Posted by Reality television has been like a television bug repellent for me in the last few years. Aside for the shows I watch online or rent, you’ll never hear me saying “sorry I can’t come. I need to stay home and watch …” But it doesn’t mean that I don’t miss it. Though more and more people are tuning-in to their computers for entertainment, every few years incredible shows come along that push the limits of television and keep audiences hooked from beginning to end. After getting a peak at some of the shows to come, I think it may be time to contact my local cable provider…
Boardwalk Empire- HBO
Created by: Terence Winter (The Sopranos) (based on the novel Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson)
Executive Producers: Martin Scorsese, Mark Wahlberg, Terence Winter
Starring: Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, William Hill, Gretchen Mol
Premiering: September 2010
Said to be HBO’s most ambitious project since The Sopranos- Broadwalk Empire is set in 1920s Atlantic City, N.J. and contains all the juicy elements of Atlantic City’s dark past, when gangsters, political corruption and crime ruled at the onset of the prohibition. Not only did this show have me at “Buschemi”, Scorsese directs the pilot episode and will remain very involved throughout the series. Following the life and times of Enoch “Nucky” Johnson (played by Buschemi), Johnson is the second of three bosses who headed the Republican machine that controlled Atlantic City and Atlantic County governments over a 70-year period. This will surely be a vivid history lesson, never missing a moment of action.
Boardwalk Empire Trailer
Treme- HBO
Created by: David Simon, Eric Overmyer (Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire)
Executive Producers: David Simon, Eric Overmyer, Nina Noble
Starring: Steve Zhan, Rob Brown, Melissa Leo, Wendell Pierce and John Goodman
Premiering: April 11, 2010- 10 pm
A look into the lives of musicians, chefs and other New Orleanians affected by Hurricane Katrina three months after the devastating event. Trying to rebuild their lives and homes, the show centers around New Orleans’ unique culture, captured with music that Baltimore Sun columnist, David Zurawik “has never heard used as organically, wisely and powerfully” as it is on this new HBO drama. Though a fictional account, the show’s creators collaborated with Tom Piazza, the author of the non-fiction book Why New Orleans Matters, Lolis Eric Elie, Times-Picayune reporter and writer of the documentary Faubourg Treme: The Untold story of Black New Orleans, to portray as accurately as possible the true story of New Orleans, post-Katrina.
UPDATE: This show is getting great reviews and is a good reason to start watching TV again. Be sure to check out watch-treme.com, it’s a great source to Watch Treme online
Treme Trailer
The Walking Dead- AMC
Created by: Frank Darabont
Executive Producer: Frank Darabont
Starring: The only cast that has been officially announced is Jon Bernthal as Shane, although Jonny Lee Miller (Hackers, Trainspotting) is currently the front-runner to play the lead character Rick Grimes
Premiering: October 2010
Set to premiere during AMC’s Fearfest, (an annual thriller and horror blockbuster marathon) The Walking Dead is based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman about police officer Rick Grimes, who leads a group of survivors after a zombie apocalypse. Although a zombie-themed book, the stories are really about the people, their relationships and their development while trying to cope with a world overrun by zombies. The show is written, directed and executive produced by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile).
No Trailer Available Yet
Untitled Alien Invasion Project-TNT
Created by: Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan), Steven Spielberg
Executive Producers: Steven Spielberg, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank
Producer: DreamWorks Television
Starring: Noah Wyle (ER)
Premiering: 2011
Sci-fi fans have been in need of a good post-apocolyptic alien show, but they may have to wait another year until the man who brought us E.T. unleashes the still “untitled alien invasion project”. The show takes place six months after aliens have invaded the planet and wiped out nearly every living thing, with only a rag-tag group of soldiers and civilians left trying to find other survivors and fight the occupying alien force. The show will star Noah Wyle (ER) as Tom Mason, a former college history professor who becomes the reluctant leader of one of the resistance groups. TNT’s executive-producer says, “This series has the potential to be one of the most exciting and provocative shows on television.”
No trailer available
The Frozen Planet
Created by: BBC Natural History Unit
Producers: BBC, Discovery Channel
Narrated by: David Attenborough
Premiering: Winter 2010/2011
Being a total sucker for BBC’s nature documentaries, my knees are weak just thinking about the new seven-part Frozen Planet series, set to come out in winter 2010/2011. Focusing on life in the Arctic and Antarctic, The Frozen Planet is being billed as a sequel to the award-winning The Blue Planet (2001) and Planet Earth (2006) and will center on the challenges facing polar bears, Arcitc wolves, adelie penguins and wandering albatross.
Excerpt from The Blue Planet:
