My Cart - According to the experts over at IMDB and Empire magazine, these TV series are the most popular modern spectacles to grace our TV screens.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American television series that ran from March 10, 1997 until May 20, 2003. The series depicts a high-school student named Buffy Summers, a girl who is latest in a line of (all female) vampire slayers.
Joss Whedon, writer of well know films such as Toy Story, The Cabin in the Woods and The Avengers, created Buffy because he wished to invert the typical Hollywood storyline of “the little blonde girl who goes into a dark alley and gets killed in every horror movie.”
Since it’s conception, the show’s central message was all about female empowerment. Whedon himself explained that, “The very first mission statement of the show was the joy of female power: having it, using it, sharing it”. The show drew both a commercial and cult following and was awarded three Emmy awards.
The show inspired spin-off series, books, a graphic novel, and even academic studies, as many American (and some British) universities offer what is colloquially known as ‘Buffy Studies’. The series is heralded by academics as a fertile ground for the likes of gender studies, feminism, pop culture studies and media studies.
Fans and critics alike agree that the all musical episode Once More With Feeling, and the episode Hush, which is almost completely without speech, are the best episodes.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons are arguable the world’s favourite on-screen family. The series is a satirical depiction of a middle class American lifestyle and parodies American culture, society, television, and many aspects of the human condition.
Since its debut on the 17th of December, 1989, the show has broadcast 552 episodes and its 25th season began on September 30, 2013. The Simpson family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the show has won dozens of awards, including 28 Primetime Emmy Awards.
The show has produced a feature length film, a ride at Universal Studios, video games and many other forms of merchandise. The Simpsons is the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and in 2009 it become the longest-running American scripted primetime television series.
The show came about when American cartoonist Matt Groening created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name.
Breaking Bad
Breaking Badis an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. The show was broadcast for five seasons, from January 20, 2008 to September 29, 2013. To ‘break bad’ is an old, regional American phrase which means to ‘raise hell’, something that the protagonist Walt does frequently.
The series depicts the character of Walter White, a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer at the beginning of the series. In order to secure his family’s financial future, he turns to a boisterous life of crime, producing and selling methamphetamine.
Watch Vince Gilligan explain his thoughts behind his hit TV series…
In 2014, Breaking Bad entered the Guinness World Records as the highest rated show of all time. In September 2013, AMC and Sony Pictures Television officially announced the creation of Better Call Saul, which is set as a prequel to Breaking Bad. The series will focus on Saul’s life before he became Walter’s lawyer and is scheduled to premiere in 2015. Breaking Bad has won 101 industry awards and been nominated for 267.
The show’s creator Vince Gilligan expressed during the run of the series: “He’s going from being a protagonist to an antagonist. We want to make people question who they’re pulling for, and why.”
Game of Thrones
This fantasy drama series is based on George R.R. martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels, and portrays the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos at the end of a decade-long summer.
Set in the fictional Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, the series chronicles the violent dynastic struggles among the realm’s noble families for control of the Iron Throne. As the series opens, additional threats emerge in the icy North and in the eastern continent of Essos. The principal inspiration for the novels was the English Wars of the Roses between Lancaster and York, mirrored in Martin’s two houses of Lannister and Stark.
Though it has been criticised for its flagrant depiction of female nudity, violence and torture, and sexual violence against women, the Writers Guild of America placed Game of Thrones as no. 40 on their list of the 101 best-written TV series ever. According to the marketing director of SBS, Game of Thrones has the highest known online fan engagement rate of any TV series ever made.
Friends
Probably the world’s most famous sit-com, Friends started life as a project called Insomnia Café. The series presents a circle of friends living in Manhattan, and is now consistently ranked among the compilations of the all-time best TV shows.
Many reputable psychologists have commented on the cultural impact that the show has had over the years. Jennifer Aniston’s iconic hairstyle became known as The Rachel, and Joey’s catchphrase, “How you doin’?”, became a popular part of Western English slang.
According to pop-culture experts at the University at Buffalo, Friends is “one of those rare shows that marked a change in American culture”. The show inspired a spin-off series, Joey, which centred on Friends character Joey Tribbiani.
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