In the last few years television has come into its own. In years gone by movie stars would go nowhere near TV – it meant the end of their career. Now though it means quite the opposite. In the last few years TV scripts are strong, production values are high, and there are fantastic roles to be found!
Who would have thought that the likes of Angelica Houston and Zooey Deschanel would be found on TV, but they are and they star in some of this year’s must see TV.
Below are my 5 must see TV shows in 2012!
1. SMASH
Katherine McPhee, Debra Messing, Jack Davenport and ANJELICA HUSTON (yes you read right, Anjelica Huston!!!), star in this drama/musical about a team of producers who are trying to put on a Broadway musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe.
With Stephen Spielberg as Executive Producer, Angelica Houston, Debra Messing, musical numbers, and drama, what’s not to like?! I really hope an Irish/UK satellite station picks this up soon so we can all enjoy it on this side of the world!
2. NEW GIRL Fridays 8.30pm, Channel 4
Zooey Deschanel stars as Jess, a recently single girl, who after a bad break up moves in with 3 single guys. No matter how hard they resist, these guys often get caught up in her off-beat, fun world.
3. HAPPY ENDINGS Thursdays 9.30pm, Channel 4
Happy Endings is about a couple, Alex (Elisha Cuthbert, 24) and Dave (Zachary Knighton, Flash Forward) who broke up at the altar and the fallout this has on their 4 friends – Alex’s sister Jane (Eliza Coupe, Scrubs), her metrosexual husband Brad (Damon Wayans Jr, The Other Guys), single girl Penny, (Casey Wilson, SNL) and her ex-boyfriend and now gay BFF Max (Adam Pally, Californication). The story of six friends, many will say, has been told before but this is different. It’s fresh and funny. Happy Endings started off very slow in the US but is fast becoming must-see TV thanks to word of mouth. It is yet to be seen if Happy Endings will have the long run of Friends but it is well worth the watch!
4. REVENGE
We really haven’t had TV like this since Dallas/Dynasty. Brothers & Sisters’ Emily Van Camp stars as Emily Thorne, “a young woman who is welcomed into a community filled with people who don’t know she’s only there to exact revenge on those who had destroyed her family”. (imdb)
According to Mike Kelley, the show’s creator, “Revenge is universal. As primal as the need for love, sex, or the feeding of a searing hunger. Revenge crosses time and culture. It starts unwinnable wars and visits generations of blood feuds on families with unsettled scores. Revenge is as old as humanity. Dark and dramatic and endless.”
Hopefully, a network on this side of the world will pick up this show soon.
5. HOMELAND Fridays 9.30pm, RTE2
Claire Danes won a Golden Globe for her role as the very intense CIA agent, Carrie Mathison, who is trying to prove that Marine Sargeant Nicholas Brody, who has just returned to the US after being missing for eight years, isn’t the national hero everyone thinks he is. Rather, he poses a great threat to Homeland security. This is filling the void that 24 left behind.
That’s Entertainment!
Sarina 🙂