I hope loyal readers of this blog have figured out by now that we here at the Peabody Library love books. We love reading, pairing great books with the right reader, defending the reader’s right to read and talking about cool things in the book world. We also love movies (bonus if they’re literary adaptations) and music (especially supporting local artists), but save for a notable exception here and, of course, our evangelist-like proclamations of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, we haven’t talked too much about TV. Since a well-balanced life of artistic pleasures can easily include television, I thought I’d take a post to balance things out a bit and talk about TV shows, with a little help from Dame Maggie Smith as Lady Violet Crawley.
Though the new fall season is approaching, good TV can be had year-round now with some non-traditional networks airing original material during what is typically thought of as the “off” season. This is often particularly true with British television series (*cough* Downton Abbey *cough*) that are run during the “regular” season across the Pond, and then mosey their way over to America just when we’re hankering for something new.
If you don’t have a TV/cable, have a tendency to miss when your favorite shows are on, don’t like sitting through commercials or are just plain looking for something different to watch, you can get some great television series, mini-series and special events right here at the library through our DVD collections. Even better, many of our TV collections are loaned out by entire seasons, which makes them ripe and ready for binge-watching!
Clearly, not all of what we love here at the library is based on books. What we truly love is creativity and good stories, and those can be found in just about any medium, including TV. So with the greatest deference to our regular Free-For-All-Blogess, I’m embarking on a television version of an If/Then post: South Branch style.
If your DVR is starting to smoke because your favorite shows returning this fall ended up in the same time slots, or if you’re going through withdrawal because some of your favorite shows aren’t starting until after the fall season (*cough* Downton Abbey *cough*) then here are some suggestions that you might want to try while you’re waiting….
If you’re looking forward to the final (sniff!) season of Downton Abbey… Then you might want to try:
If your favorite part of Downton is Dame Maggie Smith’s quips as the family matriarch, meet The Blandings. Described by Publisher’s Weekly as “Downton Abbey gone amok” this funny, irreverent take on the upstairs/downstairs relationship will still leave you pondering about social class, but without all the tears (unless, of course, they’re tears of laughter). This one is a favorite at the South; everyone who checks it out has brought it back talking about how much they laughed.
If part of Downton Abbey’s appeal is the gut-wrenching heartache and occasional ugly-cry (why can’t Julian Fellowes just let Mr. Bates and Anna be happy together?), then Call the Midwife might be more to your taste. Exploring the lowest classes in a post-WWII London, this series follows the midwives of Nonnatus House as they guide families through some of the best and worst moments of pregnancy and childbirth. Keep the tissues handy…
If you’re looking forward to the return of The Big Bang Theory… Then you might want to try:
If you like watching a slightly-awkward guy try to find love surrounded by hilarious and equally hapless friends, give How I Met Your Mother a try. This show ran for 9 seasons, yet somehow flew under the radar of many Big Bang fans, even though many of the themes and much of the humor were similar. While there are plenty of sub-plots and storylines to keep you hooked throughout, prepare yourself for what is essentially a series-long cliffhanger; the show really is about how the main character met his kids’ mother. However, unlike the Sheldon/Amy and Penny/Leonard cliffhanger from Big Bang, you don’t have to wait an entire summer to find out what happens as all 9 seasons of HIMYM are on DVD. This way, you can decide for yourself if the show’s creators made the right choice for the hotly-debated series finale.
If you’re looking forward to season 3 of Broadchurch… Then you might want to try:
If you liked the whodunnit suspense of Broadchurch’s first season and the courtroom drama of its second season,The Escape Artist will fill both of those cravings for you. This was a mini-series, but it packs every bit of the same “what just happened here?” punch with its twist ending. Added bonus: it stars Broadchurch’s brilliantly-talented and delightfully-accented David Tennant, who delivers another stellar performance.
If you’re looking forward to Castle returning… Then you might want to try:
If you enjoy Castle’s mystery-of-the-week format with the satisfaction of following clues and solving a case at the end of the hour, then you’ll want to check out Rebus. This is a somewhat older British import based on Ian Rankin’s wildly popular Inspector John Rebus books. (OK, so I can’t go totally book-free, I guess.) While Rebus and his his partner DS Siobahn Clarke don’t have the will-they-or-won’t-they chemistry of Beckett and Castle, you’ll still get the same satisfying “case-closed” feeling at the end of the episodes here.
That’s it from the South front this week, dear readers/watchers. Whether you decide to read or watch TV, I wish you a great weekend!
