What shows will be keeping you ‘moTVated’ through exams?
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n the run-up to exams, it can help to have a reward in mind to keep yourself motivated – a prize to counter-balance all that pain. And what better prize than binge-watching a show that you’ve been saving up for ages?
Four TV writers tell us what show they’re looking forwards to watching once Term 3 is over.
Mrs Brown’s Boys
They say during the term you have little time to watch a full TV series or, in my case, binge a Netflix series over the course of a few nights, but I think that is a lie. I reached a record number this year, including the new season of Vampire Diaries and American Horror Story, all five seasons of Pretty Little Liars and the Netflix original series Marco Polo. And that’s only a few! So, I’m sure you can see the dilemma I face when deciding what is next in the line-up. But I do have a few pipeline post-exam dreams.
One such dream is Mrs Brown’s Boys. I’ve watched an episode here and there over the last few years but my recent acquisition of all three seasons was a godsend from the cackling Mrs herself.
Now, I know that the oul Dub receives a sneer here and there
I have heard from friends that I am literally the only person who looked forwards to Da Movie. However, there is something hysterically funny about Mrs Brown’s crass ugly humour, her huge beige-grey granny knickers, and the fact that her meta-break-the-fourth-wall moments remind me of how I tell a chair to ‘feck off’ when I stub my toe. I have made myself asthmatic crowing away at her plethora of exasperated looks, at the way my mum tuts when another innuendo can be heard in that high pitched croak, and even just watching her make a cup of tea.
There you have it: Mrs Brown will be the perfect woman to lighten up the post-exam doldrums.
Ahlam Al Abbasi
Daredevil
At the moment I’m staring at Shakespeare, pretending I have a clue what people are saying and that I appreciate all the nuances and the metaphors and the iambic pentameter. In a few weeks’ time, I’ll be watching Marvel’s Daredevil on Netflix and maybe not moving for several hours.
Photo: Flickr / Raymond Klaassen
I’ve already watched the first ten minutes of the first episode and had to brutally stop myself from watching any more, as I have other things I need to do today, like work and eat.
Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) was blinded in an accident when he was nine years old. Now a lawyer by day, Murdock uses his enhanced hearing and sense of smell to fight crime at night, under his alter-ego, Daredevil.
There’s definitely a Batman Begins vibe about it all; the first scene we see in which Daredevil sort out some bad guys is set at a dock, at night, with lots of handy storage containers to hide behind. However, it feels more like paying homage to a hugely influential series of movies than completely stealing a scene from another superhero.
Regardless, it looks like gripping stuff and, in a few weeks’ time, I’ll have all the time in the world to be gripped.
Ellen Lavelle
iZombie
Arguably the best thing about knowing you have a free summer is that you can start planning what to watch long in advance, and have a great supply of TV to enjoy, without having to worry about waiting for next week’s instalment. I am most looking forward to a new show, iZombie, which will either be brilliant or terrible, but sounds fun either way.
The show follows Liv Moore (Rose McIver), an over-achieving medical student who winds up as a zombie after a party. In order to get the brains she needs to survive and keep her humanity intact, she starts working at a coroner’s office. However, she finds that snacking causes her to absorb personality traits and gain access to some of the deceased’s memories, so she elects to pose as a psychic and use this gift to help solve crimes.
It sounds totally absurd, and could go either way, although the critical reception suggests that it will be rather good
I’m a fan of the police procedural anyway, but with horror and comedy elements mixed in, I am really excited about this show. I’m hoping that it’ll follow the same vein as other comedy mysteries (Monk and Psych, for example) and offer some good puzzles and a likeable protagonist, be fun and funny and a good way to spend an hour – it sounds like I may be in luck.
Reece Goodall
Better Call Saul
Like many people, I mourned the end of Breaking Bad when the final credits rolled in September 2013 (was it really so long ago?) – I missed Walt, I missed Jesse, I missed Hank and Mike and Gus. I even, some would say controversially, missed Skyler. So I was thrilled when Netflix announced they would be producing a spin-off about everyone’s favourite corrupt lawyer, Saul Goodman.
Photo: Flickr / Alexander Edward
The result of this decision, Better Call Saul, has been agonisingly tempting over the Easter break. Somehow I’ve managed to hold back, the prospect of dismal failure the only thing between me and a weekend binge. But as soon as exams are over you can bet I’ll be locked in my bedroom for a weekend, gorging on the excellent direction, tight scripting and astounding acting we’ve all come to expect from Vince Gilligan’s meth-based franchise.
Better Call Saul is a prequel to the events of Breaking Bad, following Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) – known initially as Jimmy McGill – doing his best to survive in the cutthroat world of law, back in 2002.
Desperate for clients and cash, his attempts to snag a high-profile case using dubious methods lands him in contact with darker (and familiar to fans) characters than he is used to. Forced to use his wits and bargaining tactics to save his own skin, Jimmy begins to find himself tangled up in a world of crime and on a path which will lead, eventually, to Walter White.
Eleanor Dawson
What TV show do you have lined up to watch once exams are over? Let us know in the comments below, or Tweet us @BoarTelevision!
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