Misfits
I know I cover a lot of British TV on this site, but what can I say, I dig what I dig. Here’s a strange little show I stumbled across when looking for something (anything!) interesting on Hulu Plus. (In Hulu’s defense, I might find the service more interesting if I didn’t also have cable. Maybe it’s time to cut the chord?)
Misfits follows a crew of, um, misfits, who are serving community service when they are caught up in an electrical storm and get special powers. Two of the five have fairly conventional powers (mind-reading and invisibility). One other has the comic-bookish ability to turn back time, which leads to inevitable paradoxes. Of the other two, the girl has the Rogue-ish ability to make anyone want to have sex with her just by coming into contact with them and the other takes the entire series to figure out his power.
It’s billed as a comedy/drama, but I’d say it skews a little more dramatic than similarly categorized shows on this side of the pond. Also, I can’t understand half of what Lauren Socha says (she plays Kelly, the telepath). All six episodes are currently available on Hulu Plus.
Weeds
Although Showtime has generally lagged slightly behind HBO in original series, it has a legitimate hit on its hands in Weeds, the story of a suburban soccer mom turned pot dealer. Some critics have said the show has passed its prime, but the good news for you is that means best seasons are on Netflix Instant.
It also doesn’t hurt that the main character, played by West Wing’s Mary-Louise Parker, is all kinds of hot. If only all suburban soccer mom pot dealers were so gorgeous. And it’s a rare title that can bring together fans of Desperate Housewives and Friday.
Weeds is currently nearing the end of its sixth season (and has been picked up for a seventh), and the first five seasons are currently available on Netflix.
Lie to Me
Apparently due to its licensing deals with the studios, most current shows are only available on Hulu in a very limited way. Usually just the last five episodes are available and they show up on the site anywhere from one day to two weeks after a new episode airs. I’m sure this makes sense to someone, somewhere, but it’s just frustrating for users.
But, one of the benefits of Hulu Plus seems to be that some shows’ current seasons are actually available in full. (Hurray!) One current show that you can check out on Hulu Plus is Lie to Me, a self-serious drama about human lie detectors loosely based on the concept of microexpressions.
The show centers around Dr. Cal Lightman, a microexpressions expert played by Tim Roth (Mr. Orange from Reservoir Dogs and Pumpkin from Pulp Fiction, for you Tarantino fans). Lightman is basically Dr. House, but instead of recklessly solving life-threatening illnesses (spoiler: it’s usually Wilson’s Disease), he recklessly assists the FBI with their cases. And they’re both on Fox. I wonder if there’ll be a crossover episode.
If procedurals are your thing and you haven’t checked out Lie to Me yet, give it a shot. This is the third season, though there’s really no need to go back and watch earlier episodes because there isn’t much in the way of a cross-season arc. If you want, season one is available on Netflix Instant as well (no season two yet, alas).
