TV Series

Autumn has arrived, and among other things, that also means the start of another television season, 2008-2009, in the US. Right now I'm watching 8 series whose broadcasts will soon resume: "House, M.D.", "Heroes", "Supernatural", "Lost", "Bones", "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Las Vegas", "Smallville", "Terminator: The Battle for the Future". I'll also be watching 3 new shows that premiere this season: "Dollhouse", "Fringe", "Knight Rider" (2008). I love watching science fiction series, I watch crime dramas when I can, and the rest don't interest me.

Below, in more detail, how I started watching each of them and why I keep watching. The series are listed in order of priority for me; the ones that haven't aired yet are kept separate, but arranged on the same principle. Titles are in English, Russian and Ukrainian.

House, M.D. / Доктор Хаус (season 5, September 16)

I got interested in the show last September, when I came across mentions of it with good reviews on a forum, on the local network, and on the internet. So I decided to watch it on Domashniy; at first I watched with my back to it, sitting at the computer, and then more attentively. After the channel cut off its broadcast at the start of the second season, I downloaded all the available episodes from the net and started rewatching from the very beginning; once I ran out of episodes with Russian dubbing (the start of the third season), I started downloading them in the original from the internet.

It's hard to say exactly why I watch it — it's a masterpiece, so there are a lot of reasons. People say plenty about it as it is, I won't add anything new.

Heroes / Герои / Герої (season 3, September 22)

A year and a half ago I saw a new series with an intriguing title on the net, and downloaded the first episode to try it out. After that, over the course of a few days I watched all 17 available episodes in one go; while I was rewatching them, the 18th came out, after which there was a break of several weeks, and then I watched the series at a normal pace, downloading it from Western torrent trackers.

Watching superheroes is of course interesting, and here it's about how people discover they have these powers, with none of the usual hero costumes. Plus the writers keep creating more and more questions that make it interesting to watch. The show has a well-built universe; every week a graphic novel comes out telling about events that didn't make it into the series. There are several sites from the universe on the internet that are updated regularly. Of course, the interactive game isn't as refined as the one from the creators of Lost, but it's quite interesting and you can join it at any moment.

Supernatural / Сверхъестетсвенное / Надприроднє (season 4, September 18)

A few of my classmates started watching it and recommended it to me. After reading the descriptions, I started watching it in the middle of last autumn; I quickly got through the first two seasons and the start of the third in Russian, and then continued in the original as it came out.

A good series, a worthy replacement for Buffy, which I'd been watching since the late '90s. It's interesting to watch, in each episode a battle with a new monster, demon, ghost… It often uses original twists that break the mold, so the endings often come out unexpected. The ending of the third season alone is worth it.

Lost / Остаться в живых / Загублені (season 5, 2009)

At university people talked about it, so I got interested. I started watching "Lost" when I could in the evenings on ICTV; it was autumn 2006, I watched starting from the middle of the first season, skipping episodes, and from the second third of the second season on I stopped skipping and watched to the end. Then I did watch 6 episodes of the third on the net, and waited, now like everyone else, for the rest of the third season's episodes to come out.

I watch it because I'm interested in how it'll end; I hope answers will be given to the huge number of questions. I never did watch the episodes I'd missed and have no urge to. At times it gets funny to watch because everyone turns out to be relatives or to have mutual acquaintances. Science fiction, it makes the brain work, and then there are the temporal anomalies, time travel and hidden meaning, in short, it's interesting.

Bones / Кости (season 4, September 3)

I read the description on the net, plus I was curious to see David Boreanaz after watching Angel. So I watched all three seasons this summer, when they were posted on the net with the audio from TV-3.

A decent forensic crime drama, partly comedic, partly romantic. It's reminiscent of the old cop shows, where serious cases about murders alternate with comic situations happening to the main characters, which is relaxing. At the same time you constantly have to follow the case closely; more than once I've had to rewind, which never happens when watching CSI. Naturally, it's interesting to follow a main character like Temperance Brennan, and the main storylines are gripping too — there are several of them and they don't develop in every episode.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation / CSI: Место преступления Лас-Вегас / CSI: Місце злочину (season 9, October 9)

Back when there was neither a laptop nor a satellite dish in the village, but a simple antenna with an amplifier had already been bought, picking up a few channels from Kryvyi Rih. On summer holidays I'd watch this series in the evenings on NTN. Only this year did I download all the episodes and rewatch from the very beginning, skipping the ones I'd seen before.

One of the highest-rated series; Quentin Tarantino directed a couple of episodes. The series often raises themes that society finds interesting right now, and you can learn a lot about people, mostly not-so-good things. It's interesting to watch the forensic scientists at work, everything is explained clearly; it's a shame that, despite the apparent realism, most procedures in real life happen completely differently. Though most likely I watch it because I'm similar in character to the main character, it's interesting to observe someone like that. I don't even know if I'll keep watching after episode 10 of season 9; that depends on what Laurence Fishburne's character turns out to be. Of course, I'll finish the season — it's not every show where you get to see the main character swapped out. After all, I don't watch Miami and New York and have no urge to, even though they have well-known film actors in the lead roles, and now Las Vegas will become like that too.

Smallville / Тайны Смолвиля / Таємниці Смолвіля (season 8, September 18)

In the summer of 2004 I stumbled on it by chance on Inter. Then I continued watching it on STS. Once I got an unlimited connection, I downloaded seasons 5-6, which I hadn't seen, and watched them last summer, then watched normally from season 7 on; I also downloaded seasons 3-4 from the net, in which I'd skipped most of the episodes, and watched the skipped ones last winter.

At first it was interesting to watch a show about Superman as a young man. But now it's interesting to see when this nonsense will end… It's good to relax to this series; you can — should, even — switch off your brain and watch calmly.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles / Терминатор: Битва за будущее / Термінатор: Хроніки Сари Коннор (season 2, September 8)

Last year I watched the stolen pilot, it caught my interest — Terminator and time travel after all, which is interesting. So I started watching in the winter, when it was airing.

A partly absurd series, the ratings aren't very high, while the filming is expensive. They most likely didn't cancel it because Terminator 4 comes out next year, which means the series will be more popular too. It's watchable, and it's interesting to see when it'll end and how closely the ending will line up with the films. Plus, because of the writers' strike, the first season came out completely unfinished.

Dollhouse / Куколный дом (season 1, 2009)

I haven't seen a single episode, I've only watched the trailer for the pilot, which is already the second episode — they shot a new pilot.

First of all, it's a series from the brilliant Joss Whedon, the creator of "Buffy", "Angel", "Firefly", "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog". All his creations are original, interesting, with unexpected plot twists. The series is about people who have given up their lives and voluntarily become "dolls" who can be programmed to do anything, but their memories begin to come back to them. Besides the hidden meaning, there should be a lot more to it. As long as the series doesn't repeat the fate of "Firefly".

Fringe / За гранью (season 1, September 9)

I couldn't help but watch the pilot of a series from the creator of Lost, the writers of Transformers, and a TV network that aired "The X-Files" for 9 years.

After watching the pilot episode, all you want to do is watch more. Science fiction, the events take place in our time, it's done competently, and of course it's interesting to watch.

Knight Rider / Рыцарь дорог / Мандрівний лицар (2008) (season 1, September 24)

I watched the test TV-movie back in the spring. Back in the day, I watched the original "Knight Rider" on ICTV, it was an interesting series.

I hope the sequel, filmed a quarter-century later, will be similar to the original. Yes, many will watch it out of nostalgia. After a few episodes it'll be clear how the series turned out; the world has changed in this time, technology especially, so it won't come out the same.