Saving the best for last, this for me, by far, is the most intelligent and at the same time most entertaining frakkin' show ever to grace the home screen.
"Battlestar Galactica" is a phenomenal reimagination of the primordial TV series of 1978 about the last remaining human beings' struggle for survival after man's creation, the Cylons, turn against them.
The new series takes the science fiction genre and the television medium to a whole new level of drama - tackling universal issues ranging from personal (identity, love and sex, family) to socioeconomic (class conflict, population implosion, gender differences), to political (human rights, power play, terrorism), to spirituality (religion, mythology, reincarnation).
Ultimately, the show fearlessly paints a microcosmic portrait of our world and dares to ask the quintessential philosophical questions regarding humanity: Why we are how we are and where it will take us.
Kudos to the the writers who are able to incorporate current issues into a science fiction setting set in the future.
No television show has ever come close to eliciting powerful emotions and posing thought-provoking questions as "Battlestar Galactica" has.
Arresting plotlines combined with high-caliber acting from a stellar ensemble cast make for commanding performances and moving character development.
Composer Bear McCreary has created a wide range of musical style from elegiac to optimistic, from operatic to folk, making good use of drums, keyboards, even bagpipes and accordion.
One of the things I enjoy in BSG is the exciting blend of mind-blowing visual effects and breathtaking battle sequences with pulse-pounding orchestral music. The following video sums it up quite succinctly.
The show has garnered numerous praises and accolades, including several Emmys and the prestigious Peabody.
A most rewarding appraisal came from the United Nations where the show was given the centerstage. The council discussed how "Battlestar Galactica" helped in depicting many concerns the UN is working strongly for.
The show has actually ended and I have to admit I am only on the second season. Although I know about the show from its inception and wanted to watch it from the very beginning (which started as a miniseries and went on to become a regular TV series), several factors did not allow me to. Long story so I won't delve on it.
I have been watching it on the Internet, but "Battlestar Galactica", epic in scope, deserves to be experienced on a big screen. BSG makes me want to buy a widescreen TV.
I'm not a DVD collector at all but I am willing to make an excpetion for BSG.
A new TV series, "Caprica", is set to debut on 2010, which chronicles the events that happened before "Battlestar Galactica".
An ordinary woodsman, Richard Cypher, is thrust into the quest of a lifetime when he learns he is the prophesied "Seeker" to crush the evil forces of a powerful tyrant determined to rule over the world.
Together with a Confessor, Kahlan Amnell, and a Wizard of the First Order, Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, they embark on an epic journey to restore and maintain the peace threatened to be obliterated by the evil Darken Rahl.
It is an entertaining, exciting escapist fare from director/producer Sam Raimi, who I profoundly admire for the very subtle yet deeply poignant "A Simple Plan" and the cult classic "Evil Dead" trilogy (Evil Dead, Dead by Dawn, Army of Darkness), but who is more known for the popular "Spiderman" trilogy.
That "LA" is not a typo. This new NBC production created by Ann Biderman which debuted just last month is a cop show with the City of Angels as backdrop.
It's a gritty, gripping portrait of Los Angeles presented from the point of view not only of people in the police department, but of crime victims, criminals, and their families as well.
In its effort towards authenticity, "SouthLAnd" utilizes a neorealist style with on-location shoots, hand-held camerawork, use of non-professional actors (including actual off-duty cops), street lingo, and documentary-like visuals.
I like the fact that the show does not employ any scoring in its entirety, except for the first sequence of the very first episode, and the opening billboards, of course. There is no accompanying mood music to cue the viewer what to feel because the narrative is enough to keep the story engaging.
The show has a multi-character format which gives viewers different points of view of a story. The narrative is well-driven by motivations of the characters in focus. The dynamics between characters, even those that share very little screen time, are strongly palpable.
I was able to catch SouthLAnd's pilot episode and have been following the show since then. I'm only on the third episode and already I'm hooked.
I just hope the show lasts long enough for its efforts to be recognized because TV gems, already hard to come by, are always in danger of meeting an early, undeserved death, such as what happened to "Pushing Daisies".
Television has been described as an idiot box and it is true in a way. There's a lot of shows on TV that render viewers as non-thinking consumers of audio-visual products.
With VHF, UHF, Cable, Satellite, and even Web TV, it can be a vast wasteland of shows out there that don't really give much redemption for the viewer.
That is one reason why I don't have TV - and for three years now. I tell you, it is quite a relief considering the veritable amount of trash that comes out on the home screen.
But once in a while good shows worthy of one's time come along. In proceeding posts, let me share three TV finds that made me tell myself to - "Follow that show!" :-)
How do I get to watch them without a TV set? I have my reliable MacBook and an acoustic sound system. This way I am able to watch shows on my own convenient time and with surround sound to boot.
I have a new Dim Sum discovery.
Bam,
It was a perfect steaming hot breakfast
And when it comes to Dim Sum,
