Six Brand New Shows

On the sixth night of Hanukah,
I bought something for me:

Six brand new shows,
Five crazy games!
Four bloody films, Three Sanctuaries, Two Middlemans,
 and a Colbert's Christmas Special DVD

(Ok, so I'm a little behind. I just beat AC Revelations and it was totally worth it.)

Suits
Notable Cast: Gina Torres (Firefly, Serenity, Alias)
Plot: Mike Ross, genius kid with issues staying on the straight and narrow, ends up lying about having a law degree and working for Harvey Specter. Harvey happens to be an ex-genius kid with issues, etc., etc. so he keeps the lie going but in a gruff, Gibbs head-slap, mentor kind of way. 

The one thing that keeps this show form being unoriginal is the fact that Mike is not a totally reformed slacker and Harvey is much more of a douche than the typical doesn't-show-affection mentor. For a while, I felt bad for enjoying the show as much as I did, but there's a point where you just enjoy imperfect characters who get away with (or don't).



Once Upon a Time
Notable Cast: Jennifer Morrison (House) and Robert Carlyle (SGU)
Plot: There's a town in Maine where everyone is stuck in a time "rut" (nothing ever changes) because they don't know that they are fairy tale characters who can't finish their stories. Emma (Morrison) is brought by her son Henry (given up for adoption) to the town as he is the only one who notices that she is in the story too. Each episode contrasts a fairy tale with its real world version in a very cool modern way [no pathetic damsels in distress]. Also, everyone thinks Henry is just making up these delusions because he doesn't get along with his adopted mother.

Plus, figuring out who everyone in the real world is very fun: for example, the town shrink (far left) is Jimminy Cricket, and the pawn shop owner/mafia boss is Rumplestiltsken (middle). Be forewarned, it takes a while to setup, so the 1st half hour of the pilot is very melodrama heavy, but it drastically improves by the second episode.



Sherlock

Notable Cast: Created by Stephen Moffat (Doctor Who)
Plot: So this BBC miniseries is a bit old, but I only found it this year, and the next season isn't until this summer. This is a modern take on the Sherlock Holmes stories starting with Dr. Watson, an Afghan war vet, coming home in desperate need of a roommate as abnormal as him. Unlike the Robert Downey Jr. movies, this series uses a much darker, more cerebral, less action movie take on the classic tale and it's very fast paced and will have you on the edge of your seat.

Holmes and Watson have a great chemistry that isn't all best friends shtick like Downey and Law. They are honestly strangers who know they are flawed, but are surprisingly able to understand and bond with this new person in their life. 





Alphas

Notable Cast: 
Plot: It's XMen or Heroes, but with something that's been desperately missing; reasonable downsides to cool powers. Most shows either have useless abilities or god-like powers with life crippling powers (Rouge), but Alphas uses a very fair give and take system. The girl with heightened sense has germaphobia and the boy with the ability to read EM waves is autistic. 

The most impressive thing for me is the detail and dimensions given to the minor supporting roles. No one feels like a stereotype or cliche, and in such an overdone subgenre, that's really impressive. Finally, for a SyFy show in its first season, they had an incredibly ballsy season finale (no spoilers!).



Merlin

Notable Cast: Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy/Angel)
Plot: Once again, a bit cheating because this show just wrapped their fourth season, but I only started watching this BBC masterpiece this year. The story of King Arthur and Merlin is one of the few "fairy tales" with very little wiggle room - Guinevere marries Arthur and cheats on him with Lancelot, Mordred kills Arthur, Uther Pendragon has to die for all of this to happen, "Sword in the Stone", etc. 

That doesn't stop this show from keeping me on the edge of my seat as: 1) Uther bans magic in the kingdom (so Merlin works as Arthur's servant secretly protecting him), 2) Guinevere is Morgana's maid, and 3) Lancelot, um, dies at one point. I highly recommend it, although the second season got a bit tedious, the show picks up dramatically in the 3rd and 4th season.

Game of Thrones

Notable Cast: Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings/Equilibrium/Golden Eye), (300), everyone else
Plot: Summing up the plot of Game of Thrones would take just about as long as it would to watch it. The basic description is its a medieval-like era political drama that takes place in a very "magic realism" like world. For those of you who didn't take Spanish Literature in high school, that means that magic is present (seasons reflect political climate and can last for decades) but there aren't witches and wizards aren't popping up everywhere. 

The high point of the show [not to imply that there is actually a low point] is Peter Dinklage's brilliant portrayal of Tyrion Lannister (above). I recommend reading the books, but it's not necessary. The show is a very faithful adaption, by which I mean theres a lot of sex, a lot of violence and death, and a lot of awesome.