Summer is an awesome time for us students. The weather’s nice (relatively), and there’s no pesky lectures or seminars to go to. It’s literally just a licence to descend into alcoholism with your friends (or, if you decide to go back home over the summer and see your parents, descend further still into alcoholism). What did I do? I stayed in Sheffield over the summer to work in a pub, ticking the ‘all of the above’ box. Long nights and shorter days meant I had to find something to kill time while I wasn’t at work. Step into my mad summer of American TV, below are the best I found while stuck in limbo.
Franklin and Bash – Me and my best friend have watched this religiously since it began airing in 2011. The titular characters; Jared Franklin and Peter Bash, are a best friend-lawyer team, who win cases through feats of daring and ridiculous stunts. The series’ first season sees the two being recruited by the eccentric head of a corporate law firm (an amazing Malcolm McDowell) to shake up its ‘zombie culture’ – cue hilarity. While the second season took a bit of a dip in my opinion, this summer saw the start of the third season, and a return to form for the duo. This is a classic feel-good summer show – the legal proceedings are overshadowed somewhat by what is essentially a bromance comedy, making it easily accessible, and just so damn funny.
Suits – Another legal one, again focusing on two main characters; Mike and Harvey, although their relationship isn’t exactly bromantic. Mike has an eidetic memory (he remembers everything) and uses it to impress Harvey at a circumstantial job interview for a prestigious law firm in Manhattan, for whom Harvey works as a senior partner. Harvey is so impressed that he hires Mike as his associate, despite knowing that he doesn’t have a law degree. Suits features some sharp, witty comedy, and great storylines that emanate drama. The first season takes a little while to really get going, but the second and third season have been awesome, focusing more on narratives that span entire seasons. I will say that Suits takes a little more effort to follow than Franklin and Bash does, as some of the legal jargon can leave you a bit confused, but the extra work is definitely worth it.
The Newsroom – This one is a political drama set behind the scenes of Atlantis Cable News (ACN) a fictional news division, and details events of true stories, and how they hit the news. The series focuses on Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) the lead anchor of ACN, and the drama that surrounds both his professional and personal life after the revelations of the first episode. The decision to use real-life stories is also a good one; for example, the first episode covers the BP oil spill, and most of the second season covers the run up to the 2012 US election. The second season began in July this year, and has kept up the amazing standards of the first season. If you’re not a political person, some of the terms and stories might go straight over your head (as it did mine) however, I still enjoy this series for the drama that unfolds between the characters that work for ACN.
So that was my summer, please don’t judge me.