railroad are freed slaves, Irish hooligans, Germans, devious Norwegians, Chinese workers, etc. plus ongoing problems with Native Americans and Mormons. The story of how the railroad got built is really the story of America, and “Hell on Wheels” deserves credit for a sharp 5th season that introduced the most complex Asian characters I’ve seen on TV in ages. Plus, its beautiful, snow-filled cinematography is worth watching on its own.
3. Hannibal…I loved the first season of NBC’s Hannibal, and even if this somewhat indulgent third (and perhaps final) season has been so self-consciously pretentious that it occasionally crosses the line into self-parody, it’s worth celebrating the most arty serial killer series ever made, and the most cerebral broadcast TV series since Frasier Crane was on NBC. “Hannibal” is trying to explore real questions about how subjective good taste, sanity, or even morality really are, and how what’s repulsive to most people (like cannibalism) might be another’s five star delicacy. As an added bonus, it has crisp camera work, interesting score choices, moody effects, and one of the all-time great psychological duels between frenemy soulmates Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter.
2. Another Period…This may seem like a weird choice compared to the rest of this list, but “Another Period” is a Comedy Central series with a real point of view and pitch-perfect execution. It’s basically if Downton Abbey were filmed like a Kardashian-style reality show, but it’s frequently laugh out loud hilarious. [Like the old timey beauty pageant between women, babies, and cabbages that had Jack Black as an emcee and disapproval from the town’s suffragette league called N.A.G.S or Newport Associaton of Gal Spinsters.] An ace cast includes Michael Ian Black as a snooty head butler, Christina Hendricks as a bossomy con artist pretending to be a maid, and Natasha Leggero in her long-deserved, first lead role.
1. Show Me a Hero…Another great work from The Wire’s creator David Simon, this time revolving around the true story of what happened in Yonkers–mostly white, largely conservative–when the city was ordered by a Manhattan judge to build housing projects and the Yonkers politicians who take very different approaches in dealing with the decision. Another show would have just made the screaming Yonkers residents who don’t want the housing projects the villains, but Simon allows them to get their view across too. [Catherine Keener is nearly unrecognizable as perhaps the most sympathetic person against the housing development.]
But the miniseries’ real lead is Oscar Isaacs as a young councilman who uses the housing debate to become the youngest big city mayor in America, but then has to figure out a way to make people happy once he actually gets into office. As interesting as the alternating viewpoints of Yonkers citizens and housing projects residents are, the series real focus is on just how hard it is to give voters what they want or what they think they want. You get the sense that Simon is championing the unheralded policy wonks who actually have to do the work long after the protests or campaigning is done, and if people become even a little bit more realistic about government after watching this then I consider that the real victory.