1: LODGE 49
(AMC / streaming now on Hulu) - 20 episodes
No contest here - by far and away this is #1 for needing to continue. I actually never even heard of this show
until two weeks ago when Hulu randomly put it in my suggested shows to watch
(the second season of 10 episodes recently finished airing on AMC and all eps
are now available on Hulu).
Season 1 was just crazy.
For a while I couldn't even figure out who was the main cast. And the story itself was awesome. The end of the first season (starting with
episode 8) got a little drama heavy and the weirdness went away. But the season recovered and ended good and
season 2 kicked in full blown strange and stayed that way - and that's where this
show shines.
Pay attention to every character that shows up - even
the ones there briefly. That's one of the
things that I love about this show is random characters keep returning when you
least expect it. And the guest stars you
want to see more of, you do.
Even if it doesn't get a 3rd season, the 20 episodes are a
perfect story beginning to end. But if
enough people watch on Hulu, fingers crossed a miracle will happen and maybe
they'll pick it up for more seasons.
2: HYPERDRIVE
(Netflix) - 10 episodes
Remember ABC's Wipeout?
That's pretty much what this is, but with cars.
I figured I'd watch one episode just to see what it was then
move on. But ended up flying through all
ten episodes.
The stars of this show are not the players or the hosts -
it's the track and the location. Whoa
did they do an amazing job making this look larger than life. The lights, the size of the stunts, even the
very real danger. Yup, danger. And it happened. And the cool thing was the show not only admitted
it happened, but also showed it, and admitted to the mistake by changing things
around after it happened.
But back to the track.
It's like a racing video game in night mode - but real. The show was filmed at the mostly now unused Eastman
Kodak Park in Rochester, NY. The abandoned
buildings, tunnels, and large amounts of unused emptiness push the ambiance
over the top. And with the cool lighting
package, it looks like Tron come to life.
From what I hear, people surrounding the industrial park
were not happy when the show filmed. It
was done at night and the cars were crazy loud.
But I hope they have to make that sacrifice again because I want to see
what stunts the producers would come up with for season 2!
There were some negatives - too many hosts (the interviewer
was good, but three hosts was too many), I was disappointed with who won (not
even hinting how I feel about the contestants so no spoilers), and I would've
preferred to see more of the full races instead of just highlights.
But overall, I want more Hyperdrive!
3: PEOPLE OF EARTH
(TBS) - 20 episodes
It's been a little while since this was on the air, but I
still don't understand how it disappeared so suddenly.
I'm all about shows that aren't normal. And this absolutely falls into that
category. The spaceship stuff was by far
my favorite. I saw a mention somewhere
online that it was very Office-like and those spaceship scenes were exactly
that at times - The Office with aliens.
Everything on Earth was good too and I loved every character
in the group. The storyline got a little
weird in season 2 but it was a weird show so all good.
Here's the most confusing part though - and it's nothing to
do with the show's plot but the show itself.
TBS had renewed the show for season 3.
All the episodes were written.
Then TBS changed their mind and cancelled it.
If all the episodes are written just sitting there waiting
to be filmed, I don't get why this show hasn't shown up on Netflix or Hulu. If those original 20 episodes were to get
enough views, there's already a 3rd season ready to go. And I want to know what happens next!
Even a book version of those scripts would be nice! But an actual 3rd season would be better. Let's hope the episodes become more available
streaming-wise soon.
4: SUNNYSIDE
(NBC / Hulu) - 11 episodes
I'm going to miss The Good Place so much! But this would've filled that hole. Crazy characters, sometimes completely insane
storylines and an awesome cast that could pull off anything.
My favorite storylines were the ones that could never be
pulled off on a normal sitcom (the fake business set-up in episode 4 a perfect
example).
I love that after NBC cancelled the show, the remaining
episodes still continued online. And
every single week, I watched the new one.
And I'd continue to do that if more are made.
5: THE CIRCLE
(Netflix) - 12 episodes
I just watched the final episode of season 1. A good first season and a really cool concept
of awarding the prize to the best social media influencer in a closed circle
setting.
Even the thought of social media influencers annoys me. Who are these people and why does anyone care
about them? I don't. But this show had fun with that. Yup, there were some that catfished - every
reality show's got to have villains and they definitely filled that spot here.
If the show were to continue, I'd hope to see all the
contestants start at the same time. And
maybe less restrictions for them. I get
the impression they were only allowed to communicate with each other at very
limited times and with very strict guidelines.
Those limits should be removed entirely.
Same goes with status updates and such - it just seemed like the rules
were way too rigid.
It did keep my interest the full 12 episodes though and I
liked how 4 episodes were released each Wednesday. A tweaked second season would be cool to see. Or a return of the awesome & perfect old Fox Reality Channel show Solitary, which this kinda reminded me in a tiny way (but that's a whole different post).
