The Best Show On TV (2015 Edition, According To Me)

Let’s talk TV for a minute while I finish this beer. 2015 was kind of a rough year for TV. Personally, I have thought a couple of long term favorites (namely The Walking Dead and Doctor Who V2.0) were slipping the last season or so. They have still been worth watching (although one is pushing it, especially after its dismal spin-off) but they were no longer head and shoulders above the crowd. Supergirl has been pretty good, but it is not so good that I can’t let a few pile up on the DVR before watching them. I re-discovered Arrow (after my daughters abandoned it during the first season) and The Flash. They are fine shows and I am really excited about Legends Of Tomorrow, but again, they are not great…. and by great I mean something with broad appeal. Something I can watch, my wife can watch, my kids and even my mother in law can watch and enjoy. I don’t see gramma getting all into Oliver and Felicity.

I am a ninjas and giant robots kind of guy. I love the Shaw Brothers martial arts films on El Rey. None of that should be a surprise. I am almost giddy due to the fact that my area added Buzzr, the all game show network, and Comet, the science fiction channel, to the local digital substations. These little networks have transformed television… I mean, I now get more channels over the air than I did from my first cable company (plus I have satellite). It is on these little networks that I get to watch true classics such as Jack Benny and Burns and Allen, not to mention Star Trek, Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Svengoolie. Now that Antenna TV is showing classic episodes of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show (although they can’t use the name) every night, I really can find something to watch on free TV at almost any time.

And the best show on television is on regular old over the air TV. It does not have ninjas, avenging monks, kaiju monsters. space battles or even magicians. It doesn’t even have violence. It is on PBS, it has been consistently good over four seasons and has survived the loss of the main character (who actually portrayed the woman on whose real life the series is based). What is this masterpiece? Call The Midwife. A BBC production aired on PBS in the States (you can find it on Netflix as well), the series follows the nurses and nuns engaged in midwifery in the East End of London circa 1960. I know, it may not sound like much or, worse yet, it may sound like a soap opera. It is important to remember that it is based on Jenny Worth’s books about her experiences as a young East End midwife in the late 1950′s. Worth sadly passed away around the time the series began airing, but she was able to help prepare the show and even helped to assemble the cast (she is said to have contacted the comic actress Miranda Hart, whose sitcom Miranda is also must view television, to play one of the nurses because Hart reminded her so strongly of her friend). 

In addition to Miranda Hart, the show’s cast boasts Jenny Agutter, Pam Ferris, Judy Parfitt, Cliff Parisi, Vanessa Redgrave (voice overs only) and relative newcomers Jessica Raine, Helen George, Bryony Hannah and so many others. I realize that if you have enjoyed my book or stories, you are probably saying to yourself “Huh?” But trust me, it is really a fine show. And Stephen McGann, brother of Paul “The Eighth Doctor” McGann, plays the local doctor so that is a tenuous connection to something you would expect me to recommend… and serious Doctor Who fans will recognize Jessica Raine from her appearance on the show and as Verity Lambert from An Adventure In Time and Space.

As long as I am going on about Call The Midwife, I really should throw in a mention of the books. As much as I love a good pulp space opera or tale of sword and sorcery, I am a huge fan of nonfiction. Jenny Worth’s memoirs about her time in the East End are simply incredible reads. Between the social changes of the time and the work being done, Mrs. Worth lead a truly amazing life and she is an engaging storyteller. Again, I know this may not be the type of recommendation you expect from a guy who essentially wrote a kung fu movie disguised as a book but give Call The Midwife, either the show or the book, a try.