FOLLOWING TV SERIES

So I almost never get into a TV series and follow it the way so many friends and family did and do. But maybe because it's so much easier to watch them now with "on demand" and all the ways to stream them (no, I don't have Netflix yet but most of my family and friends do) I seem to be following more shows than ever before in my life.

I usually just turn on the TV to catch an old movie or see what the various news channels are doing to whatever's considered "the news" for the day. And documentaries. For instance I never got into MAD MEN or THIRTY ROCK or any of the various CSIs (though I did check out THIRTY ROCK in reruns and on DVD and was glad I did) or even many of the TV shows I actually acted in.

But here I am, still waiting for DOWNTON ABBEY to return and HOMELAND and meanwhile watching BOSS and now COPPER and the new season of BOARDWALK EMPIRE. And, I hate to admit it, but my soon to be fifteen-year-old has got me watching THE WALKING DEAD with him! [Old ones on demand]

BOSS is so over the top cynical it's ridiculous, but it's also an interesting attempt to dramatize serious mental health issues and some of the acting is pretty fine. The same could be said of BOARDWALK EMPIRE, over the top cynical with some pretty fine acting and gangsterism is a form of mental illness from my perspective. Though both shows have been disappointing so far this season.

Interestingly COPPER and THE WALKING DEAD, though even more sensationalist where sex and violence are concerned, have story lines that allow for a little less cynicism and a little more hope and redemption.  COPPER and BOARDWALK EMPIRE also have the asset of being historically interesting and at times original, whereas BOSS and THE WALKING DEAD just riff on past genres, political melodrama and cartoon horror.

None of these shows can really come close to HOMELAND or DOWNTON ABBEY for consistency of acting and story telling [or leading actors/actresses]. And of those two the one that's best, for my taste, in every way—acting and writing and directing and historical interest and originality and all the variety of human emotion and action not just the most sensational aspects or darkest—is DOWNTON ABBEY. I can't wait for it to return.