Year after year, Gossip Girl has been successfully showing the same group of people ruining each other’s lives only to realise they are best friends, while the sadistic ‘A’ from Pretty Little Liars has been chasing a group of annoying girls for the past year because it’s so much fun (sarcasm intended). Then there is Grey’s Anatomy where doctors are more engrossed in their romantic affairs with their coworkers within the hospital than the well being of their patients. They don’t even play How to Save a Life by The Fray anymore.
Turns out, while we have been stuck watching the same annoyingly addictive television series, some new ones have emerged just this year, which might just be potentially better than the ones that got the honourable mention above.
Here is a list of television series of different genres that have been released/are going to be released soon.
Drama/Romantic:
Girls: pointlessly dramatic series not for you? I think you will like this one. ‘Girls’ is a story about Hannah, an aspiring writer and graduate for two years, who is trying to put her life together after hearing from her parents that they will no longer support her financially.
The first season has already ended, and while there are some adult-only scenes, the series is not mindless. It’s a change from all those series which revolve around one air headed pretty protagonist who is concerned with anything and everything superficial while playing the role of a high school student who actually looks old enough to be a working graduate.
What I particularly like about this series is the protagonist, Hannah. She does not meet the society’s norm of perfect by being overweight and not very well groomed. However, Hannah’s appearance paired with a very strong personality and ambition while trying to manage her personal life is very striking. This makes her a character that is believable, likeable and impressive to watch.
Completely new cast, paired with a realistic, relatable, and fantastic story makes this tv series refreshing to watch.
‘Girls’ Trailer
Comedy/Drama:
Best Friends Forever: What will happen if you best-friend unknowingly tried to ruin your relationship?
This one is about two best friends, Jessica and Lennon who has a boyfriend named Joe. Jessica’s husband filed a divorce against her which she doesn’t take very well and moves in with Lennon and Joe. While Lennon and Jessica get along well and go back to being the way they were before living separately, Joe has trouble trying to adjust to Jessica living with them.
What stands out about this series is that it shows an older age of the women who are the main protagonists.
The first season has ended, with nothing very extra-ordinary about the story or the acting. However, if you are looking to watch some new faces, this might be something you want to try.
‘Best Friends Forever’ Trailer
Sci-Fi:
Awake: This one has a very interesting story. It is about an LA police officer, Michael Britten, who starts living two separate realities, a ‘green reality’ and a ‘red reality’, after meeting with a car accident. In the green reality, his wife survives where he wears a green wristband and in the red reality, his son survives and he wears a red wristband. He also goes to two different therapists in each reality, and does not know which one is the real reality.
The concept has more depth to it than any television I have seen till date. It meddles with the concept of reality and what we physically see and experience is reality and what we feel is reality.
Kyle Killen, the series creator, claims he got the inspiration of creating this series from his curiosity towards the dreaming process. “I think I became interested in the question of what if nothing ever popped that balloon? What if you couldn’t tell the difference between when you were awake and when you were asleep?” (The Voice of TV, 2012)
Here’s a fun fact – Jason Isaacs, the man who plays the protagonist, Michael Britten’s role is the guy who plays Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter film series.
The first season has ended and if not for the very original story, I would watch it out of curiosity to see Isaacs in a role so different from that of Lucius Malfoy.
‘Awake’ Trailer
Supernatural:
Beauty and the Beast: as the name suggests, it is a modern life adaptation of the Disney fairy tale of the same name. The story is about Catherine, whose mother is shot dead by two strangers when she was a child. Catherine manages to escape into the forest where the men follow her are about to shoot her when a beast-like figure attacks and kills them, saving her life.
Many years later, Catherine is now a grown woman who works for the sheriff of the city. While working on one of the crimes, she comes across the identity of the beast that saved her life, but has to keep his identity a secret.
The story is just like any other supernatural flick where the beast turns out to be the good guy, and the girl falls for him. I can’t help but recognize its striking similarity to Grimm, the television series that is a modern day adaptation of the fairy tales by the Grimm brothers. However, this series seems like fun to watch, with different cases taking place in every episode. Watch the trailer for the series to know more.
‘Beauty and the Beast’ Trailer
Drama:
Saving Hope: another television series based on doctors in a particular hospital. That’s what I thought before watching the pilot, and it was true. However, the story was what caught my eye. It is about Dr. Alex Reed and her fiancé Dr. Charles Harris, who meet with an accident which leaves Charles in a coma.
While having to deal with patients daily and hoping her fiancé wakes up, Alex now has to face her former lover, Dr Joel Goran, who acts as replacement for Charles.
The main turning point of the story, however, is that Charles, who is in a coma, realises he can roam the hospital in his spirit form. On a daily basis, Charles tries to make his presence known to Alex while she has to deal with patients, and hope Charles will wake up soon.
6 episodes have been released so far and have not left me bored or confused just yet, unlike Grey’s Anatomy where the first few episodes were enough to know that pretty much everyone has feelings for everyone and everyone is having couple issues. I barely exaggerate.
Saving Hope combines an interesting story with good actors, where medical drama meets supernatural with a hint of humour.
‘Saving Hope’ Trailer
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