I Love Detectives, Doctors and Brits

Once  I wrote about 25 TV-shows I used to watch when I was younger. Now I thought I’d write about TV-shows that I currently watch. My current favorite TV-shows are mainly crime related with few exceptions. I don’t watch the so called “blockbuster” TV-shows like “Lost” or “Prison Break” or “Desperate Housewives”. I’m not saying they are bad but I’m saying that their content is something that I don’t find very interesting or appealing. So, here are the TV-shows I watch.

• Criminal Minds – The series follows a team of criminal profilers from the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) based out of Quantico, Virginia. The show differs from many other crime shows by focusing mainly on the criminal rather than the crime, thus offering a glimpse of the criminal mind. It’s been one of my favorite shows even though sometimes the criminals depicted are truly frightening. I guess I like it because it always interests me how things ended up being the way they are. For example I always like to know why people chose their particular profession, what made people study a certain subject, where and how did a married couple meet, what drives people to crime. The cast is also very good – the profilers are played by Thomas Gibson (Aaron “Hotch” Hotchner), Joe Mantegna (David Rossi), Shemar Moore (Derek Morgan) , Paget Brewster (Emily Prentiss) , Matthew Gray Gubler (Spencer Reid) and Kirsten Vangsness (Penelope Garcia). I think I couldn’t say which one of them is my favorite character because they all have something I like about them.
• C.S.I New York – out of all the three CSI shows I like the New York one the best. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because the team there seems to be more close to each other or the fact that it takes place in New York – I don’t know. I just love it.
• Spooks – it’s a BAFTA-winning British TV-show which focuses on the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service’s Thames House headquarter, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid. I got into it only a while ago. And I was amazed how good it is – every episode is so thrilling and exciting and it also shows how international relations really work. And how little we all know of the dangers that threaten us daily. And as always with the British shows, the cast is really good – the supervisor Harry Pierce is played by Peter Firth, other cast members tend to change throughout the seasons but such actors as Matthew MacFayden,  Keeley Hawes, Rupert Penry-Jones, Hermione Norris and many others have played there. I’m really looking forward to season 10.
• Cold Case – the series revolve around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes on cold cases.  I like it because it differs from others by trying to solve the hardest cases of all – the “cold cases” in what the killer hasn’t been found. It also shows that people tend to hide the details which in reality could really help in solving the case.
• The Closer – is a crime drama starring Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh  Johnson, a Georgia police detective who arrives in Los Angeles to lead Priority Murder Squad, a team that deals with high profile murder cases. In general it would be a typical crime show but what makes it stand out is the character Brenda Leigh Johnson and also the woman who plays her – Kyra Sedgwick. And also G.W Bailey who plays lieutenant Provenza. Both characters are unique and funny and that’s why I keep coming back to this show.
• “Life On Mars” and “Ashes To Ashes” – two British TV-shows I’ve written once before (and quite thoroughly) about, so I’ll just link it here
• Ghost Whisperer – one of the few non-crime shows on my list. It focuses on the life of Melinda Gordon who has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts. I know that it’s pretty un-realistic and everything but I like how it doesn’t say weather the ghosts go to heaven or hell – they just pass on to another level. And some of the stories are very heartwarming. Melinda is played by Jennifer Love-Hewitt.
• House, M.D – I guess by now almost everyone knows who is Dr.House. I think it’s one of the most brilliant characters and shows ever created.
• The Walking Dead –  also a non-crime series. It tells the story of the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse, it follows a small group of survivors, traveling across the desolate United States in search of a new home away from the shuffling hordes of the undead. At first I thought I wouldn’t like it, I’m not really into zombies. But this was exciting with good actors and good storyline. I just hope they don’t mess it up to get more fame and popularity like they did with “Lost”.
• Flash Forward – I was so disappointed when I learned that they wouldn’t make a second season. There were just too many unanswered questions. I talked about “Flash Forward” HERE.
• Heartbeat – it was such a heartwarming British TV-show. It is a police drama series set in 1960’s Yorkshire and there are so many great characters and so many great actors in it. I really loved it.
• Sherlock – it’s a British show which is a contemporary update of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes detective stories. It was a different approach, very modern yet still has the basic Sherlock components. I can’t wait for the next season.
• Allo’Allo – a British sitcom that was aired from 1982-1992. I talked about it longer HERE.
• My Family – also a British show that chronicles the Harper’s family who are a middle-class family living in London. The father, Ben, is a dentist and mother, Susan, is a tour guide (later an art gallery owner). They have three children – Nick, Janie and Michael. The situations they find themselves in  are hilarious and the actors playing Ben and Susan (Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker) are awesome.
• E.R – a medical drama set primarily in the emergency room (ER) of fictional County General Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

As it can be seen from above – in general I like shows about crime, medicine and also many British shows. I think it’s wrong to say that the British have a weird sense of humor – I totally like it. British humor is sophisticated and witty. What sometimes bothers me about TV-shows in general (be it British, American or whatever) is how goths/metal listeners and Estonians are typically depicted. Goths/metal-heads/rockers  are always depicted as being depressed, violent, psychopathic, Satan-worshiping people who always talk very slowly. Estonians are always pictured as Russian speaking, very poor and un-educated (in women’s case slutty) people. That’s wrong. Almost every fact is wrong. I know that Estonia is a small country and most people haven’t heard from it all but if you’re going to put this into your TV-show then you should get your facts straight. But yeah,  in general, as the title of this post says – I love policemen, doctors and Brits 🙂