SO, I FIRST ENCOUNTERED SOME TV SHOWS THIS YEAR WHICH I HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE. Here is a list of those Telly programmes that I saw for the very first time this year and highly HIGHLY recommend! They are listed here in the order in which I first encountered them.
MAIGRET - This BBC series which ran from 1960-1963 is absolutely wonderful and the new restoration discs released this past year provide the best way to watch all 4 seasons of this magnificent series starring Rupert Davies as Georges Simenon's Inspector Maigret. Each episode is a mini-mystery movie and I loved the show!
CROWN COURT - This long-running ITV series aired in the afternoon starting in 1972 all the way until 1984 (in it's original incarnation) and is majorly addictive telly! Each criminal case heard before the court is spread out into three episodes of a half hour each and the third episode gives us the verdict. The wonderful conceit about the show is that, although the story is fiction and the cast is portrayed by actors, the jury is composed of real people that ITV brought in off the street to listen to the court case and render their verdict as if it was a real court. The writers and actors prepared to react to either a guilty or not-guilty verdict depending on the decision of the jury. Every episode is packed with beloved character actors from Barbara Shelley to Bob Hoskins! One of my absolute favourite discoveries of this year!
GOOSEBUMPS - Horror anthology series designed for the younger viewer mostly adapted from the monstrously successful GOOSEBUMPS books by R.L. Stine. As with any anthology series, the episodes range in quality but they're always fun; especially when adapting a Goosebumps book which I have read.
HONEY WEST - The 1965 crime drama series which sadly only lasted 30 episodes features star Anne Francis as the redoubtable Honey West going undercover to thwart the baddies.
DECOY - As far as I know, the very first US TV series featuring a female lead with Beverly Garland as policewoman Casey Jones going undercover each week to catch the crooks! Another example of a series which only lasted one season; guess 1957 America wasn't ready to support a female-led cop show. Or 1965 America. Or . . . Anyway, this is one hell of an awesome series featuring much of every episode shot on the real streets of New York. What a fantastic look at mid-century Gotham.
SARAH AND DUCK - This British animated children's programme is targeted at 4-6 year olds so I'm their target audience, all right! Seriously, this show is absolute bliss for me; lowers my blood pressure within a minute of each (short) episode. Love it! This is televisual prozac!
EERIE, INDIANA - This 1991 programme is one I was aware of but never ever saw. I was always out in this time period probably rocketing through Kettle Run. But I just caught up with this off-the-wall oddity and, if there's one thing I am, it's an off-the-wall oddity myself.
THE CROWN - Beginning in 2016, this 'docudrama' series about the royal family was something I never caught up with until this year. I've had Nutflux for years but rarely watch anything on it so I figured I'd better since I was shelling out monthly for a streaming service I practically never used. I'm currently up to the first series of the Olivia Coleman Liz and it was an adjustment, I'll tell ya. I love Olivia Coleman but Claire Foy was absolutely spectacular as the young Elizabeth II and Matt Smith as Prince Philip was no slouch either. Oh, and Vanessa Kirby as the young Princess Margaret? Perfection!!!
TALES TO KEEP YOU AWAKE - a.k.a. HISTORIAS PARA NO DORMIR was a Spanish horror anthology TV series from 1966 I'd never heard of but is so terrific to see (even if the disc sources aren't the best but they're probably all that's available). Each episode features a horror story -- some made in Spain and some lifted outright from American TV shows like THE OUTER LIMITS. It's just a very nostalgic, black-and-white, previously unknown little gem.
MURDER MAPS - This crime documentary/docudrama hybrid has been going apparently since 2015 but I just stumbled across it on youtubers of all places. Hosted by Nicholas Day, MURDER MAPS examines the most shocking, spectacular murder cases from London's long history and, as with any 'true crime' show, it's mesmerizing and addictive.
VOIR - This short little series started in 2021 and sadly hasn't apparently continued. That's a real shame because it consists of short films of varying length made by film lovers about film itself in the form of some very nice film essays. I stumbled across this merely by chance while flipping through Nutflux looking for something ANYTHING to watch and I'm so glad I uncovered this buried gem.
DOOMWATCH - The classic British horror/science fiction series from the early 70s. I had long ago seen the movie DOOMWATCH (1972) with Ian Bannon and Judy Geeson but had never been able to see the TV programme on which it was based until I grabbed a UK box set of it this year. Weird and creepy!
WHO KILLED MALCOLM X? - One thing Nutflux is good at is making true crime documentary series and this was one from 2019 I just caught up with that examines the assassination of Malcolm X and the possible culprits behind it. Again, truly absorbing!
BOBBY'S TRIPLE THREAT - In the past few years, my mother had suffered from ill health and I liked to keep her company on my days off as we watched movies and TV. A staple TV channel was the Food Network since we were both foodies and a new show I really enjoy is Bobby Flay's new cooking competition show in which he has assembled 3 'Titans' -- chefs Brooke Williamson, Michael Voltaggio and Tiffany Derry -- who are challenged by one famous chef. I couldn't stand Bobby Flay when he first started on the network but he has mellowed in his 'old age' and now I enjoy all his shows; and it's a relief to see something NOT starring Guy Fieri on the network for a change! TRIPLE THREAT, along with BEAT BOBBY FLAY, have an easy-going sense of fun which I really enjoy. In MY 'old age'.
BOURBON STREET BEAT -- A recommendation from my friend Terry Frost on his youtuber channel TERRY TALKS MOVIES, this is a 1959 detective show which also, sadly, only lasted 1 season on the ABC network. Another detective show; this one takes place in New Orleans and has a rock-solid cast of Ansrew Duggan, Richard Long, Van Williams and Arlene Howell in glorious B&W.
POKER FACE - Whoa! Is this the best TV show I saw this year? That's a very strong possibility (with the possible exception of the next show I'm gonna talk about). Natasha Lyonne absolutely kills it as down-on-her-luck Charlie Cale who works in a casino and has the uncanny (though not 'psychic') ability to tell immediately if anyone is lying. This leads her to be banned from casinos since she always wins at cards because she knows when anyone bluffs. When she accidentally gets involved in a murder, she has to take it on the lam because a crime boss is out to kill her. As she travels the country, she keeps stumbling across crimes. This series is a conscious attempt to evoke COLUMBO and other 1970's weekly mystery shows and it does so gloriously. There's also something of THE FUGITIVE mixed in as she is being tracked across the country by a hit man ordered to kill her. Absolute perfection and happily a second season has been ordered.
JESSICA JONES - Here's that OTHER candidate for possible best TV show I saw this year. I watched the first season of DAREDEVIL on Nutflux way back when it first came out but never saw any more of it or the other Marvel shows and BOY was I missing something in JESSICA JONES. I've only seen the first season but it's sheer perfection and I honestly can't choose between POKER FACE and this as the best of the best! Another Doctor Who (we just had Matt Smith in THE CROWN) in the person of David Tennant gives a wonderful performance in season one. I always heard this show was excellent but I'm telling ya the hype was actually not strong enough.
THE OSBOURNES: NIGHT OF TERROR - While laying deflated and exhausted in October with pneumonia, I put on the Travel channel and came across yet ANOTHER Osbourne TV show; this one features Jack Osbourne dragging one or more of his family along with him to investigate a haunted location. I was surprised how interested and a lot of fun each episode was and I had a blast watching them.
HARRY O - Beginning in 1974, this detective show featured David Jansson as Harry Orwell: a cop who was shot in the line of duty and retired with a bullet still in his back. As a kid, I never really liked cop shows. About the only one I watched regularly was THE ROCKFORD FILES and HARRY O has a lot of the same vibe to it. Janssen is suitably bedraggled as he drags himself along on each case and I am so glad Terry Frost once again steered me towards this unseen series.
AGATHA CHRISTIE'S MISS MARPLE - I have to admit here and now that I am a staunch Poirot man. Miss Marple I never liked. As a teenager in middle school through high school, I read Agatha Christie novels voraciously but I only ever read 1 Miss Marple: THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY. I didn't like it and I was shocked that I didn't. The title alone sounded like my kinda meat. So, this year I finally broke down and watched the 80s-90s series with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple and I really enjoyed them a lot. Whoda thunk it???
A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL - This 2018 three episode mini-series starred Hugh Grant as Jeremy Thorpe (leader of the Liberal Party) whose secret affair with Norman Scott (Ben Whishaw) destroyed his career. Brought to us by a post (and now pre-) Russell T. Davies, the writing and acting here are top drawer and there's a welcome vein of humour running through the tragic events.
SHORESY - We all know that LETTERKENNY is the best TV show ever made. Of course, we do! But when I heard that there was gonna be a spinoff, I was trepidatious (give your balls a tug and look at a dictionary). An entirely new and unfamiliar cast with only Jared Keeso familiar playing the previously-unseen Shoresy. I mean, we LOVE the cast of LETTERKENNY. Just the thought of a new show with an unknown cast gave me the heebie-jeebies, boys. But I shouldn't have worried. SHORESY is immediately a wonderful addition to the LETTERKENNY universe and practically as good as it's parent show! The new cast is absolutely hilarious and each character is fully drawn from the very first episode! And the fact that Kaniehtiio Horn (Tanis from LETTERKENNY) is on board as a producer to make sure the First Nation characters are depicted realistically is a major plus! I never thought I say it but SHORESY is a welcome addition to LETTERKENNY!
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