UPDATE, 12/16: Okay, I’m calling it: this is effectively a dead heat between Columbo and Batman: The Animated Series, with Star Trek, Deadwood, and more X-Files in a three-way fight for runner-up. I will say first and foremost that trying to tease out what to do with these results, with their lack of a clear favorite, have made me appreciate the value of ranked-choice voting, which I’ll be trying out when we do this next time. I will say second that I don’t think it’s really appropriate for me to pick between Columbo and Batman at will, so I’m going to something probably very stupid, and try to do BOTH of them. Columbo will start this weekend and run on Fridays; Batman will start on Tuesday. Since I’ll run out of Columbo first, I’ll switch over to twice-a-week Batman episodes after that point. Thanks to everybody who voted!
The background is here: in short, I want to make the most people as happy as possible, so I am listening to the wisdom of the crowd to decide what TV series I should tackle next once I wrap up The X-Files, season 1 later tonight. As with The X-Files, all episodes after the pilot will be paywalled for Patreon subscribers.
Having looked through the comments thread on the previous post, trying not to include any two candidates that feel too similar, and factoring that in with the things I’d actually be interested in writing about, here is the list of nominees, as well as how long I’d plan to take with each of them – note that I’ll generally be looking to cover 30-minute shows at a rate of two per week, and I will mostly try to review multi-part episodes together.
The X-Files, Season 2 (1994-’95)
-Sci-fi/horror/cop show; procedural with serial elements. 23 weeks.
The rest, in chronological order:
Star Trek: The Original Series, Unaired pilot & first half of Season 1(1966-’67)
-Sci-fi adventure. Reviews would be in production order, not airdate. 14 weeks.
The Prisoner – Complete series (1967-’68)
-Sci-fi cult mystery with inexplicable psychedelia. Review order TBD. 17 weeks.
Columbo, Pilot movies & Season 1 (1968, 1971-’72)
-Modern detective show starring Peter Falk. 9 weeks.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984-’85)
-First season of Granada Television’s adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes corpus, starring Jeremy Brett. 13 weeks.
The Storyteller (1987-’88)
-Jim Henson-produced anthology hosted by John Hurt, based on European folk tales. 3 weeks, to be immediately followed by the second-place finisher.
Tales from the Crypt – Season 1 (1989)
-Dark comedy/horror anthology and the first major HBO original series. 3 weeks, to be immediately followed by the second-place finisher.
Batman: The Animated Series, first half of Season 1 (1992)
-Animated superhero series. Reviews would be in production order, not airdate. 15 weeks.
Prime Suspect (1991-2006)
-Crime drama starring Helen Mirren. Comprised mostly of annual two-episode stories which would each be reviewed as a single entry. 9 weeks
Samurai Jack, Season 1 (2001)
-Animated sci-fi/jidaigeki series created by Genndy Tartakovsky. 6 weeks.
Deadwood, Season 1 (2004)
-Revisionist Western written with hyperstylised dialogue. 12 weeks.
And now, the poll! Open until Friday, 12/16!
