Chuck
When Chuck premiered three years ago, it didn’t seem to have much of a shot. It was promoted as heavily as some other new shows by NBC, and you could be forgiven mistaking some of the leads for stars from other shows (Zachary Levi says he gets mistaken for John Krasinski, and there is something very Seth Green about Josh Gomez).
But Chuck has all the style (and all the beautiful people) you’d expect from a show co-created by The O.C. and Gossip Girl’s Josh Schwartz. Plus, the action is decent, the jokes are funny and the characters are interesting. It’s also chock full o’ guest stars and geek culture references.
In a bit of a departure for Qworthy so far, Chuck’s previous seasons aren’t available for streaming anywhere, but the current season is on Hulu. Only the last five episodes are available at any one time (the first episode of the season expires in four days), but if you missed the season premiere and feel like jumping into a new series with both feet, head over to Hulu and check it out.
Firefly
Star Trek has the reputation for being a short-lived sci-fi series, but it’s got nothing on Firefly. Fox bought the show, ran the episodes out of order, and killed it after only 14 were filmed. Nonetheless, Joss Whedon’s dystopian space western launched a cult following that, while not quite of Star Trekian proportions, was large enough to result in the film Serenity, which closed out many of the show’s story lines. (Fans of Firefly are called Browncoats, BTW, which you will understand shortly into the series.)
If this is your cup of tea at all, you might as well run out and get the DVDs (actually, if you knew about it and didn’t hate it, you probably already own the DVDs), but in case you’re not sure, the complete series is available on Netflix and Hulu Plus (and Serenity is available on Netflix, as well).
A stand-out character in the series is Adam Baldwin’s Jayne. If you like Baldwin in NBC’s Chuck (which had its fourth-season premiere last night), you’ll definitely dig him in Firefly and Serenity. Plus it features Nathan Fillion displaying all the charm he shows in Castle and Dr. Horrible (and that he didn’t not in the short-lived Drive).
I’m purposefully leaving out the details of the show, because I think it’s better to go in open to discovering what it has to offer. But in a television landscape that is increasingly full of remakes or retellings of the same old stories—or worse, reality show tripe—shows like Firefly are rare. If it had only been successful, maybe we could have a slew of space western clones instead of spinoffs of The Girls Next Door.
Firefly: The Complete Series on Netflix
Hackers
Perhaps one of the greatest (but not best, let’s not confuse this with fine cinema) movies ever made. At the very least it’s Fisher Stevens’s best role that doesn’t involve donning a terrible Indian accent. I also can’t think of another Angelina Jolie movie that I like.
With Jonny Lee Miller (TV’s Eli Stone) and Matthew Lillard (Shaggy from the Scooby Doo movie) rounding out the most well-known of the cast, Hackers takes you deep into the seedy and sorted world of freaky (or should I say phreaky?) kids on rollerskates who can crack any computer system in the world. Including a magical one that apparently exists only as a set of three-dimensional holograms.
When you watch this today, you may think the technology only looks laughable in comparison to your iPad, but, seriously, the tech in this movie was goofy even in 1995. By the time this movie was made, there were plenty of stories of real hackers and the damage they had created (like, say, Kevin Mitnick, who had been in prison for years by that point), but I guess it was easier to create a fictional world of fast typing and strange clothes. And for that, we thank them. Hack the planet!
Iron Man
Every few years, a new movie comes out an redefines the public’s view of super-hero movies. Actually, maybe it’s more like every 18 months. Now that it’s been a couple of years, and the world has been exposed to The Dark Knight, it’s hard to remember what a revelation Robert Downey, Jr., and company were to the pantheon of super people.
But they were. Plus, that suit is wicked cool.
We’ve mentioned before that streaming services tend to have lesser sequels of hit movies rather than the originals. In this case, perhaps because the sequel was also a big hit, we get the original.
And it’s only two years old! (And according to the DVD cover picture to the right, it’s “spectacular,” just like Teri Hatcher in Seinfeld.)
The I.T. Crowd
Here at Qworthy HQ (HQworthy?), we love British TV shows. Well, the ones we have access to, anyway. When it comes to British workplace comedies, everyone knows The Office (though I get the feeling some people only pretend to like the original series) but less known over here is The I.T. Crowd. I.T. is less about cringe-worthy moments and more about broad physical comedy, but the best part, by far, is the slew references to nerdery—RTFM T-Shirts, Electronic Freedom Foundation stickers, a constantly telling callers to reboot their computers, social awkwardness… everything you love about the I.T. department.
The I.T. Crowd walks the line between completely ridiculous and standard “realistic” situation comedy in a way that U.S. multi-camera shows never seem to get right. As evidence, search YouTube for the dead-on-arrival NBC version of The I.T. Crowd staring Joel McHale. It has nearly the same script as the original and even brought over Richard Ayoade to reprise his role, but it hardly worked at all. (I suppose we can feel thankful that pilot wasn’t picked up, because Community is a great show that suits McHale much better.)
If you normally don’t go for British shows but like geek jokes and slapstick humor, this may be a good introduction. Or maybe you don’t care. They’ve made four short seasons of The I.T. Crowd, but only three have made it to video and Netflix streaming. Here’s to hoping season four comes along soon.
The I.T. Crowd: Series 1 on Netflix
The I.T. Crowd: Series 2 on Netflix
The I.T. Crowd: Series 3 on Netflix
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Star Trek Remastered
Netflix and Hulu aren’t the only places to watch streaming content. One of these other services is TV.com, CBS’s answer to Hulu (there is even an an iPhone app, but apparently not an iPad app, yet). It even offers videos in 1080p high-definition. That brings us to the reason for this post—Star Trek, the original series.
The franchise may have hit its stride in theaters, but it was the TV show that kicked it off (and introduced us to tribbles). As someone who was grew up with The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home (volumes III and IV, respectively), it’s interesting to watch the show and see Shatner before his Kirk became a caricature of himself.
The whole series is there on TV.com in all its remastered glory, but you’ll have to click around a bit to find and watch the episodes in order.
(For a nice list of places to watch TV shows online, check out this list from Mashable.)
Star Trek Remastered on TV.com
