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Much like the sci-fi film explosion of 2013, TV has a wide variety of live action scifi. From the UK Dr Who, Primeval. Canada has Continuum, Orphan Black, Primeval: New World. The USA: Person of Interest, Intelligence, Almost Human, Falling Skies, Defiance, Warehouse 13, Marvel:AoS, Revolution, Arrow, The Tomorrow People. Web series include H+, Heroes of the North, Progress.
The 5 best:
1. Person of Interest: The show is evolving into the best scifi series in years, with an excellent mid-season cliffhanger to end off 2013. This show has an interesting look at strong AI and now it appears there may be more than one "Machine" in the world. What is the motive of the Machine, since it appears humans are not in control of it despite it's "good deeds". Let's hope the answer is not typical of Hollywood.
I second this as the best SF show i have recently seen. It's SF component is pretty subdued, i.e. no laser weapons, starships or any of that but a logical progression of technology and the society we live in (and made all the more realistic since Snowden blew the lid off the NSA).
It's just brilliant writing with an excellent cast and a week ago i blew threw three and a half seasons to catch up which is very unusual for me because shows rarely grip me this much.
I don't know if I'd say they're the best, but my favorite sci-fi shows right now would be, in no specific order:
Arrow
Revolution
Falling Skies
The Walking Dead
The Tomorrow People
It hasn't aired yet, but based on what I've seen of it so far, The 100 has potential to be added to this list.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bum7f5XAbkE[/yt]
I'm also expecting Orphan Black to be added to this list after I finally get around to watching it.
I don't feel comfortable adding Doctor Who to the list since I haven't seen the last season yet.
EDIT: Moving W13 over to my fantasy list.
1. Person of Interest: The show is evolving into the best scifi series in years, with an excellent mid-season cliffhanger to end off 2013. This show has an interesting look at strong AI and now it appears there may be more than one "Machine" in the world. What is the motive of the Machine, since it appears humans are not in control of it despite it's "good deeds". Let's hope the answer is not typical of Hollywood.
I second this as the best SF show i have recently seen. It's SF component is pretty subdued, i.e. no laser weapons, starships or any of that but a logical progression of technology and the society we live in (and made all the more realistic since Snowden blew the lid off the NSA).
And what's funny is, the show incorporates Snowden's reveal into the story in subtle ways, such as the graphics showing that PRISM is actually just a decoy to take the heat away from the even more elaborate NSA programs such as The Machine (some spoilers in the pic, so don't enlarge it if you haven't seen the most recent episodes of this season).
Also:
Also, Arthur Claypool (who very easily could be Artie from Warehouse 13 if he had just stuck with his original path in the NSA - which given the name, the similar character backgrounds, and the same actor playing both roles was surely the intent) made fun of PRISM in the recent episode.
Anyone who hasn't given this show a chance because of the more procedural nature of the first season and CBS' devotion to repetitive procedurals of that nature should really check it out again. While there are still standalone procedural episodes, all of the elements that were introduced in the first season blew up into major story arcs of their own that have all been remarkably well served by the show in the following seasons, with nothing getting the short end of the stick. The Elias/mob arc, the HR/bad cops arc, the Root/AI arc, the Vigilance/privacy protecting terrorists arc, and the histories of all the characters have been covered extensively and given satisfactory plot developments.
The show is most definitely hard science fiction during its Root/AI arcs given the nature of The Machine and it's relevance to exploring present day issues of privacy rights and the development of artificial intelligence. The Machine itself has started to take on a decidedly creepy godlike and paternal (or maternal if you look at it from the perspective of one of the characters) tone that's right out of the best of Asimov's Robots series, especially where they explored loopholes in The Three Laws. This show is no CSI or NCIS or any of CBS' other alphabet shows. Even the seemingly standalone procedural elements eventually get folded into the massive overall narrative and feed into the AI story, which is amazing.
I hope anyone who skipped out on the show early on will give it a second chance, because it's the most SF show that most SF fans don't really seem to have any interest in. I have trouble getting any "water cooler" talk to develop around this show, sadly, when it really deserves the attention. It's a fantastic and complex and extremely well-written and acted series.
If Doctor Who got rid of the "wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey" baby-babble crap and got back to doing linear stories/story arcs that don't require a flowchart to figure out (if you're lucky enough to figure it out at all), then it could once again be considered science fiction.
1. Person of Interest: The show is evolving into the best scifi series in years, with an excellent mid-season cliffhanger to end off 2013. This show has an interesting look at strong AI and now it appears there may be more than one "Machine" in the world. What is the motive of the Machine, since it appears humans are not in control of it despite it's "good deeds". Let's hope the answer is not typical of Hollywood.
I second this as the best SF show i have recently seen. It's SF component is pretty subdued, i.e. no laser weapons, starships or any of that but a logical progression of technology and the society we live in (and made all the more realistic since Snowden blew the lid off the NSA).
And what's funny is, the show incorporates Snowden's reveal into the story in subtle ways, such as the graphics showing that PRISM is actually just a decoy to take the heat away from the even more elaborate NSA programs such as The Machine (some spoilers in the pic, so don't enlarge it if you haven't seen the most recent episodes of this season).
Also:
Also, Arthur Claypool (who very easily could be Artie from Warehouse 13 if he had just stuck with his original path in the NSA - which given the name, the similar character backgrounds, and the same actor playing both roles was surely the intent) made fun of PRISM in the recent episode.
Anyone who hasn't given this show a chance because of the more procedural nature of the first season and CBS' devotion to repetitive procedurals of that nature should really check it out again. While there are still standalone procedural episodes, all of the elements that were introduced in the first season blew up into major story arcs of their own that have all been remarkably well served by the show in the following seasons, with nothing getting the short end of the stick. The Elias/mob arc, the HR/bad cops arc, the Root/AI arc, the Vigilance/privacy protecting terrorists arc, and the histories of all the characters have been covered extensively and given satisfactory plot developments.
The show is most definitely hard science fiction during its Root/AI arcs given the nature of The Machine and it's relevance to exploring present day issues of privacy rights and the development of artificial intelligence. The Machine itself has started to take on a decidedly creepy godlike and paternal (or maternal if you look at it from the perspective of one of the characters) tone that's right out of the best of Asimov's Robots series, especially where they explored loopholes in The Three Laws. This show is no CSI or NCIS or any of CBS' other alphabet shows. Even the seemingly standalone procedural elements eventually get folded into the massive overall narrative and feed into the AI story, which is amazing.
I hope anyone who skipped out on the show early on will give it a second chance, because it's the most SF show that most SF fans don't really seem to have any interest in. I have trouble getting any "water cooler" talk to develop around this show, sadly, when it really deserves the attention. It's a fantastic and complex and extremely well-written and acted series.
I don't really want to quibble over definitions here, but scifi to me is not just spaceships and robots. It should predominantly have some element of newness to it and speculate on change whether it was in the past or near future onwards. Modern shows with tech that doesn't exist yet also fits the bill. Dr Who does have a lot of fantasy elements but is still grounded with scientific explanations for amazing events.
I've watched Helix. I like it so far but it's not standing out enough yet for the list. I need to see more of it.
Person of Interest does indeed tackle the prism issue but it's also unique in that the emergence of an AI doesn't immediately mean destruction as with terminator.
I don't like the little I've seen of the new Doctor Who actor. Reserving judgement..
In the honorable mention department : Blood and Chrome is not a series but I like it better than nuBsg! I have ranked in the list if it were a TV show.
I really liked the first season of Utopia last year.
Another vote for Person of Interest. In addition to the A.I. there is a lot of speculative use of cell phones and electronics with pretty believable near future tech.
It took me a while, but I've warmed up to Defiance and think it has potential for a solid run, hopefully beginning with the second season this year that I'm looking forward to.
Im not into zombies or vampires, but apparently Walking Dead falls into the scifi category since the "dead" are scientifically created? I really have too much on my plate now to watch another series that's still basically zombies.
It took me a while, but I've warmed up to Defiance and think it has potential for a solid run, hopefully beginning with the second season this year that I'm looking forward to.
