Surface, My Latest Favorite Arcing Series
by Don Dehm
Truly arcing story lines in television is a real rarity, at least when it comes to the kind of television I enjoy. I spend a lot of effort looking for a series that will keep me glued to the plot for hours, or even days of watching. These are those story lines that are characterized by unveiling surprises at the end of every episode with something the characters will be forced to deal with and grow on. The most recent series I found that met my standards of entertainment is Surface.
There are a couple of major plots going on you expect to eventually merge. One is about a boy that recovers and raises a dangerous unknown sea creature. The other is a scientist being chased away from her research by a brutal and merciless program presumably sponsored by the government. It has the what-if component of sci-fi that is important for my maximum viewing pleasure, characters that actually grow and develop throughout the series, slow revelation of a reality that isn’t quite as it would seem, and the all-important reason to return to see another episode of an arcing story.
Fortunately, this whole series is available for instant viewing on Netflix and appears to be at least partially available by other means. Like most shows, I watched each episode when I had time and the more into it I got, the more I watched back to back. I like watching it that way. While I love Heroes, I found it difficult sometimes to remember important details when the season is interrupted for several months.
I have also enjoyed Jericho, Deadwood, Battlestar Galactica, and Farscape for many of the same reasons I cited above. If you have any recommendations, please, please, let me know what I should be adding to my queue.
I’ve been grabbed by Lost. So have my parents-in-law, actually. Watching it in big chunks is… not so recommended. It’s better, I’d say, to keep it to one episode per day.
They are not sci-fi, but I cannot recommend highly enough both The Wire and The Shield
I finally decided to write a comment on your blog. I just wanted to say good job. I really enjoy reading your posts.
What Bryan said. Battlestar Galactica is really just The Shield in space in terms of character and visuals.
Thirding the Shield and the wire.
I`ve recently started watching the new series “Survivors” (NOT to be confused with “Survivor”, the ‘reality’ tv monstrocity).
It appears to follow a similar plot to “The Stand”, save without the demons and religious allusions.
Having watched only the pilot, this show might be one for you to check out.
HBO’s Rome
Ditto Rome, also The Wire, which I thought may be the most brilliant TV I have seen. Deadwood is right up there, too. I haven’t yet seen any Jericho or Battlestar Galactica, don’t want to clutter up disk space until I finish watching what I already have, and I don’t watch TV very often. Farscape lost me with its pilot, for a number of reasons (everyone knows what the slingshot effect is; main character too young to be astronaut; oh, the human-like aliens must be the baddies, they have posh British accents.)
Yes, both Rome and Deadwood are great. Carnivale is another short HBO series that was pretty really good.
Thanks for the suggestions! Keep them coming. I am looking them all up.
The Wire
The Wire
The Wire
maybe Twin Peaks even though this will be filled with highs and lows
Mad Men
Lost (I disagree with the above poster… watch in on DVD is as many chunks at a time as you want)
Also Firefly if you haven’t seen that yet
Carnivale gets one of my highest recommendations.
If you enjoy Joss Whedon’s work, I would recommend Angel. The character of Wesley has one of the most amazing character development arcs on television.
If you don’t enjoy Joss Whedon, I’d recommend Firefly (and then the movie Serenity as the “final episode”). I think it’s more accessible to people who aren’t already Buffy/Angel fans.
Oh, and speaking of Lost, if you haven’t already seen it, I would recommend J.J. Abrams’ earlier series Alias.