Autumn is traditionally when the best TV shows return for another season from their summer break. Even with online services making more and more people turn to the internet for their entertainment, watching shows on television can be a break from the distractions of life and the stress of mid-terms. The current popular shows can also tell us a lot about our society and how we view our world.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, a couple of the top shows to binge watch are “Outlander,” and “The Strain.” Other TV shows that are popular right now are “Game of Thrones” —which returns to HBO in 2016 after a tumultuous end to season five—and “Walking Dead,” which is a favorite of many Weber State University students.
“‘Walking Dead’ is like the number one show on TV right now,” Jared Bench, who will be attending Weber State in the spring, said. “Walking Dead,” focuses on a group of survivors and their actions and attempts to survive in a post-apocalyptic world overrun with zombies, or walkers as the show calls them, and airs on AMC Sunday nights.
Brent Sorensen, who attended Weber State last fall, also enjoys “Walking Dead,” but he also thinks that “Last Man on Earth,” is a good one to catch up on. “Last Man on Earth,” deals with another post-apocalyptic world, though without the zombies. Both shows focus on a post-apocalyptic world and look at how people deal with loss, loneliness and survival. “Walking Dead” takes the more dramatic approach and “Last Man on Earth” takes the comedic look.
“Last Man on Earth” airs Sunday nights on Fox and season one is available for streaming on Hulu.
Evan Johnson, a current student at WSU, said he enjoys, “’Dr. Who,’ ‘Walking Dead’ and ‘Arrow’,” because, as he said with a laugh, “I’m a nerd.”
“Dr. Who” is a British science fiction show has been running since 1963. There are 816 episodes and 26 seasons. Over the course of that time there have been 12 “doctors” or the main character who is a time-lord. New episodes of “Dr. Who” can be found Saturday evenings on BBC.
Netflix and Hulu have made it easier than ever for people to start shows that are still on air and binge watch them to the episode that’s currently on air. Or, for those students, who don’t have cable or Hulu to watch the shows as they’re released episode by episode, there are excellent shows on Netlfix that have already finished running to watch.
Kylie Maglish, an English major at WSU, said, “I don’t watch cable anymore, anything that I want to watch I’m like ‘just give me the whole thing so I can watch all of it.’” She enjoys “How I Met Your Mother” and recently watched “Parks and Rec.” Of the other tv shows she watches, she said, “everything else is a Netflix original series like ‘Daredevil’ and ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’.”
Netflix has had great luck from airing it’s own content and shows that are original to Netflix such as “Orange is the New Black” and “House of Cards.” Both have won awards, with “House of Cards” becoming the first original online-only television show to receive an Emmy award for acting (given to Robin Wright.)
It’s safe to say that no matter what you enjoy watching, you can find it either on cable or online streaming services this fall.
