Spring usually signals the end of current television seasons, as producers and writers wind down their stories by leaving their faithful viewers with frustrating cliffhangers and begin to plot for next season. This spring, couch potatoes seeking to avoid direct sunlight can ride out the season with three quality TV series, all featuring morally ambiguous men desperately trying to cling to their empires in these period dramas.
After a forced one-year absence, Don Draper and his co-workers at the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce advertisement agency contend with the changing climate of the turbulent 60s and their personal crises in the AMC hit series “Mad Men.” The series does an excellent job of character development over a linear progression of plotlines, which is what draws people to tune in each week.
HBO’s “Game of Thrones” is the perfect combination of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imaginative mythology and the moral ambiguity of human nature found in “Battlestar Galactica.” Based off the novels by George R. R. Martin, the second season promises to continue their loyalty to the books and includes huge story arcs such as Robb Stark’s quest to avenge his father’s death caused by his brother Joffrey.
“The Borgias” chronicles the reign of Pope Alexander VI and his family in Renaissance Italy as they struggle to secure their power. The family faces many obstacles from the College of Cardinals and other famous Italian dynasties such as the Sforzas. Advertised as “the original crime family,” the series’ second season will follow in the same tradition of former Showtime series “The Tudors” by embellishing the historical facts with fabricated events.
With these Spring dramas, causal TV watchers and addicts will be able to survive the dwindling TV landscape until the next batch of critically acclaimed series return in the summer months.