Reality TV shows dominate the airwaves, broadcasting their "talent" to the mindless drones that gobble that shit up, game shows are becoming more and more redundantly garbage, and don't even get me started on The Only Way is Essex.
What happened to good old drama? Well, it's still there, and I'm taking a stand against the system by pointing you away from the trash and right to the treasure. So let me educate you with five shows you should be filling your viewing schedule with, ranging from "you should be watching this" to "WHY AREN'T YOU PRE-ORDERING THE ULTRA-DELUXE-LIMITED-COLLECTOR'S EDITION BLU-RAY BOX SET RIGHT NOW?!".
I already covered HBO's prohibition drama Boardwalk Empire at number 5,and BBC's Doctor Who was number 4, so that leads us into...
#3 The Walking Dead
AMC took a big gamble in producing The Walking Dead; a show based upon a long-running series of graphic novels revolving around the tale of a group of people struggling to survive during a zombie apocalypse. The Zombie genre has not been greatly explored on the small screen, and bringing one to life from the pages of a comic book was never going to be a guaranteed hit, regardless that the source material is regarded as some very fine work.
Thankfully, the wonderful Frank Darabont (of The Shawshank Redemption fame) took the project under his wing and gave us something truly special.
When small town police officer Rick Grimes wakes alone in a deserted, decimated hospital people would be forgiven for having the odd flash back to 28 Days Later, but this is a very different beast to Danny Boyle's London-based horror. As Grimes sets out to locate his family and encounters survivors along the way, it becomes clear that this series is not so much about a zombie apocalypse, but more-so about the people and how they endure to survive in such an event. In the pilot episode, in particular, there is a rather touching scene where a man tries to bring himself to shoot his wife in the head now that she has become one of the Walking Dead that comes off as a really beautiful moment of modern television.
Of course, even though it could be argued that the zombie apocalypse is superficial, the production team certainly spared no expense in making the whole thing as realistic as possible. This is some of the greatest set design and make-up work I've seen in television history - the zombies look better than most seen in Hollywood today, never mind on a TV budget! This isn't even mentioning the acting that remains constantly stellar throughout, and the storyline that goes a long way to keep you on your toes. The final two episodes of the first season are two very tense hours!
Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned gamble the show was at the time of production, only six episodes were green-lit for season one, but due to the show's fantastic reception and ratings the second season is set to be a full-length 13 episode run. So while the first season is a little on the short side, it's six hours of quality entertainment that I recommend everyone to watch before the next season starts in September on AMC (US) and FX (UK).
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