There’s many treasures buried within Netflix; and while there’s just as much garbage easily accessible through the streaming service… these ones are definitely worth your time.
Just in case you don’t know what Netflix is
5. Lie to Me (2009-2011)
Following in the trend of abruptly canceled Fox shows; Lie to Me is a casualty that still stings despite being canceled 3 years ago. Lie to Me is based off of the real-life works of Paul Ekman, who is an expert on facial micro-expressions (recognition of facial movements and cues.) He was involved in the production of the series and is a well established author as well.
Pumpkin has come a long way since robbing diners with Honeybunny
Ekman’s work lead to the creation of Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) who is the founder of the Lightman group. His firm primarily consults with clients to use the recognition of “micro-expressions” to determine if suspects are lying. “Suspects” is a broad term however, as many of these investigations aren’t always criminal in nature.
Roth truly shines in his role as Cal Lightman, bringing a powerful performance that kept the show running during its 3 year run. There’s just a little over 40 episodes, but Roth’s surrounding cast and the depth of this show are well worth checking out.
4. Rules of Engagement (2007-2013)
Another unfortunate show that was met with an early cancellation. Rules of Engagement followed the comedic/dramatic interactions between a group of friends living in New York city.
No… not these friends
Recognizable faces from this series include Patrick Warburton (Family Guy’s wheel-chair bound Joe Swanson) , David Spade (SNL alum among various comedies) and Megyn Price (best known for her role in Grounded for Life.) The rest of the cast is rounded out by Oliver Hudson and Bianca Kajlich, and are later joined by Adhir Kalyan (the assistant to Spade’s character Russell.)
It’s true, these friends all share a single bed
What makes this show fun is that it’s packed with plenty of humor, often focusing on relations between the couples themselves. Jeff and Audrey (Warburton and Price respectively) often trade advice and share their relationship woes with Adam and Jennifer (Hudson and Kajlich.) Spade’s depiction of Russell is often comedy relief and a direct contrast as he is the only single person among this group of friends.
Despite being canceled, this show packed a punch in terms consistent laughs. While some may find it relatively formulaic, this show is still worth watching and all 100 episodes are available now.
3. Bates Motel (2013-present)
A&E managed to knock one out of the park when they decided to sign off on the prequel TV Series based off of the Alfred Hitchcock movie “Psycho.” While only 1 season is currently on Netflix, it has a total of 2 seasons and has already been renewed for a third.
Don’t worry; the sign for the hotel is not actually in the hotel room
For those of you who haven’t seen the movie “Psycho,” this prequel revolves around Norma and Norman Bates. After an accident in which Norman’s father mysteriously dies, the Bates family moves to White Pine, Oregon. The city quickly becomes just as mysterious as the Bates’ reasons for moving there.
The strong point of this series comes from it’s core actors, Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore are delightful in their depictions of the Bates mother and son. Highmore having been a child movie star shows just what kind of depth he has as an adult, bringing an intensity not easily done on television.
Don’t worry, they’re not actually spliced together in the show… barely
Despite being a contemporary revision of the classic horror film, Bates Motel is an amazing adaptation. Its characters are rich they weave in and out of a plot that never loses a full head of steam. Luckily this show is still running, and season 2 will be available before the release of season 3 around March 2015.
2. Fringe (2008-2013)
Fringe joins a collection of shows canceled by Fox despite having viciously loyal fanbases. True to form for a Fox cancellation, episodes were aired out of order, the day of the week it aired changed several times and before it could gain any steam Fox would end its erection on the spot.
Sorry we’re on Tuesdays, wait Thursday… sorry… I meant Friday
Despite Fox’ best effort to confuse and infuriate fans, no matter what day of the week Fringe aired, enough people still showed up to keep it going. For this reason Fringe managed to last 5 seasons, incorporating topics concerning Fringe science, meaning alternate dimensions, unlocking mental powers and splicing DNA just to name a few.
Fringe was the brain-child of a post-Lost era J.J. Abrams, who was backed by consistent collaborators Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. The show mainly followed the cast of Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) and Peter’s father Walter (John Noble.) The dynamic of these three characters packed enough interest to carry almost any storyline thrown at them. Noble especially delivers a knockout performance, stealing almost any scene he is in due to the bizarre nature of his mental instabilities.
I have no idea what we’re staring at
While Fringe may have gotten the ax, it still went out on its own terms. The 5th and final season managed to settle a lot of loose ends, and also served as a love letter to the fans who so passionately followed it for half a decade. All episodes of Fringes are also available on Netflix, and any fans of the X-Files will definitely see a great parallel in this series.
1. Orange is the New Black (2013-present)
Netflix has shown that is has the chops necessary to make award-winning programming. In the past 2 years they have premiered House of Cards, Hemlock Grove and resurrected Arrested Development for a 4th season. Netflix continued to flex its range with Orange is the New Black (OITNB); a comedy/drama based on the memoirs of Piper Kerman.
I find the lack of orange here very disturbing
OITNB follows the prison adventures of Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) a woman sentenced to 15 months in a women’s prison for her involvement in the transport of drug money. Her former girlfriend Alex Vause (Laura Prepon) reunites with her after Piper has no choice but to turn herself in after her involvement with Vause becomes public.
The strength of this series early on ties directly into Chapman’s inability to adapt to prison life, having spent the previous 10 years as one of the New York’s upper middle class. Her misadventures as an inmate are very easy to quickly be immersed in, as OITNB manages to captivate with a brilliant surrounding cast and comedy worthy of network television.
There sure are a lot of smiles in prison
OITNB manages to bring about a quality similar to TV’s Hogans Heroes, as the inmates are often treated as friends to the prison guards. However, as soon as one dynamic is created, in mere moments it is flipped on its head. This paradigm shift leads to brutality that many would expect to find in a prison setting; a balance that OITNB managed to execute flawlessly throughout its first season.
It is no surprise that the show was picked up for a second season almost immediately. So long as Netflix manages to create television as captivating as this; you can expect this series to flourish until further notice.
Thanks again for reading! As always, be careful who you bed with.
Photo credit(s):
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