This week, FIELD OF STREAMS highlights the best of the small screen.
Welcome to Field of Streams, Cinapse’s weekly guide of what’s playing on your favorite streaming services. What’s new on Netflix and Amazon Prime? What do we recommend on Kanopy, Fandor, and Shudder? We’ve got it all. From monthly roundups, to curated top 5 lists, to reviews of our favorites available now… it’s here. We built it for you, so come and join us in the Field of Streams.
Any fan of good television very well might have seen every show on this list, but for anyone that hasn’t, don’t delay! Contemporary TV is best when it’s binge-able, so take advantage of Amazon Prime and find a comfy spot on the couch. There’s watchin’ to do.
Friday Night Lights
Austin prerogative here, but this is a show everyone can enjoy, even those that don’t like the game of football. Based off of the book and movie of the same name, Friday Night Lights takes the real life story of Permian High School in Odessa, Texas and just barely fictionalizes it for a multi-season excursion into high school drama, small town politics, and a big ol’ dose of the great state of Texas. That it was filmed in and around Austin doesn’t hurt.
The thing that sets this series apart from so many others is the relationship between Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler)and his wife Tami (Connie Britton). Rarely is a marriage depicted with such honesty and authenticity. Truly, this is a couple to emulate. Even as they deal with over-the-top dilemmas, a core of a truly respectful love shines through.
That’s not to dismiss all of the other great characters in the show. Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) is the iconic bad boy, Tyra (Adrianne Palicki) the harsh sweetheart, and Landry (Jesse Plemons) the nerd to root for. All of these stereotypes get blown up by stellar performances and compelling stories.
[Warning: Do not let a Season 2 bout of ridiculousness derail the desire to watch all five seasons. It’s worth pushing through.]
Downton Abbey
This the British Period Drama for people who hate British Period Dramas. Don’t let preconceived notions turn this into one that gets skipped over on the way to find something interesting. Downton Abbey IS the something interesting! The drama is so over the top, but couched inside the changing world of the early 20th century, it’s quite a ride.
The opening episode takes place just as the Titanic realizes its epic disaster, and the ramifications for the Crawleys are immense. Inheritance, long-lost family, and bitter feuds fuel the fire.
Each season moves forward in time with World War I, women’s suffrage, and many more historical events overlapping with the drama on screen. The split between the family and the staff keeps plenty of storylines in play and creates one of the most memorable series in all of television.
Justified
For those that loved Timothy Olyphant’s Seth Bullock in HBO’s masterpiece Deadwood, Justified gives new life to this angry harbinger of justice and carnage. U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens has to leave his post in Miami where he caused some ruckus and relocates back to his hometown in Kentucky. It’s The Dukes of Hazzard meets Scarface.
The good old boy quotient is high, as is the meth quotient. It might fall into southern stereotypes at times, but Olyphant’s seething, even performance and a host of interesting characters keeps Justified on point, season after season.
The Guardian
Before he hit it big with The Mentalist, Simon Baker was kicking around CBS for a few years. It was obvious the network knew they had a star in the making; they just had to find the right vehicle. It turns out The Guardian wasn’t the right show for big-league success, but it’s a worthwhile endeavor on its own merits.
Nick Fallin (Baker) is a young, hotshot lawyer who hits a wall due to some personal demons. As part of his legal restitution, he’s required to do community service, which lets him get away from his self-centered ways and actually help others for once. It’s a bit of a trite plot device, but it works. Dabney Coleman plays his dad, the head of the firm, and the most sublime moments come when father and son navigate awkward silences as they attempt to bridge gaps in communication, personal history, and pain. The acting keeps this show from being a throwaway on the dustheap of television history and makes The Guardian worth a fresh look.
Hannibal
From Brian Fuller, the mind behind Dead Like Me, Pushing Daisies, and the television adaptation of American Gods, Hannibal revives the world of Silence of the Lambs for the small screen, pushing boundaries the whole time.
Set before the events of Thomas Harris’s Manhunter, Hannibal creates a viscerally textured world with an iconic reworking of the titular character, as well as FBI Agent Will Graham. Mads Mikkelsen’s Hannibal is very much not that of Anthony Hopkins, but it is perfection in its own way. He pulls off the erudite, urbane sophisticate (with a superb palette, of course) to a tee. Hugh Dancy’s Graham is in a constant state of psychotic confusion, not helped by the fact that his de facto therapist is Dr. Lecter himself.
The series begins with Hannibal’s villainy still a secret, and an actual friendship grows between him and graham. It’s fun to watch, even knowing the ending, though some of the crime scenes won’t sit well with weak stomachs. This is cable fare that somehow made it three full seasons on NBC. The viewing audience is lucky it did.