American Horror Story
I’ll be the first to admit that I really can’t handle scary movies — at all. That demonic little girl from “The Ring” still gives me nightmares. And yet, I can’t stop watching FX’s creepy new series, “American Horror Story.”
The show is based on the aptly nicknamed “Murder House” and its many inhabitants that have met a gruesome end there. Each episode begins with a flashback, telling the story of previous residents. There’s the gay couple that died in a double suicide; two nurses who were stabbed to death by cult-esque killers; trespassing twins murdered by some sort of demon.
But what really holds the plot together is its element of surprise. Each episode leaves you hanging just a little bit, curious about what will happen to its current residents, a family of three, each with their own issues. And did I mention it’s created by the same people who made “Glee?” Just let that sink in for a few minutes.
–Yohana Desta
Breaking Bad
This one isn’t a question. “Breaking Bad” has evolved from its relatively simple first-season premise — Walter White (Bryan Cranston, “Malcolm in
the Middle”), a high school chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with terminal cancer and begins cooking meth to support his family — into the darkest, smartest, most twisted show on television. “Breaking Bad” is a show that requires your ultimate attention. Blink and you’ll miss a minor event that’ll come back five episodes later and turn the show’s action on its head.
All the while, fans have been able to follow the stunning emotional journeys of Walt and Jesse (Aaron Paul, “Big Love”), his accomplice and former student, as the two become impossibly trapped in the darkest underworld imaginable, swirling with greed, gratuitous violence and the endless pursuit for Walt’s chemically impeccable crystal meth.
Thematically, “Breaking Bad” couldn’t be more different from AMC’s first dramatic series, “Mad Men,” and while “Mad Men” is all chrome and lipstick, “Breaking Bad” is soaked with blood and grit. But both shows share a keen sense of subtlety and have a way of weaving together all the themes, characters and minor plot elements into a stunning conclusion. And what other show on TV today could make a meth-addled mother crushing her husband ‘s under a stolen ATM look like the most natural occurrence in the world?
–Maeve McDermott
Dexter
What makes “Dexter” one of the best TV shows in 2011? It’s addicting. By day, Dexter Morgan is a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Metro Homicide Department. By night, he’s a vigilante serial killer who takes out the trash that his day job couldn’t.
The plot and character building that takes place throughout the six seasons leaves the audience invested in the storylines from one episode to the next. Each character carries his or her own stories, and every episode advances those stories in exciting ways. For anyone looking to get into a new show, give “Dexter” a try. (No thanks to Netflix, who recently took it off of instant play — I’m not bitter).
–Kendall Breitman
Doctor Who
If you had all of time and space at your disposal, where would you go? “Doctor Who,” the 2005 continuation of the famed British sci-fi series that has been on the air since 1963, explores exactly this question.
To be specific, “Doctor Who” is a show that explores the impossible. The story of a time-traveling alien, known only as the Doctor, who picks up human companions to go on adventures in time and space, “Doctor Who” sounds like the most ridiculous concept ever. But somehow, it’s not.
“Doctor Who” is purely magical, escapist entertainment that isn’t bound by notions like logic, time or place. Having just finished its sixth season, “Doctor Who” is in a creative golden age with showrunner Steven Moffat at the helm and the wonderfully quirky performance by the current incarnation of the Doctor, Matt Smith.
–Hoai-Tran Bui
