Killing Eve
So I'm an AMC Insider. Why you might ask as I don't watch many shows on AMC, well, the reason I first signed up wasn't for the lovely gift card drawing, that was a recent edition, I mainly signed up because they asked questions about BBC America programing and I wanted to clearly state that BBC America should be showing actual British shows not filling their schedule with The X-Files and whatever Star Trek they feel like at the moment. Star Trek is a "little" understandable because of Patrick Stewart, but The X-Files!?! In between stating all my outrage and answering questions about my favorite Dirk Gently characters I started to get all these surveys about the upcoming show Killing Eve. The initial promos had me entirely uninterested, because they were vague and I had no idea what the show was about. After probably the tenth promo I watched I realized it was an espionage driven game of cat and mouse starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer and I decided to give it a try. Plus, Jodie Comer was really great in The White Princess so for me she was the real draw and the fact that only Oh got an Emmy nomination is shocking because I discovered in that first episode what many people came to realize as they joined the bandwagon late, Killing Eve is an exquisite dark comedy about two women on opposites sides inextricably drawn to each other where Comer is amazing in her instability. I was so desperate for more that I picked up Luke Jennings's compilation of Villanelle novellas, Codename Villanelle, to get more of a fix. But this adaptation is one of those rare occasions where it's better than the source material. Instead of a female James Bond with a hyperactive sex drive where everything is laid bare from the beginning, we're given a twisty tale that will keep you guessing until the very end and thanking whatever deity you believe in that it was renewed for a second series.
In these days of streaming which allow for bingeing having a series that keeps you literally on the edge of your seat for ten straight weeks instead of ten straight hours is pretty remarkable, and yet that is what The Alienist did. Of course, there were times I was tempted to pick up the book by Caleb Carr to get to the bottom of the crimes taking place in New York in the late 1800s, gruesome and ritualistic murders of young male prostitutes, but at the same time I didn't want to muddy the magnificence of the adaptation by comparing it to it's source material. This show combined so many things that I love into one production, a serial killer with a creepy bent like Jack the Ripper, bringing historical fiction to the small screen, but in a way that is believable because it fits in and around actual history, women breaking out of their expected roles, not to mention the depth of the characters with their own personal secrets that inform who they've become. When each episode ended I wanted the next one right away. This show is so fabulous that I think it might be the only show I've profiled this month that has won a coveted Emmy! When they announced just a few short weeks ago that they are adapting the second book in the series, The Angel of Darkness, I couldn't have been happier. I need Dr. Kreizler, John Moore, Sara Howard, and every single supporting character I've come to love from John's grandmother played by the incomparable Grace Zabriskie to the Isaacson brothers. One can only hope that after The Angel of Darkness they find some way to keep this series going, because I don't want, I need more Dr. Kreizler and associates in my life. Perhaps we can bribe Caleb Carr to write a third and forth installment? 
Oh, Lucifer, you devil. Or should I say, oh, Tom Ellis, you devil. Because the number one reason I first turned into Lucifer three seasons ago was because of Tom Ellis. As Gary on Miranda Hart's TV Series Miranda, he was the loveable yet romantically inept cook who won Miranda's heart and hand. Yes I enjoyed him on Merlin as well, but as for The Secret of Crickley Hall, a miniseries with so many of my favorite actors that I thought I would love it, well, it's best avoided, as I realized once again late one night recently catching part of an episode on PBS. But surely, you're thinking, that I MUST have really turned into the show because it's based on Neil Gaiman's interpretation of Lucifer Morningstar in his Sandman comics? Honestly? No. And to now shock you further, while I love Neil Gaiman, and I adored his voicing of God in the season three bonus episode set in an alternate timeline, "Once Upon a Time," I can't stand the Sandman comics. I've tried people, I've really tried. But I just couldn't take anymore after the sixth collection and now it's been six years since I read those six volumes and I'd have to re-read them before finishing the final four volumes, and I'm sorry, there are just too many other books I want to read. Some of them even by Neil! Back to the show. Lucifer is a wonderfully almost wacky reinterpretation of what a procedural show can be, what with Lucifer's brother trying to get him to go back to hell, Lucifer's therapist who after thinking for a very long time that Lucifer was delusional, now gets that this is all too real. There are demons and love interests, and an ex who really loves his pudding. I mean, seriously, Dan loves his pudding. When Netlfix saved the Satan, I don't think my heart could have been happier.
When I was little I loved Lost in Space. The problem was it aired at the same time as my swimming lessons. Needless to say I connived to try to stay home on an almost daily basis and rarely succeeded. As for the movie with Heather Graham and Joey from Friends, the less said the better. But the failure to reboot the series in the late nineties meant that I had really no expectations going into the new series on Netflix. I mean, yes, the fact that Toby Stephens was attached as John Robinson made me hopeful, and the gender swapping of Dr. Smith and then casting the always fabulous Parker Posey just made me more interested, but still I waited to watch the series. I didn't know if this newest incarnation of The Swiss Family Robinson would try to recreate the camp of the original series or instead go all grim dark like so many reboots do nowadays. I was literally in for a huge surprise. Instead of being camp or grim dark the show is actually just a wonderful adventure series that plays well for adults and can easily be family friendly. It felt like the best of science fiction movies made in the eighties and made me feel like a kid again. I see why Netflix ordered a second series, because I personally need more of the adventures of the Robinson clan as soon as possible. The way they reinterpreted the material, having them flee Earth, get stranded with a small group of fellow travelers, but then get stranded again, setting up season two to be more in-line with the story we remember? It was perfect. But the twists and turns, the surprises you don't see coming? This was edge of your seat television and me and my new best friend The Robot will stop by and have a chat with you if you disagree. 
I'm still scratching my head as to why I forgot to include Hap and Leonard last year because their second season which aired in 2017, based on Joe R. Lansdale's book Mucho Mojo, was one of the most suspenseful and riveting seasons of ANY television show I've ever watched. Words can not do justice to the investigation of a sinister serial killer in their midst whilst also somehow complimenting that with dark humor that is spot on. As I've said before when talking about 
Strike, because I refuse to call it by it's stupid and really pointless US title C.B. Strike, is based on the popular Cormoran Strike series by J.K. Rowling. I mean C.B. Strike!?! Really!?! Call it Cormoran Strike or even Cormoran Blue Strike or even just Cormoran, why his initials which he NEVER uses in the books or on the series!?! OK, rant over. I promise. Or at least I promise the "initial" rant is over. Strike is a show that has a lot going for it but all the elements have yet to fall into place to make it what it could become, one of the best mystery shows out there. The most important aspect is the casting, and they NAILED it with Tom Burke of The Musketeers and The Hour as Cormoran and Holliday Grainger of The Borgias and the recent adaptation of My Cousin Rachel as Robin. The casting is literally so perfect that when reading the books I now see them as the leads. The problem is in how they've been adapting the books, the first book, The Cuckoo's Calling, which is my least favorite in the series was the best adaptation. And I know what you're thinking, but it's not because it was my least liked book, it's because it was the only three part adaptation of the series, the further two books being adapted as two parters. These books are so dense that a three parter is necessary and thankfully Lethal White, out later this month, will be getting a three part adaptation. Now they just have to stop doing stupid things like changing Robin's motivation from selfless to selfish and I'll be content. 
There needs to be a special prize for The Terror because it was able to include every single British male actor of a certain age. Is that Tobias Menzies and Ciarán Hinds having a Rome reunion? Yes it is! Is that Fisher Bloom from Lark Rise to Candleford I see, aka Matthew McNulty? Yes in one! Could that be Victor Colleano from Mr Selfridge? But of course! On and on you will name check every actor in this series, yes that IS George Warleggan's dogsbody, but there are literally SO MANY characters you will have no idea who's who so you will literally be calling Victor Victor instead of Henry Collins and Fisher is Fisher, not Lt. Edward Little. And yes, I had to look up their names because I literally had no idea what their names were even though I devoured every episode of this show that merges the history of a doomed expedition to find the Northwest Passage with supernatural elements from Native folklore. So you're probably wondering why watch this show that leaves you scratching your head half the time wondering who everyone is referring to? The answer is twofold and it's two characters that are polar opposites (see what I did with the polar joke?) Henry Goodsir played by Paul Ready and Cornelius Hickey played by Adam Nagaitis are just riveting. You will never love a character as much as Henry Goodsir and you will never hate a character as much as Cornelius Hickey. Henry Goodsir is a creature of pure light and goodness and you will want to protect him from all the ills of the world while every time Cornelius Hickey is on screen you will be calling for his head on a pike. These two made the series. These two deserved Emmy nominations. But the problem there is you'd have to remember their names... 
Altered Carbon was one of the shows I was most looking forward to this past year. This had nothing to do with the desire to see an ambitious cyberpunk book series brought to life and everything to do with my love of James Purefoy and Joel Kinnaman. I watched that horrid adaptation of Mansfield Park for you James Purefoy, I will watch anything you are in! And the truth is, at times, this show was brilliant. The problem was the moments of brilliance made you realize they were capable of achieving perfection so when the show lagged you really felt it. Set in the future where human consciousness can be downloaded into new bodies, AKA sleeves, this allows death to no longer be an obstacle and the rich can literally live forever. Enter Joel Kinnaman as Takeshi Kovacs hired by the wealthy James Purefoy to find out who murdered his previous sleeve. Takeshi is downloaded into Joel's beautiful body and has to deal with this new body's history, his own history, and his job. If the show had stuck to a linear storyline of who killed James Purefoy instead of going off on long expository rants mainly dealing with Takeshi's fucked up personal life this show could have really worked. But going forward I don't know if I will be interested in watching. The show hinges on the interesting conceit of different actors playing the same role. Now this conceit isn't that original, even Woody Allen has done it, but where this conceit fails is I have this connection to the characters played by these specific actors, do I want to see Joel replaced by Anthony Mackie? Eh, I'm not sure.
You know what I find amazing? That each and every year more and more books are being adapted for the small screen. Yes, I could criticize and say that Hollywood lacks imagination, instead I will celebrate seeing some of my favorite books and some books I hope to be favorites being adapted into another medium. Last year two book adaptations took the awards season and the Emmys by storm. I of course am talking about HBO's adaptation of Big Little Lies and Hulu's adaptation and expansion of 
So I have a confession... I have yet to read any of the novels by Winston Graham that make up the Poldark Saga. Yes, I know! This is SO unlike me it's baffling! I've had most of the books for years, after watching Ioan Gruffudd as Jeremy Poldark in the 1996 Poldark TV movie I bought the ones then available and scrounged up the rest of the epic twelve volume series at library sales, only to watch them languish on my bookshelves. But once the new adaptation was announced, and before you ask, no I haven't seen the seventies version, I thought, heck, I'll give it a read because I KNEW I'd watch the series what with my love of 
If someone were to ask what my favorite TV series is, iZombie would be a strong contender. Whereas if you were to ask me what one of my most hated graphic novel series I've ever read is I'd again probably say iZombie. Quite literally the only thing the two have in common is the name from which the genius of Rob Thomas, of Veronica Mars fame not Matchbox Twenty fame, made this quirky show that harkens back to Veronica in the crime solving structure and societal warfare but puts a whole new spin on how the crimes are solved. This crime solving ability is all down to the casting of the lead. Rose McIver as Olivia Moore (Liv Moore, get it? You'll need to like puns to like this show!) is the delicate shoulders whom this show rests on. Because the quirk to the crime solving? She eats the victims brains and sees flashes of their lives, which also tend to bleed into her own as she takes on their traits. She has become a country western singer, a stripper, a kleptomaniac, so far it's unending how these other people change her while also expanding her heart. Of course there's a big bad, with the ever sexy David Anders as Blaine DeBeers, but it's the heart of the show, the friendships, not the nemeses that make it the only zombie show you should be watching. Plus I CAN NOT wait for the upcoming season now that the existence of zombies is known. Because in a show that is able to constantly change and reinvent itself it's now changed their whole world and I say bring it!
If you follow my goodreads feed you sometimes glean things that aren't readily apparent here on my blog. You might guess what I'm planning in the coming months, or you might, for example go "how the hell does she like The Magicians when she hated the book so much that she hasn't even bothered to write a scorching review because she probably views it as a waste of time." FYI I do view it as a waste of time. Well, this is one of those rare instances where an adaptation is so much better than the source material that it's best to forget that source exists. Although I will give a tip of the hat to how clever the showrunners are in circling around and sneaking in something from the books when you least expect it. Though they have a way of making it work where Lev Grossman didn't. Because, for those who've read the books, there's no denying that the protagonist Quentin Coldwater with his Fillory obsession is a bit of a wet blanket. He's mopey and just best avoided, hence here comes Elliot and Margo to the rescue. Secondary characters elevated to a bitchy king and queen of Fillory? Oh. My. God. Yes. Please. They not only add levity to the show, they seriously make the show what it is. Watch how much more screentime they get in season two compared to season one and you'll know what I'm talking about. And THAT is what I love most about The Magicians, they see areas where they need to improve and actually improve! This is the "dark/adult Harry Potter" I expected when I picked up the book series. This is what fantasy television is about! 
Emerald City is, in my mind, the most successful adaptation of the Oz mythos in years, yeah, suck it Wicked and that movie with Zach Braff! Yet NBC never really knew what to do with this new Oz that was Steampunk and political and self-referential, heck, in one episode Vincent D'Onofrio played some Pink Floyd! So they just exiled it to a lingering death on Friday nights except for those few viewers, like me, who waited every week to see what new twist would happen. This had the grandeur of the old Merlin adaptation NBC did back in the day with Cersei Lannister as Quinevere or The 10th Kingdom, both epic fantasy but with classic appeal. In fact, there's no doubt in my mind that once people find this show on DVD or streaming it will become a favorite like these other two standards. But what's more by actually exploring the plotlines from the second Oz book, The Marvelous Land of Oz, wherein the Princess Ozma is hidden within the body of a boy, Tip, the show was able to cover far more currently relevant issues of gender identity than when the book was first published in 1904. Seriously, nothing was wrong with this series other than it probably cost NBC too much to make with the luscious sets and amazing locations. This show made me feel for the first time in years a desire to go back and immerse myself in the lore of Oz but also to figure out this new mythology. Emerald City inspired the reader and the watcher in me, but more importantly the storyteller, and I just wish I was getting one more chapter. 
What with the classic the movie has become it's understandable that a lot of people often forget that The Exorcist was a novel first by William Peter Blatty. In fact, so many of the classic horror films of the seventies were books first, but today I'm only interested in this one. While I initially said at the beginning of this month that I was only going to talk about shows that started out in book form, this is another one that stretches the boundaries of that definition in that it's a continuation of the story first set on page by Blatty. While I know many people out there, including many of my friends, are still hesitant to embrace this show it had one thing initially that had me interested, Ben Daniels, whom if you don't love him from season two of The Paradise I literally don't know what's to be done with you. Alan Ruck was just a wonderful surprise. At first you don't realize that this is actually connected to the original story, instead it's just a family suffering from a possession and the old wise priest and the young inexperienced priest are called in to help. But then things get complicated, there's a plot against the Pope by demonic forces and humans aligned with the demons, and if you don't love that poster announcing the Pope coming to Chicago like he's Elvis, again, what is to be done with you? But if you wait for the payoff as to who Genna Davis is, yes, she's not JUST a hardworking suburban housewife, well, it's so worth it. In fact, despite everyone thinking this show was going to be cancelled, it seems there were enough people like me singing it's praises in a properly sanctified church to get it a second season pickup. Might I suggest that an exorcist see you this Halloween season? 
Right about now you're probably thinking that she can't be serious including the dark reinterpretation of the Archie comics on her "must watch" list from the last year's television viewing? Oh yes I am. Deadly serious! Like when Jason Blossom's body washed ashore serious. Firstly, as a kid I loved reading the Archie comics, and yes, when I heard they were making Riverdale I was skeptical. In fact I didn't even watch it when it aired on the CW, instead, during a dark and trying weekend I really needed an escape and Riverdale was on Netflix and I binged it. I binged it hard and I loved every minute of it. It quite literally got me through each day knowing that at the end of it I could watch it. From eighties teen icons being the parents to me finally actually feeling something other than loathing for Veronica, I was shocked how much I enjoyed it. The show had a very specific target it was aiming for, trying to make Riverdale land somewhere between Veronica Mars and Twin Peaks and it hit the mark. It also didn't hurt that Betty's mom was played by Twin Peaks alum Mädchen Amick. There's a murder to be solved, there are shady dealings, gangs, and Jughead Jones becomes a Holden Caulfield for a new generation. Though once you realize that yes, that IS Skeet Ulrich as Jughead's dad you may start to feel a little old. I can't wait until it returns and I can tune into even more deadly teen drama with secret pregnancies, liaisons with teachers, and some kick ass music by Josie and the Pussycats. Just leave your high school hangups at the door of Pop's and grab a shake, just watch out for Archie's dad bleeding to death on the floor. 
By including Endevour I'm kind of bending the rules as to book adaptations. But seriously, I couldn't leave off a show of such brilliant acting and atmosphere even if it's really a prequel to an adaptation. Endeavour follows the career of a young Inspector Morse, who was created by the wonderful Colin Dexter and brought to life by John Thaw for over twenty years starting in the late eighties. Inspector Morse was so loved and so iconic that a sequel centering on his second in command, Robbie Lewis, soon came about and after nine stellar seasons the only logical solution to fill this Morse sized hole in the viewing schedule was a prequel, until the inevitable Hathaway spinoff that is! What makes Endeavour so wonderful, aside from the casting, the music, the scripts, the locations, the little references for die hard fans, is that it's a period piece! It's almost like someone looked into my head and saw that by combining my love of period drama and my love of Inspector Morse it could result in the perfect show. Set in Oxford during the sixties the golden hues on the screen just call back to a more innocent time that was simultaneously in upheaval. And while many people will rightly point to Roger Allam's portrayal of Fred Thursday, Morse's boss, as the star, I say look to the subtle performance of Shaun Evans as the titular character, he is the glue that keeps it all together.
Midnight, Texas is one of those shows that qualify as cheesy fun. Based on the trilogy of the same name by Charlaine Harris it's halfway between True Blood and Grimm, so don't go in expecting Emmy worthy acting, it's pure summer fun in the spirit of the first few seasons of Under the Dome. With David Solomon, veteran of the Whedonverse producing and directing you know that at least it will handle the more supernatural elements correctly, am I sensing a hellmouth? Centering on a small town in Texas where the veil protecting the earth from hell is fraying, aka a hellmouth, the denizens are every kind of "other" from witches to angels to vampires to bounty hunters to talking cats. The show is seen through the eyes of Manfred Bernardo, a psychic and a character Charlaine Harris first introduced in her wonderful Harper Connelly series. While some may complain that Manfred isn't what they pictured or that Creek should just go and die already or that all three books are happening simultaneously, I say so what? No adaptation is perfect but within the first episode I just felt it, they had gotten it right. There may be little things I'd fix, mainly there not being nearly enough Mr. Snuggly because every show needs more talking cats, but even if this isn't how I pictured things when Fiji first spoke, I knew I was going to like it. This was a show for me. 
Fall. The time of year when thoughts turn to the new TV season while also lauding the past year's work. While I love award shows and the Emmys are certainly a favorite, especially in a year when Stephen Colbert is hosting, it also makes me sad because my favorite shows are considered "genre" television so no matter how amazing the acting or the writing they just never get their plaudits just because they may have vampires. So I decided, I'm going to change that right here, right now. No, I'm not rigging the votes or casting my own statues, but I am going to pick my favorite shows that aired over the last year that just happen to have started out in book form and convince you to give them a chance! Be it science fiction, graphic novels, horror, some of my favorite shows got their start on my bookshelves. So let's hear it for Oz and Fillory and Midnight, Texas, and all the places in between that the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences looks down on. Let's hear it for the underdogs, the Ross Poldarks of the world! Here's to who the Emmy should be going to...
