Two time Fangoria Chainsaw Award winner (!) Bruce Campbell ("Burn Notice", "The Evil Dead").
Ratings:
IMDB: 90% Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (based on 4.6/5 average rating as of Oct 2015). Note: The second season has a 100% "critics's consensus" on Rotten Tomatoes.
Length:
season 1: 10 episodes. season 2: (current) 10 episodes.
Notes:
A superlative entry in a golden age of TV, "Fargo" distinguishes itself with a unique blend of comedy, drama and weirdness. Perfectly timed bursts of intensity occur against the dull matter-of-fact backdrop of middle-american suburbia. Characters stand out. Most are flawed, well layered, interesting, likable, and all drawn from masterful writing. This one is a treat, first pointed out by Myk.
Richard Lewis ("Leaving Las Vegas", "Robin Hood: Men in Tights").
Golden Globe and Emmy nominee Ed Begley Jr. ("St. Elsewhere").
Ratings:
IMDB: 77% Rotten Tomatoes: 86% (based on average audience rating of 4.3/5 as of Oct 2015). However it's important to note that the "critics review" (53%) is much lower than the audience score.
Length:
season 1: 10 episodes.
Notes:
A formally trained British actor, long associated with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, Captain Picard is also science fiction royalty. This Star Trek icon and fixture in Marvel's "X-Men" movie franchise, who has also been knighted by the Queen of England, brings some Hollywood star power to Starz network. Unfortunately critics hate "Blunt Talk", considering it a poorly written "waste of Patrick Stewart's considerable gifts" (Rotten tomatoes' "critics consensus"). In my opinion, Stewart really shines in serious roles rather than comedy, but his effort to depart from the type of roles he traditionally plays, by taking on "Blunt Talk", is still something we should appreciate. At times, his regal voice (which advertisers love) makes him seem a little stiff for comedy, but a genuine, natural, fun-loving nature works it's way through, despite his rather proper manner of speaking. He has a magnetic screen presence and the end result is quite entertaining.
season 1: 6 episodes. season 2: 13 episodes. season 3: 16 episodes. season 4: 16 episodes. season 5: 16 episodes. season 6: (current) 16 episodes.
Notes:
This is the oldest surviving "zombie show" for a reason: It's the most watched cable series in history, with recent seasons eclipsing viewership of any broadcast television series as well as cable. Is it great? Certainly not, but many aspects of it are pretty good, resulting in broad appeal. The characters are generally likable and the story line is interesting. Early seasons of the show drag a little, with notably slower-paced plot lines and long periods of inactivity, but the pace picks up in the third season. Later seasons still have "throwaway episodes" (my opinion) where little or nothing happens, but for the most part they are more action-oriented than the early ones. Definitely worth watching, but it probably won't top your list.
