At a certain point during the WonderCon screening of AMC’s new show Preacher, based on the dark and brazen comic series of the late ’90s, I wondered fleetingly if what I was seeing was even allowed on television. Then I remembered AMC has basically rewritten the “rules” of television since Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and Mad Men. The network that has pushed how ambitious and movie-like television can be, pushes that scope even wider with its most comic-like comic adaptation yet, and indeed perhaps done anywhere.

Whereas The Walking Dead is a gritty adaptation of a comic based in real-life scenarios and post-apocalyptic relationship dynamics, Preacher is your definitive supernatural and even horror-ish comic series. And not only does the show not tame down any of it, the show’s creators—Garth Ennis, creator of the original comic, with Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen and Sam Catlin producing and writing as well—have figured out how to create a screening experience that feels similar to the pacing, reveals, and character details one gets when flipping through the panels of a comic.

Dominic Cooper is Jesse Custer, a man with a dark past (of which a few black and white flashbacks only really hint at) who returns to his hometown of Annville, Texas to be the local preacher. Of course, he’s not actually any good at it, and there’s the small matter of him not being entirely sure there is a God. Joining him by way of passing airplane is Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun, who’s role in the British show Misfits immediately gives him my personal approval) an Irish vagabond with fighting skills and an unnatural ability to regenerate by drinking blood. But it’s by far Tulip O’Hare (Ruth Negga, also a Misfits alum!), Jesse’s ex-girlfriend, who makes the most impressive entrance: wrestling with a bad guy in a moving car through a corn field and then putting together a homemade bazooka with a couple of farm kids to take down more bad guys.

Fans of the comic will be glad that another familiar face from the series is introduced in the pilot. Though, to be honest, you don’t forget a face like his. Eugene, aka Arseface, is a teen in Annville who sports a particularly freakish mouth after a botched suicide attempt. His introduction is just one of many darkly comedic moments in the series.

And in fact, what makes Preacher most work is that dark comedy. It’s subtle in parts, like a news channel playing in the background of a scene announcing Tom Cruise has exploded (all part of the supernatural plot of Preacher), and blatant in other ways like a slow motion zoom in on Jesse’s face as he gets an obvious sense of pleasure kicking the shit out of a dude who deserves it.

In the WonderCon panel, producer and writer Sam Catlin mentioned that they were determined not to create “AMC’s Preacher” or “Preacher the TV Series” but just plain “Preacher,” which would suggest we’re sure to see even more of the incredibly dark elements that make up this series. But credit is most certainly due to AMC, whose freedom-giving to its showrunners has yielded some pioneering results. Those of us feeling the sting of The Walking Dead’s season coming to a close soon can find solace in knowing our thirst for blood—and some needed comedic relief after a dramatic season—will be quenched come May.

Preacher premieres May 22 on AMC. Follow Way Too Indie for further coverage.

The Night Manager packs so much promise with its cast, crew, and material that it would’ve definitely made our Top 10 Anticipated were it not designed for the small screen. And while we’re mostly all about movies here on Way Too Indie, this BBC/AMC co-produced miniseries gets special coverage for a number of reasons. It’s the latest John Le Carré material adapted for the screen, it packs a wallop of an ensemble cast in Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, Olivia Colman, Tom Hollander and Elizabeth Debicki, and it’s directed by Oscar-winner Susanne Bier. So there was very little standing in the way of me catching the first two episodes at the Berlinale, and I’m happy to report that the pieces are aligned just right to make this one of the most talked-about TV events of the year.

Hiddleston plays Jonathan Pine, a hotel night manager with a mysterious past who becomes privy to a massive state secret involving aspiring British Lord and all-around millionaire entrepreneur Richard Roper (Laurie). Together with British intelligence handler Angela Burr (Colman), who’s got something of an obsession with catching the crooked Roper, Pine will infiltrate Roper’s inner circle in an attempt to build enough surefire evidence to bring him down once and for all.

That’s the gist of it, and the first two episodes lay the foundation in tantalizing fashion. Beginning with a sleek, sexy, opening credit sequence that sees fighter jets morphing into champagne bubbles and a chandelier crashing in a mushroom-cloud puff, the world of The Night Manager is one of elite danger. The golden color tones, postcard locales (especially breathtaking once the story moves to the alpine top of Zermatt, Switzerland), and lavish lifestyles that festoon the series create an impossible-to-decline invitation. This being a John Le Carré story, the air is full of suspense and intrigue from frame one, when we meet our hero during the eve of the Arab Spring in Cairo.

As one might expect, the actors fire on all cylinders. Hiddleston gets to show why he’d make a perfectly cool (if perhaps still a little too dainty) James Bond, Colman steals every scene she’s in, Laurie is absolutely scrumptious as the sleazy, serpentine Roper, and Hollander makes a fantastic early impression as Roper’s Iago-esque right-hand man Corcoran. If there’s a weakness to be detected, it’s in the series’ iffy structure involving time-jumps and a weak groundwork in establishing a key relationship between Pine and one Sophie Alekan (Aure Atika). Regardless, the first two hours of this miniseries flew by thanks to the story’s reliable espionage elements and tangible charisma seeping through every element. The cliffhanger that ends the second episode had me digging my nails into the seat, so April 19^th—which is when the series is to premiere stateside on AMC—can’t come soon enough.

Rating:
8/10

As another Sundance Film Festival comes to a close (be sure to check out our coverage here), it’s now time to assess which films will be seen and loved by the masses throughout the year. Though it is still intended as a showcase for independently made films, its position as a marketplace has become increasingly important as more boutique and indie studios shell out millions for these films. This year it became apparent that streaming services are major players, with million dollar VOD deals becoming just as noteworthy as theatrical acquisitions. Specifically, Netflix walked away with exclusive streaming and VOD rights for The Fundamentals of Caring, a comedy starring Paul Rudd and Craig Roberts, nanny drama Tallulah with Ellen Page, and Iranian horror film Under the Shadow. Amazon struck deals for Michael Shannon/Rachel Weisz thriller Complete Unknown, Whit Stillman’s Love and Friendship, and a $10 million deal for the highly praised Manchester by the Sea, the newest film from indie auteur Kenneth Lonergan. For more info on all the Sundance purchases, check out the full list at The Wrap.

If all of that isn’t proof enough that streaming is where it’s at, check out the best films and television to hit streaming this week:

Netflix

Frozen Planet (Series, 2011)

From the creator of the renowned Planet Earth series comes a nine-part documentary series focusing on the environment and life of the Arctic and Antarctic poles. If you are totally into penguins, polar bears or the albatross, Frozen Planet gives a well-researched and beautifully shot exploration—all with David Attenborough’s dulcet tones. And if you love the series, Netflix also has two special extra companion features, On Thin Ice and An Epic Journey, to stream, along with the six-part Making of Frozen Planet behind-the-scenes series.

Other titles new to Netflix this week:
From Dusk to Dawn (Series, Season 2)
Ripper Street (Series, Season 3)
Turbo Kid (François Simard, Anouk Whissell & Yoann-Karl Whissell, 2015)

Fandor

Red Desert (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964)

In this week’s “Criterion Picks” Fandor takes a look at the color film debuts of some of the world’s great filmmakers. By 1964, Italian auteur Antonioni had built a career on stylized dramas in striking black-and-white cinematography—his first colorized film, Red Desert, is strangely set in an industrial wasteland but is no less beautiful. You can also check out color firsts from Kurosawa, Renoir, Ophuls, and more until February 7. Fandor is also in the Sundance spirit this week with their Spotlight on some of their favorite films that played Park City. Their far-ranging selections include Hoop Dreams, Slacker, The Forbidden Room, Meek’s Cutoff, and Computer Chess.

Other titles new to Fandor this week:
Archangel (Guy Maddin, 1990)
Equinox Flower (Yasujiro Ozu, 1958)
Mon oncle (Jacques Tati, 1958)
Our Nixon (Penny Lane, 2013)
What Remains (Steven Cantor, 2006)

MUBI

The Square (Jehane Noujaim, 2013)

MUBI is also into the Sundance Film Festival this week, as their curated selections all highlight films that debuted at the fest. Among them is the stunning look at the recent Egyptian revolution, The Square. The winner of the 2013 Sundance Audience Award for World Cinema in the documentary category and Oscar nominee, the film covers the protests against former president Mubarak through the eyes of the people in the title square. It is a beautiful example of the power of people and really puts the viewer into the experience, living through the political angst, terror, and ultimate victory. MUBI is offering the complete version of the film with an updated ending covering the events that followed the film’s release.

Other titles new to MUBI this week:
Detropia (Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady, 2012)
Durakovo: Village of Fools (Nino Kirtadze, 2008)
The Unbelievable Truth (Hal Hartley, 1989)
Vulgar Fractions (Peter Bo Rappmund, 2011)
Wrong (Quentin Dupieux, 2012)

Video On-Demand

The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien, 2015)

Among the most beautifully shot films of 2015, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin was included by many as one of the best films of the year (including us). Though it has been marketed heavily as a martial arts action film, The Assassin is a more slowly-paced, contemplative film than that, much more concerned with character, tone, and style than narrative or action. This may turn off some viewers, but the lush visual pleasures of the film cannot be denied. Though seeing the film at home may not be in its best possible presentation, for those who missed it in its limited theatrical run, The Assassin can not be rented or purchased through iTunes and other VOD platforms.

Other titles new to VOD this week:
Burnt (John Wells, 2015)
Crimson Peak (Guillermo del Toro, 2015)
Truth (James Vanderbilt, 2015)

On Wednesday Netflix gave their keynote address at the 2016 CES Conference, highlighting their successes, world-wide expansion, and giving a little look into the future of the brand’s ever-growing content. The biggest news that came from it was certainly the confession that Adam Sandler’s The Ridiculous Six has become Netflix’s most watched film (in its first 30 days). For those of us looking for news that doesn’t kill our faith in humanity, the service gave us first-looks at two upcoming highly anticipated series: The Crown, starring Claire Foy and Matt Smith as a young Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, and The Get Down, a look at The Bronx in the 70s starring Shameik Moore (Dope) and created by Baz Luhrman.

On the business/global domination side, Netflix also announced that they are now open in 130 more countries, bringing their total over 190. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of this is Netflix’s unique business model allowing for all countries to enjoy their original content at the same time, which may decrease internet piracy and lead to a more global watching platform. For all the titles new to streaming this weekend, check out below (some titles may not be available in Turkey, New Zealand, Russia, Poland, etc.):

Netflix

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

(Series, Season 10)

With the 11th season of the travails of Mac, Charlie, and the gang now playing on your TV screens, its previous season is now available on Netflix. Way back in 2005, no one could have guessed It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia would still be kicking 11 years later, and it’s as sharp and irreverent as ever. Highlights of the 10 season include: “The Gang Goes on Family Night,” where the gang appears on a nationally televised game show hosted by Keegan-Michael Key, “The Gang Beats Boggs,” with a cameo from baseball legend Wade Boggs, “The Gang Group Dates,” and the one-shot episode “Charlie Work.” And if you’re not caught up with the show, you can stream the first nine seasons, as well. Or you could just put “The Nightman Cometh” on a continuous loop.

Other titles new to Netflix this week:
Across the Universe (Julie Taymor, 2007)
Je suis Charlie (Daniel Leconte & Emmanuel Leconte, 2015)
New Girl (Series, Season 4)
Pumping Iron (George Butler & Robert Fiore, 1977)
Training Day (Antoine Fuqua, 2001)

Fandor

Amarcord (Federico Fellini, 1973)

In this week’s “Criterion Picks,” Fandor is offering the best work of brilliant composer Nino Rota. One of Rota’s most frequent collaborators, Italian master auteur Federico Fellini, is particularly included with five of his films. Amarcord, the filmmaker’s love letter to his small seaside town, is perhaps his most underrated film. The film best marries Fellini’s two most important movements, the neorealism and the bawdy fantasy. It also might be his funniest film, including the incredible family dinner scene where the father figure feigns suicide by attempting to rip apart his own jaw. Also included are I vitelloni, Juliet of the Spirits and non-Fellini films Le notti bianche and Purple Noon. This Criterion Picks collection is available until January 17.

Other titles new to Fandor this week:
The Blue Angel (Josef von Sternberg, 1930)
Circo (Aaron Schock, 2011)
Diary of a Lost Girl (G.W. Pabst, 1929)
Foolish Wives (Erich von Stroheim, 1922)
Ten (Abbas Kiarostami, 2002)
What Now? Remind Me (Joaquim Pinto, 2013)

MUBI

Poison (Todd Haynes, 1991)

To open the new year, MUBI brought us seven underseen film debuts from major filmmakers. With Todd Haynes’s Carol now in theaters and garnering fantastic reviews (including ours), there isn’t a better time to check out his humble beginnings. Inspired by the works of Jean Genet, Poison explores sexuality through three inter-connected stories and a number of filmmaking techniques. Though it isn’t as well known as Haynes’s later work (Safe, Far from Heaven, I’m Not There.), it won the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival during its debut—at a time when the Sundance Film Festival was a breeding ground for some of the world’s best future indie filmmakers. Poison is available on MUBI until February 1.

Other titles new to MUBI this week:
As Tears Go By (Wong Kar-Wai, 1988)
Fear and Desire (Stanley Kubrick, 1953)
L’Immortelle (Alaine Robbe-Grillet, 1963)
Sebastiane (Derek Jarman & Paul Humfress, 1976)
Shopping (Paul W.S. Anderson, 1994)

Video On-Demand

Sicario (Denis Villeneuve, 2015)

One of our favorite films from 2015 (#6 on our list), Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario is a brutal and breathtaking look at the war on drugs and cartel violence. Despite zero Golden Globe nominations, it remains an Oscar hopeful in a wide-open crowd—its nomination in the Producers Guild Awards gives it a glimmer of hope. Aside from the Best Picture discussion, Sicario‘s best shot at nominations come in Cinematography (is this finally Roger Deakin’s year?) and Supporting Actor for Benicio del Toro (certainly, he’s one of our favorites). The near-complete fall off in awards consideration is strange but not surprising given the film’s dark subject matter. It may not be a darling come Oscar time, but it is well worth watching now available on DVD, Blu-ray and On Demand through all your streaming rental outlets.

Other titles new to VOD this week:
Captive (Jerry Jameson, 2015)
Hell and Back (Tom Gianas & Ross Shuman, 2015)
Infinitely Polar Bear (Maya Forbes, 2014)
The Keeping Room (Daniel Barber, 2014)
The Walk (Robert Zemeckis, 2015)

Forget the family, the presents, etc… one of the best things about the holidays is the great holiday themed episodes of all our favorite shows. And thanks to the power of streaming, there are tons of hours of Christmas and Hanukkah television specials to stream right now. Here’s a quick and dirty guide for some of the best available on Netflix:

Best Holiday TV Specials on Netflix

30 Rock, “Ludachristmas” (S2 E9)
Arrested Development, “Afternoon Delight” (S2 E6)
Cheers, “Christmas Cheers” (S6 E12)
Doctor Who “The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe” (S7 E0)
Friends, “The One with the Holiday Armadillo” (S7 E10)
Futurama, “Xmas Story” (S2 E8)
How I Met Your Mother, “How Lily Stole Christmas” (S2 E11)
The Inbetweeners, “Xmas Party” (S1 E6)
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “A Very Sunny Christmas” (S6 E13)
The League, “Kegel the Elf” (S2 E12)
Lost, “The Constant” (S4 E5)
Louie, “New Year’s Eve” (S3 E13)
Mad Men, “Christmas Comes But Once a Year” (S4 E2)
The Office (US), “A Benihana Christmas” (S3 E10)
The Office (UK), “Christmas Special”
Parks and Recreation, “Christmas Scandal” (S2 E12)
The Twilight Zone, “Night of the Meek” (S2 E11)
The West Wing, “In Exelsis Deo” (S1 E10)
The Wonder Years, “Christmas” (S2 E3)
The X-Files, “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas” (S6 E6)

And for all the new-to-streaming suggestions to check out this weekend before you’re in all-holiday mode, check out our picks below:

Netflix

Time Out of Mind (Oren Moverman, 2014)

In a crowded year-end film landscape, very good films with award aspiration are always going to fall off the map. Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind seems to be one this year. The New York City drama stars Richard Gere as a man recently homeless and widowed as he tries to navigate the difficult conditions and the city’s complicated process while trying to reconnect with his adult daughter. In three films, Moverman (The Messenger, Rampart) has shown no hesitance to bring heavily dramatic work to the screen, and he employs a very interesting perspective to Time Out of Mind in the way he shoots Gere on the cold streets. The former A-lister doesn’t totally blend into the role, but it is a shockingly different look for him. Veteran actor Ben Vereen is great in a supporting role as a fellow homeless man more entrenched in the system. In hopes of not being completely neglected (perhaps like it’s subject), you can stream Time Out of Mind now on Netflix.

Other titles new to Netflix this week:
Helix (Series, Season 2)
Fresh Dressed (Sacha Jenkins, 2015)
Make Believe (Clay Tweel, 2010)
Slow Learners (Don Argott & Sheena M. Joyce, 2015)
Theresa Is a Mother (C. Fraser Press & Darren Press, 2012)

Fandor

Le million (René Clair, 1931)

The early sound period is one of my absolute favorites and French auteur René Clair is one of the great masters of the period. Clair is probably best known for À Nous la Liberté, the musical that is shockingly similar to Chaplin’s Modern Times, but Le million is every bit as wonderful. Considering that The Jazz Singer happened only four years previously and silent films were still being near 1931, Le million‘s breadth in use of sound is pretty extraordinary. For its plot, the film is a madcap comedy about a man racing across Paris to recover his jacket that includes a winning lottery ticket in the pocket. It is a light, fast-paced, and music-packed flick unrivaled in its time. You can see Le million as part of Fandor’s “Criterion Picks” until December 27.

Other titles new to Fandor this week:
Alice in the Cities (Wim Wenders, 1974)
Babette’s Feast (Gabriel Axel, 1987)
A Hard Day (Kim Seong-hoon, 2014)
Speedy (Ted Wilde, 1928)
Zazie dans le métro (Louis Malle, 1960)

MUBI

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003-2004)

In hot anticipation of Tarantino’s upcoming release of The Hateful Eight, this is a perfect time to re-watch his mixed-genre double-feature masterpiece Kill Bill. By 2003, the mercurial filmmaker had already made a name for himself, but Kill Bill was perhaps the first clear look at what kind of innovator he is. Originally conceived as one four-hour film, it was eventually broken up to make for a more traditional release—in a way, this foretold the studio mentality of breaking one whole story into different parts. The quality of Kill Bill wasn’t affected, though, even as many may prefer to take in both volumes at once. Full of vibrant characters, a very cool martial arts throwback plot, and a number of stunning action sequences, its legacy lives on as its creator continues to push the cinematic envelope.

Other titles new to MUBI this week:
In the Fog (Sergei Loznitsa, 2012)
Le Pont du Nord (Jacques Rivette, 1981)
Tabu (Miguel Gomes, 2012)
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (F.W. Murnau, 1931)

Video On-Demand

The Visit (M. Night Shyamalan, 2015)

As you spend time with your family this holiday season, keep in mind that it could be worse—as is evident in faux-doc horror film The Visit. Hailed as M. Night Shyamalan’s return to quality filmmaking, the film is a thoroughly satisfying thriller with a few genuinely scary sequences. There may be plot details that don’t quite hold up and the inevitable twists may not exactly be any grand revelation, but this is no doubt the work of a very talented filmmaker who is looking to use the horror subgenre in creative ways. Of special note is Chicago stage actress Deanna Dunagan who gives a remarkable performance as Nana—at times heartbreaking, at other times completely frightening, she is obviously giving her all to the role and it pays off. You can check out The Visit to rent or buy on iTunes this week, three weeks before DVD and Blu-ray.

Other titles new to VOD this week:
He Named Me Malala (Davis Guggenheim, 2015)
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (Christopher McQuarrie, 2015)
Ted 2 (Seth MacFarlane, 2015)

As the Award Season is heating up, we’re beginning to see which films are clear favorites among critics and the industry. Certainly one of the frontrunners this year is Todd Haynes‘ Carol, which hauled in the most nominations this year for the Golden Globes, with a total of five. But Carol leading the noms isn’t exactly a surprise, the film has accumulated a ton of praise ever since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. What is shocking is the four nominations for Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s The Revenant, which received underwhelming reactions from critics so far. Though Iñárritu is no stranger to the Golden Globes, last year he led the race with seven nominations for Birdman. Other strong contenders this year are Danny Boyle‘s biopic Steve Jobs and Tom McCarthy‘s newsroom drama Spotlight.

2016 Golden Globe Nominations

FILM

Best Motion Picture, Drama
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

Best Motion Picture, Comedy
The Big Short
Joy
The Martian
Spy
Trainwreck

Best Director – Motion Picture
Todd Haynes, Carol
Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
George Miller, Mad Max
Ridley Scott, The Martian

Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Rooney Mara, Carol
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Melissa McCarthy, Spy

Amy Schumer, Trainwreck


Maggie Smith, Lady in the Van

Lily Tomlin, Grandma

Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Jane Fonda, Youth
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Helen Mirren, Trumbo
Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
Will Smith, Concussion

Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Steve Carell, The Big Short
Matt Damon, The Martian
Al Pacino, Danny Collins
Mark Ruffalo, Infinitely Polar Bear

Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Paul Dano, Love & Mercy
Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Michael Shannon, 99 Homes
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Emma Donoghue, Room
Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer, Spotlight
Charles Randolph, Adam McKay, The Big Short
Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs
Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight

Best Animated Feature Film
Anomalisa

The Good Dinosaur

Inside Out

The Peanuts Movie
Shaun the Sheep Movie

Best Original Song
"Love Me Like You Do" 50 Shades of Grey
"One Kind of Love" Love and Mercy
"See You Again" Furious 7
"Simple Song No. 3" Youth
"Writing's on the Wall" Spectre

Best Original Score
Carter Burwell, Carol
Alexandre Desplat, The Danish Girl
Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight
Daniel Pemberton, Steve Jobs
Ryuichi Sakamoto Alva Noto, The Revenant

Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language
The Brand New Testament
The Club
The Fencer
Mustang
Son of Saul

TELEVISION

Best TV Series, Drama

Empire
Game of Thrones
Mr. Robot
Narcos
Outlander

Best TV Series, Comedy
Casual
Mozart in the Jungle
Orange Is the New Black
Silicon Valley
Transparent
Veep

Best TV Movie or Limited-Series
American Crime
American Horror Story: Hotel
Fargo
Flesh and Bone
Wolf Hall

Best Actor in a TV Series, Drama
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
Wagner Moura, Narcos
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan

Best Actress in a TV Series, Drama
Caitriona Balfe, Outlander
Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
Eva Green, Penny Dreadful
Taraji P. Henson, Empire
Robin Wright, House of Cards

Best Actor in a TV Series, Comedy
Aziz Ansari, Master of None
Gael Garcia Bernal, Mozart in the Jungle
Rob Lowe, The Grinder
Patrick Stewart, Blunt Talk
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Best Actress in a TV Series, Comedy
Rachel Bloom, Crazy Ex Girlfriend
Jamie Lee Curtis, Scream Queens
Julia Louis Dreyfus, Veep
Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
Lilly Tomlin, Grace & Frankie

Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Limited-Series, or TV Movie
Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black
Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey
Regina King, American Crime
Judith Light, Transparent
Maura Tierney, The Affair

Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Limited-Series or TV Movie
Alan Cumming, The Good Wife
Damian Lewis, Wolf Hall
Ben Mendelsohn, Bloodline
Tobias Menzies, Outlander
Christian Slater, Mr. Robot

Best Actor in a Limited-Series or TV Movie
Idris Elba, Luther
Oscar Isaac, Show Me a Hero
David Oyelowo, Nightingale
Mark Rylance, Wolf Hall
Patrick Wilson, Fargo

Best Actress in a Limited-Series or TV Movie
Kirsten Dunst, Fargo
Lady Gaga, American Horror Story: Hotel
Sarah Hay, Flesh & Bone
Felicity Huffman, American Crime
Queen Latifah, Bessie

Just two weeks ago, Netflix released one of their most critically successful series to date, Aziz Ansari’s Master of None. The show has received praises of not only one of Netflix’s best series, but one of the best shows of the year, despite having little anticipation or large fanbase. However, this won’t be a problem for the newest series to hit the streaming platform as Marvel’s Jessica Jones might be the most anticipated Netflix shows of them all. It’s the second prong of Marvel’s deal with Netflix, following a former super-heroine (Krysten Ritter) who now works as a private eye. After mixed feelings for Daredevil, the marketing of Jessica Jones has struck a chord with more fun in the dark Hell’s Kitchen world. Once you’re done binging Jessica Jones (and then done catching up with Master of None, Narcos, Bloodline, etc.), here are some other great streaming movies and television hot off the presses this weekend:

Netflix

People, Places, Things (James C. Strouse, 2015)

An unconventional romantic comedy, James C. Strouse’s People, Places, Things stars Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords, What We Do in the Shadows) as a struggling comic book writer slash college professor whose long-term girlfriend has left him. Their relationship is complicated by young twin daughters who spend weekends with their less-than-responsible father. The rom-com aspects come into play when one of Will’s hip students (played by the Daily Show‘s Jessica Williams) sets him up to date her single mother (Regina Hall). Clement and Hall are a strange pair on the surface, but their conflicting comedic personalities (him: wry, her: bubbly) is delightful. While People, Places, Things does throw in some third-act contrivances, centered around Will’s remaining love for the mother of his children, this breezy and funny film is more interested in its characters than rom-com hijinks.

Other titles new to Netflix this week:
Dark Star: H.R. Giger’s World (Belinda Sallin, 2014)
Dior and I (Frédéric Tcheng, 2014)
Felt (Jason Banker, 2014)
I’m Still Here (Casey Affleck, 2010)

Fandor

The Double Life of Veronique (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1991)

This week at Fandor is dedicated to Polish film master Krzsztof Kieslowski, offering many films from his long career as part of their “Criterion Picks.” It is tough to pick out the auteur’s best film, but it might be the artful and complex The Double Life of Veronique. The film stars Irène Jacob in a double role as the Polish singer Weronika and the French music teacher Veronique. She lives a double life through the two characters who don’t know each other but experience an emotional metaphysical link. The film’s lush and innovative cinematography give it a distinct and unforgettable look. Alongside The Double Life of Veronique, Fandor is also offering all three of Kieslowski’s masterful “Three Colors” trilogy, crime film A Short Film About Violence, underseen gems Camera Buff and No End, and even more. As part of the “Criterion Picks,” you are able to see all of these great films for a limited time, until November 29.

Other titles new to Fandor this week:
Le Week-End (Roger Michell, 2013)
The Ninth Configuration (William Peter Blatty, 1980)
The Official Story (Luis Puenzo, 1985)
Stop the Pounding Heart (Roberto Minervini, 2013)
Traveller (Jack Green, 1997)

MUBI

Joan the Woman (Cecil B. DeMille, 1916)

As part of MUBI’s goal to bring a wide variety of classic and independent films, the streaming service often offers silent films that are outside the general pantheon. While Cecil B. DeMille is recognized as one of the most important and popular directors of classic Hollywood, his later big-budget work like The Ten Commandments gets much more attention—and there are many examples of his silent work that would be called before his 1916 Joan of Arc epic. As far as I can tell, Joan the Woman is the first major feature-length film on the life of the historic French revolutionary (only the 4th on-screen representation at all). This adaptation has a bit of twist, however, as it tells the story of a WWII officer who re-lives the life of Joan of Arc through a vision. Geraldine Farrar takes on the icon off her performance in DeMille’s original screen adaptation of Carmen. Much like the film, Farrar has received much lasting recognition, having a total of only 15 screen credits before retiring from the movies well before the end of the silent era. This is a great opportunity to discover Joan the Woman, which is available on MUBI until December 16.

Other titles new to MUBI this week:
The Edge of the World (Michael Powell, 1937)
The Exiles (Kent Mackenzie, 1961)
The Seduction of Mimi (Lina Wertmüller, 1972)
Small, Beautifully Moving Parts (Annie Howell & Lisa Robinson, 2011)
Story of My Death (Albert Serra, 2013)

Video On-Demand

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (Guy Ritchie, 2015)

With the highly successful, but narratively underwhelming Spectre in theaters now, it is the perfect time to catch one of the more surprisingly satisfying spy flicks of recent years. Guy Ritchie’s hyper-kinetic and slick style is paired with the classic television show featuring beautiful people and Cold War espionage—and it’s a pretty wonderful match. Elevating the stylish surface-level draws are The Man from U.N.C.L.E.‘s three stars, who work supremely well together. Henry Cavill seemed to use the extra charisma he left on the set as Superman, Armie Hammer (put-upon accent aside) shows a return to his Winklevoss form, and relative newcomer Alicia Vikander continues her rise to eventual stardom. The three performers are very fun to watch, with excellent team chemistry. Together with a few slick action set pieces and many narrative twists and turns, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is Hollywood spy entertainment at its most enjoyable.

Other titles new to VOD this week:
#Horror (Tara Subkoff, 2015)
Criminal Activities (Jackie Earle Haley, 2015)
Man Up (Ben Palmer, 2015)
Meru (Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, 2015)
We Are Your Friends (Max Joseph, 2015)

Thanksgiving is traditionally a time to celebrate all the good things in life with family and friends. But it seems like the holiday is slowly becoming overshadowed by the absurd and incredible shopping deals of the day after. This year, fans of streaming movies and television will reap some of that benefit, as Roku has announced a low-cost streaming player that will be sold as part of their Black Friday push. The device, which will regularly be sold for $50, will be only $25 online and at participating retailers. Despite the low-end cost, the Roku SE will still have access to all of their apps and can stream at 1080p. This could be a good push for those who haven’t already jumped into the streaming world or are still stuck to their computers. Now that we’re all done obsessively watching a Shia LaBeouf watch all of his own movies (we admit, it was surprisingly entertaining), check out these new titles streaming online this weekend.

Netflix

W/ Bob and David (Series, Season 1)

I discovered Mr. Show with Bob and David in college and it became one of the things my friends and I quoted endlessly. Even though some of its episodes were nearly 10 years old, it was so different and so special, that it seemed something just for us. Seventeen years later (can you believe it?) Bob Odenkirk and David Cross are back with a vengeance in a short series that is sure to capture the same rogue comedic spirit. In the years since their landmark first run, Odenkirk has reached critical acclaim and an Emmy nomination for best actor in a drama series (for Breaking Bad) and Cross created one of the most lovable losers in sitcom history (in Arrested Development). Seeing their incredible success over the years makes W/ Bob and David even more interesting—now they are back to claim the throne in sketch comedy once more.

Other titles new to Netflix this week:
Anna Karenina (Joe Wright, 2012)
Call Me Lucky (Bobcat Goldthwait, 2015)
Dear Jack (Joshua Morrisroe & Corey Moss, 2009)
Mala Mala (Antonio Santini & Dan Sickles, 2014)
The Wolfpack (Crystal Moselle, 2015)

Fandor

Araya (Margot Benacerraf, 1959)

One of the most beautiful documentaries ever made, Margot Benacerraf’s black-and-white study of Venezuelan salt mines is incredibly naturalistic and full of life. In a lot of ways, the film is a direct descendant of the Robert Flaherty school of filmmaking, as it takes an exotic location and simply watches daily processes. Araya is able to build a story out of many characters, however, and it does so very effectively—looking mostly at three generations of a family that all take on different jobs in the mine. The film effortlessly defines each in an anthropological way while maintaining their humanity. Also available now on Fandor is their newest Spotlight, called “The Auteurs,” which includes films from some of the greatest masters of film. Particular films available include The Conformist, Fitzcarraldo, Metropolis, The Turin Horse and The Beaches of Agnès.

Other titles new to Fandor this week:
A Coffee in Berlin (Jan Ole Gerster, 2012)
Fire Over England (William Howard, 1937)
Forget Me Not (Zoltan Korda, 1936)
The Great McGonagall (Joseph McGrath, 1974)
The Scarlet Pimpernel (Harold Young, 1934)

MUBI

Red Road (Andrea Arnold, 2006)

Before Andrea Arnold found indie acclaim with her 2009 drama Fish Tank she made the compelling thriller Red Road. In the film, Kate Dickie stars a Jackie, a security camera operator who quietly goes about her work until she sees a man from her past show up on screen. This simple setup has received comparisons to the work of thriller masters Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Haneke, and while Red Road is smaller in scope, it delivers on tension. Arnold wonderfully blends in the cinematic realism that she has become known for, giving a unique feel to the usually slick genre. Interestingly, the film’s characters were conceived by filmmaker Lone Scherfig (An Education, The Riot Club) and adapted by Arnold, who wrote the screenplay. You can check out this female-driven thriller on MUBI until December 7.

Other titles new to MUBI this week:
Gigante (Adrián Biniez, 2009)
The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, 2008)
Lancaster, CA (Mike Ott, 2015)
The Little Deputy (Trevor Anderson, 2015)
Love and Anarchy (Lina Wertmüller, 1973)

Video On-Demand

Entertainment (Rick Alverson, 2015)

The recent spring of anti-comedy films has become one of the most bizarre movements in recent cinema. There has been successful and notable work from the genre’s key figures Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim and Canadian filmmaker Quentin Dupieux, but with Entertainment, Rick Alverson has set himself apart. Along with star Gregg Turkington, who plays a thinly veiled version of his comedic persona Neil Hamburger, Entertainment brings more dramatic stakes and pathos to the anti-comedy narrative. The film follows a stand-up comedian on a horrific tour through hotel lounges and dive bars across the American southwest. The unnamed comedian takes the Neil Hamburger act and replaces his alternative success with ridicule from audiences and overwhelming despair. It doesn’t try to be a character study, but you can’t help but probe into the character’s mind during the bombed performances and many quiet moments. Surrounding Turkington’s outstanding performance is a stellar and surprising supporting cast which includes John C. Riley, Tye Sheridan, Amy Seimetz and Michael Cera. For more opinions on Entertainment, check out of full review of this “dark, surreal road trip that brings out laughter and pain in [a] subversive, provocative anti-comedy.”

Other titles new to VOD this week:
Heist (Scott Mann, 2015)
Mr. Holmes (Bill Condon, 2015)
Shelter (Paul Bettany, 2014)
Tangerine (Sean Baker, 2015)
Terminator Genisys (Alan Taylor, 2015)

Need a refresher? If so, be sure to read our reviews for Part 1 & 2, and Part 3 & 4 first.

“Are you happy with the house? I’d like to think it was worth it.”

The words of F. Scott Fitzgerald hang over the final two chapters of David Simon’s and William F. Zorzi’s Show Me A Hero like the Sword of Damocles. Except, in this case, fear hangs over everyone equally, not just those in positions of power. Part 5 and 6 spans events from early ’91 to late ’93, and with this being the final two chapters, the narrative has naturally shifted away from the confines of the judge’s chambers and noisy council meetings, in order to focus on the tenants we familiarized ourselves with from the West side of the Parkway. Hank Spallone (Alfred Molina) is mostly mentioned by name, and seen a brief two times in the whole two hours, before the new mayor Terry Zaleski (Daniel Sauli) takes office. Not much time is spent with Zaleski, but enough to know that he’s the shiftiest Democrat presented in the entire miniseries, and the biggest nemesis to our hero, Nick (Oscar Isaac). Judge Sands (Bob Balaban) and Michael Sussman (Jon Berenthal), so instrumental in getting the housing bill passed, don’t make a single appearance, while Oscar Newman’s (Peter Riegart) greatest contribution is to hand over the housing counselling to the most important new character, Robert Mayhawk (The Wire alumnus, Clarke Peters).

Parts 5 and 6 distance themselves by some margin from the politics that dominated proceedings in the previous parts, and is mostly split between two narrative strings. The first follows Nick, desperately seeking recognition and a way back into office. The more he fails, the deeper he sinks into an egotistical vortex of self-loathing, even costing Nay’s (Carla Quevedo) job by playing political games with her bosses (only to eventually realize that the only one being played is him). At the beginning of Part 5, his friendship and alliance with Jim Surdoval (Michael Stahl-David) is severed because Jim is backing Zaleski for mayor. Vini Restiano (Winona Ryder), the friend Nick comforted in Part 2 when she got shut out of politics, makes a powerful comeback in Parts 5 and 6, only to find herself in direct opposition with Nick when he decides to run against her as City Council President. When she asks him, with tearful resentment, if he really believes in anything but himself, the gist of the message is clear; the ugly, cruel game of politics is frightfully masochistic in nature. As I mentioned in last week’s recap, the strong sense of the corrupt nature of politics being the primal theme of the show rings deafeningly true all the way to the soul-crushing conclusion. For those who have resisted the urge to Wikipedia the real Nick Wasicsko, I will refrain from spoiling, but, with Fitzgerald’s words in mind, you can probably guess what happens.

The second narrative thread is the only one with some hopefulness, though not before it gets tangled up in fear. Billie (Dominique Fishback)—who gets little sympathy from me and whose storyline remains the most ubiquitously irritating thanks to her godawful choice in partner—, Norma (LaTanya Richardson Jackson), who is still reluctant to mingle with white people, and Doreen (Natalie Paul), who has come a long way from her junkie days, all move to the new low-income townhouses. Doreen gets involved with the new local community and through that befriends Mary (Catherine Keener). That’s right, what we expected all along finally materializes at the beginning of Part 6: Mary officially switches sides when she starts to focus on those trying to do right by their neighborhoods and be upstanding citizens. Meanwhile, Carmen (Ilfenesh Hadera) remains stuck in the projects because her name is put on the waiting list for the next houses, but her story’s conclusion is appropriately cathartic all the same. Mayhawk councils a team of volunteers (Mary included) on how to approach and help the new neighbours assimilate themselves into their new surroundings, coyly saying at one point that they’ll be learning more about themselves than the new families. As expected, the predominantly white community doesn’t take kindly to the new residents at first, instilling distrust, fear, and prejudice; all the more reason why the final image is a ray of sunshine.

The tone of the show’s final hours is very much a somber one. As with the episodes that preceded, Simon, Zorzi and Paul Haggis show off their artistic range with equal touches of subtle deftness and emotional hemorrhaging. Recall—and try to do so without getting goosebumps—the final montage of Bruce Springsteen’s eternally tender “Lift Me Up.” The fate of every character reminding us that these are real people’s stories. Then consider the opening of Part 6, mid-sentence in Mayor Zaleski’s speech, “-which for Yonkers has been a long time coming.” We know what he’s talking about, and thanks to this brilliantly understated opening, we also know he doesn’t care.

No, the only one who truly cares is Nick, and there are two profound scenes in these two hours where we see what all that care gets him. The first is when he visits the lottery spin to see which lucky tenants get to live in the new houses. He sits in the back, genuinely happy for the people, but slowly realizes that no one knows who he is and that he’s got no business being there other than to satisfy his own sense of pride. The second is when he literally goes door to door of the new houses to speak with tenants directly, to see how they’re feeling, perhaps get a modicum of gratitude. He gets the door slammed in his face until one person does recognize him. Blind Norma. It’s powerful stuff and the beating heart of Show Me A Hero. A man who jeopardized his political career to get the housing bill passed, but made the mistake of expecting a handshake instead of being satisfied with the work itself.

Show Me A Hero stands next to Simon’s previous sensational miniseries, The Corner (2000) and Generation Kill (2008), and under the auspices of his crowning achievement with Zorzi, The Wire, as essential television that drills into the truth of people. People with flaws and strengths on display, equally weighed. What happens to a good man when he gets a taste of that sweet poison of power? How does one navigate the moment in a person’s career when real change becomes a probable reality? These are the heavyweight questions we’ve come to expect of creator David Simon. The kind that keeps the Sword hanging above all our heads, and that will surely keep me revisiting Show Me A Hero again and again.

9.5/10

Just tuning in? Catch up with our review for Part 1 and 2 here.

“How come the only people talking about this housing thing are white?”

By the end of Part 2, we left Mayor Nick Wasicsko (Oscar Isaac) confounded over the mess the housing crisis created. With council members Henry Spallone (Alfred Molina) and Nick Longo (Jim Bracchitta), along with two others, refusing to budge and “give in” to the supreme court’s order, Nick must either watch his city go bankrupt while the “fantastic four” assholes (an amazingly timed nickname for the four naysaying councilmen) are held in contempt and face jail time, or do whatever he can to turn whoever he can around and get the deal passed.

Part 3 of Show Me A Hero begins with Nick on the phone seeking help from fellow democrats in New York and getting shut out. It ends with the same Maalox-chugging prologue that began proceedings in Part 1. Nick goes through another mayoral election, this time losing to none other than Spallone, who, of course, used the housing crisis as a way to get voters in the booth. One of the highlights from this mid-section is in Spallone’s victory speech, when he mumbles how they’d have to abide by the supreme court’s decision if all else fails and Catherine Keener’s Mary is like, “um, what’d he just say?” It’s that David Simon blink-and-you’ll-miss-it wit on display again, this time aimed at the cruel nature of political games and the wishful thinking of drawing a line between people’s core issues and the politics that govern them. That line is never straight and rarely connects both ends.

A couple of characters go through major transformations in Parts 3 and 4. Starting with Nick, naturally, who manages to make the crucial vote pass in council before losing the mayoral election, and moves into a beautiful house with Nay (Carla Quevedo) whom he finally marries. He spirals out of politics for the time being. He visits his father’s grave, and says,—echoing Vini Restiano (Winona Ryder) from Part 2—“As miserable as it is when you’re in the middle of things, at least you’re in the middle of things!” One gets the strong sense that the corrupt nature of the political game, and its consequences on the person trying to do an effective job, is the primal theme hiding behind the housing crisis in Show Me A Hero. A point subtly elucidated when someone quotes the show’s title to Jim (Michael Stahl-David), who seems convinced the line comes from Fitzgerald the politician of this-or-the-other district, and not, the Fitzgerald. These people can’t think past their own congressional bubble, and it doesn’t take a Ph.D. in Political Science to figure out what Simon and William F. Zorzi think about that.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the parkway, Doreen’s (Natalie Paul) character arc bends the furthest. Now a single mother, she goes from a decrepit welfare hotel in upstate New York, back to the projects, writes an emotional letter to her son at the end of Part 3, and becomes a full-time junkie in Part 4. Her father, noticing the latter, leaves her be and tells her to reach out whenever she needs to. Could this be Simon and Zorzi telling us, in ever-so-subtle ways, what part of the problem is? In any case, Doreen’s turn to drugs (considering her surrounding) isn’t as suspect as her father’s lack of care, but neither is as surprising as the slew of bad decisions made by a new character. Billie (Dominique Fishback) is a teenager who decides she doesn’t want to go school or work anymore because she doesn’t feel like it. She refuses to listen to her poor mother, and instead, meets a punk at a party, and gets pregnant. That she’s supposedly in love with this idiot comes second to her pretty horrendous life decisions, all the more confirmed when he gets caught and locked up in Rikers. If there are any redeeming qualities to Billie, I’m not seeing them yet, so here’s hoping for some life-changing decisions in the next two parts.

At least Mary continues to grow in redeeming qualities. After Nick’s futile phone conversations at the beginning of Part 3, we see her getting interviewed—hello, Catherine Keener’s highlight reel—over her thoughts on the housing. Her worries are legitimate and not covering up any interior racism, but over the course of the next two hours we begin to see her slowly lose faith in Spallone, and starting to second-guess her protests over housing units that are happening whether she likes it or not. Moreover, she begins to see that not everyone from the other side of town has much of a different lifestyle. In tandem, a conversation with Norma (LaTanya Richardson Jackson) reveals that some black people are just as hesitant to live with middle-class whites as the other way around; preferring, as she says, to “be with her own.” It’s a sentiment that’s all-too-easy to understand, with no room for naïve beliefs like, ‘why can’t we all just get along?’ It’s Simon, Zorzi, and Paul Haggis reminding us again of how complex society is: people fear change and intrusion in their comfort zones, regardless of any big-picture good intentions. The conclusion to Part 4, after Bruce Springsteen obliges with another suitable episode-closer in the form of “Secret Garden,” shows us just how ugly this fear can become.

With Parts 3 and 4, Show Me A Hero continues its strong bid as some of the best television of 2015. If there were any doubts around Isaac’s performance after the first two hours, they’re surely put to bed with these parts: the man is a shoe-in for Emmy and Golden Globe nominations and a strong candidate for wins. My only hope is that Keener and Molina (who is full of frame-worthy facial expressions and GIF-tastic gestures) get recognized too. What I chew on after these two parts is how seamlessly deeper Simon, Zorzi and Haggis go into the political belly of the beast, without grandstanding in the name of democracy. It’s a given that everyone’s got the right to a decent home, and that the people of Yonkers are turning more and more ugly with their racism, but there’s a plethora of problems on the other side of the parkway and it’s good they aren’t going ignored or justified. Oscar Newman (Peter Riegart) gets his 15 minutes in these two hours, bringing forward a crucial question on how different structures of these housing units could lead to crime and disenfranchisement. And, as fun as it is to watch Jon Bernthal huff, puff and roll his eyes, one wonders if Sussman is helping or hindering the cause. In any case, a healthy dose of debate has been injected to both sides of the argument in Parts 3 and 4, while the flawless narrative progression and supremely immersive characterizations continue.

The stage is set for Part 5 and 6 to conclude the proceedings with a bang, but it wouldn’t be a David Simon show without a few whimpers on the way. I expect nothing less, and won’t be surprised if we get more.

Rating: 9/10

Those of us addicted to AMC’s The Walking Dead tuned in warily but eagerly last night for the premiere of Fear The Walking Dead—a title I’m still not crazy about—to see if creators Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson could bring us new (fresh?) scares and an intriguing prequel storyline to compliment those bedraggled Southerners we love so much. In many ways this new series feels almost like Kirkman appealing to Hollywood more than to his fans, even to the point of setting the story in Los Angeles and focusing much of the first episode around junkie Nick Clark (Frank Dillane). And this is the only major stumbling block of the pilot, not enough walkers, way too much family drama.

The diverse family dynamic certainly makes for quite a few characters, which is a smart move in that those of us familiar with The Walking Dead will know that starting with a crowd means more people to choose from when the significant deaths start happening. Gruesome? Yes, but it’s the way of the walker world we’ve come to know. The pilot started and ended with a newly deceased walker—which may not end up being what we even call these zombies in this new show—but otherwise followed Kim Dickens’ Madison Clark, a school guidance counselor mostly concerned with her junkie son, Nick, and vaguely aware of the subtle signs around her that something major is happening in LA. One of those signs is that a lot of her students aren’t showing up for school, blamed on a bad strain of the flu going around.

When Madison isn’t at the hospital with Nick—where he insists he wasn’t hallucinating and did indeed stumble upon his girlfriend eating the face off a junkie in the church they were crashing at—she’s trying to get through to her teenage daughter, Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey), who is going through an all too familiar, just-need-to-get-to-college phase. Madison’s live-in boyfriend (soon-to-be-husband?) Travis (Cliff Curtis) is the only one who thinks to check out Nick’s crazy story about cannibalistic girlfriends and finds a gruesome sight at the church to back it up. (You’d think the cops would also follow-up on that. LAPD, amiright?) Madison insists Travis keep his findings to himself so as not to “enable” Nick. And thus the zombie apocalypse begins, and our main characters write it off as either the flu or a drug-fueled hallucination.

Granted, the show couldn’t jump right into survival mode. The epidemic didn’t likely happen over night, but it also didn’t take that long. Rick Grimes woke up about a month after things got started and the world was already a pretty dismal place by then. Getting to see how news of the epidemic spread initially, and the reaction of a city as large as Los Angeles, is what I’m most intrigued to find out about, but the first episode was incredibly insular. As a devoted watcher of The Walking Dead, it was hard not feel a lot smarter than these new characters. In the end they encounter their first undead person, they run him over twice and watch as he still tries to get up. Madison and Travis look at each other with incredulity but not nearly enough terror. If FTWD is going to match the scares of TWD they are going to have to get the characters on-screen a lot more amped up over the insanity happening. We Angelinos are tough, but we’re not numb to blood-covered dead people trying to eat us.

The look and feel of the show are there, casting orange-ish L.A. hues in abundance in contrast to TWD’s green ones, and the music maintains decent tension, even if I was rather craving Bear McCreary’s frenzied strings (no complaints about Atticus Ross’s opening theme). Because of the newness of the disease-spreading, there will be a lot more opportunity for blood and gore on the show, rather than the decayed look of TWD. Madison Clark isn’t nearly as compelling as Rick Grimes was in his pilot episode, but Nick Clark is and so far is the only one displaying a little gravitas toward the situation. But considering that the similarly short season one of TWD played out in a slow Georgian sizzle, I’m trained well enough in Kirkman’s world-building to know its worth sticking around to see what’s coming.

Rating: 7/10

“Hey, this mayor thing…when’s the fun part start?”

In the opening moments of the new HBO miniseries, Show Me A Hero, so much is said without a single word spoken. A man parks in front of a cemetery, panting and hyperventilating before chugging two-thirds of a Maalox (antacid to treat dyspepsia), and ignoring his beeping pager. He leaves the car, pukes out the Maalox, and—in a brilliantly framed shot—walks into the distance while his pager flashes “911.” He sits by a gravestone marked “Wasicsko,” stressed, paranoid, and clearly at the end of his rope. Politics aside, these opening moments ensure one thing: writers David Simon and William F. Zorzi (ex-Baltimore Sun journalists and masterminds behind the greatest TV show of the century thus far, The Wire), director Paul Haggis (Crash, Third Person), and star Oscar Isaac (sizzling like a comet towards the A-list after his unforgettable turn in Inside Llewyn Davis) are going to make Show Me A Hero one of the most talked-about television events of the year through sheer artistic integrity.

That it has a timely political subject at its epicenter guarantees discussion and makes it all the more enticing. It’s the late 1980s, and we’re in Yonkers, New York. Now, depending on how much pre-hand knowledge one starts with—specifically concerning the public housing crisis that forms the molten-hot fulcrum of this story—one will either be affirmed or informed for the first couple of hours. Thanks to Simon and Zorzi’s experience in encyclopedic storytelling structure, the groundwork is laid out and easy enough to follow as long as you pay close attention. Yonkers is divided by the Saw Mill River Parkway; on the East side live the affluent, middle-to-upper class of predominantly white citizens, while the West side is made up of the housing projects populated by the predominantly non-white and poor. After federal judge Leonard Sand (Bob Balaban) issues an order to the City of Yonkers to install 200 units of low-income housing on the East side of the parkway, the middle-class community raise hell for the City’s incumbent mayor Angelo Martinelli (Jim Belushi) and his councilmen and women, among them 27-year-old Democrat Nick Wasicsko (Isaac), Republican Henry Spallone (Alfred Molina), and Council president Vinni Restiano (Winona Ryder). Hell is raised, not because of outward racism or prejudice, as one of the citizens tries to articulate, but because the property of their own houses for which they’ve worked hard to obtain and maintain will fall, while people who don’t make the kind of money they do get a federal free-pass to live in the same neighborhoods.

The first two hours of the show introduce us to the principal characters from both sides of the Parkway, and the personal and political struggles they carry. Martinelli is facing an election year and has grown increasingly unpopular with voters because he refused to appeal Sand’s housing mandate, while Wasicsko becomes convinced he’s got a shot to become the country’s youngest mayor, because he has, crucially, voted for the appeal. Meanwhile, his private life is imbued with an adorable romantic subplot as he courts and wins over a councilman’s new secretary, Nay Noe (Carla Quevedo). In Sand’s chambers, the NAACP are represented by a passionate and cynical Michael Sussman (Jon Bernthal) who pleads with the judge to make good on his promise and force the housing on the city, even if he doesn’t have the council’s approval. While housing expert Oscar Newman (Peter Riegart), who has canvassed the layout of Yonkers, believes the 200 units can and should be spread out over eight or more sites, in order to avoid further contempt and division within the community.

As the political soup brews on both local and federal levels, we get glimpses into some of the lives on the west side of the Parkway. There’s 47-year-old Norma (LaTanya Richardson Jackson) whose eyesight is deteriorating by the minute due to diabetes. We follow Carmen (Ilfenesh Hadera) and her three children as they struggle in New York and are forced to move back to the Dominican Republic. And we’re introduced to Doreen (Natalie Paul) who lives in the suburbs but visits the projects where she meets, falls in love, and moves in with a well-meaning, asthmatic, drug-dealer Skip (J. Mallory McCree). Keeping with the non-political level, in Part II we become acquainted with a couple of East Yonkers citizens, Mary (Catherine Keener) and Buddy Dorman (Brian Altman). When Nick becomes mayor-elect, and the housing appeal is denied, it forces Nick and his council to comply with Sand’s mandate or face hefty fines and contempt of court, while Mary joins the growing ranks of the angry rabble who refuse to give in to the idea of low-income housing in their community.

This first third of Show Me A Hero beckons you to immediately re-watch both parts depending on how well versed you are in political jargon, just to make sure all the appeals, elections, NAACP grievances, and court decisions make sense. Then again, people tuning into a new HBO miniseries from David Simon and William Zarzi should expect nothing less then to have their attentive faculties massaged to full capacity. All credit goes to Simon and Zarzi’s expert writing, which displays an incredible economy in character and story development. In two hours, we get the sense of an entire community and all its various shades, from slums to council meetings. Haggis’ direction, and some masterful editing from Jo Francis and Kate Sanford, delicately weave together all the pieces of the puzzle, allowing the virtuoso performances to shine through and keep eyes glued to the screen. Literally all of the players, spearheaded by Isaac all the way down to the secretary who comically refuses Wasicsko access to the copy machine, excel in their roles. As outlined in the opening minutes, Show Me A Hero is an intricate, controlled, and smoothly seismic piece of television. And we’re just talking about the first two hours here.

This kind of subject matter and story doesn’t just invite political discussion, it incites it. Based on Lisa Belkin’s nonfiction book of the same name, Show Me A Hero (the title, FYI, is taken from the F. Scott Fitzgerald quote, “Show me a hero, and I’ll write you a tragedy,” so wherever this is heading, it won’t be pretty) makes little qualms about which side its own. Molina’s Spallone chews on his toothpick with the menace of a Bond villain, the angry white mob of East Yonkers spew anti-Semitic slurs about Sand and Sussman, and the tenderization of the West-side characters is more mechanical than braising. Norma’s eyesight, for example, gets stretched to the point of heavy-handed manipulation: she can’t see the button she marked on her intercom to buzz herself in, and instead of trying any other apartment, she frets and tugs at our heart strings. On the other hand, there is a sense of level-headed balance. Spallone’s “I watched the Bronx die” argument has its roots in historical accuracy (depending on who you talk to), and the first proper sequence we see on the West side involves a drug-deal; the foremost concern for the East side of Yonkers. While most of the white citizens’ objections drown in a cacophonous sea of introverted racism, one can’t help but sympathize with someone like Mary Dorman (played with surgical subtlety by Keener), who is genuinely worried about how her way of life will be impacted by this change. The show makes a point to separate her from the rest of the bigots, and Part II’s conclusion—an unlikely phone conversation—foreshadows the kind of evolution both Mary and Nick are about to go through.

That it’s a liberal-minded show is obvious, and the creators have every right to slant whichever way they feel is just. Many critics, who are much more in-tune with American politics than I am, have already noted the relevance of its themes and subjects on today’s geopolitical landscape in the U.S., with on-going racism and corrupt political systems dominating news headlines. Depending on where one’s personal standing is on the issue of low-income housing, Show Me A Hero is either going to enrage or enlighten, but there are a couple of key things to keep in mind, regardless. Firstly, all of this actually happened, and history blinds personal opinion, or at least, it should. Secondly, knowing that this show comes from the creators of The Wire should silence the skeptics and remind them that all sides of the issue will be handled accordingly. Thirdly, the core issue of disolving segregation is one that everyone should be able to firmly stand behind, regardless of their political leanings. And finally, especially for those neutral on politics, this is television operating at its artistic zenith. Simon and Zarzi make a city’s housing crisis more compelling than one could possibly imagine, punctuating their story with wit (the lookout’s “5-0 on you, Skip” is classic Wire humor) and artistic intelligence (the minute-long background phone ring that concludes Part I is nothing if not genius).

While I’m never one for transparent political endorsement, regardless of whether it’s left or right-leaning, Show Me A Hero has more than enough in its history, characterizations, and bravura storytelling to make me wish that it’s next Sunday already.

RATING: 8.5/10

Season two of True Detective came to its crooked and sinewy ending last night in “Omega Station” (directed by Brooklyn director John Crowley) where all the dangling threads of this disputed second season were either wrapped up, stamped out, or set on fire. There’s been a lot of hate for this season as this LA-based tale of corruption played out over the past eight weeks, but we stuck with it and the time has come to process. 

First, a breakdown of last night’s episode. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

The episode began in typical doleful fashion with Ani Bezzerides and Ray Velcoro, our sole-surviving detectives on the lam, post-coitus and of course wallowing in their shared brokenness. Ani contemplates the recently surfaced memories of her childhood abduction, feeling guilt over liking that her abductor called her “pretty.” Ray continues to grapple with the truth that the vengeful murder of his ex-wife’s rapist, an event that has come to define his life, was all a lie. Meanwhile Frank Semyon tries to send Jordan off to safety in Venezuela by pretending to insult her, she strikes back with a well-placed “you’re a terrible actor.” Zing!

Ray tries to get ahold of Paul, and when Lt. Burris answers he realizes poor little Paul Woodrugh is dunzo. Burris reveals his plot to pin all of this on Ray. Ani and Ray freak out for a moment before connecting some rather loose dots: they know Erica/Laura, Caspere’s assistant, is the grown-up child that witnessed her parents’ murder in ‘92, but what about her brother? Ray conjectures (rather wildly) that he’s the set-photographer, Lenny, we met briefly in episode three. Ani and Ray go to Lenny’s house, Ray sees the bird head costume his masked assassin wore and then they stumble upon the missing Erica/Laura. Little sister spills all, revealing rather anticlimactically that the murder this entire story began around—the death of Caspere—was committed by the vengeful Lenny who’s now on his way to finish what he started and kill the crooked cops who murdered his parents. Ray gets to him in time before he can go through with it, but when Lenny listens in to the conversation Ray has with Holloway—more convenient exposition under the guise that Ray is striking a deal with a dead hard drive—his anger gets the best of him and he attacks Holloway. They both die in the ensuing shootout. Ani swoops in to run away with Ray.

Ray and Frank team up to take on the Russians, massacring them at a cabin in the woods and taking off with their money to fund their escape. But these characters are riddled with hubris and Ray can’t help but stop off to see his son one last time allowing Burris a free minute to put a tracker on his car. Ray has no choice but to lead him away from Ani, heroic perhaps, but resulting rather predictably in a last stand in the woods. Ray doesn’t make it and adding insult to injury, his dying message to his son fails to send. Frank has some pretty rotten luck as well, getting sidetracked by Mexican gangsters and ending up stabbed and penniless (except those hidden diamonds!) in the desert where he proceeds to not only die, but be visited by apparitions of those who both love and hate him.  

Ani makes it out on the boat to Venezuela. Burris lives and gets the young Tony Chessani elected as mayor—did I mention he murdered his own father? Who knew he was so ambitious? Ani meets up with Jordan, apparently has Ray’s baby, and passes off all the evidence she has to a writer to finally expose the events that have transpired. She, Jordan, and Nails the loyal henchman, walk off into a Venezuelan crowd toward some indeterminate future.

Here’s what we thought:

[Ananda]

I was not among the naysayers who disliked Season Two early on. Knowing the way things went with season one, I gave the writers the benefit of the doubt that they would take every last second to tell their tale and thus knew I’d be watching every episode. And they did take every last second…but the cramming of explanation and consequence in the last episode proved that they could have been much thriftier with all those used seconds. Many of those dots connecting in the end could have connected earlier with no detriment to the finale. It’s one thing to build a mystery, it’s another to Scooby-Doo a story by sending everyone running for seven episodes and then pull off masks for an hour and a half in the finale.

The logic leaps made in the case were pretty erratic in the end. Actually quite a few people who barely existed within the show came out on top. Tony Chessani is a kid in a speedo in one episode and then rather inexplicably ends up more on top than anyone. Lenny the set-photographer is our super-secret murderer and masked bird-man assassin and yet his reveal is so sudden, and his next move so quickly thwarted, that all these revelations fizzle quickly and pretty soon we’re thinking “Caspere? Caspere who?” If you’re going to spend years plotting revenge—which his house full of photos and evidence would suggest—why act so impulsively and erratically when justice is just on the horizon?

Ok, fine, so side characters don’t get real character development, we mostly care about our three “true” detectives anyways. Paul seemed a little expendable from the get-go, the disadvantage of working for a lesser police organization—CHP, seriously?—and because he just couldn’t seem to figure out what he even wants in life. Similarly, Ray had a bit of an X on his back for being a generally corrupt cop and iffy father, but it seemed like he was headed for redemption by finally involving himself in something that might change things for the better. And maybe Pizzolatto was responding to the flack he got for last season’s treatment of its female characters, but this season he over-corrected severely in giving all these dudes such dramatic endings and allowing the women to escape, but into lives of exile.

So, is any real justice done this season? Our detectives used their skills and cracked the case, but for what? Even in their mutual flawed state, last season’s Cohle and Hart were able to get to a more positive place. Their determination came from a need to eradicate evil, whereas our detectives this season were constantly just trying to keep their heads above water and save themselves.

They may all be messed up cops, but the difference in the origin of each season’s evil—a crazy killer in the first season and a corrupt judicial system in the second—really makes all the difference. At least Hart and Cohle could believe in the value of their toiling, this season’s detectives were allowed almost no silver linings and nary a light in their tunnels. True Detective Season Two’s bleakness stemmed from the cloud looming over their heads, not just the smog that defines Los Angeles.

[Zach]

Coming off the tail end of a convoluted second season, I’m still attempting to parse my way through True Detective’s multitude of conspiracies, cover-ups, and double-crosses while wondering how much any of it mattered. In the end, Ben Caspere’s murderer turned out to be a day player with impulse control issues; the hard drive with the damning evidence of corruption had already been bricked; Frank Semyon chose his suit jacket over his life.

To be honest, I lost the connecting thread of Season Two sometime after the high body count shootout that ended episode four. Pizzolatto took his show in so many directions without ever finding an organically cohesive element to bring those episodes together. It was a show about entrenched corruption. It was a show about damaged children who grew up defining themselves by their trauma. It was a show about the futility in finding fulfillment through redemption. It was a show about Stan. And ultimately, it was a show about evil winning out over good. But it was rarely successful at conveying all those stories at once.

While it would have been reasonable to assume Pizzolatto a misanthropic person from the first season of True Detective, last night’s finale all but confirmed it. The moment that sticks out as bleak for bleakness’ sake has to be when Ray Velcoro inexplicably leads his pursuant tail to the redwood forests rather than buy himself some time in an area with cell service. In our final moment with Season Two’s most notable character and actor, his final message to his son fails to upload. Velcoro was not always a stellar dad in eight episodes, but not allowing him even this minor win feels unrelentingly cruel.

When I look back on this season of True Detective, I’ll mostly remember how little I cared. For most of the season Pizzolatto & Co. tested the limits for endless, self-serious, vapid conversations in darkly lit bars to the tune of bummed out singers. Last night, they pushed the amount of exposition characters can deliver in a finale to the extreme. So little of it ever registered with me on my first watch of a given episode. Two days from now I won’t be able to explain to you what the blue diamond heist was or who was involved.

Whereas Cohle and Hart improbably but mercifully made it out alive at the end of the last season, three of season two’s main characters were offed to little effect. It mattered to me when Velcoro appeared to be shot down in episode two, but by the time Vince Vaughn was limping through the desert, getting teased by an anonymous, imagined group of young men, these characters had all done enough incoherent mumbling for a lifetime. There existed some flashes of intrigue, exhilarating moments, and occasionally memorable lines of dialog in this season. Mostly, True Detective’s second season left me looking for more satisfying answers. Thankfully the Internet helps to fill in some of the unexplained gaps, but I resent the need for a Spark Notes study guide to watch such mediocre TV.

[Nik]

Well, thank God that’s over.

A lot of the same frustrations I’ve had with the finale have already been summed up, so I’m afraid my reaction won’t provide much balance, just more bludgeoning. Nic Pizzolatto should take a long vacation and think real hard on how to handle a possible third season (too soon?), otherwise he’ll be remembered as something of a one-season-trick pony. Season One contained exemplary, layered world-building and immersive character development paving the way for a climax that froze our emotions with fear, only for a positively unpredictable and life-affirming resolution to thaw them. That the same writer managed to follow-up something like that, with something like…this…is a more compelling mystery than anything that happened over the course of the past eight weeks in the made-up town of Vinci and to its half-baked, morose, characters. Or should I say “splenetic,” to go in line with the kind of vocabulary these sanctimonious gangsters and corrupt cops tend to drop in casual convos? There should be a GIF of Ray and Frank talking about how apoplectic they’re feeling, a GIF that would sum up True Detective’s mind-numbingly self-indulgent second season to a tee.

What’s funny is that I, like Ananda, wasn’t hating on the second season from the start. I was enjoying the vibe even if it was heavy-handed, I was getting attached to the characters (well, let’s be honest; to Ray), I was digging the pensive scene transitions and the bird’s-eye-view cinematography of the snake-like urban LA jungle. But, sometime around Frank and Jordan’s thirteenth baby conversation, before Colin Farrell’s husky Texan drawl grew into a parody of itself, and long after I stopped caring about who killed a corrupt asshole politician; I got tired and realized that the opening theme song was developing and evolving more convincingly than any character this season (seriously, the use of Leonard Cohen’s “Nevermind” is the only true highlight here). If a season only has eight episodes, and five of them feel like they’re spinning wheels on matters no one cares about, jumping through time like Doc Brown on speed, and introducing further layers of corruption and cartoonish villainy (I’d put money that there’s concept art of Austin Chessani in some Looney Tunes artist’s basement) to hammer the same fucking point across; I’m sorry, but that season is a major fail.

In that respect, HBO’s prez Michael Lombardo made a point when he claimed that the finale is “enormously satisfying.” After an enormously disappointing five and a half episodes, with a few lightning-fast glimpses of greatness and the painful experience of watching four fine actors trying their best with trite dialogue, the finale was satisfactory (let’s not get carried away with big adverbs). Paul was long gone before he was ever a goner, but at least he’ll be remembered as the heroic dude that he actually was, and there was enough emotional investment with Ray’s arc concerning his son and his newly-formed relationship with Ani, that his demise hit all the right chords. Except that I agree with Zach in that the “failed-to-deliver” ender was an unnecessarily bleak twist of the knife. Frank’s end was fitting; stranded alone to bleed to death because of his pride, and Ani—as the truest detective of them all—deserved to get out and imagine what life with Ray would’ve been through their son (let’s face it, the guy was a trainwreck and would’ve probably screwed up somehow had he made it out). Importantly, and in contrast to Season One, there was no place for a happy ending here and Pizzolatto rightly saw to that. The cycle of corruption continues to spin, and well-intentioned characters will make one-too-many terribly human mistakes that’ll get them killed.  

If I could give any advice to Pizzolatto, it would be to take his sweet time before writing a third season. Everything that went wrong this season stems from the writing, and it’s painfully obvious how rushed the whole thing was compared to the brilliant first outing. Take your time, don’t give your characters dialogue that sounds like third-person narration from a dollar-bin crime novel, create a mystery that people will actually want to invest in, and for God’s sakes, add more truth to your detectives.  

Come to think of it now, there was something enormously satisfying about that finale: we’ll never have to hear that clinically depressed bar singer ever again.

After an impressive first season, that not only drew from its 1996 film origin but added elaborate depth and sustained an intriguing and comedic noir, FX’s Fargo is finally giving us an in-depth glimpse at season two.

A few things we already knew: Season two is set in 1979 in Luverne, MN and Sioux Falls, SD (a town near and dear to this website) and revolves around a case mentioned a few times in the first season. Following their established knack for an elaborate and well-rounded ensemble, the faces featured in season two’s trailer show just what a punch this next season is likely to pack. Patrick Wilson and Ted Danson are the lead law enforcement characters, trying to solve a murder that appears to include connections with what amounts to the perfect Hollywood Midwestern barbeque guest list: Jean Smart, Kieran Culkin, Nick Offerman, Jesse Plemons, Kirsten Dunst, Bokeem Woodbine, Jeffrey Donovan, Cristin Milioti and we didn’t even get a glimpse of Bruce Campbell yet!

The ’70s references are abundant, starting off with a Watergate joke and tying in with Dunst’s character showing an interest in ’70s cult-like New Age training program, Lifespring. Dunst always did look pretty great with feathered hair.

The trailer is plenty promising with what looks like all the same dark humor and as much if not more of the twisty murder mystery we came to crave from season one. The only downside? Because FX took their time renewing the show after season one, we have to wait until October before we get to watch. But with all that snow, it might just make for a more fitting viewing experience.

Game of Thrones is a hot ticket at Comic-Con and usually one of the more exciting panels to get into—they certainly give the best swag—but this year, several weeks after that tense season finale, the cast and crew in attendance on this year’s panel were uncomfortably mute.

Moderated by Game of Thrones super fan, Seth Meyers, the panel started almost straight away with only a quick sizzle reel of Game of Thrones references in pop culture, including Meyer’s own Jon Snow at a Dinner party sketch and Sesame Street. Then Meyers asked a few fun but ultimately non-newsworthy type questions.

He goaded Gwendoline Christie about her character’s inability to do the one job set out for her, referencing Brienne of Tarth’s oath to save Sansa by waiting for her to light a candle in a tower. “You don’t have to take these oaths,” he teased. There was some banter from John Bradley and Hannah Murray about their characters, Gilly and Sam, finally getting together on the show. Everyone else generally joked about the miserable state of affairs for most of their characters and then they moved on to audience questions.

That’s when things started to feel especially awkward as panelists, clearly in terror of revealing secrets, gave one word answers or vague speculations about the fates of their characters. Meyers interceded a few times to establish that the panelists wouldn’t be able to say much.

What we did learn? That Obama’s favorite episode was “The Red Wedding” and he asked director David Nutter directly if Jon Snow was dead. Nutter holds the stance he’s had since the finale aired: “Jon Snow is deader than dead.” This speculator thinks his consistency of wording is more encouraging than not. “Dead” isn’t always dead in Westeros.

One confirmed dead person, however: Stannis Baratheon. Nutter made a comment about the character—considered unofficially dead only because his death wasn’t shown on screen—that closes the case on him.

Other things we know: That Conleth Hill (Lord Varys) is hilarious and needs his own comedy show, that Maisey Williams (Arya) thinks she’ll have a lot of action next season despite being blind, and that the fun audition reel (see video below) of the cast proves they all deserve to be cast.

Otherwise we remain like Jon Snow: we know nothing.

Game of Thrones audition reel

It’s common knowledge that AMC’s The Walking Dead spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead will be set in Los Angeles. The SDCC panel proved to be quite informative, however.

From the sounds of it, Fear the Walking Dead will be very distinctive show that should be set apart from the original. Even in the setting, a tropical former paradise, is as far removed from The Walking Dead’s rural Georgia as you can get. It is part of the same universe, so for those that know The Walking Dead we know all too well what’s in store—watching the characters come to understand what is happening, and how they will deal with it. And survive.

Here are a few things we learned at the panel:

It is covering the 4-5 weeks (loosely set during Rick Grimes’ coma) leading up to the apocalypse—when cell phones still work and people still show up to their jobs. Even by the end of this season we are not necessarily caught up to where The Walking Dead began.

It’s not a duplicated Walking Dead. It’s purposefully different. They don’t get to full on apocalypse mode until the end of the season, starting instead as a family drama and developing into gruesome chaos as everyone watches the fall of LA.

The blended family is highly dysfunctional, including new and ex-wives, children and step-children, all trying to keep it together when everything goes to hell. Who will survive? A random group of survivors ride out the peak of collision between the living the dead, and must figure out where they stand once the fires burn everything down.

There are no plans to conflate the two shows ever, though no one confirmed that it would never happen. There was confirmation, however, that the Staples Center remains untouched. At least for now.

According to writer and co-creator Dave Erickson, societal and gender norms will get turned on their heads right out of the gate. In such a multi-layered city the focus, for now, is mostly in East LA, and the responses of each diverse neighborhood in the city is vastly different.

“What’s great is they’re completely unprepared, he doesn’t have any specific set of skills to give them a boost, it’s not like he’s a cop. So there’s a humanity there.” -Cliff Curtis

Frank Dillane plays Nick, the eldest teenage son of Madison whose dad died a while ago, is dealing with his own monsters when he comes face to face with a new set of them. Named as a sort of prophet in this new world being the first to come face to face with a walker, the question is whether or not those issues will help or hinder his survival.

As far as the crafting of the new walkers, they will look vastly different than the fairly rotted living corpses in The Walking Dead. There will be less decomposition, so their humanity still appears to be there. There’s still a little light in their eyes that inspire some hesitation as to how one might react when approached by one.

We see exactly what each character, all along the age spectrum, loses when their entire lives unravel. Characters will start learning what to choose, prioritizing tragedies in a way that might cause people to question their potential overreaction to comparatively mundane heartaches.

The cast, including Grammy-winner Ruben Blades, only met each other on the day of the table read.

The differences from The Walking Dead don’t just come from a change in location, as this new batch of characters differ significantly from Rick and his group. It’s easy to envision Rick Grimes, former deputy, as a leader, but here we follow an English teacher and a guidance counselor barely hanging on in a fully functioning world, before they’re suddenly thrust into a world that’s dissipating rapidly.

As producer David Alpert so eloquently sums up, the question from all of us is, “Who from coal becomes a diamond and who crumples into dust.” And therein lies the common fascination for both The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead fans, as we question who we will identify with, good or bad.

The biggest question for all will be if Chris Hardwick ever cameos as a walker, which was neither confirmed nor denied during the panel, though Hardwick declared both his hesitation and his openness to the idea.

Fear the Walking Dead will premiering on August 23rd at 9pm (EST) internationally on AMC global at the exact same time. This will thankfully negate the need to avoid social media spoilers. And fans of Chris Hardwick will be happy to learn that he will cover the series on The Talking Dead.

The Walking Dead panel gave fans a good idea of what to expect for season 6, beginning almost immediately with a trailer for the upcoming season—premiering in a 90-minute episode on Sunday October 11 at 9pm—that opens with lead character Rick Grimes running, and running hard. Not a new sight after five seasons of the show.

Most notable from the trailer is Morgan (Lennie James) joining the clan at Alexandria after having trailed Rick throughout last season. The trailer alludes to some tension between Rick and Morgan but showrunner Scott Gimple, immediately after the trailer played, admitted to the show’s notorious tendency to spin previews into misleading audiences from clues to what is upcoming.

The most interesting part of the trailer, for fans, was at the very end, where fan-favorite Darryl (Norman Reedus) is seen bound with a gun to his head by the leader of the Wolves, the menacing group we’ve only begun to see introduced as a threat to Rick and co. Interesting to note, Ethan Embry was featured as a new cast member in the trailer and Gimple revealed Merritt Wever would also be joining the cast.

Panel moderator Chris Hardwick led most of the cast of the show, Gimple, and executive producers Gale Anne Hurd and Greg Nicotero through questions around upcoming story and character development.

Gimple did say there would be more flashbacks in the new season, saying a whole episode may be entirely in flashback and that they would “definitely be playing with time.”

He also said the Wolves will play a part in a way audiences won’t expect. Andrew Lincoln, who plays Sheriff leader Rick Grimes was asked about his characters’ final facial hair moment this past season. Does he miss the beard? He stated, “My wife doesn’t miss it” and joked about how co-star Steven Yeuen remarked after the shave that he looked like he had a shrunken head.

Hardwick asked Yeuen about Glenn—his character—and one of his storylines this past season: Glenn’s frustrating decision not to kill Nicholas. Yeuen spoke about Glenn’s desire for Nicholas’s redemption and his own need to save himself. But he did joke he wouldn’t trust Nicholas to push any revolving doors.

It was Lennie James’s (Morgan) first time on the panel. He spoke about Morgan and Rick’s “particular man-love” hinting that maybe things won’t be quite so tense between Morgan and Rick next season like the trailer insinuates.

Sonequa Martin-Green spoke passionately about the arc of her character Sasha, saying it was an honor to portray PTSD in honor of those who have suffered and that she thinks Sasha will find hope at the end of the tunnel.

Audience favorite Norman Reedus was initially given some rather bland questions including what he does to get into character—Motorhead and Candy Crush as it turns out—and for the record his favorite emoji is the red balloon. Eventually he was asked his predictions for Darryl next season. He commented that Darryl isn’t into suburbia so he’s likely to be getting restless.

As has become tradition they played a blooper reel and the cast showed their tightknit comradery and senses of humor. Andrew Lincoln admitted his mother would like Rick and Michonne to get together. Gimple says he’ll take note.

The 90-minute season premiere will preview at Madison Square Garden and fans can catch up on all the seasons as AMC shows an entire season every Sunday starting later in July.

We’re shaking with excitement. For those, like us, who can’t get enough of any type of Walking Dead, Feared or otherwise, any morsel of what’s in store for us in the future gets us all geared up and ready to take on the apocalyptic world. So we’re sharing it with you.

The Fear the Walking Dead clip posted by Variety just this morning really puts the “tease” in teaser. It doesn’t give away much. Except that there will be a lot of…fear. No smidgen of a zombie is seen, but rumor has it they will have quite a different look from the current zombie type in Walking Dead as they will be a bit, well, more fresh. The trailer is titled “Nick’s Escape” so we’re guessing this is a character who might get more than a quick grisly death. IMDB credits a “Nick,” played by Frank Dillane, with six episodes in the series so we’ll see.

Also starring Ruben Blades, Mercedes Mason, Cliff Curtis, and Kim Dickens, to name a few, Fear the Walking Dead is set in Los Angeles at the very start of the walker outbreak. Or whatever we’re now calling it. Walking Dead fans may get a little bit more information on all that led up to where they started out back in 2010, but no one’s promising anything.

Check back with us in July when we cover the San Diego Comic-Con as both shows will be there along with Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick.

Fear the Walking Dead is set to premiere in August on AMC in what is as yet a two-season commitment.

Topping the first season’s elaborate dick equation would be nearly impossible to do, but season two of Silicon Valley had plenty of funny moments of its own. Although director Mike Judge stretched the plotline thin throughout the season, there were so many great comedic line in each episode that it was barely noticeable. Below we’ve gathered the 11 best moments from Silicon Valley season two, let us know your favorite in the comments.

11 Best Moments From Silicon Valley Season 2

Gilfoyle: “If Blaine dies on our live-stream it could be good for us. I mean, we’d get a lot more traffic.”
Dinesh: “Well, and it would probably lead the cause for regulations in the stunt industry. So, in the long term, we’re saving lives.”
Dinesh: “Obviously his incessant suffering will be a strength.”
Gilfoyle: “But our ability to enjoy it is an opportunity.”

Russ: “I’ve got three nannies suing me. One of them for no reason.”
Russ: “All of a sudden, I’m 22 years young, and I’m worth $1.2 billion. Now a couple decades later, I’m worth $1.4. You do the math.”
Russ: “Synergy, bitches!”

Richard: “Had Endframe accidentally put a tequila bottle on their Delete key, I guarantee they would have struggled to delete half of the amount of files that we did. At best. Or worst.”

Erlich: “Look at them. They’re like two genetically enhanced Ken dolls. Do you know how much Bitcoin they’re worth?”
Erlich: “Oh shit, they’re splitting up. Cameron’s the left dominant one, right? I’m gonna come at him from the right side, try and herd them back together without spooking them.”

Dinesh: “It’s a messaging app that lets you send the word ‘bro’ to everyone else who has the app.”
Gilfoyle: “So it’s exactly like the Yo app.”
Dinesh: “Exactly, but less original.”

Richard: “It’s starting to feel weird letting all these firms suck up to us.”
Erlich: “If you can’t enjoy this many people kissing our ass at this level, then I feel sorry for you. I mean, we’re getting our dicks sucked at the AT&T park.”
Dinesh: “We’re standing on the field of the World Series champions!”
Gilfoyle: “It’s totally lost on me.”
Dinesh: “Yeah, I don’t give a shit either.”

Gilfoyle: “The picture is so blocky, it looks like Minecraft.”
Announcer: “Unbelievable! I have never, in all my years of watching fights, have seen a finishing combination more furious.”
Erlich: “Gavin Belson just shit everyone’s pants.”

Gavin: “I don’t want to live in a world where someone makes the world a better place better than we do.”

Jared: “Do you think maybe you sweat from your urethra?”
Jared: “Can you put a dollar value on not wetting your bed?”

Dinesh: “This guy falling off the cliff is the first good luck we’ve had.”
Gilfoyle: “Even when his sobbing shakes the camera, there’s no blocking it all. The quality is great.”
Dinesh: “This guy is going to drink his own piss? That’s too good. We’re going to fail by succeeding.”

Erlich: “One of you is the least attractive person I’ve ever seen. I won’t say who. *Glances at the man on the right*
Erlich: “Here’s my concern: Who the hell picked out that shirt for you?….Then you married poorly.”
Erlich: “There is a linear correlation between how intolerable I was and the height of valuation.”
Gilfoyle: “He put his balls on the table?”
Dinesh: “On purpose?”
Richard: “I don’t see how it could be by accident.”

Game of Thrones season 5 is over, and boy are we crushed.

Season finale “Mother’s Mercy” was anything but merciful. Ananda and Bernard were absolutely wrecked by the string of tragic events that unfolded in the episode. It saw the demise of several key characters, though one particularly unexpected and cruel death was the main cause of our hosts’ misery. All bets are off now, as several popular GoT theories bit the dust along with one of the show’s most popular characters.

What did you think of “Mother’s Mercy?” Do you need a drink as bad as we do?

Game of Thrones – “Mother’s Mercy” Reactions

As you are likely aware, legendary actor Christopher Lee passed away at the age of 93. As a fan of both horror films and giant blockbuster franchises, he was one of my favorites. Perhaps it was the types of films he was most recognized for, but he’s one of the most under-appreciated, underrated stars of the screen. This is made even more apparent by the utter lack of his films available to stream. I was all set to blow out a number of streaming recommendations starring Lee… until I looked to see which of his 281 credits were on Netflix. You’re basically stuck with his small role in Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, a 2013 film called Night Train to Lisbon, family comedy A Feast at Midnight, 1970’s adventure film Caravans, apparent knock-off The Tale of the Mummy, and The Bloody Judge (which, OK, I’m intrigued). Not exactly a showcase of his best work—Netflix doesn’t even throw us a bone with delightfully campy The Howling II: My Sister Is a Werewolf. So, instead of the perfect Christopher Lee streaming weekend, here are some other recommendations new to the usual streaming suspects.

Netflix

Orange Is the New Black (Season 3)

Netflix’s best original series to date is back with 13 new episodes from Litchfield Penitentiary. Like most quality television, we left off the season with many changing dynamics. Piper and Alex are on dicier terms then ever. Daya and Bennett’s relationship is starting to crumble. Red has hit rock bottom. Vee’s escape is bound to have serious repercussions on the remaining inmates. The emotional and dramatic stakes couldn’t be much higher for the start of season 3, which is sure to provide more shakeups, new characters, and more insight to the characters we already love. Orange Is the New Black was quick to becoming one of the best dramas AND comedies on television, and I doubt that’s going to change. If you somehow haven’t caught up, all three seasons are now streaming on Netflix.

Other titles new to Netflix this week:
The Cobbler (Thomas McCarthy, 2014)
Happy Valley (Amir Bar-Lev, 2014)
Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy, 2014)
Primer (Shane Carruth, 2004)
Rosewater (Jon Stewart, 2014)

Amazon Prime

The Island of Dr. Moreau (John Frankenheimer & Richard Stanley, 1996)

If you’ve been watching Orphan Black, you’ll know that H.G. Wells’s influential science fiction novel has played an integral part. There are probably better excuses to watch John Frankenheimer’s (slash Richard Stanley’s) trouble 1996 adaptation, but I’m going to run with that. When the film was released it was heavily panned and it’s reputation hasn’t exactly grown over time—but can we still hold out on a critical subculture rediscovery? The Island of Dr. Moreau is undoubtedly a messy film, but it is also weird enough be noticed. Featuring one of Marlon Brando’s last performances, well after he had reached his tipping point, the larger than life icon (and quite large at this point, too) has to be seen to be believed. You also have ultra-serious, ultra-crazy Val Kilmer. It killed the career of one director who was replaced by a well respected filmmaker trying to make a comeback. Oh, and half-human half-animal hybrid monsters. The cinematic car crash that became The Island of Dr. Moreau is well documented, but maybe worthy another look.

Other titles new to Amazon Prime this week:
Life of Crime (Daniel Schechter, 2013)
Murder of a Cat (Gillian Greene, 2014)
The Paper Chase (James Bridges, 1973)
Repo: The Genetic Opera (Darren Lynn Bousman, 2008)
Words and Pictures (Fred Schepisi, 2013)

Fandor

Alive Inside (Michael Rossato-Bennett, 2014)

Fandor has built its reputation on providing foreign and classic films with their partnership with the Criterion Collection, but this week I want to highlight some recent films that are new to the streaming service. Alive Inside is a emotionally captivating, under-seen doc from last year about a non-profit’s attempt to bring music to those who are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Based on recent medical studies, music has shown to spark memory and reestablish identity, albeit briefly. In the film, a number of retirement home residents take part in the organization’s outreach, and the results are stunning. To see, time after time, men and women recapture something from their past from something so simple is extraordinary. Alive Inside shows the power of music as clearly as any film ever has, thus showing the great power of documentary film. Reading a study on this topic would be enlightening, but there is nothing like seeing the eyes of these individuals yourself.

Other titles new to Fandor this week:
The Builder (Rick Alverson, 2010)
A Common Enemy (Jaime Otero Romani, 2013)
Concerning Violence (Göran Olsson, 2014)
Harmony and Me (Bob Byington, 2009)
Farewell, Herr Schwarz (Yael Reuveny, 2014)

Video On-Demand

Hungry Hearts (Saverio Costanzo, 2014)

Starring Adam Driver and Alba Rohrwacher, Hungry Hearts is a psychological drama about a young couple’s emotional strain following the birth of their first child. Having a child is obviously one of the most wonderful moments in a parent’s life, but it is also one of the most stressful. Not only is there now a small thing that is set to dominate your life, each individual choice you make when raising this child could have incredible consequences. Hungry Hearts plays with this inherent suspense quite well with brilliant performances from its up-and-coming leads. When we reviewed the film earlier this month, we said it is “a harrowing and hard to watch film, but the sincerity of its performances and the tantalizing and rather unexplored content it delves into, make for the sort of film that is impossible to turn away from.” Hungry Hearts is available on VOD at the same time as its theatrical release.

Other titles new to VOD this week:
The DUFF (Ari Sandel, 2015)
Madame Bovery (Sophie Barthes, 2014)
Red Army (Gabe Polsky, 2014)
Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2014)
The Yes Men Are Revolting (Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno & Laura Nix, 2014)

It’s time to decompress as we near the end of Season 5 of Game of Thrones, so it goes without saying (but we’ll say it anyway) there may be spoilers ahead if you aren’t caught up on this season. Consider yourself alerted.

It’s been a while since we’ve expressed all the feels we’ve had this season of Game of Thrones. But believe me the feels are real. Cersei has been a royal b****, like literally and while we’re totes excited that it’s all blowing up in her face it hasn’t led to a better outcome for poor Margaery or her brother who are also toiling away in cells right now. Man, you give the religious fanatics an iota of power, amirite?

Another reason kids shouldn’t be kings. So ill-equipped to deal when the shit hits the fan.

Meanwhile Jon’s attempt to join forces with the Wildlings was colossally cut short by the White Walkers in last week’s episode, finally bringing some much-needed action to a rather tepid couple of weeks. Especially with Arya getting slapped around because she wants to hold on to a bit of her identity, and Sansa getting, well, violently introduced to the sadistic family behaviors of the Bolton family, and Bran 100% AWOL this season, it’s exciting to see any of the Stark clan kicking ass.

While last week’s episode was a great reminder that GoT is capable of serious action (and another reminder that no one is safe, phew Jon that was close), last night’s episode reiterates something that I’m continuously surprised to hear people complain about: the supposed “line” that Game of Thrones continues to cross. I don’t know who keeps drawing this so-called line, but seriously, dude, just quit.

Think major and beloved characters can’t die? Think again. Think they can’t die in gruesomely awful and sinister ways? Wisen up friend.

Let’s list off every awful and evil possibility and GoT has probably been there, done that—or is getting there shortly. In George R.R. Martin’s world (or the one expounded on by the show’s writers) pregnant women are stabbed to death in the belly. Mystical religious women give birth to shadow babies that murder at their bidding. Innocent women are raped. Good people get their throats slit (or heads chopped off). Sadistic sociopathic bastard sons are given free rein to dismember and enslave. And, like we learned last night, kids can die. No matter how good of heart and adorable they are.

I mean, are we forgetting those poor farm boys burnt to crisps at Theon’s bidding a few seasons ago? This HAS happened before, guys. Poor greyscaled Shireen, another victim of the mindless ambition that fuels those seeking the Iron Throne. Stannis Baratheon has lulled us into believing he may be the lesser of a few evils vying for the throne right now. But no. He’s just as ambitiously evil as the rest of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s revealed at some point that this damn throne is like the one ring in LOTR, giving off some mind-scrambling vibes to those who seek it. One of Dany’s dragons needs to drop that sucker into Mount Doom.

Really hoping this mean Davos, Shireen’s best friend and the only voice of reason in Stannis’s house, is the one to take down this guy. It’s hard to imagine him continuing to back Stannis after this kind of batshit cray.

And moving on to Dany! What an exciting day in Meereen. We’ve got some solid banter between Daenerys’ boyfriend Daario and her betrothed Hizdahr zo Loraq, while Jorah fights for her affection in a more physically tenuous sort of way, and new sidekick/bestie Tyrion (this is by far my new favorite development in the series) spouts off sarcastic wisdom. But Dany can’t just have a lovely day out anymore, not with her people rising up against her. It quickly turns into a White Walker situation when the masked Sons of the Harpy circle in on Dany and her crew in an assassination attempt. Then (FINALLY) the Mother of Dragons starts to earn her title. Drogon swoops in to save the day and Dany rides off Harry Potter style.

I’m hoping she spends some time in the wilderness with Drogon, becoming one with her dragon and preparing to be the most badass leader this GoT world has ever seen. I mean let’s be honest, it doesn’t matter who wants to take on the Iron Throne anymore, the White Walkers could waltz up and take it out from under them with their limitless army of dead. We’re going to need some supernatural aid in fighting the world-wide war we’ve been building up to.

So my advice as we head into next week’s finale, just go ahead and jot down anything and everything you can possibly think of that would be horrible, evil, or downright shocking and make your peace with it all. Like some mystical fucked up mathematical equation, there are no lines in Game of Thrones. If you’re going to be a fan, you’ve got to expect the worst—and admit to yourself that this is exactly the reason you watch this show.

Valar morghulis, my friends. All men must die.

Last night in media you were either jazz-handing your way through the Tony Awards, screaming at LeBron on your television screen, or getting rather depressed at the unfolding events in Westeros. Which means you probably missed that HBO gave us TWO new True Detective Season 2 trailers.

The show, which returns with an all new cast and plot June 21 at 9pm on HBO, has thus far only hinted at plot and characters and now it, well, it hints a little bit more? The first trailer is another non-verbal mood-focused trailer letting us know that, similar to the first season, we should probably prepare for some Debbie Downer characters in the midst of some truly dark cases. Well at least we know they’re keeping the theme of cops-who-need-antidepressants alive.

The second trailer gives us our first taste of dialogue. Colin Farrell’s Ray Velcoro asks immediately if he’s supposed to solve this thing. We’re hoping this means he’s moody AND cocky. Love a cop who knows what he’s good at a la Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle. Vince Vaughn’s Frank Semyon claims to be “no good on the sidelines,” so we can only hope for some rogue bad-boy action on his part. And Rachel McAdams’ Ani Bezzerides generally looks tired, wary, and needing of a stiff drink. Given the twisted mystery of the first season, it makes sense that neither of these trailers would give us a whole lot more to go on, plot-wise, but our appetites are still most certainly whet.

Watch below and let us know if you’re as excited as we are:

Archer is set to get some original animated company on FX. The cable network has ordered a pilot for Cassius & Clay, a futuristic, post-apocalyptic, action buddy comedy that has been described as in the spirit of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Co-created by Adam Reed of Archer, with Megan Ganz (most notably a writer for Community and Modern Family), Olson will voice a hard-drinking, fast-talking bullshitter named Ordwood Cassius, while Bell voices Shopcarter Clay, the fastest gun in the South.

Susan Sarandon will join Bell & Olson as a series regular should the show get picked up for a full season. Sarandon will play Connie Mack, the ruthless owner of the town brothel. Outside of the main three women, JB Smoove, Kevin Michael Richardson, Jeffrey Tambor, Stephen Root, Katy Mixon, and Robert Patrick will provide guest voices. Cassius and Clay is one of the newest developments by Floyd County Productions, following the 13-episode single-season animated comedies Chozen and Unsupervized (both of which aired on FX).

Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to summer, with cookouts and camping trips feeling like a celebratory coming of good weather and good times. It also used to be the opening weekend for some of the biggest films of the year – Return of the Jedi, three Indiana Jones films, sequels in the Pirates of the Caribbean, Fast & Furious, X-Men, The Hangover series, even the ill-fated Godzilla all made their debuts at the end of May. But as the Hollywood blockbuster season has pushed sooner each year, some of the weekend’s cultural significance may be lost. With a rather slow 2015 Memorial Day box office, here’s hoping that you opted to spend the time with friends and family, outdoors for a chance. And while you’re re-remembering the difference between Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day, check out the news you may have missed last week.

Cannes 2015 Ends with Surprise Award Winners, Lots of Sales

To the apparent surprise of many, Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan walked away with the highest prize of Cannes, the Palme d’or, while the Grand Jury Prize went to Holocaust drama Son of Saul. Other winners included Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster, Hou Hsiao-hsien for Best Director, and a split on Best Actress between Rooney Mara and Emmanuelle Bercot. For the full list of winners and our own analysis on the Dheepan victory, check out our post from this weekend. On the market side of things, Alchemy purchased two of the most talked about films of the fest, 3-D Porno Love and The Lobster. Sony Pictures Classics, always active at Cannes, picked up Son of Saul and Dan Rather biopic starring Robert Redford Truth. Check out The Dissolve for a complete list of Cannes purchases.

Watch the Final Film Ever Shot on Fuji Filmstock

We’ve heard for the past few years that physical film was a dying product, with much of the industry choosing to shoot on easier-access and economical digital sources, and now the product of this concept has been realized. Over at Indiewire, you can watch the very last short film ever shot using Fuji film, which was discontinued in 2013. “Amends” is a story of two lovers whose relationship falters because of a digital technology. It is a poetic and ironic swansong for the near-obsolete medium.

Debut Date Set for The Wire Creator’s Next HBO Series

First reported by Variety, upcoming HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero, created by David Simon and directed by Paul Haggis, will premiere on Sunday, August 16. The series stars Oscar Isaac as a young mayor of Yonkers, New York, who is pressured to build low-income housing units in predominantly white communities during the tumultuous 1960s. Given the talent behind the camera, Show Me a Hero is sure to be a complete (if even a bit didactic) look at the intersection between race and politics. The six-part series will also star Winona Ryder, Catherine Keener and Alfred Molina.

Alicia Vikander’s Star on the Rise, In Talks for Bourne Sequel and Assassin’s Creed

Another of Ex Machina‘s stars is also set for more high-profile projects, as Alicia Vikander is now in talks for roles in two blockbusters. Reported first by Deadline, Vikander may be trading in James Ponsoldt’s The Circle for featured supporting roles in Paul Greengrass’s return to the Bourne franchise and hotly anticipated video game adaptation Assassin’s Creed, which already touts Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. Not much is known about her potential role in the films, but they would potentially be a mainstream break for the young actress. Starring in a video game adaptation wouldn’t normally be newsworthy, but the game’s complicated world and historical period settings make it highly adaptable, with some wondering whether it’ll be the first successful crossover to the big screen.

Indie Box Office Update

In an underwhelming holiday weekend at the box office, Disney’s Tomorrowland led with a disappointing 33 million dollar opening, with decent sophomore returns for Pitch Perfect 2 (30.8 mil) and Mad Max: Fury Road (24.8 mil). The strongest per screen averages came from Blythe Danner vehicle I’ll See You in My Dreams ($97,050 per its 3 screens) and French drama In the Name of My Daughter ($20,069 per its 4 screens), both in their second weeks of limited release. The highest per screen average opening went to Japanese animated drama When Marnie Was There, with a $13,000 average among its two screens. The strangest result of the weekend, however, goes to The Age of Adaline, which made a strong $15 mil. in the 5th week of its release – nearly half of its $40 mil. gross to date. This isn’t always a surprising trend for smaller films, as they typically show up in more theaters across the country during their run, but considering that The Age of Adaline showed in nearly half of the theaters compared to its opening weekend, it’s a very strange anomaly.

Trailer of the Week: Knock Knock

Following his career resurgence in John Wick, Keanu Reeves is turning to the home invasion genre, though with a twist. Knock Knock co-stars Lorenza Izzo and Ana de Armas as a pair of women who work their way into Reeves’s house only to torment him in sexy and violent ways. This is also a bit of a comeback for director Eli Roth, whose last film The Green Inferno never got a theatrical release. Besides that, he hasn’t directed a film since Hostel: Part II in 2007, focusing more as the producer of films like The Sacrament and The Last Exorcism in recent years. Knock Knock premiered at Sundance and will (hopefully) be released in theaters later this year. Check out the trailer for this thriller below!

You’ve heard of The Wire, haven’t you? It’s only the greatest television show of all–time. Its creator David Simon is a smart guy and has done some other pretty cool stuff for HBO, too (Generation Kill, Treme), but none of that stuff starred Oscar Isaac.

You remember Oscar Isaac, don’t you? The Coen Brothers’ Llewyn Davis whose role in A Most Violent Year> was basically the best Al Pacino performance since Pacino dipped into self-parody. Isaac has already wowed audiences once this year in Ex Machina and is about to become your nephew’s favorite X-wing pilot when Star Wars: The Force Awakens arrives later this year.

In the mean time Isaac is set to play Nicholas Wasicsko, who was only 28 years old when elected the youngest mayor in Yonkers, New York’s history. Show Me A Hero is based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Lisa Belkin, and deals largely with tensions stemming from federally ordered desegregation of public housing in the late ’80s. The 6-part mini-series will debut on August 16th with Catherine Keener, Winona Ryder, LaTanya Richardson-Jackson, Bob Balaban and Jim Belushi (really!) in supporting roles.

Whether you were enjoying the weather this weekend, binging on weekend streaming options, or wondering if you should be offended by Louis C.K.’s SNL monologue, we’ve got some of the news you may have missed while brunching. Here’s a few things you should know as we start a new week.

Cannes Watch 2015

Finishing up its first week, this year’s Cannes film festival has some people praising (Todd Haynes’ Carol), some people booing (Gus Van Sant’s The Sea of Trees), and of course the requisite mixed reviews (Natalie Portman’s directorial debut A Tale of Love and Darkness). The biggest sale of the festival thus far is for Tom Ford’s soon to be made second film Nocturnal Animals with Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams set to star. Selling for $20 million to Focus Features after he pitched it at the festival, the film is a “romantic tale of revenge and regret.” In addition to featuring in Paolo Sorrentino’s film Youth, debuting at Cannes, Jane Fonda was also the first honoree of the Women in Motion program and she had some rather spirited things to say about the pay divide in Hollywood among men and women:

“Of course it upsets me that women are still earning 30 cents per dollar less than a man earns doing exactly the same work,” she said in an interview a day prior to receiving the award. “It’s unacceptable and it must change and we talk about it and we must be active in trying to create gender equity in terms of pay…The fact is that most film directors are men, white men. Most major roles are male roles and (it’s) the reason that I’m excited about this award,” she said. “Women have to become part of the very heart of movie making.”

The End of an Era: Mad Men Series Finale

Matthew Weiner’s final seven episodes (after a year of waiting for season 7 to wrap up) have shaken things up in Don Draper’s universe, interestingly moving away from a focus on his advertising world and spending more time on the personal lives of Don and his associates. The iconic series wrapped up satisfyingly bringing its main character full circle into a new age—of advertising, of family dynamics, and of personal understanding. Long-time fans are sure to have many opinions on everyone’s favorite scoundrel and his long-winded journey, but one thing’s for sure, Mad Men—which began in 2007—is among those shows that ushered in what many consider to be a new golden age of narrative television. Its a show where characters have been allowed sincere depth and emotional complexity while living out their lives in the midst of a time capsule that has simultaneously transported viewers to a bygone era while reminding them of what has and has not changed since. It’s a prime example of the power of the small screen and will leave an hour-sized hole in the hearts of many people on Sunday evenings.

Pitch Perfect 2 Pushes Mad Max Off the Road

With its cult-like following flocking to theaters in its opening weekend, Pitch Perfect 2 managed to rake in more money than its first film made in its entire theatrical run. Bringing in an impressive $70.3 million in its first three days, those acapella singing ladies pushed Mad Max: Fury Road down to #2 with $44.4 million over the weekend. With all its buzz about being a “feminist film” and the ridiculous drama brought about by a wannabe men’s activist espousing the film’s brain-washing agenda, sounds like some of those music-loving Pitch Perfect fans may just mosy over to Mad Max next weekend for another dose of kick-ass women. A few of our writers get into all that kick-assery and more in Mad Max: Fury Road in tomorrow’s podcast.

Trailer of the Week: Crimson Peak

We’ve been following this one closely—it is Guillermo del Toro after all—but now we have an even more detailed and insanely creepy trailer to keep us on edge until the October 16 release date for this extra spooky haunted house (possessed house??) horror tale. Especially intriguing is how much more of Jessica Chastain’s deeply unsettling—and clearly protective, sister to Tom Hiddleston’s Sir Thomas Sharpe—we get to see. It’s been far too long since del Toro properly scared us (sorry The Strain, but no), as it has been almost ten years since Pan’s Labyrinth. We’re ready for more Guillermo, bring it on.

Stephen King‘s highly anticipated “time-travel thriller” series has already cast James Franco as the show’s lead alongside several other actors. Now it seems Warner Brothers Television has found an additional performer to serve among Franco’s foils in the J.J. Abrams-directed series. Former Grey’s Anatomy star T.R. Knight has joined the Hulu event series 11/22/63 as Johnny Clayton, a salesman in 1960s Texas struggling to move past his estranged wife Sadie Dunhill (Sarah Gadon) despite her developing relationship with Franco’s Jake Epping. The character of Clayton will ultimately pose a threat to exposing Franco’s characters secrets.

11/22/63 is based on a bestseller of King’s from 2011 in which a high school English teacher discovers a portal that transports him back to September 9th, 1958. The teacher attempts to use the portal to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy, while balancing love, and struggling against a course of historical events that does not want to be altered. The Hulu series is expected to premiere in 2016; Chris Cooper, Brooklyn Sudano, George MacKay, Leon Rippy, Lucy Fry and Daniel Webber have all been set for roles on the show.

Morris Chestnut is one of those actors that’s seemingly elevated himself to leading man status through perseverance-based ubiquity and not any particular breakthrough role. Show his headshot to a collection of five friends and you’re bound to get five completely separate “he’s the guy from” answers whether it’s Boyz n the Hood, American Horror Story, Nurse Jackie, or Kick-Ass 1 and 2. For me, Chestnut always be NBA star Tracy Reynolds, surrogate father to a preteen Lil’ Bow Wow in the magical-basketball-skills-derived-from-lightning-strike classic Like Mike. Reynolds may have had a killer jumper, but his most clutch shot was being the dad Calvin always needed.

Anyway, Chestnut’s landed the lead in one of the new FOX shows unveiled at the network’s upfronts presentation. Rosewood is a Miami-set procedural that exists in the undefined space between Bones and Dexter, just without the distinctive hooks that both those shows had. As pathologist and medical examiner Dr. Beaumont Rosewood, Jr., Chestnut outperforms his job description by charming a crime scene until he uncovers a clue. Alongside the department’s newest detective (who is, shockingly, a woman), Rosewood rides on speedboats and gives dap to suspects in the pursuit of crime solving.

Rosewood is slated to air Wednesdays this Fall on FOX, watch the trailer for the new show, from Psych co-executive producer Todd Harthan, below:

With The Cleveland Show cancelled and American Dad having moved on to the quieter pastures of TBS, Seth MacFarlane’s stranglehold on FOX’s “Sunday Funday” lineup had seemingly loosened just a bit. Fear not Peter Griffin fans, for the first trailer for Bordertown has arrived to fill that crass hole in your heart. Featuring the voice talents of Hank Azaria, Alex Bornstein, Miss Pyle, Judah Friedlander and Efren Ramirez, Bordertown takes place in the fictional Southwestern town of Mexifornia. Family Guy scribe Mark Hentemann runs the upcoming show alongside MacFarlane.

Despite the slightly cruder character designs of Bordertown, the animation style and general sense of humor feels right in line with other Seth MacFarlane productions. Each voice sounds goofily exaggerated with the voice actors leaning heavily into their adopted accents. Given MacFarlane’s Family Guy background, one can expect a nuanced, thoughtful but clever examination of the cultural and socioeconomic issues surrounding the immigration debate. Nah, just kidding, but check out the trailer below to watch a guy eat a burrito then blow fire out of his mouth and butt!

Bordertown will air its 13-episode first season early in 2016 on FOX.

There isn’t any reason to go out to the theater this weekend, right? Sure, Avengers: Age of Ultron is out and it’s going to be a huge hit and you’ll probably see it, but why make the trek out this weekend with the full theaters, obnoxious theatergoers and risks of being sold out? We all know Age of Ultron will still be around in a few weeks—and, hey, maybe you can use a free pass to see it then instead. Besides, there are plenty of great movies and television shows you can watch this weekend from the comfort of your own home. Check out the newest films to hit Netflix, Fandor and other streaming services below!

Netflix

Bluebird (Lance Edmands, 2013)

Set in a quiet, dreary Maine logging town, Bluebird is about the effects of a tragic event on a community. The film stars Chicago stage actress Amy Morton (who you probably recognize as the mom from Rookie of the Year) as a school bus driver whose possible negligence leads to the death of a young child. Like the film in whole, she gives an understated and powerful performance. First-time filmmaker Lance Edmands, who has worked primarily as an editor, shows an uncanny emotional maturity by never going for over-the-top moments, instead letting the melancholy environment and characters set the film’s tone. The cast is rounded out by an excellent cast, including John Slattery, Margo Martindale and Adam Driver. We saw Bluebird during its limited release earlier this year and thought it found “the right balance between atmospheric undertones and understated storytelling”. It is basically the perfect counter-programming to the big scale loud action film everyone else will be watching this weekend.

Other titles new to Netflix this week:
Chef’s Table (Series)
Legally Blonde (Robert Luketic, 2001)
National Treasure (Jon Turteltaub, 2004)
Watchers of the Sky (Edet Belzberg, 2014)

Amazon Prime

Fifty Shades of Grey (Sam Taylor-Johnson, 2015)

Or perhaps instead of venturing out to the theater to see the biggest film of you year, you can catch up with the first big hit of the year. Perhaps you were interested (or should I say “curious?”) to see this steamy adaptation of E.L. James’s veiled Twilight fanfic, but were terrified to see if with, you know, other people around. Well, now you have the chance buy Fifty Shades of Grey on Amazon Prime before it comes to DVD and Blu-ray. They also have an “unrated versions” available – it’s three minutes longer than the theatrical version, so I bet those are three really sexy minutes. In all seriousness, Amazon Prime and Video On-Demand have began offering some films for purchase before they are released on DVD or can be seen elsewhere. This could be an exciting venture for the ever-growing reach of streaming services.

Other titles new to Amazon Prime this week:
Big Trouble in Little China (John Carpenter, 1986)
Let’s Kill Ward’s Wife (Scott Foley, 2014)
The Professional (Luc Besson, 1994)
Ravenous (Antonia Bird, 1999)

Fandor

8 1/2 (Federico Fellini, 1963)

This week’s collection on Fandor highlights the great Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni with some of his most famous films and best performances. Included is perhaps his best work with his closest collaborator, Federico Fellini. 8 1/2 is among the wildest, funniest and most complicated films ever made about filmmaking. Mastroianni plays Guido Anselmi, a celebrated film director who struggles through his latest project while escaping into his crazy, sexy fantasies. It is probably the most Fellini film made by Fellini, highlighting his best dramatic and most bawdy elements. The film wouldn’t work without Mastroianni, though – watching his particular sense of cool being upended is fantastically enjoyable. Featuring iconic scene after iconic scene, all with Fellini’s creative world and character building, 8 1/2 is rightly considered one of cinema’s all time greats. But remember: as with all Fandor collection films, it is only available until the following Sunday!

Other titles new to Fandor this week:
Divorce Italian Style (Pietro Germi, 1961)
The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase (Joshua Oppenheimer, 1998)
La Notte (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961)
Tokyo Playboy Club (Yôsuke Okuda, 2011)

Video On-Demand

Paddington (Paul King, 2014)

The most surprisingly enjoyable children’s film since 2011’s adaptation of Winnie the Pooh, Paddington is much more charming and fun than expected. Based on the beloved literary character, the film involves a talking bear cub who leaves his South American home in search of the British explorer who befriended his aunt and uncle years before. Without much of a guide, he ends up at Paddington Station in London and meets a family willing to take him in temporarily. Like Winnie the Pooh, Paddington works because it doesn’t reach into the new trend of children’s films that have become increasingly loud and broad. It is a pretty simple movie, with a bit of action, but mostly laid back and warm. Ben Whishaw is a perfect voice for the curious bear, while live-action actors Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins are as wonderful as ever. Even if you don’t have kids yourself, Paddington is worth a look.

Other titles new to VOD this week:
Adult Beginners (Ross Katz, 2004)
The Boy Next Door (Rob Cohen, 2015)
The Gambler (Rupert Wyatt, 2014)
Ride (Helen Hunt, 2014)

The end of the month is always a sad time for streaming sites. As the calendar page turns, many films and television shows vanish into the physical media ether. This weekend may be a good time to catch up, re-watch and discover these films for obviously the last time they are conveniently streamable. Check out some of the best titles that will be disappearing from Netflix below. (Oh, there’s some good new titles streaming this week that you’ll want to check out, too…)

Netflix

Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright, 2007)

Possibly the funniest film of the Frost-Pegg-Wright films, Hot Fuzz sets it sight on ’80s and ’90s buddy action films to hilarious effect. Simon Pegg plays big-time city cop Nicholas Angel who is reassigned to the sleepy (and elderly) town of Sandford, Gloucestershire. His wish for some action eventually comes through when residents start getting murdered by a hooded man. Like all of Wright’s work, it works on two separately amazing levels—it is a balls-to-the-wall action film, as satisfying as any big-time Hollywood explosion flick, but also an intensely loving send-up of them.

Other titles new to Netflix this week:
Fed Up (Stephanie Soechtig, 2014)
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour, 2014)
Planet Earth: The Complete Collection (Series)
They Came Together (David Wain, 2014)

Amazon Prime

Son of a Gun (Julius Avery, 2014)

Australia has quickly become a haven for gritty and violent action films—Son of a Gun is a decent entry into this burgeoning genre. The film stars Brandon Thwaites (Oculus, The Signal) as a young kid who ends up in jail for a minor crime. There, he becomes close with Brendan Lynch (Ewen McGregor), the island’s most notorious bank robber. The film’s first half is a stylish prison film before becoming an over-the-top action flick. The fibers don’t totally meet up, but Son of a Gun is definitely fresh and fun.

Other titles new to Amazon Prime this week:
Noah (Darren Aronofsky, 2014)
Sons of Anarchy (Season 7)
Still Life (Uberto Pasolini, 2013)

Fandor

The Gold Rush (Charles Chaplin, 1925)

One of Chaplin’s funniest films (which automatically makes it one of the funniest films of all time), The Gold Rush is simply master silent filmmaking. In this one, the lovable scamp finds himself in the Yukon Territory where gold has been struck. It’s a brilliant film throughout, with some of the most iconic gags of all time. The film is being released in their Criterion “Compare and Contrast” Collection, available until May 3. This group of films looks at interesting remakes, adaptations and re-imaginings from their Criterion selections. As part of this, you can see both versions of Chaplin’s film: the 1925 original and the 1942 re-release with Chaplin’s narration. The 1942 version gets a lot of flack, but Chaplin shows off the expert word-smithing that defined his later-period films.

Other titles new to Fandor this week:
The Almost Man (Martin Lund, 2012)
Floating Weeds (Yasujirô Ozu, 1959)
The Lower Depths (Jean Renoir, 1936)
The Lower Depths (Akira Kurosawa, 1957)
Safety Last! (Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor, 1923)

Remember! Most films added to Fandor are only there for a limited time, so don’t wait!

Catch’Em While You Can, Expiring Soon

These titles are expiring from Netflix on April 30:

Airplane! (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker & Jerry Zucker, 1980)
Boys Don’t Cry (Kimberly Peirce, 1999)
The Brothers Bloom (Rian Johnson, 2008)
Fantastic Voyage (Richard Fleischer, 1966)
Ichi the Killer (Takashi Miike, 2001)
Life Is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni, 1997)
Robocop (Paul Verhoeven, 1987)
Romancing the Stone (Robert Zemeckis, 1984)
Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954)
The Secret Life of the American Teenager (Series)
The Secret of NIMH (Don Bluth, 1982)
Valkyrie (Bryan Singer, 2008)

It didn’t take long for HBO to renew Silicon Valley for a third season, considering the first episode of season two just aired last night. This afternoon HBO also announced that Veep will be renewed for a fifth season. Michael Lombardo, the programming president at HBO, made a statement about these two comedies, “Veep and Silicon Valley are terrific series, and I’m immensely proud that they will return to HBO next year.”

We will continue to provide coverage of Silicon Valley, the hilarious satire on the tech scene of California, throughout its second season. So stay tuned Pied Piper fans!

Clip of Silicon Valley Season 2: Episode #1

Season 5 of Game of Thrones has begun!

“The Wars to Come” was a standard sort of Game of Thrones season kick-off, catching us up with where all our wandering characters are and setting up the season. Way Too Indie writers/editors and Game of Thrones devotees, Ananda Dillon and Bernard Boo, react to the season premiere and predict where they think the season will lead and the fate of the good (and bad) people of Westeros.

Were you watching with the millions of others last night (or perhaps one of the naughty people who pirated the show)? What did you think of “The Wars to Come”?

Our Reactions to Game of Thrones – “The Wars to Come”

As hundreds of thousands of fans clear their schedules tonight for the season premiere of hugely popular HBO show Game of Thrones, piracy site users are already four episodes deep. The first four episodes of the upcoming fifth season of Game of Thrones leaked online Sunday morning on BitTorrent sites. These leaked episodes likely originated from review copies sent to press outlets, as TV critics are often sent the first four episodes for review consideration. According to TorrentFreak, these leaked episodes were downloaded more than 100,000 times in just three hours.

Game of Thrones is no stranger to piracy though. The show is the most pirated TV-show of the last three years.

Though despite these leaks, rest assured millions of viewers will still plant themselves firmly in front of their TVs for tonight’s season premiere. Including us! We’re branching out beyond film and music into the world of television, and Westeros seems as great a place to start as any.

In fact, our excitement is probably best summed up in this video from The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Enjoy!

Here it is. We’ve made it to the top. The top ten that is.

Breaking down all of the television shows we’ve come to love over the past five years (not even mentioning all the shows that premiered previous to 2010 that we’ve been dedicated to all this time) has been a monstrous undertaking. Collaborating on these lists not only made us want to re-watch everything we’ve put on here, but exposed us to great shows we hadn’t already been watching. Basically none of us have had much of a social life the past few weeks.

Talking about all this great TV, with stories, visuals, characters, and creativity that rivals the very best that cinema offers us, has also just whet our appetite to talk about it more. All we can say is keep an eye out, you may just see more of the small screen represented here on Way Too Indie in the near future. No need to prattle on about the many virtues of the following ten shows by way of introduction. The writers can explain how they made their way to the top, and you can let us know if you agree or not and which you plan to binge first.

Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far
(#10 – #1)

The Walking Dead

Based on the The Walking Dead comic book series created by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard that was first published by Image Comics in 2003 and follows the survival of sheriff Rick Grimes and his team surviving a zombie apocalypse, Frank Darabont who’s known for his screenplay for The Shawshank Redemption created the show in 2010 to much praise and popularity. Winning two Emmy’s for outstanding prosthetic makeup and countless other nominations, it hasn’t been without a significant amount of professional accolades as well.

Since its premiere on AMC on October 31, 2010, however, it has veered off significantly from some of the storylines within the comics from the deaths of certain characters and the survival of others to the outright creation of characters never seen in the comics at all (Daryl Dixon). That has not stopped it from being the most-watched drama series in basic cable history, with a viewership of 17.3 million for it’s season five premiere. Executive Producer David Alpert has stated that there are enough storylines from the comic series to take the show well into the 12th season and then some. Us fans grab hold of bits of hope like this as we would follow the show to the end of the world. Both figuratively and literally speaking. Other shows have gone creepy and weird (American Horror Story and The Returned are two on our list) but no show delivers scream-out-loud scares the way those always gruesome walkers do. Even more scary, is that as attached as we get to characters—and boy, do we—Kirkman and the writers have shown us time and again that no one is ever safe. [Scarlet]

Girls

Watching Lena Dunham, creator and star of Girls, rise to the top with such rapid momentum used to be somewhat of an annoyance to me. I’d seen her film Tiny Furniture before Girls came about and found her portrayal of someone basically like herself—aimless and emotionally stunted—to be narcissistic and weird. Hearing she’d fallen into the favor of Judd Apatow and was being handed a show by HBO felt like a joke. Thus I began my viewership of Girls armed and ready to rip it to shreds. And then in those incredibly quick 30 minutes making up the first episode, I found myself not only guiltily laughing, but strangely seeing through the general weirdness of the film’s central characters—Hannah, Marnie, Shoshanna and Jessa—to find that I understood them. I understood their motivations because the part of me that can’t deny my millennialness (I’m on the oldest side of the spectrum) doesn’t behave the way they do, but understands the thought process that gets them into their ridiculous situations.

Thoughts on pursuing dreams and needing work to feel meaningful. Thoughts on being loved. Thoughts on sex. And most significantly thoughts on the importance of one’s girlfriends. In an age where women marry older and older, female friendships are sort of the early loves of our lives. The candor and sometimes graphic intimacy these girls share, its very real. And the ways in which they mess up their lives is happening on a daily basis among twenty-somethings somewhere. We don’t watch for the storylines necessarily, and the gritty and deliberately dirty state of the characters is at times gag-worthy, but if you want to understand the insecurities and general hopes of the female new-adult generation, Girls is a great place to start. Plus the music is always seriously solid. [Ananda]

Homeland

It’s odd to have to defend a show that’s so high up on our list. But that’s because a lot of people fell in love with Homeland early, only to be let down by a somewhat ho hum third season that contained such a daring ending that it actually divided fans. It’s true the first two seasons set the bar incredibly high—first by making us decide if Brody is telling the truth or if Carrie is just plain nuts–then by pairing the two as a couple despite finding out the truth. But if we learned anything from season three, it’s that Homeland loves to paint itself into corners and has no qualms about killing off major characters. Some of its big gambles pay off while others don’t, but it deserves respect for attempting such risky storytelling. Not to mention continuous outstanding performances from Claire Danes, who has picked up two well-deserved Emmys so far. Those who kept watching the show were rewarded with a brilliant fourth season (just don’t ask us to comment on its finale) and recent news that Season five will shift locations again and jump ahead in time. Homeland finally made Showtime a major player in original programming. [Dustin]

Black Mirror

As smart phones or other ‘black mirrors’ become an increasingly prevalent aspect of modern life, Black Mirror examines our increasingly complicated relationship with emerging technologies, as well as their unforeseen, unintended consequences. English satirist Charlie Brooker created the series, an anthology where each 45-minute installment exists independent of the others. The episodes take place in varying, unspecified periods of the not-so-distant future; whether they’re taking place 1 or 100 years from now, the conflict is derived from evolutions of contemporary tech. Brooker poses that these aren’t only problems we can see now, but dilemmas that will grow worse with time.

Beyond the moral questions that the series asks, Black Mirror is an exciting, highly unpredictable show. Every episode paints a detailed picture of the world in which it exists. The intriguing circumstances only become more captivating as the storylines take wicked twists. Brooker’s pitch-black wit provides dark laughs, relieving the tension in Black Mirror’s most shocking moments; however, the series’ strength is in its ability to build to a devastating conclusion. You won’t know whether to laugh, cry, or get angry. Brooker develops a universe in which he introduces advancements that visionaries might one day dream up, only to reveal the awful implications each change may provoke, and our seeming hopelessness against them. [Zach]

Transparent

The first season of Transparent premiered less than a year ago, and yet here it sits in the top ten shows of the last five years. If you think this ranking might be a little unreasonable, you probably haven’t seen Transparent. Jill Soloway’s show packs more drama, character development and naturalism in its ten half-hour episodes than most cable and network dramas do over an entire series. The show, for those living under a rock, profiles the Pfefferman family as their father Mort (Jeffrey Tambor, who already won a Golden Globe for his performance) comes out as transgender to her three selfish children (Amy Landecker, Gaby Hoffmann, and Jay Duplass).

And as Mort becomes Maura, Transparent focuses on the effects of her transition on herself and those around her. The show’s premise alone makes Transparent something entirely new to TV, but it’s the smart, sensitive portrayal of Maura and the Pfefferman family that makes this first season launch straight into the pantheon of great TV shows. Maura isn’t the only one going through some sort of transition; all of her children find themselves going through major changes themselves, whether it’s starting a new family, coming into adulthood, or just trying to figure out what to do with their lives. Transparent puts these stories together, but it never equates them. It uses the Pfefferman children’s stories to highlight their privilege when it comes to uprooting their lives in comparison to the intense struggle Maura faces for wanting what is essentially the same thing: to find happiness being herself, and finally living the life she wants to live. It’s a marvel that the show does this without compromising any of its characters, showing them as people just trying to do the best they can instead of putting them into easy archetypes. Transparent is, quite simply, revolutionary TV. [C.J.]

House of Cards

Because season three is still so fresh in my memory, having binged it only within the past few weeks, my ability to talk smoothly around its many merits might just be a waste of time. The show’s main character, Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, is next-level evil. Like, forget ax-murderers and sociopaths (though he may be borderline), Frank is a purebred egomaniac filled with oodles of charisma and a cunning and sharply calculated brain. Beside him in his pursuits of the most powerful spot in the country, and the world, is Robin Wright’s Claire. She, the most poised and well-spoken woman to ever understand exactly how to use her femininity to befuddle, bemuse, and work her way to the top. And these are the MAIN CHARACTERS. Watching their relentless political pursuits, their consensual affairs, wily networking and bargaining and consistent success, makes one wonder who to even root for in this world. And harboring even the smallest fear that politics could be half as dirty as they are in this show really makes one question their patriotic pride.

The show is based on the British version, which I tried watching an episode of and found I just couldn’t trade Underwood’s smooth southern drawl for a British accent.His asides to the camera, where he tells viewers directly all the evil things he’d like to say but won’t, make it impossible to wonder if Frank is at all conflicted. Knowing he’s 100% depraved somehow makes him even more intriguing. But it’s Frank and Claire’s psychologically-muddled marriage that fascinates to no end—especially in this last season where it was tested to its limits. No word yet on a confirmed fourth season, the network wants to toy with us like Frank toys with congress, but we’ll be waiting to hear. Simultaneously dreading and hoping. [Ananda]

True Detective

Not four months had passed since Breaking Bad ended its run, and rumblings already started to spread: there was a new show in town that might give Vince Gilligan’s crystal meth-epic a run for its money as One Of The Greatest TV Shows Ever. In hindsight, much of this is chalked up to hyperbole since True Detective only has the one season to its name. But, my goodness, how magnificent, absorbing, twisted, darkly poetic, and sickeningly compelling that first season is! Created by crime novelist Nic Pizzolatto, True Detective shifted the paradigms of television before Steven Soderbergh got a chance to do the same (see No.19 on this list).

So, let’s break down the “how.” Firstly, the architecture of the story’s arc is the Golden Gate Bridge of television writing: a single case involving two detectives in Louisiana, spread across decades, into a single season, divided not so much into “episodes” as much as “chapters.” Pizzolatto’s background in fiction and academia filters through his cadenced dialogue and exceptional layering of the psychology of his two detectives. Secondly, casting two movie stars in the form of Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, who were able to commit thanks to the show’s anthological nature and deliver mind-blowing performances. And lastly, nabbing Cary Joji Fukunaga, one of the most promising young directors out there, to direct every single episode (it was almost Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, but my gut tells me it’s a good thing it wasn’t). One astute writer, one exciting director, one formidable DP (Top of the Lake’s Adam Arkapaw) and one knockout ensemble cast. True Detective combines all the sensibilities of cinema, and spreads them out over the temporally-liberal format granted by television. The result is nothing short of groundbreaking. [Nik]

Louie

The fact that Louis CK landed a deal with FX that grants the comedian full creative control over his show, and nearly unlimited leeway to mold it to his pleasing, was unprecedented. His ability to turn Louie into the most surprisingly honest and endearing program on TV is a testament to CK’s creative genius. Writing, directing, editing, and starring in nearly every episode, Louis’ series sacrifices traditional sitcom continuity for flexibility. Each episode’s situation has been crafted to fit the story that Louis intends to tell, which means that introducing a new sibling or a black wife for your white children is simply a new reality in which CK can craft a hilarious, engaging narrative.

Louis CK has developed into one of the funniest, most successful stand-up comedians in the world today (he splices clips of stand-up into most episodes); however, he was already an experienced television writer, self-taught video editor and aspiring filmmaker without a vehicle suited to his sensibilities. This series occasionally feels like a collection of CK’s early short films. Some stories simply serve as brief cold opens to episodes, while others unfold in 2, 3, or 6 part installments. Louis allows the story to inform the structure, and consequentially his bits don’t appear cut short or too drawn out. Each episode is hysterical, beautifully crafted, and often climaxes with touching vulnerability. It’s easily the most essential comedy on television so far this decade. [Zach]

Sherlock

In the same year Steven Moffat replaced Russell T. Davies as showrunner, lead writer and producer of the 2005 revived Doctor Who, he was also launching, with Mark Gatiss, what would become a pop culture phenomenon and sensation for British Television and the world: Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. In 2014 it won 7 Emmy’s including Outstanding Lead Actor for Cumberbatch, Outstanding Supporting Actor for Freeman, and Outstanding Writing for Moffat. Moffat and Gatiss were also nominated for two more Emmy’s for their creation of the show. Gatiss, who also plays Mycroft Holmes on the series, had also been a writer for Doctor Who along with Moffat before their co-creation of the tv-adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character who personifies the essence of intelligence…and neuroses. Its intense and catchy theme music was composed by David Arnold and Michael Price for which they also won an Emmy in 2014.

The show incorporates technology into the show inventively, especially considering the dated source material. What it does best, however, is plays up the bromance between Holmes and Watson, letting their friendship be the driving dynamic that carries the show forward. The ‘ol Conan Doyle penchant for cliffhangers helps, too. One of the most frustrating parts of being a fan of Sherlock is the aggravating wait between each series which averages a break of two years in between each 3-4 episode season. Moffat and Gatiss announced that they have already developed plots for a fourth and fifth series as well as a Christmas episode that will supposedly be broadcast this November. Filming for the next series should begin late 2015 for its 2016 release. [Scarlet]

Game of Thrones

The king—or queen—of the shows has arrived and I only hope I can express accurately why it is. Just. So. Good. In an age of DVRs, Roku’s, AppleTVs, and Chromecasts there is very little reason to watch anything live (not to mention have cable), but Game of Thrones is one of the shows I make time for every Sunday night during its season. For one, the fear around spoilers as people discuss the show is very real. There ain’t no fan, like a Game of Thrones fan. They want to discuss episodes and events, and they want to do it immediately. But what really makes me shirk Sunday Funday plans to plant myself in front of my TV every week is that my devotion to the heroes and villains of the show is so strong that I literally can’t wait to see where each new episode will bring them.

Set in the fantasy realm of Westeros and Essos, the show follows a great many characters, some who live, some who die, some we hate, some we love, some we don’t know how to feel about. The main premise is political. Everyone wants to sit on the iron throne. Some would claim it based on lineage, some would like to simply take it for their own. The film has outstanding visuals and amazing actors and falls firmly within an R-rated sensibility. It has given great roles to Sean Bean, Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harrington, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Heady and so, so, so many more. The costumes are elaborate, the magic is subtle but exciting, the dragons are awesome, and scope is epic. All of this make Game of Thrones feel timelessly legendary. It doesn’t matter if you read the books or not (personally I’m saving them for once the show is over and I need my fix, though apparently the ending will have already been ruined for me), this show, and its source material, capture imaginations and don’t let go. It’s the kind of show people will return to for many years to come, and it feels exciting to be experiencing it with the world week after week. [Ananda]

Check out the rest of our Best TV Shows Of The Decade lists!

View Other Picks in this Feature:
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#50 – #41)
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#40 – #31)
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#30 – #21)
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#20 – #11)

We’ve reached our choices for the top 20-11 TV shows to come out of this decade so far and once again there is no surefire way to classify this next list as we work our way to the top ten. By now you might be feeling the strain of what feels like a golden age of television. Strain? Yes, strain. Because by now you may have realized there is more good TV than time in which to consume it all. FOMO (fear of missing out) has been replaced with FOMASITTD (fear of missing a show in time to discuss). If everyone is all caught up and you aren’t, your left with an excuse we hear ourselves muttering more and more: “well, it’s in my queue.”

But it doesn’t matter if you watch them all, or only some. The great part of there being so much incredible television is that chat long enough with anyone and you’re bound to find a show in common. It’s a familiar language that brings the people together. And the advent of interesting and flawed characters makes talking TV at dinner parties feel more satisfying than gossiping about someone real. And best part, no one’s feelings get hurt.

So watch on and gossip on. Feel free to gossip with us in the comments, and don’t forget to check back tomorrow for our top 10 list of the best shows of the decade so far.

Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far
(#20 – #11)

Veep

With Curb Your Enthusiasm suspended in limbo and Eastbound & Down ending in 2013, HBO took a big blow to its comedy roster (though, a big blow translates to a slight flick considering this is HBO we’re talking about, not TV). In my opinion, the dark dramas and high-end fantasies are successfully balanced off by Veep, a.k.a. the greatest thing that could have happened to Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ post-Seinfeld career. Series creator Armando Iannucci brings a world of experience from across the pond in the UK, having created Veep’s older cousin The Thick Of It in 2005 and the fantastic feature film In The Loop in 2009. All three are set in the same fictional universe, with Veep being the current masthead.

Called “the most accurate of D.C. TV Shows” by real-life Washington staffers (which is absolutely terrifying, by the way), Veep follows Selina Mayer (Louis-Dreyfus) as she commandeers the offices of Vice President and President, despite the consistent clusterfucks and shitstorms she keeps running into. With a brilliant cast to support the on-point Louis-Dreyfus, and Iannucci’s razor-sharp wit influencing every facet of production, Veep is political satire done blazingly right. [Nik]

The Knick

On a hypothetical whiteboard, which some lunatic has picked to show the momentum-shifts between television and cinema, all arrows, stats, and pie charts would feature Steven Soderbergh’s The Knick in a big, big, way. Soderbergh can direct himself out of a locked treasure chest buried under sea, and switching to the smaller screen could be the greatest career-move he could’ve possibly made. Cinemax gave him free rein and Soderbergh used every inch of it by directing, shooting, and editing (!!) the entire first season of The Knick. Set at the turn-of-the-20^th century in vintage New York City, the show follows the inner-workings of Lower East Side hospital The Knickerbocker and its main surgeon (brilliantly portrayed by Clive Owen, remember him?) whose addiction to breaking new medical ground is only rivaled by his addiction to cocaine.

Patients dying on a daily basis, faulty maintenance, and stringent racism: it’s all happening at The Knick, where egos collide, taboo love flourishes, and careers get defined. The only tiny chink in the well-oiled machine is the shaky writing from Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, but it’s a teeny flaw. With this show, I can honestly say that Steven Soderbergh redefines the art of control for the small screen. [Nik]

Broad City

As far as comedy goes, Broad City is one of the most brutally honest TV shows to grace our screens not only this decade, but perhaps in the history of television. With Amy Poehler as one of its executive producers, it’s not hard to see why. Created by costars Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, the show follows the lives of two “Jewish feminist” young women living in New York. This may not seem like the most original premise, but not only is it one of the only TV shows out there that focuses on the female perspective, it also manages to do so without being centered around them desperately searching for love. It’s crude, hilarious, and above all, has a distinct and unique voice that makes it unlike any other show. The characters of Abbi and Ilana are not “adorkable”, they are not too focused on their careers to see the perfect man in front of them, and they are not perfect save for one flaw that makes them “relatable” – they just are relatable. They are real. Broad City takes the elements of slapstick and absurdism that create laughs and inject them with so much honesty and openness that it’s impossible not to see the genius of its humour. [Pavi]

Nathan For You

Nathan Fielder is a nice guy, or at least he’d want you to think that. His show Nathan for You has a premise that sounds like a business-fied version of something on HGTV. Fielder, a self-professed business expert, offers his services to help small companies become more successful. But this is a Comedy Central show, and Fielder really has no idea what he’s doing. Instead, he proposes a ridiculous idea to each business, and follows things through right to the end. Nathan for You feels like a direct inspiration from Sacha Baron Cohen’s work on Da Ali G Show, with Fielder assuming an identity to trick unsuspecting-yet-willing participants into doing the most absurd things. The results are hysterical, with ideas like poo-flavoured yogurt and the creepiest dating site ever being some of the tamer things Fielder pulls off (the real highlights of the show: a elaborate mail-in rebate for a gas station that goes to the most unexpected places, and the infamous “Dumb Starbucks” stunt). With Nathan for You growing in popularity since its second season, the show’s format will probably mean it won’t last too long. But as long as Nathan for You keeps going, I’ll keep watching and hurting myself from laughter. It’s one of the most mean-spirited shows on TV right now, but that doesn’t make it any less funnier. [C.J.]

Orphan Black

Orphan Black boasts 11 writers as creators of the show (with Graeme Manson as showrunner), an interesting fact considering the show’s basic premise surrounds a young woman who attempts to swap lives with her dead doppelgänger only to discover she has more look-alikes than she could have even imagined. 12 in fact, and they aren’t look-alikes, they’re clones. This is an intriguing enough premise but what makes each and every episode of Orphan Black so engaging is that all of these clones are played by the amazingly talented Tatiana Maslany. Luckily, she doesn’t play 12 characters at once. In any given episode she fluctuates between Sarah, the main character and punk-ish single mom, to Ukranian psychopath Helena, soccer mom Alison, studious scientist Cosima, and more recently Tony, a transgendered version of the clones, and a few others.

It’s impressive Maslany is able to go between the characters so well, sometimes having them imitate each other, which is even more entertaining, but the fact that the show allows for a self-awareness that they know that we know that really it’s all just Maslany somehow makes it easy not to be picky about looking for flaws between her varying performances. The show’s unraveling mystery around the creation and purpose of the clones is revealed in well-timed bursts, but its the dynamic between the “sisters” that makes the show interesting. Not to mention the laughs, often imbued by Jordan Gavaris who plays Sarah’s foster brother and best friend, Felix. That the show touches on an astute number of issues pertaining to women, including property of body and gender expectations, not to mention nature vs. nurture, is a subtle but very real bonus to an already addicting and well produced show.  [Ananda]

Bojack Horseman

Back in the ’90s, he was in a very famous TV show. But BoJack Horseman is much more than the asshole he appears to be from the show’s onset. Voiced by the gravel-voiced Will Arnett (Arrested Development,The Lego Movie’s Batman) BoJack at first seems like a knock-off of the mean-spirited characters normally voiced by H. Jon Benjamin (think Home Movies or Archer), but as the series progresses new layers to BoJack’s misshapen ego are revealed. Over the course of its 12-episode first season, BoJack Horseman develops into an examination of ego, the fleeting pleasures of fame, and the qualities necessary for happiness. By its drug-fueled penultimate first season episode “Downer Ending,” BoJack’s pleas for Diane’s approval turns devastating. Not too shabby for an animated show starring a horse(man).

The Netflix comedy was created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, and dispenses its laughs liberally. BoJack’s penchant for short-sighted decisions making and alcohol-fueled excursions packs BoJack Horseman with crude laughs, but the jokes are derived from character rather than simple vulgarities. The laughs are guided by BoJack’s cast full of hilarious performers, including regulars Alison Brie, Aaron Paul, Amy Sedaris & Paul F. Thompkins. Guest talents like Patton Oswalt, Stephen Colbert & Naomi Watts provide voices as well. BoJack Horseman proves it packs surprising depth with hearty laughs. And animal puns. [Zach]

Downton Abbey

I first put on Downton Abbey when the first season had made its way to Netflix and its popularity was mostly confined to the UK. I’d made my way through every other British miniseries at my disposal on the site and figured this would be yet another mild escape full of lovely accents. I got the accents right, but mild is a word no one would use to describe Downton Abbey. Filled to the brim with the sort of sophisticated melodrama that the Brits are so good at, one is constantly deceived into forgetting that the show essentially bowls down to a soap opera. It drapes itself in history, sociopolitical dynamics, and a great deal of true British slow-burn romance. The show focuses on the upstairs/downstairs aspects of an established estate in rural England. The Crawley family, led by patriarch Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), adhere to the rules of their class standing, dressing for dinner and maintaining propriety. Beginning with the Titanic disaster in 1912 and its effects on the named heir of Downton and now having worked its way through a World War and several non-war related deaths (for which many of our wounds have not yet healed) the show is now up to 1925. The utter devotion the show’s characters instill in viewers is enough to keep us muddling through the show’s more somber or overly dramatic moments. With one more season left to go, here’s hoping season six means happy endings for all. [Ananda]

Top of the Lake

Jane Campion joins the ever-increasing list of film directors who took their talents to the small screen, and creates, co-writes and co-directs Top of the Lake. Due to its 4-episode structure, it’s considered a mini-series, and only qualifies for our list because of the recent (awesome) news that a second series is officially happening. Set in the incredibly photogenic land of New Zealand, in a small town called Laketop, the show is an ideological detective mystery wrapped around various ethical and moral conundrums. It follows Detective Robin Griffin (Mad Men’s Elizabeth Moss, who won a Golden Globe for her raw performance) as she investigates the disappearance of a pregnant 12-year old girl. Like working on two cases at the same time, Griffin must ruffle through the girl’s eccentric family tree lead by patriarch Matt Michum (a vivacious Peter Mullan), in order to find out who impregnated the girl, and why she disappeared.

DP Adam Arkapow (who’s also got HBO’s True Detective under his belt) shoots Top of the Lake in gloriously brooding shades. Campion and her writing-directing partner Gerard Lee have an overwhelmingly tight grip on the compelling story that evolves in unexpected ways. It’s these things, along with the excellent cast, (Holly Hunter’s greatest role ever?) that confirm Top of the Lake as one of the strongest examples of masterful television in the decade so far. [Nik]

Silicon Valley

There is something very cool about Silicon Valley, and it’s not any of its main characters. The brash attitude with which Mike Judge’s newest series depicts tech firms elicits waves of laughter. Judge has had a rebellious streak that has run through both his TV (Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill) & film comedies (Office Space, Idiocracy), but what’s surprising about his approach is how easy it is to empathize with his characters, even as they do appalling things. His Silicon Valley characters are socially inept, they have embarrassing failures, and act unnecessarily rude or self-interested with one another. But the ensemble feel like real people plucked straight from the offices of Google and some as-of-yet undiscovered app start-up.

The show’s extremely likeable cast is lead by a lineup of emerging comedians, many of whom have their best role to date on the show. Particularly odd is the casting of Thomas Middleditch as the show’s protagonist, Richard. Rarely have leading men ever appeared so meek and ineffectual, but his neurosis is so believably articulated.  Beyond Middleditch, T.J. Miller, Martin Starr, Kumail Nanjiani, Christopher Evan Welch, and Zach Woods delivered eight hysterical episodes in its first season, and we’re extremely eager to see where Pied Piper leads us next when Season two starts in April. [Zach]

Orange is the New Black

The good people of the Emmy’s can argue all they want whether OITNB is a drama or a comedy, but the truth is that for everything other than winning awards (for which OITNB deserves all it can get) genre defining has nothing to do with the show’s success. In fact this ambiguity is why the show is so good. It deals with hard and real human interactions in a setting where freedoms are stripped and all one has is their basic primal human nature. The show isn’t comedy or drama, it’s the human condition and people are not funny or dramatic, we’re complex and multi-faceted. Heck, I’d even argue that comedians are some of the most somber people I’ve met, their comedy coming out of their sadness, fear, anger, etc. But I digress, OITNB is about Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling)—and based on the real life experience of Piper Kermen—who aided in a drug-smuggling ring while in her twenties when influenced by a girlfriend she was smitten with. Many years later she was outed and forced to do a year of prison. Piper’s experiences in the women’s prison are hilarious, as she’s a privileged white girl among a more diverse demographic than she is used to, they are terrifying at times, as prison families and gangs rival and intimidate each other for control, and, yes, they are also quite sensational, because prison don’t mean you turn off your libido.

Netflix continues to prove they give zero you-know-whats about following convention and the freedom of expression in their shows makes for some exciting and original experiences. The characters—Crazy Eyes, Red, Nicky, Pennsatucky—are among the most colorful I’ve seen in any show ever. The day in and day out efforts they push through to maintain some sort of existence and feel significant are strangely enthralling considering the small scale of their gated world. It boils down to free-formed families and bonds more real than many of the loose ties people form in their lives of freedom. Full of truth, scopious feminism, and untraditional love, this is thoughtful engrossing TV. [Ananda]

Check out the rest of our Best TV Shows Of The Decade lists!

View Other Picks in this Feature:
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#50 – #41)
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#40 – #31)
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#30 – #21)
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#10 – #1)

We’re in the middle of our list of the 50 most awesome TV shows this staff could reasonably compile without getting into any fistfights, and today’s ten shows are a little bit weird, a little bit out there, and 100% awesome. Cutting the list into ten shows each really juxtaposes how diverse our list is. Where else do you see Boardwalk Empire sandwiched between Portlandia and Adventure Time? But isn’t that just TV? When giving movie recommendations we’re more apt to ask what people are “in the mood for.” When people ask about what shows to watch, we throw everything we’ve got at them. It doesn’t matter what mood you are in, these shows are just plain good.

So check out the next few TV shows we rave on as we countdown to the top 20 and then top 10 TV shows of the decade so far, and be sure to read the previous lists so you don’t miss out anything we recommend.

Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far
(#30 – #21)

Bob’s Burgers

Positioning itself as The Simpsons for millennials, Bob’s Burgers maintains the tradition of warm but satirical family dynamics that have become a staple of FOX’s Sunday animation lineup. Unlike the other well-known would-be Simpsons successor Family Guy, the traits that have endeared Bob’s Burgers to the show’s fans stem from its off-kilter characters and unglamorous depictions of the Belchers’ lives while maintaining an optimistic tone. There’s the Belcher patriarch Bob, whose obsessive nature often leads him to make shortsighted decisions. His wife Linda, a boisterous, caring mother with a propensity to burst into improvised songs. She’s voiced by John Roberts, amusingly one of two men that portray females in the Belcher family.

The other gender-swapped voice-actor is Dan Mintz, who provides a droll, decidedly unfeminine delivery to the family’s eldest daughter, Tina, an adolescent awkwardly swept up by her burgeoning sexuality and desires. Along with the irreverent, goofball middle child Gene and the mischievous, occasionally manic, youngest daughter Louise, the Belchers scrape by with a business that’s barely staying afloat, rampant social ineptitude, and limited success at school. Despite their weekly difficulties, Bob’s Burgers remains a hopeful and hilarious show. The loving bond between the Belchers is their driving force, and the show’s ability to accept or understand different characters’ eccentricities instills a lasting sense of positivity. [Zach]

Archer

Adam Reed’s Archer had a sneak preview in 2009 but officially premiered in 2010, which is fantastic because an animated show with this much swagger, sarcasm, and hilarious one-liners begs to be qualified for this list. The whole show revolves around the all-American superspy Archer (impeccably voiced by H. Jon Benjamin), who wouldn’t want it any other way because he’s television’s most self-absorbed and egomaniacal adult in this century. Even when the entire nation is under some kind of nuclear, terrorist, or Soviet threat, or his agency is about to be sabotaged, there’s always room for insults, innuendoes, ego-strokes, and needles. Constantly irritated by his fellow ISIS employees (ISIS stands for International Secret Intelligence Service, in case you were worried), all in dire need for a lifetime worth of group therapy, Archer plays with stereotypes and taboos like a deranged baby plays with Play-Doh. What gives the show its special edge is how brilliantly meta it is; simultaneously supporting and tearing down its own genre. Who else can have an innate talent for counting bullets and a legitimate fear of tinnitus, other than someone who’s seen way too many James Bond films?

With a superb voice cast—including a couple of Arrested Development alumnae in Jessica Walter and Judy Greer—and classic comic-book animation, Archer is a self-deprecating parody like no other, and a different kind of ball’s-deep game. Phrasing, boom! [Nik]

Portlandia

Who knew the dream of the ’90s was still very alive in Portland? From the very first episode, Portlandia captures hipster subculture with such wit and self-awareness that it never alienates the very demographic to whom it caters. As a sketch comedy, Fred Armisen (SNL) and Carrie Brownstein (Wild Flag) transform into dozens of characters in any given episode. One of my favorite reoccurring characters is Peter (Armisen) and Nance (Brownstein), a middle-aged married couple who have very strong moral values (won’t eat hazelnuts unless their local) but prefer to play it safe when it comes to taking action (watch them cautiously drive to the hospital, absolutely hilarious). And let’s not forget the amusing Feminist Bookstore routine, where Armisen (impersonating a woman) and Brownstein passionately spread the word of feminism rather than helping customers in their store. Portlandia contains some of the best comedy on television at the moment (even Mr. Jerry Seinfeld agrees) with its sharp satire and charming absurdity. It makes Portland seem like an alternate universe filled with wacky people. Hell, maybe it is? [Dustin]

Boardwalk Empire

Say what you will about some of the narrative inconsistencies in Boardwalk Empire, this was Steve Buscemi’s time to shine as a bonafide lead after years of supporting jobs, and boy did he! Cut short with five seasons due to budget reasons, this 1920’s tale of prohibition-era gangsters who ruled the boardwalks, brothels, and boulevards with their grip on the black market alcohol trade will be dearly missed. Easily boasting the greatest ensemble cast of any TV show of the century so far (along with Buscemi, we’ve got Michael Shannon, Kelly MacDonald, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Stuhlbarg, Shea Wigham, to name just a few), Boardwalk Empire hit the ground running with the Martin Scorsese-directed pilot, and hardly looked back until its final season (can’t fault the creators for rushing a few storylines with the final eight episodes, all things considered).

With its lavish set designs and costumes teleporting viewers back to the ’20s, the show was another major hit for TV ruler HBO; the only platform where no profanities are held back and Nucky Thompson’s (Buscemi) rise and fall could be told with sleeves rolled up. Created by Terence Winter (writer of The Sopranos and The Wolf of Wall Street), Boardwalk Empirewill endure for decades thanks to its authentic precision and stellar performances. [Nik]

Adventure Time

Next up on my list of go-to’s for an instant pick-me-up is a show with 11-minute episodes that will have you laughing for at least seven of those minutes and feeling inspired the other four. A show like Adventure Time can only really be described in terms of the amazing made-up adjectives its characters so often use. It’s utterly mathematical, freaking rad-tastic, and totally lumpy. Inventing new words is only the least of what Adventure Time is great at. The show—made up of individualized adventures—center around Finn (the human) and Jake (the dog) who live in a post-apocalyptic world called the Land of Ooo. The two are best friends, living in a tree house, and having adventures with the animals/creatures/beings of Ooo while maintaining their rather sunny dispositions. Sometimes the show one-offs to focus on their friends’ adventures or alternate versions of Jake and Finn. What makes the show so watchable (its like candy, TRY consuming only one) isn’t necessarily what Finn and Jake get up to, since most of that is pretty silly if you analyze it too long, it’s their responses to their situations and the lessons that sneak up while your dying laughing.

Not to mention the way the show’s writers, and creator Pendleton Ward, play with language, often using young adult slang like “sucks” and “poo” interspersed with words I don’t even use on a regular basis in my so-called adult life. Some of my favorite lines from the show include “Dude, sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something” (there are so many life lessons to garner from the show) and also more complicated brain-twisters like “This cosmic dance of bursting decadence and withheld permissions twists all our arms collectively. But, if sweetness can win—and it can—then I’ll still be here tomorrow, to high five you, yesterday, my friend. ” I mean…I can’t really say anything more except that if you don’t like the show you must be allergic to awesome. [Ananda]

The Eric Andre Show

Every episode of The Eric Andre Show, starts the same: Eric Andre destroys his own set, smashing it to pieces before the set magically rebuilds itself again. It’s a literal statement about Andre’s intentions to demolish the talk show format, but it’s also a neat summary of the show itself. The Eric Andre Show plays within the talk show format to build its own weird, Lynchian universe, but it also respects the genre by having its own strict structure. It’s just that, in the world of Eric Andre, a monologue can have him pissing in his own mouth, and an interview can turn into this. The Eric Andre Show is a comedy straight from the id, with every joke fueled by one rule: chaos reigns. It’s the kind of method that could fall flat on its face, but luckily Andre—along with co-host Hannibal Buress (whose laid back, lazy demeanor is the perfect match for Andre’s manic energy)—has incredibly funny instincts. And if the weird on-set segments don’t work for you, the shocking hidden camera pranks will. The Eric Andre Show certainly isn’t for everyone, but those who like it can’t help but love the show wholeheartedly. It’s the natural successor to The Tom Green Show and Jackass we didn’t know we needed. [C.J.]

The Newsroom

So, before I can gush about The Newsroom, I need to out myself as an unabashed Aaron Sorkin fan. I get that by this point we all see through his usual tactics. But for many of us those fast-talking, speed-walking, mind-poking tactics still work really stinkin’ well. And yes, I know that in writing a TV show that focuses on being a few steps behind on real-life factual news events makes for some potentially touchy reactions when the episodes air and audiences have had time to feel quite strongly about said events. BUT it also makes for an intriguing viewing experience. That same curious nostalgic feeling that Boyhood incited in us (yeah, I know I’m totally referencing a critically loved film to argue in favor of a critically-iffy TV show), is exactly what I felt when first watching The Newsroom. Remembering how I felt when those news stories broke and the way the public reacted. It’s the same feeling you get when reading old journal entries or tweets. And in Jeff Daniels’ Will McAvoy we’re given someone who (hindsight being 20/20 and all) is able to react in a sharp and often inspired way. Or not, if it suits the story lines. I admit I have been very unimpressed with The Newsroom’s leading women, most of whom are more like caricatures of successful strong females and are actually quite shallow. What has made me stick with it (even if HBO didn’t as it was cancelled after its third season) is that Sorkin still makes me laugh, in-between cringing, and that almost every episode inspires real conversations and reflection on cultural happenings. Whether we agree with the way the characters handle these situations, or not, there is no denying how sharp the writing is and that it has been innovative in the way it melds reality with fiction. And, it should be noted, the opening credit sequence is pretty much guaranteed to instill a general pride and reverence toward those who bring us the news.  [Ananda]

Borgen

Those Danes really know how to put on a show. With three meticulously constructed and wonderfully compact 10-episode seasons, Borgen successfully replicates all the various levels of stress, ambition, and passions that are in constant flux along the winding roads of political and media career paths. Constantly juggling the personal with the professional, Brigitte Nyborg (the brilliant Sidse Babbett Knudsen) has to be a loving wife, a caring mother, and a stringent Prime Minister for the country she loves so deeply. Aided by her politically savvy spin doctor Kasper (Pilou Asbæk, on his way to becoming world renowned) and kept on her toes by a workaholic TV reporter Katrine (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen), Brigitte is faced with major challenges on a daily basis, and it’s preposterously addictive to watch how she handles them.

Series creator Adam Price assembled an A+ team both behind and in front of the camera, and delivered a knock out punch with each season. Even when the storyline jarringly jumps in time (like the transition between the second and third season), all questions get answered and satisfaction is guaranteed. An intelligent depiction of unassertive feminism and a delicate approach to the emotional consequences of having a patriotic heart; Borgen doesn’t rely on an ounce of sensationalism, hence why it’s one of the century’s greatest political shows. [Nik]

Utopia

I’ll be brief here, because I’ve already written plenty about Utopia on the site already. Dennis Kelly’s short-lived series (it was cancelled after its second season performed poorly) was a show that felt like the future of TV was unfolding right in front of your eyes. It combined the pop art look of a comic book, the bleak universe of a Cormac McCarthy novel, and the humour of a Coen Brothers film. It was one of the best looking TV shows ever made, with its 2.35:1 aspect ratio erasing the dividing lines between film and TV. It spent an entire season building up a vast, terrifying conspiracy that actually lived up to its own hype. And it had one of the best scores on TV, too. Utopia really was its own beast, a truly singular show that was destined to be too strange to get properly recognized. Hopefully the upcoming HBO remake will shine some light on what might be TV’s first truly experimental drama.
[C.J.]

Luther

“LUTHAH!” That’s me going around and recommending the BBC detective show Luther to anyone who’d care to listen. With the venerable Idris Elba playing Detective Chief Inspector John Luther, who’s part Jack Bauer part Sherlock Holmes but kicks both their asses (yep, Bauer’s too), it would be very difficult to muck this concept up. Thankfully, series creator Neil Cross does the exact opposite, honing his skills as a novelist to bring about a very organic and comprehensive psychological study of one brilliant detective. All the familiar tropes are present: an emotional attachment to catching killers, the hardships of committing to personal relationships, and a proclivity to play against the rules. It’s all there, but never allowed to feel clichéd thanks to the sparks created by Elba’s performance, Cross’ dialogue, and consistent directorial control.

Refreshing plot twists you won’t see coming, unpredictable relationship arcs (the one that develops between Luther and Ruth Wilson’s unbalanced Alice is beyond fascinating), and disturbing situations involving truly depraved criminals who always have it out for Luther; it’s no wonder this show is such a mega hit. Now on its way to a possible film version, and a definite fourth season (Cross was unsure at one point), Luther cures every ailment contracted from watching too much of the same-old-same-old detective yarns on American TV. [Nik]

Check out the rest of our Best TV Shows Of The Decade lists!

View Other Picks in this Feature:
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#50 – #41)
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#40 – #31)
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#20 – #11)
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#10 – #1)

Our list continues! The next ten are a fun blend, showcasing many of the shows to come out of either web-based series or lesser known cable networks, proving that the big league networks no longer hold a monopoly on good TV. With off-beat comedies, foreign drama originals (most of which the U.S. has already attempted to recreate to various degrees of success), cartoons that capture our attention as well as any live-action drama, and a game-changing horror show.

After much deliberating, debating, and voting we at Way Too Indie have compiled what we consider to be the best 50 shows to come out of the decade so far. Check back each day this week as we count down to the top ten.

Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far
(#40 – #31)

The Heart, She Holler

I might have been one of the only few to watch every episode of The Heart, She Holler, but I’m not surprised. Vernon Chatman and John Lee, the creators of shows like Wonder Showzen and Xavier: Renegade Angel, have been personal heroes of mine for making some of the most mind-blowing things I’ve ever seen on TV, and The Heart, She Holler might be their most twisted work yet. The show is a Southern gothic soap opera about a family fighting for control of their beloved town, but anyone familiar with Chatman and Lee’s previous shows know that plot doesn’t really matter. The Heart, She Holler turns into a mind-melting self-destruction of sorts, as it breaks down into something bordering on the experimental (who else would end their series by playing Jimmy Carter’s malaise speech for 10 minutes straight?). And while Chatman and Lee’s episode-by-episode deconstruction of their own show is awe-inspiring in its audacity, it’s also really funny. Their cast—with the likes of Patton Oswalt and an incredible Amy Sedaris—sells every piece of insanity thrown their way, and the dialogue contains so much hilarious wordplay it would take multiple rewatches to wrap your head around every line. The Heart, She Holler might be, bar none, the most deranged thing ever made for television, and I thank Adult Swim for supporting mad geniuses like Chatman and Lee. [C.J]

Billy On The Street

Bringing unmatched levels of energy, enthusiasm, and insanity to those tired ‘Man on the Street’-style segments, Billy Eichner hustles down New York City sidewalks, thrusting his handheld microphone in the face of any random pedestrian, and confidently asking, “Would you have sex with Paul Rudd for a dollar?” Flanked by celebrities like Zachary Quinto, Rashida Jones, or Paul Rudd (as well as semi-frequent guest, the crotchety NYC-resident Elena, who co-starred with Michelle Obama and Big Bird in Billy’s latest viral FunnyOrDie segment), Eichner comes prepared to outwit any person that gives him the slightest bit of attitude.

Aside from his big presence and regular shouting, it’s often the hilarious simplicity of the “games” he plays with guests that are the most entertaining aspect to his show. “Would Drew Barrymore Like That?” which Billy plays with Will Ferrell, includes Eichner asking Ferrell about Barrymore’s feelings towards blueberries to which Eichner exclaims, “Drew Barrymore would hate eating a blueberry. Drew Barrymore would kill you if you even offered her a blueberry.” His quick-wittedness and the sheer ridiculousness of the endeavor become enchanting. Even in his most seemingly irate moment, Eichner is a joyful comedic treasure.  [Zach]

Legend of Korra

There are a number of animated shows on our list, and Legend of Korra doesn’t seem an obvious choice if all you know about it is it’s a continuation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Which is a show I never personally watched and that most adults associate with pre-teens. I felt this way until someone forced me to watch a few episodes of Korra, at which point I was hooked. Whereas Avatar focused on younger-aged characters, Korra’s are older and the story lines more mature. The show takes place in a world where some people have the ability to bend, which means manipulate the elements: earth, air, fire, and water. In Avatar, Aang was the current incarnation of the Avatar, a person who could harness all of the elements to be extra powerful. In Legend of Korra it’s 70 years later and the titular Korra, a water bender, is the new Avatar. She struggles with her studies in air bending, trained by Aang’s son Tenzin (voiced by J.K. Simmons), participates in pro-bending (a spectator sport), and generally faces the terrorists and evils that arise in the metropolis of Republic City.

The show takes risk, suavely facing heavier sociopolitical subjects. In the first season a terrorist is trying to homogenize Republic City by taking away people’s bending abilities, its parallels to race issues clear. It’s also fluid with gender and sexual identities in a subtle but impressive way. Plus it easily holds up visually to even the best Miyazaki films, with its steam punk aesthetic, a vibrant mix of 1930’s style elements and its own made-up world. As an excellent character-driven show, Korra uses many recognizable voice talents as well. This is one cartoon well worth giving up your Saturday morning brunch for.  [Ananda]

Review

Review stars Andy Daly as Forrest MacNeil, a professional critic who spends each episode reviewing whatever his viewers tell him. But Forrest is no ordinary critic, you see; he prefers to review life experiences, instead of things like books or movies. It’s a straightforward setup, but what makes Review so astounding is how quickly it does away with its own format. It’s morbidly funny to see Forrest developing a cocaine habit after reviewing drug addiction, or planning a bank robbery in order to review stealing, but the show also explores how Forrest’s job impacts his personal life. By the third episode, “Pancakes; Divorce; Pancakes,” Review fully came into its own, providing a half hour so gut-wrenchingly funny it made other comedies on TV pale in comparison.

And the reason why the show pulls off its tonal balancing act so well is because of Andy Daly. Daly, who some might recognize from Eastbound and Down or MadTV (count me as a fan of his work on the Comedy Bang! Bang! podcast), finally has the opportunity to delve into a role showcasing all of his comedic strengths. His performance makes the show because, no matter how absurd a certain episode or review can get, Forrest remains grounded to some degree. While Review only has one season under its belt, it’s a near-flawless one, starting out as a cheesy formulaic show before transforming into a painfully funny look at one man inadvertently ruining his own life. [C.J.]

High Maintenance

Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld began their web series High Maintenance as a self-funded passion project that would allow the co-creators low-stakes freedom to exhibit a series of strange, unconnected stories. After 13 varied, compelling web episodes of different lengths were posted to Vimeo over the course of a year and a half, the premium video sharing service stepped in to make High Maintenance its first venture into original programming (funding six more episodes released in batches of three this February and last November).

While the series’ protagonist is ostensibly The Guy — an unnamed, bearded, bicycling marijuana deliveryman — each episode is built around a new set of characters, providing nuanced glimpses into the lives of a diverse collection of people. A cancer-stricken birdwatcher, a cross-dressing screenwriter, and an asexual teacher who does magic tricks are all united over a shared hobby: weed. While rebutting the idea that all pot smokers are similar, High Maintenance analyzes the relationship people maintain with the drug (from first-time smokers to full-fledged stoners) in order to reveal details of the characters’ personalities. The result of their approach and the show’s anthological structure is a series unparalleled in its ability to illustrate the wide array of people you find in a city like New York. [Zach]

American Horror Story

I won’t lie: I’ve fallen out of love with American Horror Story after it followed two incredible seasons with two wildly inconsistent ones. But if the show might not be strong overall, its impact is undeniable. Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s show was the first to kick off the anthology format trend in TV, dedicating each season to an entirely new storyline. And even though the show came out a year after The Walking Dead, its massive ratings proved that audiences wanted something scary on their TV screens.

But “scary” might be the wrong word to describe American Horror Story. It’s more of a grand guignol soap opera than a straight up terrifying program, although it does have its fair share of bone-chilling images (Twisty The Clown, anyone?). What makes American Horror Story great TV is its fun and campiness, and how much it wants viewers to enjoy getting scared. And even when the show takes a dive in quality, there’s still the basic pleasure of watching the likes of Jessica Lange chew up as much scenery as possible. American Horror Story may have fallen from grace since its first two seasons, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t qualify for a list like this. It’s still one of the weirdest and boldest shows to enter the zeitgeist in recent years, and that alone is worth plenty. [C.J.]

Terriers

With Paul Thomas Anderson’s recent adaptation of Inherent Vice, along with a renewed interest in Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye, the slacker mystery has become en vogue again. But five years ago, it was impossible to get anyone to check out FX’s Terriers (it’s the only show on this list that got canned after one season). Taking place in San Diego, the show follows former cop Hank (Donal Logue) and best friend/ex-criminal Britt (Michael Raymond-James) as they open up an unlicensed private detective agency. And like the aforementioned films, our charmingly deadbeat heroes stumble into a large conspiracy.

Back when Terriers got the axe from FX, people pointed their fingers all over the place when figuring out why no one watched it: bad marketing, a vague title, and an ad campaign that made little to no sense (the real reason why it didn’t make it past season 1: it was FX’s lowest rated show ever). For fans of Terriers, it was insanely frustrating, because the show would immediately click for anyone who just saw one episode. Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James had perfect chemistry, the mysteries were expertly crafted, and the show was perfectly in tune with all of its characters. There have been rumblings from creator Ted Griffin about a Veronica Mars-type reunion movie in the works, but as of right now it looks like Terriers won’t be coming back anytime soon. That’s alright with me, though; I’ll always have this fantastic season to come back to whenever I please. [C.J.]

Workaholics

Workaholics came at the perfect time back in 2011 when It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (already on its seventh season) was beginning to lose its novelty, especially after devoting a season on repetitive ‘Mac got fat’ jokes. Admittedly, the concept of a twentysomething slackers sitcom isn’t particularly unique. And neither is the lowbrow (or more accurately, low-bro) humor found in the show. But the third episode (“Office Campout”) is the perfect example of crafting hilarious material from moronic and outlandish situations. The trio prepare to spend the night at the office while their house is fumigated, but as they begin to party and trip balls by consuming psychedelic mushrooms, two burglars break in to steal equipment. On a dime, the episode transforms from a stoner comedy into a full-on Mission: Impossible style manhunt. Creators Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, and Anders Holm manage to make dick and fart jokes funny again due to their amazing bromantic chemistry and their willingness to get weird. Workaholics is dumb humor done well. If It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is Seinfeld on crack, then Workaholics is The Office on acid. [Dustin]

Outlander

With only one season under its Scottish belt, Outlander has already managed to make plenty of waves, especially among females. I admit I fall squarely into its intended audience, but all genders can appreciate an out-of-time adventure led by an independent and incredibly resourceful woman. The show’s basic premise is that Claire (Caitriona Balfe), a battlefield nurse in post-WWII Britain, travels to Scotland with her husband Frank (Tobias Menzies) as a way to reconnect after being away from one another for so long and so Frank can research his Scottish ancestry. At an ancient ruin one morning after a solstice, Claire is mysteriously transported back in time 200 years. Now she must keep herself alive among the highlanders, deal with an especially evil ancestor of her husband’s (played also be Menzies), and enter into a forced marriage with the hot and steamy Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), making for a complicated time-defying love triangle.

Based on the popular ’90s historical-fiction novel series by Diana Gabaldon, I initially wrote off Outlander as a Harlequin romance. It is certainly sexually graphic enough to fall into the category of escapist fiction, but the supernatural element, the historical accuracy and intrigue, the strong characters around her, and most significantly Claire’s level-headedness and general kickass-ness propel the show past its more sentimental elements. And the sex. Look out Game of Thrones, the indelicate and coarse sex you’ve numbed us to is challenged by the intimate, tender and sexy as hell nooky Outlander presents. Plus Claire, while always technically in danger—mostly at the hands of the men around her—somehow manages to own her sexuality and use her wit to save herself, not to mention teach us all a thing or two in the sack. After a nail-biting and blush-inducing first season, we can’t wait to see where Claire will end up…or I guess more accurately, when. [Ananda]

The Bridge

I don’t know when it happened, but some time ago the Scandinavians figured out the crime and mystery genres. And it’s not like their approach reinvented the wheel, either; if anything it was a return to basics, with an emphasis on one compelling case being investigated by well-rounded, three-dimensional characters. That’s more or less what the Danish/Swedish show The Bridge (no, I’m not talking about the remake on FX) did. The show’s first season opened with a grisly crime: the body of a politician appears on the bridge connecting Sweden and Denmark together, with the corpse cut in two, so each half resides in a different country. Enter Danish detective Martin (Kim Bodnia) and eccentric Swedish cop Saga (Sofia Helin), who must work together to find the killer.

Revealing any more of the surprises in The Bridge would ruin most of its fun. The tension between the two neighboring countries collaborating together on a case that impacts both sides of the border makes for a great setup, and Bodnia and Helin manage to pull off a great rapport despite their characters’ major differences. And the show’s handling of plot and structure is masterful, doling out just enough information to make you clamor for the next episode. The Bridge isn’t the best of the recent trend of Scandinavian crime dramas—that honour goes to Forbrydelsen (The Killing)—but it comes very close. This show could function as a manual on how to make a terrific mystery. [C.J.]

Check out the rest of our Best TV Shows Of The Decade lists!

View Other Picks in this Feature:
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#50 – #41)
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#30 – #21)
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#20 – #11)
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#10 – #1)

The evolution of television to its current stage of cinematic excellence feels very similar to the evolution of life itself. In competition with all of the entertainment industry for resources and audiences, television has evolved and natural selection has helped to weed out the weaklings (goodbye Selfie, Desperate Housewives, 666 Park Avenue, Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23, and many more). But in the past five years we’ve really begun to see an evolutionary mutation, wherein television figured out that it didn’t need to be in competition with film, but could be every bit as beautiful, intelligent, and character-driven. With the advent of DVRs and online binge-watching, TV viewing feels like film watching, with extended sessions and an almost hungry psychological need to get through whole seasons as quickly as possible. Now the question around the water cooler isn’t “Did you catch last night’s episode?” it’s “Did you finish this season of __?”

As film lovers AND TV lovers, we’ve been enjoying this shift. Television now embraces the indie model as web series get cable pick-ups, and websites that used to be solely for our DVD needs (Netflix) or online shopping sprees (Amazon) are now full-blown production companies, using their freedom as Hollywood outsiders to test waters and limits, and be innovative and fresh.

After much deliberating, debating, and voting we at Way Too Indie have compiled what we consider to be the best 50 shows to come out of the decade so far. Check back each day this week as we count down to the top ten.

Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far
(#50 – #41)

The Ricky Gervais Show

The Office & Extras creator Ricky Gervais had been recording a series of “pointless conversations” for radio with his friend and frequent writing partner Stephen Merchant since the late 90s; however, in 2010 HBO & Channel 4 co-produced a series of lively, animated half-hours to accompany the conversations, bringing them to life in hilarious ways. Ranging from discussions on semantics, bizarre theories about the afterlife, or the semi-frequent Monkey News updates, Ricky and his crew turn their focus to the tangents, exploring comedic digressions for even bigger laughs.

Despite featuring two widely known comedic voices in Gervais and Merchant, it’s actually radio producer Karl Pilkington who deservedly earns the show’s most gut-busting moments. Appearing too earnest to merely be an act, Karl’s thought process is wholly, hilariously unique. Pilkington will often read a news article headline, or recall a small detail about something, only to extrapolate a slew of illogical explanations that inevitably leave both Gervais and Merchant stunned. “You know the Flintstones is only partially based on fact,” Merchant has to inform Karl after an aside about cavemen. The Ricky Gervais Show is the perfectly disposable show; about nothing in a way Seinfeld could have only wished, yet endlessly entertaining.  [Zach]

Check It Out! With Dr. Steve Brule

Back in 2007, it was surprising to see someone like John C. Reilly show up as a guest star in Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, which at the time was a tiny show in an experimental live-action block on The Cartoon Network. But the moment Reilly showed up as Dr. Steve Brule, a simple, childlike “doctor” on Channel 5 News, it was obvious that Reilly and the show had something truly special on their hands. Brule became one of the show’s most popular characters, and after Awesome Show ended, creators Tim Heidecker & Eric Wareheim announced a spinoff series with Brule as the central character. Fans of Awesome Show were excited, but could Dr. Brule hold a show entirely on his own?

It didn’t take long for Check It Out!, with Dr. Steve Brule to answer that question with a resounding yes. Made to look like a Channel 5 show aired at an ungodly hour, Check It Out! is Brule’s attempt at an educational program, but in typical Tim & Eric fashion, things take a very dark and strange turn. What starts out as a pitch-perfect emulation of low-rent public access shows becomes a disturbing, unfiltered glimpse into Brule’s mind, and an excuse for Tim & Eric to continue expanding the bizarre universe they created in Awesome Show. The fact that something so unsettling can be so funny falls entirely on Reilly’s shoulders, who miraculously makes Brule seem human and likable. It is, no joke, Reilly’s best work to date. [C.J.]

The Returned

It’s not every day you hear about TV shows adapting their stories from movies, but that’s just another reason Fabrice Gobret’s The Returned works so well. As perfect an example as any from the decade so far of the tectonic plates that are continuously shifting between television and cinema, this supernatural French drama-thriller hybrid could only truly work in this format. Stylistically, it’s David Fincher’s French doppelgänger camping out in Twin Peaks. All the action happens in a tiny provincial town, its mountainous location proving prime real estate for series DP Patrick Blossier to weave spectacularly photogenic exterior shots. And if you’re sick of the whole zombie shtick, not to worry: The Returned brings the concept down to earth by having the dead return in perfectly natural form. This allows Gobret and co-director Frédéric Mermoud ample opportunity to dig deep into the psychological consequences of one absurdly simple idea: how would you cope if a departed loved one showed up one day, alive and well?

With room to breathe in an 8-episode format, The Returned allows you to spend quality time with these peculiar characters, and build familiarity with places like The Lake Pub, the Helping Hand, and that gigantic dam. The scintillating atmosphere is amplified even further by having post rock legends Mogwai score the entire series. If it slightly wobbles with some narratives, The Returned makes up for it in spades with its hypnotic mood. A second season is in the works, and there’s a US remake on the way as well, so there’s no time like the present to catch up! [Nik]

Peaky Blinders

Steven Knight blimped on most radars after he successfully directed Tom Hardy in the one-man-one-car show Locke, (he also wrote the brilliant Dirty Pretty Things), but like so many other filmmakers before him, Knight got his start on television. For someone so well versed with the format, it’s little wonder that his Peaky Blinders works like gangbusters. Pooling together a fantastic ensemble cast, lead by the effortlessly charismatic Cillian Murphy and a reignited Sam Neill in a deliciously contemptuous role, Blinders is crime, history, and that eternally universal theme of family all rolled into one insanely entertaining show.

Set in the early 20th century Birmingham, the show is a semi-factual account of an infamous Irish gang led by the Shelby family, calling themselves the Peaky Blinders, who ruled the streets with their intimidating reputation: razor blades in caps, always looking for a reason to brawl, and Tommy’s (Murphy) wicked strategic intelligence. Adding mood to style, songs by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds are used to highest effect, and the twists and turns in the story don’t hinge on the end results, but are more compelling in the way they get there. With Hardy joining the cast in the second season as the unpredictable and hilariously temperamental Alfie, I toast to Peaky Blinders in hopes that it won’t be ending anytime soon. [Nik]

Suits

In the pilot episode of Suits, Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) and Mike Ross (Patrick J Adams) walked into our lives, proceeded to kick some serious ass, and have continued to do so in nearly every episode to grace our TV screens since. Now, that may not be the most sophisticated language, but Suits is not the most sophisticated and complex TV show. It is, however, one of the most badass shows out there, and in case you weren’t aware: it’s about lawyers. Working at a law firm (mostly), the two manage to pull themselves out of one legal scrape after another, all while slowly reaffirming the importance each has in the other’s life. How one goes about making corporate law seem vaguely as cool as the writers of Suits do will always evade me. There’s even an episode in which they verbally acknowledge (and thus mock) the existence of Franklin and Bash—a slightly later-to-the-game TV show about two savvy lawyers. The show has undoubtedly gone through highs and lows in its four seasons to date, with lows often being the episodes that take themselves too seriously. Given that the season four finale was particularly strong, however, it’s safe to say that the dynamic duo have some fight left in them yet. [Pavi]

Hannibal

Anyone who’s a fan of Bryan Fuller—a person who has a knack for creating incredible shows nobody watches—knows he has a bit of an obsession with death. For years he’s mastered the balance between sweet and grim material with dark comedies like Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me, but Hannibal has Fuller fully embracing his dark side. The show is a loose adaptation of Thomas Harris’ novels, the same series of books that brought us Silence of the Lambs and Manhunter. It’s a perfect example of how to properly make an adaptation, using the source material as more of a springboard to create something distinct within Harris’ morbid universe.

And what a piece of work this show is. It is, by far, the darkest show on network television, with some episodes rivaling the nastiest things seen on HBO. The cinematography, sound design and score are top notch, with jaw-dropping visuals and a truly unnerving soundtrack. But what shines the most on Hannibal is its cast, with Mads Mikkelsen somehow giving Anthony Hopkins a run for his money as the best version of Lecter to date. Hannibal is, for all intents and purposes, the scariest show on television right now, and the closest thing to a spiritual successor of The X-Files we have. In a just world, Hannibal would be just as much of a ratings juggernaut as Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead, yet it continues to fight for survival. So why don’t you finally hop on this bandwagon and see what everyone’s been gushing about already? [C.J.]

Fargo

As an absolute obsessive of the Coen brothers’ 1996 dark comedy, Fargo, I was beyond skeptical when FX announced a series that would basically be a recreation of the film. Luckily, I was wrong. It’s not a recreation of the film—even if the mood, atmosphere, setting, and general plot lines all fall into Fargo’s vein. And my skepticism that a dark comedy could be sustained for so long quickly dissipated by the fourth episode when the humor continued to surprise and impress me. It’s still a tale of a man (Martin Freeman, with no trace of his British side) who, rather accidentally, hires a hit man to kill his biggest enemy and then proceeds to spontaneously commit his own act of murder. His fumblings, and the cops who are trying to sort these murders out, are all sheathed in stereotypical small-town Minnesota accents and mentalities.

Showrunner Noah Hawley manages the rather Herculean feat of getting viewers to see the show as its own new entity while playing on their love of the original film. Some elements are straight out of the film, including the film’s final loose string in the form of a large of amount of money buried beneath an ice scraper by the side of the highway. Other similarities are more general, such as an ambitious and talented female cop in the lead (Allison Tollman). And the new elements are genius, including casting Billy Bob Thornton as the extra evil and extra interesting villain, Lorne Malvo. Every episode begins with the words “This is a true story,” but it isn’t its far-off real-life inspirations that make Fargo exceptional, it’s that it captures the randomness of truth being stranger than fiction, and television being the gift-wrapped box that truth can be put into. It’s exactly the magic of the small screen. [Ananda]

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Most comedy shows I have ultimately fallen in love with have needed multiple chances given to them in order to fall into step with their rhythm and style. Daniel J. Goor and Michael Schur’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine was no exception; at first it seemed to be cut from the same cloth as Parks and Recreation and The Office, showcasing the comedy of a diverse cast of oddball characters that seem too two-dimensional to make work for an extended period of time. Like The Office and Parks and Rec, however, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has accomplished the same consistency of comic genius and every episode is pretty much guaranteed to inspire at least a few belly laughs. The first thing to catch on is the brilliant theme song written by Dan Marocco and reminiscent of a Shaft and The Mod Squad sort of mash-up giving you a clue as to where they are leading you with their outlandish scenarios set in a very real police station. It’s caught on with a wide audience as well winning two Golden Globes in 2014 for Best Television Series – Musical and Comedy and Best Actor for Andy Samberg, as well as a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Stunt Coordination. Joining Samberg in fluid comic coordination is the outstanding performances of Terry Crews, Stephanie Beatriz, Joe Lo Truglio, Chelsea Peretti, Andre Braugher, and Melissa Fumero. It’s been renewed to continue for a third season much to its regular viewers delight. [Scarlet]

New Girl

I was among the haters who thought Zooey Deschanel starring in a show would make for a self-absorbed and entirely too quirk-filled viewing experience. I appreciate her pep, but my God who wants it on a weekly basis? But the buzz around the show was strong enough to convince me I needed to give it a shot, and it’s been among my weekly must-watches every since. If you only have room in your life for one or two comedy sitcoms—I know I ain’t got time for more—then this show is worth one of those slots. What makes it so watchable is that creator Elizabeth Meriwether (part of the so-called Fempire, a group of feminist writers including Diablo Cody) figured out how to perfectly play off of Deschanel’s charm by giving her male roommates who each have a distinct character and humor that culminate in comedy gold each and every episode. If the show was just about Deschanel’s Jess, I’d have stopped watching long ago. Instead, each of the show’s characters are fully-formed and incredibly well performed. It’s rare to find such chemistry among an ensemble.

For those in the 20-something world, the story lines ring with truth—even if the actions of the characters are ridiculous—and the self-ascribed family these characters form reflect a growing trend in society as young people marry later. The jokes never pander and rarely go too far. Heavy doses of awkward ensue, but the resolutions are warm and fuzzy enough to keep the addiction alive. Jake Johnson continuously steals the show as Nick, Jess’s roommate and on-again/off-again love interest, his grumpy old-man figure alway surprising with his one-liners. Max Greenfield as Schmidt was initially a hated character, giving off too much douche-bag quality, and has grown into a fan-favorite, his anal-retentiveness and romantic heart always at odds. A show that guarantees laughs and also feels relatable (young people, watch the episode in this current season on online dating and try not to LOL) in a way that Friends or How I Met Your Mother never quite hit on, is one I consider innovative and attention-worthy. [Ananda]

Parenthood

Well, the last half a decade has seen the beginning and end of one of the most emotionally riveting series on television. Parenthood, going for exactly five years, was developed by Jason Katims, who won a Primetime Emmy as a writer for Friday Night Lights in 2011 and was a producer for Roswell and Boston Public. Based on the 1989 movie of the same name by Ron Howard and starring Steve Martin, the series stars drama veterans such as Peter Krause (Six Feet Under), Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls), and Craig T. Nelson (Coach, The Family Stone), as well as comedy pro Dax Shepard (Baby Mama, When In Rome) and Mae Whitman (Arrested Development) ensuring a varied spectrum of emotional highs and lows.

Parenthood follows the ups and downs in a particular cross section of life for the Braverman family. Beginning with a renewed sense of unity as we find them coming back together again after experiencing some friction and estrangement, we follow the path to healing and growth that at so many times seems so very real to life. Nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Emmy, it never won either prestigious award. Though Monica Potter and Erika Christensen both took home awards for their performances throughout the six seasons. One of their most qualifying portrayals is of Max Braverman and his family’s dealings with his diagnosis of Asberger syndrome. Its honest and bare look at what makes a family and the fight that it sometimes takes to keep one together has been, to its fans, the most endearing part of this memorable show. [Scarlet]

Check out the rest of our Best TV Shows Of The Decade lists!

View Other Picks in this Feature:
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#40 – #31)
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#30 – #21)
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#20 – #11)
Best 50 TV Shows Of The Decade So Far (#10 – #1)

It’s tough to think up a TV show that’s been through more drama and turmoil than the former NBC show Community. Even at its peak, Community never had the best ratings. The series was put on hold mid-season in 2011, brought back after die-hard fans established several Twitter and Facebook campaigns, canceled again after it’s 5th season, and saved yet again by a last minute deal with Yahoo last year.

All this cancellation drama was hardly the worst of it, though. After the hilarious 3rd season, series creator Dan Harmon was removed as the showrunner, resulting in the flat and creatively bland 4th season. To make things worse, the season saw the “mutual” departure of Chevy Chase (whose onset antics we won’t get into). When the 5th season finally did come around, Harmon announced his return, only to have the news dampened by the departure of Donald Glover.

Despite the show’s status as a news mainstay, four of the five seasons have been outstanding. The evolution of Community has been unlike anything else on TV, and the show’s spot-on parodies of everything from Law And Order: SVU to Glee, unmatched.

So, for many, today is a great day as the first trailer for the 6th season has finally arrived. And frankly, it looks pretty hilarious (“Frisbees!”). Yahoo is set to premier the 13-episode season with back-to-back episodes on March 17th.

Six seasons and a movie!

So our first big awards ceremony of the season has now come and gone. In their third and final turn hosting, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler owned the opening monologue with some direct, honest, brave and spot-on hilarious jokes. Their were upsets (and quite a few instances where we didn’t predict the winners correctly) but here are our reactions to this year’s Golden Globe Awards.

Ananda Dillon

So there are plenty of things I didn’t call, let’s start there. The Grand Budapest Hotel taking home Comedy or Musical. I guess the only explanation I can think of there is that Birdman hardly fit the category anyway, though it was definitely the one we were expecting to hear called and that I was personally rooting for. There were the long shots I was hoping for, most specifically my call for Rosamund Pike for Actress in a Drama and Emma Stone for Supporting Actress. I knew they weren’t likely and am incredibly happy for Julianne Moore and Patricia Arquette so no hard feelings. All the other actor awards I called spot on. So I guess I can gloat about that. I had hoped the HFPA would get a little wacky with the women’s categories, but they went for the more obvious calls.

Obviously I wasn’t surprised by Richard Linklater‘s win for Best Director, nor Boyhood’s major take home as Best Drama, and while we were dead wrong about Best Screenplay it made me incredibly happy to see Alejandro G. Iñárritu up on stage accepting an award. We were also wrong when it came to the musical categories, but understand that the HFPA decided to be a bit more standard in those choices as well. We were also off with our choices for Foreign Language film and am a bit surprised they went with Leviathan over Ida, or even my backup vote of Force Majeure. Just makes it hard to predict where the Oscars might go. But the one category that I absolutely am flabbergasted by is the HFPA’s choice of How to Train Your Dragon 2 for Best Animated Film over the amazing and incomparable The Lego Movie. I’ve never had strong feelings about an animated film before and I’m truly despondent over their decision. Whatever, I expect the Academy to get it right.

I will say I thought Amy and Tina killed it, delivering jokes that were both daring and hilarious. Their jokes regarding Bill Cosby were of course the more triggering but they went next level delivering their best Cosby impressions, which before this whole scandal was everyone’s favorite way of poking fun at Cosby. It was absolutely meta and the best way to truly express the way humor allows us to showcase that no one deserves safety when using humor to cope with tragedy. Their jab at George Clooney and his more accomplished wife was pitch perfect in calling out Hollywood’s tendency to lose perspective, and the joke that Selma “totally worked and now everything is fine” was delivered perfectly by Tina Fey, casting a great light on unreasonable expectations for films of its ilk while also impressing that this isn’t the sort of conversation that should ever really end.

As for TV, once again the HFPA gets premature and gives too much love to first-season shows rather than reward the ones that have gotten stronger (a difficult feat these days) but if it gets more people to watch Transparent, fine by me. All in all, it was a fun evening, if a somewhat confusing one, and whether we can use much in the way of predictions for next Thursday’s Oscar nominations announcement seems unlikely.

C.J. Prince

Well, I guess I can’t say it was a particularly safe night, so that’s a positive. Tina and Amy were great, even though they were only on for a brief time after their monologue. But for the second year in the row they pull off a great George Clooney burn, and probably did the first funny Bill Cosby joke since that whole scandal broke out (there’s no point tiptoeing around it, so good for them for getting as tasteless as possible for network broadcast). But this is an awards show, so I guess I should talk about those…

I have to mention something about the TV awards first. In typical HFPA fashion, the awards went to freshmen shows instead of old favorites (remember Brooklyn Nine-Nine winning last year?). Sometimes that can lead to weird choices (how many people scratched their heads at Jane the Virgin winning Best Actress?), but other times an awesome show like Transparent ends up winning Best Comedy and Best Actor. So this is me saying that Transparent is an incredible show that deserves its awards, and if you haven’t seen it yet please do so immediately. So that’s that about TV.

Going back to the predictions Ananda and I made a few days ago, we wound up splitting on the acting awards. I was right about Julianne Moore, she was right about Eddie Redmayne. Apparently the HFPA love it when actors play people with horrible diseases. Don’t be surprised if Jennifer Aniston winds up playing a genius with ALS next year that discovers she has Alzheimers. We both wound up being right about Michael Keaton and Amy Adams in the comedy acting awards, but those seemed like obvious ones. What really took me by surprise (along with everyone else, I’m sure) is The Grand Budapest Hotel winning over Birdman. While I don’t love Wes Anderson’s latest film (I think it’s a pretty enjoyable trifle), I’m so happy it won over the annoying, unfunny Birdman. And hey, Wes Anderson just officially became a contender (I think?). HFPA also got the supporting actor/actress awards right, so good for them. Very happy Patricia Arquette won, and J.K. Simmons deserves every award under the sun for Whiplash. Some awards didn’t interest me in the slightest (I know my prediction was wrong about Best Score, but I don’t care about that category whatsoever), so I’ll just mention some notable wins and/or losses: Leviathan taking Best Foreign Film over Ida was great, and it gives me hope that Ida won’t get that Oscar so easily. I haven’t seen The Theory of Everything, but I’m bummed Oyelowo didn’t win for Selma. Ditto for Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler. And The Lego Movie losing Best Animated might have been my biggest disappointment because it totally deserved it.

So all in all, a little more interesting than usual I guess. I’m sad to see Tina and Amy go as hosts, and I’m sure the HFPA will have a hard time picking a suitable replacement. And, oh yeah, Boyhood. Well I’m not surprised it won. You might have seen my thoughts on Boyhood already. I say good for Linklater, because he’s always been a great director. I just wish all of these trophies went to a different, better film by him, like Bernie or any of the Before films or hell, even School of Rock. After tonight, I think that the big Oscar for Best Picture is Boyhood‘s to lose at this point. What’ll be interesting is seeing what other films will end up getting nominated with it.

Today’s the day! Our first big awards show of the season. If you aren’t able to watch or are keeping score, we’ll be live updating the winners as they are announced starting at 8 EST/5 PST. Refresh your browser to see winners throughout the evening.

Complete List of 2015 Golden Globe Winners

(Winners highlighted in bold font)

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Boyhood
Selma
The Imitation Game
Foxcatcher
The Theory of Everything

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
St. Vincent
Into the Woods
Pride

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
David Oyelowo, Selma

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Jennifer Aniston, Cake
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Christoph Waltz, Big Eyes
Bill Murray, St. Vincent
Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Emily Blunt, Into the Woods
Julianne Moore, Maps to the Stars
Helen Mirren, The Hundred-Foot Journey
Quvenzhané Wallis, Annie

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Edward Norton, Birdman

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year

Best Director – Motion Picture
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Ava DuVernay, Selma
David Fincher, Gone Girl
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Boyhood
Birdman
Gone Girl
The Imitation Game
The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
Lana Del Ray – “Big Eyes” for Big Eyes
John Legend, Common – “Glory” for Selma
Patty Smith, Lenny Kaye – “Mercy Is” for Noah
Sia – “Opportunity” for Annie
Lorde – “Yellow Flicker Beat” for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Jóhann Jóhannsson, The Theory of Everything
Trent Reznor, Gone Girl
Antonio Sanchez, Birdman
Hans Zimmer, Interstellar

Best Animated Film
The Book of Life
The Boxtrolls
Big Hero 6
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Lego Movie

Best Foreign Language Film
Ida
Leviathan
Force Majeure
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
Tangerines

Television Categories

Best Television Series – Drama
“Downton Abbey”
“The Good Wife”
“House of Cards”
“Game of Thrones”
“The Affair”

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy
“Girls”
“Orange Is the New Black”
“Transparent”
“Silicon Valley”
“Jane the Virgin”

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
“Olive Kitteridge”
“True Detective”
“Fargo”
“The Missing”
The Normal Heart

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
Kevin Spacey, “House of Cards”
Liev Schreiber, “Ray Donovan”
James Spader, “The Blacklist”
Dominic West, “The Affair”
Clive Owen, “The Knick”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama
Robin Wright, “House of Cards”
Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife”
Viola Davis, “How to Get Away with Murder”
Claire Danes, “Homeland”
Ruth Wilson, “The Affair”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Don Cheadle, “House of Lies”
Ricky Gervais, “Derek”
Jeffrey Tambor, “Transparent”
William H. Macy, “Shameless”
Louis C.K., “Louie”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Lena Dunham, “Girls”
Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”
Taylor Schilling, “Orange Is the New Black”
Gina Rodriguez, “Jane the Virgin”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Martin Freeman, “Fargo”
Billy Bob Thornton, “Fargo”
Matthew McConaughey, “True Detective”
Woody Harrelson, “True Detective”
Mark Ruffalo, “The Normal Heart”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Jessica Lange, “American Horror Story”
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Honourable Woman”
Frances McDormand, “Olive Kitteridge”
Frances O’Connor, “The Missing”
Allison Tolman, “Fargo”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Jon Voight, “Ray Donovan”
Alan Cumming, “The Good Wife”
Bill Murray, “Olive Kitteridge”
Colin Hanks, “Fargo”
Matt Bomer, “The Normal Heart”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Allison Janney, “Mom”
Uzo Aduba, “Orange Is the New Black”
Kathy Bates, “American Horror Story”
Michelle Monaghan, “True Detective”
Joanne Froggatt, “Downton Abbey”

This Sunday the 11th at 8pm ET we’ll be gluing our eyeballs to NBC ready for the real action of awards season to finally begin. With Amy Poehler and Tina Fey hosting, and the ever plentiful booze flowing, we imagine this year’s Golden Globe Awards should provide plenty of entertainment. And since the Golden Globes are unique in the crazy amount of categories they fill, the competition is plenty fierce.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association tends to shake things up a bit (I mean who are they really anyway?) and Hollywood never fails to come out to pat themselves on the back. But honestly, the Globes are a great way to start getting Oscar predictions queued up (nominations are out next Thursday the 15th.) So since these awards are really just to spark discussion and squabbling, fellow staff writer CJ Prince and I lay out our predictions.

Other than Fey and Poehler undoubtedly dousing us with comedy gold, what do you expect will happen Sunday night? Let us know in the comments.

Our 2015 Golden Globe Predictions:

Best Motion Picture – Drama

CJ: Boyhood
Because: The current narrative of awards season has the race coming down to Boyhood and Birdman. Thanks to the Golden Globes splitting Drama and Musical/Comedy, Boyhood has no competition in this category. It’s Boyhood’s to lose (I wouldn’t mind Selma taking the gold, though).

Ananda: Boyhood
Because: Months later I still remember my initial impression of Boyhood, and while I have strong love for Foxcatcher, I don’t see it appealing as universally. This one’s a no-brainer.

All nominees: Boyhood, Selma, The Imitation Game, Foxcatcher, The Theory of Everything

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

CJ: Birdman
Because: I’d honestly prefer Grand Budapest to take this, but Birdman has it locked. Without Boyhood in the category, and with no real buzzy films competing, this one’s a no-brainer.

Ananda: Birdman
Because: All of these movies are awesome, and to be honest I think Birdman is a stretch in this category although it has very hilarious moments, but mostly I think it stands out because it’s not 100% comedy, though that may be an unfair advantage.

All nominees: Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel, St. Vincent, Into the Woods, Pride

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

CJ: Benedict Cumberbatch
Because: Harvey Weinstein. He knows how to push a movie to voters, and he’s gotta take something home. My bet is he’ll convince HFPA voters to give this to Cumberbatch because it’s a respectable pick. If Oyelowo gets it I’ll be happy, and if Gyllenhaal gets it my whole night will be made. But for now my bets are on Cumberbatch.

Ananda: Eddie Redmayne
Because: Interesting to note all but one of these performances is based on a real-life person. And in a perfect world I’d say Steve Carell hands down, and Gyllenhaal would be awesome, but Redmayne just had the more overt transformation with his role.

All nominees: Steve Carell (Foxcatcher), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler), Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything), David Oyelowo (Selma)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

CJ: Julianne Moore
Because: She’s been racking up every award under the sun, and honestly it’s time. Give Julianne the damn award already. Plus, if anyone wants to join I’ll be holding a prayer ceremony on Sunday night where I pray for Jennifer Aniston to go home empty-handed. Sorry Jennifer, but that’s a campaign, not a performance.

Ananda: Rosamund Pike
Because: I may be reaching a bit, but based on Cate Blanchett’s win last year I just think Pike’s twisty cerebral performance has a chance over Moore’s more obvious dramatic turn.

All nominees: Jennifer Aniston (Cake), Julianne Moore (Still Alice), Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl), Reese Witherspoon (Wild), Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

CJ: Michael Keaton
Because: After the completion of the McConaissance, we’ve all been itchy for another actor to make their triumphant return to the A-list. And with Keaton doing a great job in Birdman, it’s all a matter of time before the Keatonaissance begins! Personally I would give this one to Ralph Fiennes, but Fiennesaissance doesn’t have a nice ring to it (not that he needs a renaissance, he’s always been awesome).

Ananda: Michael Keaton
Because: Birdman was my favorite movie of the year and it had much to do with how brilliant Keaton was. No competition in my eyes, though he’s among great company.

All nominees: Michael Keaton (Birdman), Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Christoph Waltz (Big Eyes), Bill Murray (St. Vincent), Joaquin Phoenix (Inherent Vice)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

CJ: Amy Adams
Because: I’ve only seen Maps to the Stars in this category, so I’m blindly guessing Amy Adams because she’s a great actress and has been getting plenty of praise for her role in Bright Eyes.

Ananda: Amy Adams
Because: I don’t even necessarily think this is Adams most award-worthy performance, but considering the competition it’s all hers.

All nominees: Amy Adams (Big Eyes), Emily Blunt (Into the Woods), Julianne Moore (Maps to the Stars), Helen Mirren (The Hundred-Foot Journey), Quvenzhané Wallis (Annie)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

CJ: J.K. Simmons
Because: See Whiplash. Seriously, I don’t need to explain it. If you’ve seen it, you know exactly why I picked Simmons. If you haven’t seen it, fix that problem immediately.

Ananda: J.K. Simmons
Because: I can say awesome things about everyone nominated, but nobody freaked me out more than Simmons as the nazi-like music teacher from hell.

All nominees: Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher), Ethan Hawke (Boyhood), J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), Robert Duvall (The Judge), Edward Norton (Birdman)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

CJ: Meryl Streep
Because: Personally rooting for Patricia Arquette here, but awards shows handing statues to Meryl Streep is about as boring and predictable as the roles Meryl Streep chooses to play.

Ananda: Emma Stone
Because: Since no one has a problem writing a great supporting role for a female (if only lead roles were the same), this category should have at least five more names in it (Laura Dern? Rene Russo?). But from what we’ve got I’m going out on a limb and thinking they’ll stick with what they did last year with J-Law and push the young blood forward.

All nominees: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood), Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game), Emma Stone (Birdman), Meryl Streep (Into the Woods), Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)

Best Director – Motion Picture

CJ: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Because: This was the toughest category for me to make a decision on because it comes down to Birdman or Boyhood. Ultimately I figured the HFPA would give it to Iñárritu because it’s the kind of direction that calls attention to itself. Usually awards like this tend to go to the most direction, not the best.

Ananda: Richard Linklater
Because: Also a tough call in terms of my own affection for all of these director’s work this past year, but Linklater spent 12 years on his film and that kind of perseverance deserves respect.

All nominees: Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman), Richard Linklater (Boyhood), Ava DuVernay (Selma), David Fincher (Gone Girl), Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture

CJ: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Because: Much like Spike Jonze winning for Her, or Quentin Tarantino winning for Django Unchained, Best Screenplay goes to the kind of film where the writing really shines. Wes Anderson’s nesting egg structure and quick paced quippy dialogue makes it an easy pick for this award.

Ananda: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Because: It won’t win anything else and it’s a truly great film. Plus, Anderson is really getting his whole layered stories and quirky relationships thing down to an art.

All nominees: Boyhood, Birdman, Gone Girl, The Imitation Game, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Original Song – Motion Picture

CJ: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (Yellow Flicker Beat)
Because: I figured one of the white pop girls would win, and Lorde seems to be more popular now (the honest truth: I’ve only heard this song out of the bunch).

Ananda: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (Yellow Flicker Beat)
Because: I’ve been rocking out to this on the radio for months so…

All nominees: Big Eyes: Lana Del Ray (Big Eyes); Selma: John Legend, Common (Glory); Noah: Patty Smith, Lenny Kaye (Mercy Is); Annie: Sia (Opportunity); The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1: Lorde (Yellow Flicker Beat)

Best Original Score – Motion Picture

CJ: Gone Girl: Trent Reznor
Because: It’s a great score, and Reznor has earned himself a great reputation as a composer since collaborating with Fincher. I considered putting Birdman here (and won’t be shocked if it wins), but part of me feels like some people might be turned off by the nonstop percussion.

Ananda: Birdman: Antonio Sanchez
Because: I loved all the music listed below, but Sanchez’s sporadic and pulsating drums were one of the most noticeable (in a good way) soundtracks I’ve ever encountered.

All nominees: The Imitation Game: Alexandre Desplat, The Theory of Everything: Jóhann Jóhannsson, Gone Girl: Trent Reznor, Birdman: Antonio Sanchez, Interstellar: Hans Zimmer

Best Animated Film

CJ: The Lego Movie
Because: It’s an animated movie that’s funny without pandering, and it has an incredible, universal message. And I’m sick of Disney. They’re a meat factory.

Ananda: The Lego Movie
Because: Well duh. It’s beyond clever to watch and to look at it, but it also embodied the very message it was spouting to: think outside the box and forget the supposed instruction manuals of life.

All nominees: The Book of Life, The Boxtrolls, Big Hero 6, How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Lego Movie

Best Foreign Language Film

CJ: Ida
Because: Middlebrow Holocaust movie from Europe that strikes the perfect balance of arty without being too arty? Ida easily wins the Foreign Language Film jackpot. Just another statue for the mantle until it takes home the Oscar.

Ananda: Ida
Because: A difficult decision for sure, but damn if if Ida isn’t both pretty and universally appealing.

All nominees: Ida, Leviathan, Force Majeure, Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, Tangerines

We’re only predicting movie nominations this year, but if you want to make your own guesses on the TV categories or have a full list of the nominations on hand for the live broadcast, here’s a complete list of the nominations. And if you can’t watch, or someone talks over a winner announcement, we’ll be live updating the winners as they are announced.

21st Century Discoveries is a feature dedicated to exploring great, underseen and/or underappreciated films released since 2000. The goal is to help readers discover new, challenging and exciting films from around the world worth seeking out.

For my second entry into this feature, I’m breaking my own rules. I’m focusing on a TV show instead of a film. But I might as well go against conventions with something so unconventional and cinematic. For those currently residing in the US, this might be the best show on TV you’ve never heard of. Read on to see why Utopia is such a fantastic series. And if you’re from the UK, or have region free capabilities, you can buy Series 1 on Blu-ray.

Before you begin reading, please take the time (if you can) to watch the opening scene of Utopia. Intrigued? Horrified? Read on to find out more.

Utopia‘s opening frames immediately establish it as a show unlike anything else on television. The show, created by Dennis Kelly and airing in the UK on Channel 4, shoots in 2.35:1. This isn’t the first time television played with aspect ratios beyond 16×9; comedies often experiment with changing their framing, like Chris Morris’ Jam or, more recently, Key & Peele. Sketch shows tend to get away with it because a sketch can operate as its own short film. Utopia is one of the only dramas to film entirely in Scope (exceptions: Borgen shot in 2.2:1, and House of Cards films in 2:1, a sort of happy middle ground between 16×9 and Scope).

And with the recent renaissance of television, one making people wonder how the line between film and television has all but vanished, Utopia might be the most cinematic show on television. It doesn’t boil down to just the use of a wider aspect ratio either. The set design, compositions, use of colour and sound all have a quality to them that’s so offbeat and original in its execution it feels so out of step with current TV trends. I can safely say Utopia is a TV show where, if someone played it in cinemas, I wouldn’t notice it was made for television.

But let’s get to the meat of the show before delving further into its aesthetic pleasures. Utopia opens with two men, Arby (Neil Maskell) and Lee (Paul Ready) walking into a comic book store and murder everyone inside. They’re looking for two things: a woman named Jessica Hyde (“Where is Jessica Hyde?” became the show’s catchphrase last year), and a manuscript for the sequel to graphic novel The Utopia Experiments. In the show’s universe the comic has a cult following, with people claiming its drawings have prophecies and secrets hidden within them. The author, Philip Carvel, was a paranoid schizophrenic who wrote the book while locked up in an insane asylum. He killed himself before finishing the sequel, and now a manuscript of his second book has turned up.

That manuscript is now in the hands of four obsessive fans of The Utopia Experiments: Becky (Alexandra Roach), a medicine student suffering from a rare, degenerative disease; Ian (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), a lowly IT consultant; Wilson (Adeel Akhtar), a paranoid conspiracy theorist; and Grant (Oliver Woollford), a young and deceptively smart pre-teen. They find out the hard way that The Utopia Experiments actually does have secrets hidden within its pages, as Arby and Lee come hunting for them. Philip Carvel was involved with a vast conspiracy called The Network before losing his mind, and the pages of his manuscript contain vital information that will help The Network pull off their massive, decades in the making project.

While Becky, Ian, Wilson and Grant’s run for their lives to avoid getting murdered by The Network, Utopia also focuses on an entirely different storyline. Government worker Michael Dugdale (Paul Higgins) gets sucked into the conspiracy when he`s blackmailed into complete a mission for them. Both storylines in the show end up combining to provide a complete picture of The Network and its sinister intentions. The four characters on the run provide a bottom-up view, while Dugdale offers a glimpse into the higher levels of the conspiracy.

What distinguishes Utopia from other TV shows is its tone. The world of Utopia is one of death and brutality. Early on in the series one character says “There are no sides. Just people who help you and people who don’t.” The show quickly establishes that, whether you help or not, you’re most likely going to end up killed. Think of the show’s universe as a Cormac McCarthy novel filtered through a pop art lens. For The Network, their secretive project is so vital to them they would be willing to do anything in order to ensure its success. For everyone trying to escape their clutches, the only way to ensure their own safety is to silence anyone with the ability to threaten their chances of survival. It’s the ends justifying the means taken to an extreme level, and Utopia goes out of its way to show nothing is off-limits. Spoilers: the opening to episode 3, while a great example of what the show excels at, caused controversy in the UK considering it aired just over a month after Sandy Hook.

Don’t think Utopia is nothing but bleakness, though. The show juxtaposes its horrific nature with stunning visuals, employing a hyperrealistic look. Colours are oversaturated to the point where they vibrantly pop off the screen; colours and framing are deliberately made to resemble comic book panels. Cinematographer Ole Bratt Birkeland consistently provides some of the best visuals on TV right now. Director Marc Munden, handling the series’ first three episodes (Wayne Che Yip & Alex Garcia Lopez handle the other three), directs on a level that feels unprecedented compared to TV’s top prestige shows. Every shot looks coloured in by hand, and the exaggerative style offsets the dark, brutal content shown every week. The show also manages to be quite funny too. Dennis Kelly has one hell of a twisted sense of humour, and there are plenty of moments in Utopia that inspire a lot of inappropriate laughter. It all combines together to form a truly bizarre, singular viewing experience.

What really cements the unsettling atmosphere of the show is Cristobal Tapia de Veer’s score. The composer was given free rein to come up with a sound for the program, and his results are completely off the wall. In an interview de Veer said he used human bones as instruments during his recording sessions because of Utopia‘s level of death and violence in the story. He also used a trutrukra he played in the subway and a dried piece of rhino feces as instruments. It’s a wildly experimental score, and the usage of warped vocal samples throughout, especially the sounds of people breathing, make it the most unforgettable part of the series.

With television undergoing a sort of transitional period, Utopia feels exciting because it explores an area TV dramas haven’t really touched on yet: experimentation. The cinematic visuals and unorthodox score give off the impression of Channel 4 allowing complete creative control and commitment to the makers of Utopia. The show, whose second series is being unceremoniously dumped by Channel 4 right now, already has one major fan. David Fincher is teaming with HBO to adapt Utopia for US audiences. Hopefully Fincher will fight for the distinctive qualities of Dennis Kelly’s work, since it’d be hard to imagine Utopia having the same impact if it doesn’t shoot in Scope. One major downside of Fincher’s adaptation is that US audiences probably won’t get a chance to see one of the best shows currently on TV. It’s hard to tell what the future of television will hold, but a show like Utopia makes it feel like the future is already here.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler continued hosting duties for the second consecutive year for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Golden Globe awards. Over the course of the award ceremony there were many big winners which include: American Hustle which won three awards (Best Motion Picture Comedy, and two acting awards), 12 Years a Slave which surprisingly only won Best Motion Picture for Drama, and Alfonso Cuaron getting Best Director for Gravity. Some surprising but pleasing winners were: Jared Leto getting Best Support Actor for his wonderful role in Dallas Buyers Club, the deserving Spike Jonze winning for Best Screenplay for Her, and Amy Adams beating out Meryl Streep for Best Actress (Comedy/Musical). Some disappointments were Bono winning Best Song, All Is Lost winning Best Original Score, and the biggest disappointment of all, Blue Is The Warmest Color losing to The Great Beauty (even though it was good) for Best Foreign Film.

List of 2014 Golden Globes award winners:

(Winners are highlighted in bold red font)

FILM

Best Motion Picture – Drama
12 Years a Slave
Captain Phillips
Gravity
Philomena
Rush

Best Picture – Comedy/Musical
American Hustle
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
The Wolf Of Wall Street

Best Director
Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity
Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips
Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
Alexander Payne – Nebraska
David O. Russell – American Hustle

Best Actress – Drama
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock – Gravity
Judi Dench – Philomena
Emma Thompson – Saving Mr. Banks
Kate Winslet – Labor Day

Best Actor – Drama
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
Idris Elba – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford – All Is Lost

Best Actress – Comedy/Musical
Amy Adams – American Hustle
Julie Delpy- Before Midnight
Greta Gerwig – Frances Ha
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Enough Said
Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

Best Actor – Comedy/Musical
Christian Bale – American Hustle
Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Oscar Isaac – Inside Llewyn Davis
Joaquin Phoenix – Her

Best Supporting Actress In A Motion Picture
Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts – August: Osage County
June Squibb – Nebraska

Best Supporting Actor In A Motion Picture
Barkhad Abd – Captain Phillips
Daniel Brühl – Rush
Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

Best Screenplay
Spike Jonze – Her
Bob Nelson – Nebraska
Jeff Pope, Steve Coogan – Philomena
John Ridley – 12 Years A Slave
Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell – American Hustle

Best Original Score
Alex Ebert – All Is Lost
Alex Heffes – Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom
Steven Price – Gravity
John Williams – The Book Thief
Hans Zimmer – 12 Years A Slave

Best Original Song
Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion – Atlas (Hunger Games: Catching Fire)
Kristen Anderson Lopez, Robert Lopez – Let It Go (Frozen)
Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen, Jr., Brian Burton – Ordinary Love (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)
Ed Rush, George Cromarty, T Bone Burnett, Justin Timberlake, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen – Please Mr Kennedy (Inside Llewyn Davis)
Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff – Sweeter Than Fiction – (One Chance)

Best Animated Feature Film
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Frozen

Best Foreign Film
Blue is the Warmest Color
The Great Beauty
The Hunt
The Past
The Wind Rises

TELEVISION

Best Television Series – Drama
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
The Good Wife
House Of Cards
Masters Of Sex

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama
Julianna Margulies – The Good Wife
Tatiana Maslany – Orphan Black
Taylor Schilling – Orange Is The New Black
Kerry Washington – Scandal
Robin Wright – House Of Cards

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama
Bryan Cranston – Breaking Bad
Liev Schreiber – Ray Donovan
Michael Sheen – Masters of Sex
Kevin Spacey – House of Cards
James Spader – The Blacklist

Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
The Big Bang Theory
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Girls
Modern Family
Parks and Recreation

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Zooey Deschanel – New Girl
Lena Dunham – Girls
Edie Falco – Nurse Jackie
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Veep
Amy Poehler – Parks and Recreation

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Jason Bateman – Arrested Development
Don Cheadle – House of Lies
Michael J. Fox – The Michael J. Fox Show
Jim Parsons – The Big Bang Theory
Andy Samberg – Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television
American Horror Story: Coven
Behind The Candelabra
Dancing on the Edge
Top of the Lake
White Queen

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Helena Bonham Carter – Burton and Taylor
Rebecca Ferguson – White Queen
Jessica Lange – American Horror Story: Coven
Helen Mirren – Phil Spector
Elisabeth Moss – Top of the Lake

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Matt Damon – Behind the Candelabra
Michael Douglas – Behind the Candelabra
Chiwetel Ejiofor – Dancing on the Edge
Idris Elba – Luther
Al Pacino – Phil Spector

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Jacqueline Bisset – Dancing on the Edge
Janet McTeer – White Queen
Hayden Panettiere – Nashville
Monica Potter – Parenthood
Sofia Vergara – Modern Family

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Josh Charles – The Good Wife
Rob Lowe – Behind the Candelabra
Aaron Paul – Breaking Bad
Corey Stoll – House of Cards
Jon Voight – Ray Donovan

The Golden Globes Award show got off to a bit of a shaky start when the Teleprompters malfunctioned during Paul Rudd and Salma Hayek’s award presentation, leaving them in an awkward speechless moment. Despite a couple minor out of sync setbacks though, the awards giving out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association went fairly well, thanks in part to the wonderful hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. A couple other highlights on the night were ex-president Bill Clinton appropriately presenting the film Lincoln and Jodie Foster gave a wonderful coming-out speech while accepting a lifetime achievement award.

There were some surprises at the Golden Globes, but because the HFPA voting size is approximately 1.5% of the voting size of the Academy, using the results here to predict the Oscars would not be highly advised.

The biggest surprise was when Argo picked up the Best Picture in drama and when Ben Affleck won Best Director for it, an award for which he was not Oscar nominated for. Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained also received some love from the Globes when it won Best Original Screenplay and the Supporting Actor award by Christoph Waltz.

Full list of 2013 Golden Globes award winners:

(Winners are highlighted in bold red font)

FILM

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Argo
Django Unchained
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Picture – Comedy/Musical
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Moonrise Kingdom
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Silver Linings Playbook

Best Director
Ben Affleck – Argo
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Ang Lee – Life Of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actress – Drama
Rachel Weisz – The Deep Blue Sea
Helen Mirren – Hitchcock
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Marion Cotillard – Rust And Bone
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actor – Drama
Richard Gere – Arbitrage
Denzel Washington – Flight
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
John Hawkes – The Sessions

Best Actress – Comedy/Musical
Judi Dench – Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Meryl Streep – Hope Springs
Maggie Smith – Quartet
Emily Blunt – Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook

Best Actor – Comedy/Musical
Jack Black – Bernie
Bill Murray – Hyde Park On Hudson
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Ewan McGregor – Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

Best Supporting Actress
Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
Sally Field – Lincoln
Amy Adams – The Master
Nicole Kidman – The Paperboy
Helen Hunt – The Sessions

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin – Argo
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
Leonardo DiCaprio – Django Unchained
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master

Best Screenplay
Chris Terrio – Argo
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
David O Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Original Score
Alexandre Desplat – Argo
Dario Marianeli – Anna Karenina
Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil – Cloud Atlas
Mychael Danna – Life Of Pi
John Williams – Lincoln

Best Original Song
Keith Urban – For You (Act Of Valor)
Taylor Swift – Safe & Sound (The Hunger Games)
Hugh Jackman – Suddenly (Les Miserables)
Adele – Skyfall (Skyfall)
Jon Bon Jovi – Not Running Anymore – (Stand Up Guys)

Best Animated Feature Film
Brave
Frankenweenie
Hotel Transylvania
Rise Of The Guardians
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Foreign Film
Amour
The Intouchables
Kon-Tiki
A Royal Affair
Rust & Bone

TELEVISION

Best Television Series – Drama
Breaking Bad
Boardwalk Empire
Downton Abbey
Homeland
The Newsroom

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama
Connie Britton, Nashville
Glenn Close, Damages
Claire Danes, Homeland
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Damian Lewis, Homeland
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad

Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
The Big Bang Theory
Episodes
Girls
Modern Family
Smash

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Lena Dunham, Girls
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Louis CK, Louie
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television
Game Change
The Girl
Hatfields & McCoys
The Hour
Political Animals

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nicole Kidman, Hemingway and Gelhorn
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum
Sienna Miller, The Girl
Julianne Moore, Game Change
Sigourney Weaver, Political Animals

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Kevin Costner, Hatfields & McCoys
Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock
Woody Harrelson, Game Change
Toby Jones, The Girl
Clive Owen, Hemingway and Gelhorn

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Hayden Panettiere, Nashville
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
Sarah Paulson, Game Change
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Max Greenfield, New Girl
Ed Harris, Game Change
Danny Huston, Magic City
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

Now look, I don’t have to tread familiar ground here (but I will for fun). Anyone who knows about awards season knows how much of a joke the Golden Globes are. The awards, which are selected by 90 or so people who make up the ‘Hollywood Foreign Press Association’ or HFPA, have very little significance. The studios pour out money shoving their stars around to HFPA parties, wining and dining the members in order to get some sort of recognition. This isn’t much of a secret since it’s so blatant. A quick Google search can show you how messed up the awards are, and it seems that with every year they’ve stopped bothering with trying to make themselves look somewhat prestigious.

There are definitely some shocking nominations here, but most of them are of the ‘Huh?!’ variety. Expectantly this comes from the Musical or Comedy category, where Salmon Fishing in the Yemen scored three nominations! Other odd surprises include Maggie Smith getting nominated for Quartet instead of Comedy/Musical Picture nominee The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and The Hobbit getting completely shut out.

As for the serious contenders, Lincoln and Les Misérables continue their race at the top with Zero Dark Thirty closing in fast. Lincoln scored the most nominations with 7 while Argo and Django Unchained got 5 a piece. Les Misérables, which was the presumed front-runner for the Musical/Comedy category, only got nods for Picture, Actor (Hugh Jackman) and Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway). It could be a sign of that movie losing steam, but treating the Globes as a predictor of anything would be a grave mistake.

As for the pleasant surprises: Moonrise Kingdom scores a Best Picture nod, Life of Pi got some love (while it isn’t the best movie of the year it’s definitely one of the more unique films in the awards race), Django Unchained and Argo proving that they have staying power, Rachel Weisz, Richard Gere and Jack Black all getting acting nods and Cloud Atlas picking up a nomination for its excellent score. Read (or weep at) the nominations below. The awards show, which is more about watching celebs get drunk and hoping tabloid fodder happens, air on January 13th. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will host.

The full list of 2013 Golden Globes nominations:

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Argo
Django Unchained
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Picture – Comedy/Musical
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Moonrise Kingdom
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Silver Linings Playbook

Best Director
Ben Affleck – Argo
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Ang Lee – Life Of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actress – Drama
Rachel Weisz – The Deep Blue Sea
Helen Mirren – Hitchcock
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Marion Cotillard – Rust And Bone
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actor – Drama
Richard Gere – Arbitrage
Denzel Washington – Flight
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
John Hawkes – The Sessions

Best Actress – Comedy/Musical
Judi Dench – Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Meryl Streep – Hope Springs
Maggie Smith – Quartet
Emily Blunt – Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook

Best Actor – Comedy/Musical
Jack Black – Bernie
Bill Murray – Hyde Park On Hudson
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Ewan McGregor – Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

Best Supporting Actress
Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
Sally Field – Lincoln
Amy Adams – The Master
Nicole Kidman – The Paperboy
Helen Hunt – The Sessions

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin – Argo
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
Leonardo DiCaprio – Django Unchained
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master

Best Screenplay
Chris Terrio – Argo
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
David O Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Original Score
Alexandre Desplat – Argo
Dario Marianeli – Anna Karenina
Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil – Cloud Atlas
Mychael Danna – Life Of Pi
John Williams – Lincoln

Best Original Song
Keith Urban – For You (Act Of Valor)
Taylor Swift – Safe & Sound (The Hunger Games)
Hugh Jackman – Suddenly (Les Miserables)
Adele – Skyfall (Skyfall)
Jon Bon Jovi – Not Running Anymore – (Stand Up Guys)

Best Animated Feature Film
Brave
Frankenweenie
Hotel Transylvania
Rise Of The Guardians
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Foreign Film
Amour
The Intouchables
Kon-Tiki
A Royal Affair
Rust & Bone

Best Television Series – Drama
Breaking Bad
Boardwalk Empire
Downton Abbey
Homeland
The Newsroom

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama
Connie Britton, Nashville
Glenn Close, Damages
Claire Danes, Homeland
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Damian Lewis, Homeland
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad

Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
The Big Bang Theory
Episodes
Girls
Modern Family
Smash

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Lena Dunham, Girls
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Louis CK, Louie
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television
Game Change
The Girl
Hatfields & McCoys
The Hour
Political Animals

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nicole Kidman, Hemingway and Gelhorn
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum
Sienna Miller, The Girl
Julianne Moore, Game Change
Sigourney Weaver, Political Animals

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Kevin Costner, Hatfields & McCoys
Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock
Woody Harrelson, Game Change
Toby Jones, The Girl
Clive Owen, Hemingway and Gelhorn

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Hayden Panettiere, Nashville
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
Sarah Paulson, Game Change
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Max Greenfield, New Girl
Ed Harris, Game Change
Danny Huston, Magic City
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

Ricky Gervais returned as the host for the 69th Golden Globe Awards offending attendees with a beer just as he did last year. Although, this year he was a little more tame with his jokes, he proved he was worthy of being a repeating host.

As expected The Artist ended up with the most wins with three (including Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical and Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical). But The Descendants was a close second with two big wins (Best Motion Picture — Drama and Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama).

On the TV side of the awards no one show dominated and there were some surprises, namely Kelsey Grammer winning as Best Actor in a Drama and Matt LeBlanc getting a win for Best Actor in a Comedy. Game Of Thrones, Modern Family and American Horror Story each walked out with a win while Boardwalk Empire and Breaking Bad sadly going home empty handed.

The full list of Golden Globe film winners:
(The winners are highlighted in bold red font)

Best Motion Picture – Drama:
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
War Horse

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical:
50/50
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris
My Week With Marilyn

Best Director:
Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris
George Clooney – The Ides of March
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Alexander Payne – The Descendants
Martin Scorsese – Hugo

Best Actress – Drama:
Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis – The Help
Rooney Mara – The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Actor – Drama:
George Clooney – The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio – J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender – Shame
Ryan Gosling – The Ides of March
Brad Pitt – Moneyball

Best Actress – Comedy or Musical:
Jodie Foster – Carnage
Charlize Theron – Young Adult
Kristen Wiig – Bridesmaids
Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn
Kate Winslet – Carnage

Best Actor – Comedy or Musical:
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Brendan Gleeson – The Guard
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – 50/50
Ryan Gosling – Crazy, Stupid, Love
Owen Wilson – Midnight In Paris

Best Supporting Actress:
Berenice Bejo – The Artist
Jessica Chastain – The Help
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer – The Help
Shailene Woodley – The Descendants

Best Supporting Actor:
Kenneth Branagh – My Week with Marilyn
Albert Brooks – Drive
Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen – A Dangerous Method
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Foreign Language Film:
The Flowers of War (China)
In the Land of Blood and Honey (USA)
The Kid With a Bike (Belgium)
A Separation (Iran)
The Skin I Live In (Spain)

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture:
Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon – The Ides of March
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash – The Descendants
Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin – Moneyball

Best Original Score – Motion Picture:
Ludovic Bource – The Artist
Abel Korzeniowski – W.E.
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross – The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Howard Shore – Hugo
John Williams – War Horse

Best Animated Feature Film:
The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Cars 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

Best Original Song – Motion Picture:
Hello Hello – Gnomeo & Juliet, music by Elton John, lyrics by Bernie Taupin
The Keeper – Machine Gun Preacher, music and lyrics by Chris Cornell
Lay Your Head Down – Albert Nobbs, music by Brian Byrne, lyrics by Glenn Close
The Living Proof – The Help, music by Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Harvey Mason Jr.; lyrics by Mary J. Blige, Harvey Mason Jr., Damon Thomas
Masterpiece – W.E., music and lyrics by Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry

Cecil B. DeMille Award:
Morgan Freeman

The full list of Golden Globe television winners:

Best Drama Series:
American Horror Story
Boardwalk Empire
Boss
Game of Thrones
Homeland

Best Comedy Or Musical:
Enlightened
Episodes
Glee
Modern Family
New Girl

Best TV Movie/Miniseries:
Cinema Verite
Downton Abbey
The Hour
Mildred Pierce
Too Big to Fail

Best Actress – Drama:
Claire Danes – Homeland
Mireille Enos – The Killing
Julianna Margulies – The Good Wife
Madeleine Stowe – Revenge
Callie Thorne – Necessary Roughness

Best Actor – Drama:
Steve Buscemi – Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston – Breaking Bad
Kelsey Grammer – Boss
Jeremy Irons – The Borgias
Damian Lewis – Homeland

Best Actress – Comedy or Musical:
Laura Dern – Enlightened
Zooey Deschanel – New Girl
Tina Fey – 30 Rock
Laura Linney – The Big C
Amy Poehler – Parks and Recreation

Best Actor – Comedy or Musical:
Hugh Bonneville – Downtown Abbey
Idris Elba – Luther
William Hurt – Too Big to Fail
Bill Nighy – Page Eight
Dominic West – The Hour

Best Actress – TV Movie/Miniseries:
Romola Garai – The Hour
Diane Lane – Cinema Verite
Elizabeth McGovern – Downton Abbey
Emily Watson – Appropriate Adult
Kate Winslet – Mildred Pierce

Best Actor – TV Movie/Miniseries:
Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock
David Duchovny – Californication
Johnny Galecki – The Big Bang Theory
Thomas Jane – Hung
Matt LeBlanc – Episodes

Best Supporting Actress – TV Series:
Jessica Lange – American Horror Story
Kelly MacDonald – Boardwalk Empire
Maggie Smith – Downtown Abbey
Sofia Vergara – Modern Family
Evan Rachel Wood – Mildred Pierce

Best Supporting Actor – TV Series:
Peter Dinklage – Game of Thrones
Paul Giamatti – Too Big to Fail
Guy Pearce – Mildred Pierce
Tim Robbins – Cinema Verite
Eric Stonestreet – Modern Family

Ricky Gervais hosted the 68th Golden Globe Awards this year. Even though The King’s Speech had the most nominations with seven, it was rather unsurprising that The Social Network ended up with the most of the film awards that included; Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Original Score. I was very happy to see Natalie Portman won Best Actress in Motion Picture Drama, it was very well deserved. Glee had the most awards for TV with three total wins. I was happy to see Jim Parsons win Best Actor in a TV comedy or musical. Not only do I enjoy The Big Bang Theory but it was nice to see someone in a comedy or musical get some respect other than Glee. Here is the full list of winners:

FILM

Best Motion Picture – Drama:
The Social Network

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical:
The Kids Are All Right

Best Director:
David Fincher, The Social Network

Best Actress – Drama:
Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Actor – Drama:
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

Best Actress – Comedy or Musical:
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Best Actor – Comedy or Musical:
Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version

Best Supporting Actress:
Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actor:
Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Foreign Language Film:
In A Better World

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture:
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Best Original Score – Motion Picture:
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network

Best Animated Feature Film:
Toy Story 3

Best Original Song – Motion Picture:
“You Haven’t Seen The Last Of Me”, Burlesque

Cecil B. DeMille Award:
Robert De Niro

TV

Best Drama Series:
Boardwalk Empire

Best Comedy Or Musical:
Glee

Best TV Movie/Miniseries:
Carlos

Best Actress – Drama:
Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy

Best Actor – Drama:
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire

Best Actress – Comedy or Musical:
Laura Linney, The Big C

Best Actor – Comedy or Musical:
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Best Actress – TV Movie/Miniseries:
Claire Danes, Temple Grandin

Best Actor – TV Movie/Miniseries:
Al Pacino, You Don’t Know Jack

Best Supporting Actress – TV Series:
Jane Lynch, Glee

Best Supporting Actor – TV Series:
Chris Colfer, Glee