What to watch in 2013: ‘Big Brother Canada,’ ‘The Americans,’ and Michael J. Fox
We’ve already gone through the best of 2012 and proclaimed “Game of Thrones” to be the show of the year … so what’s next? The answer to that is very simple: looking towards the future for some of our favorite shows!
It has not been an easy task trying to rank the five shows that we are the most excited to watch in 2013, mostly because in many ways you are comparing apples to oranges, and in the case of shows that are still at the pilot stage, to unripe bananas. However, they all have a level playing field in that we have yet to watch a full episode of any of them, but the talent coupled with premise promises that there could be some great things on the way for all of them.
5. “Big Brother Canada” (Slice) – Cynics laugh all you want, but “Big Brother” is as guilty a pleasure as they come, and Canada’s first edition of the show should be equally fun … even if many viewers in the United States may never see it. With “The Bachelor Canada,” our friends up north have shown that they are not only capable of handling a popular franchise, but the fresh blood thrown into it behind the scenes has allowed for a greater level of creativity and fun. Plus, it airs starting on February 27, and will end in time for everyone to have a break before the American show.
4. “Cult” (The CW) – Could a show be indoctrinating people to do terrible things? It’s still to be seen how “Cult” functions as a show, but there are elements of this on the surface that are reminiscent of the David Fincher film “The Game.” This is clearly network TV’s most ambitious midseason show, and it is coming on a network in The CW that is having a decent year in between “Arrow” becoming a hit and both “Supernatural” and “The Vampire Diaries” posting ratings either on par or higher than the previous year. To sweeten the deal, the show stars Matt Davis of “The Vampire Diaries” fame. It premieres on Tuesday, February 19.
3. “Untitled Michael J. Fox Comedy” (NBC) – We typically have a hard time placing shows without even a pilot episode made on this sort of list, but when your star is Michael J. Fox, that has a tendency to change things. This is at the moment the only comedy coming up this fall with a full 22-episode order attached to it, and that just goes to show how much confidence the network has in a show without a single second of film attached to it.
2. “L.A. Noir” (TNT) – Here’s what you need to know right now: the original showrunner of “The Walking Dead” in Frank Darabond serves as the executive producer here, and he also has one of his former stars on board in Jon Bernthal for a story all about the unraveling crime syndicates in 1940s Los Angeles. It’s a slightly different period, and a different location, than anything that we’ve seen on TV in recent weeks. Plus, it’s Darabont and Bernthal … what more do you want?
1. “The Americans” (FX) – This has the potential to be the next “Homeland,” as it focuses on some KGB officers who have been trained to assimilate into American society during the late stages of the Cold War in the 1980s. It takes that sort of international intrigue of the aforementioned show, adds Keri Russell, uses the same sort of historical fiction seen in “Mad Men,” and then adds “Justified” executive producer Graham Yost. If this is anything other than awesome, prepare to be disappointed. “The Americans” premieres on January 30.
What new shows are you looking forward to in 2013? If you want to preview “Big Brother Canada,” you can do so over at the link here.
Photo: FX