I thought I'd jump on the end of year band wagon and list my top five favourite TV shows (documentaries/ series/ dramas) this year. Please note that some of these may have originally aired before 2015, but that's when I saw them!
1. Mad Men - The Final Season (7B)
The first part of season 7, which was aired in 2015, was a little lacklustre in my opinion, so I wasn't hoping for anything too spectacular for the final season this year. However, I found season 7B to be perfect in every way. It said goodbye in a more than satisfactory and non trivial manner to all those fabulous characters we've come to know and love over the past several years and I was more than happy with Don finding his groove again in the very last episode.
2. Halt and Catch Fire - Season 1 & 2
Set in Texas in the early to late '80s, Halt and Catch Fire is a cracking tale of the (semi-historically accurate) birth of PCs and online gaming. It's much more than that of course, but that's the main gist of it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was super happy to hear that it will return for a third season next year.
2. The History of Art in Three Colours
3. This year I stumbled across this 2012 BBC4 three part documentary on You Tube. It examined the history and cultural significance of white, blue and gold in art over the ages. Narrated by Dr. James Fox, it was interesting and informative and gave you a new way to understand and interpret well known and not so well known art and architecture. I liked that because I'm always up for a new slant on art and history!
4. All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
This three part documentary was aired on SBS this year and it was a total eye-opener for me. It covered the history of and implementation of 20th Century beliefs such as computers and world stability, a simplistic machine like view of the natural world and how modern society has abnegated its responsibility for all the world's woes by identifying with computers and machines. It all sounds rather dry and complicated, doesn't it? But it is endlessly fascinating and extremely well put together by master documentary film maker Adam Curtis. In fact, after watching this documentary, I went on an Adam Curtis binge and watched everything I could possibly find by him on You Tube. Boy! Did I learn some stuff! Highly recommended to history buffs and (20th Century) social anthropologists alike!
5. Real Humans / Äkta människor
I started watching this fantastic Swedish Sci-fi series after seeing a few episodes of the BBC adaption of it called Humans. It is the story of a not too distant future where humans have human like machines as servants and companions. That's it in a nut shell, but it's also a thrilling whodunnit as well. I was absolutely mesmerised by it and have been fanging to see the second season ever since. Wow! It's such a treat for science fiction aficionados!
Images from: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10.
