5. Firefly

I think that this one could end up a lot of people’s lists. I’m not sure that you could get back the whole cast which made the show so good. But I think there is a chance to come back with a fun series set in that universe, because there are lots of parts of the universe that need to be looked into still. And the aesthetic of that show is strong enough to set a whole lot more than just the stories around the crew of the Firefly.

So I wouldn’t want a straight reboot for this one. Mainly because I’m happy with what we got from it. But I’d like to see another show set in the same universe. A story tied into a group trying to overthrow the Alliance from within the Alliance would probably be the direction that I go. Focus less on those in the rebellion who were fighting, but now those who are trying to subvert and stop what is happening.

4. Ghost Hunt

An anime that I’m not sure if it did everything there were books for or not. But I’d love to see a reboot of this, and a straight up reboot. Something that tells the stories I saw before in Ghost Hunt, but just redone. It’s an older anime coming out in 2006, at least for one that was dubbed. And I’d like to see it redrawn and come out again, tell the same stories and then tell more.

I really like the supernatural stories that it does tell. And where the series ends, it feels like there should be more stories being told. I doubt that this would ever happen though because there are always a plethora of new anime coming out.

3. Grimm

Grimm is a good supernatural show as well about all the crazy creatures living in our world and kind of this hidden away world. I could also put The Lost Girl on the list as well. But The Lost Girl has more iconic performances from side characters and I don’t know what I’d want those changed up. In Grimm, I think you could almost reboot it.

But I would probably go with telling a similar story, just tweak it as you go. Change up the location, story beats, and everything, you could rehash some of it. But it’d easy enough to just add in and build more stories into Grimm. I don’t need the same characters back, but I’d love to dive back into that world.

2. Farscape

Farscape is such a fun show. It is most definitely crazy and creative, but in a very good way for me. I like the puppets as well in it. I think that there is just more story, again, to tell with that show. It’s been too long so I don’t think you could come back and finish off the story that easily, but I’d like to see a straight up reboot for this.

With that reboot, I don’t want it to become all fancy. I love that there is a bit of high quality special effects, but also practical as well. It makes the show more charming. And with the depth of story, it is fairly surface through a lot of it, I think it lends itself well to that more comforting blend versus the highly polished sci-fi shows that can come out now. So I wouldn’t want the aesthetic to change, but I’d love the story to be retold and finished.

1. Stargate

This is one which might actually be happening. Or at least has a better chance of happening because of how successful the franchise was with SG-1 and Atlantis. And I don’t need a reboot. I don’t even need returning actors, though a cameo or two could be fun. Instead I’d want it to just build on the world(s) that it has created.

Stargate is such an amazing show, and with how it is set-up, it’s certainly possible to explore so many more worlds. I know that they have done a ton of different things. And I wouldn’t mind bringing back in some more of the classic bad guys of the show. But also, introducing a whole new threat would be cool as well.

Final Thoughts on Television Shows

There are a lot of shows that I’d be interested in seeing come back. I mentioned Lost Girl, I’d be fine with a reboot on that. I just want some of the actors back, even though they are older. That one also needs that reboot but tweaks to improve the writing. Veronica Mars is another one that could work to have a new version, same premise but all new cases. Or more recently The Librarians, I really loved that show, or Warehouse 13 and Eureka.

But let me know what shows you maybe wanted more of? Or maybe some that are older and you’d love to see them take another stab at it.

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Ghost Hunt

It’s the only anime on the list, but it’s a good one. This one leans into Japanese horror but is also still an anime. That means that it has some lighter moments in it. However, it also does have some really good horror moments in it. Mai finds herself in a school where there is a ghost. She runs into the president of the SPR, Shibuya Psychic Research, and gets a job with him. She then goes on a lot of adventures and mysteries with ghosts and other monsters. That’s the basics of it, but it’s a nice fast anime to watch that I really enjoyed.

Locke & Key

Locke & Key is a great one to checkout because the second season is coming out tomorrow. Locke & Key follows the Locke family as they return to Rendell’s home after his death. His wife and kids go there, and Bode, the youngest starts to hear weird noises. These lead him to finding keys and to finding Dodge. The keys do amazing things, very fanciful and terrifying in nature, but Dodge doesn’t seem to want to use them for quite as simple things as Bod would want.

Locke & Key is on Netflix and based off of a comic book series by Joe Hill, Stephen King’s son. The comics are much more violent and adult in nature than the show. The show on Netflix is more YA (young adult) focused, which I think works well. It still has that sense of uneasiness and dread in the show, but makes it more accessible to people. Really fun one to watch and not that long a watch.

Dark

Another Netflix show, this one about time travel and murder. I will say immediately that this is a show that is better watched sub titled than dubbed. The difference is fairly jarring while watching dubbed. And it’s a show that at least the first season, I need to watch the others, is really good. The time travel is well done and the mystery that is happening in the town works so well. The whole premise just feels like something different. And the title definitely matches what it is.

The show itself isn’t too violent or really contain many jump scares, but the mystery that is progressing throughout the story is just unsettling. The time travel works to make it even more unsettling as you go along. Aesthetically this just works really well.

Supernatural

It’s hard to make a list like this without putting Supernatural on it. I have not watched all of the show, it is a lot to get through. But it is a good show for Halloween because it is monster of the week a lot of the time. Sam and Dean are brothers who know about all the things that go bump in the night. It also has that element of angels and demons throughout the whole series as well.

Now, this is a series that you could start watching now and probably continue until Halloween of 2022, so much longer than most. And it is repetitive in what it does. But the first couple of seasons are more horror focused and tell an interesting story. Then after that it will get into more spoopy than spooky at times, but it’s still fun. There is just a ton of it so beware.

Helix

This one might be harder to track down, but this was a SyFy channel show that was basically The Thing, but not. An experiment goes wrong on the south pole and this disease or thing is spreading to people on the base. Is it an accident or is there some more nefarious plan behind it. The fact that I’m asking that question means that there is a more nefarious plot behind it, but how it unfolds is good. And who is infected and how they try and avoid getting infected works really well.

This, I think, had two seasons on SyFy. I can’t vouch for the second season, but the first is worth a watch by itself. This horror is all about the suspense of the unknown and is probably more traditional horror and jump scares than almost anything else on the list.

What Are Your Favorite Shows to Watch at Halloween?

I know there are a lot of horror shows out there that I didn’t mention and some that are more spooky than spoopy. There are shows like Grim which I need to watch again that I really liked. But are there any out there, knowing my tastes, that you think I’d like?

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The Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose is a secret organization that operates at least partly out of Belgrave University. That’s where Jack Morton’s mother went, that’s where she fell in love with Edward Coventry and became pregnant with Jack, unknown to Coventry. She killed herself after Jack was born and Coventry and abandoned her. So now Jack and his Grandfather want him to get into the school and join the order so that he can take it down and take down Coventry. But in Belgrave University, there’s more going on than just a shady magical order that might threaten all of Jack and his Grandfather’s plans.

There are a lot of shows out there in this vein, as I mentioned, Locke and Key feels similar but beyond that you have shows like Grimm, Haven, Supernatural, The Magicians, Lost Girl and more. So is there room in the genre for even more? Personally, this magical, somewhat comedic, monsters of the week sort of show is one that I really love. I love when there’s a bit of camp, a bit of drama, a bit of horror, and an interesting plot and bad guy. And while I don’t know that The Order is particularly shocking in what it does or turns the genre on it’s head, it does a good job of being the type of show that you expect it to be, and in my case, that I want it to be.

What I think works well is how you end up with multiple factions happening, both in the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose, but also in other parts of the college campus. I think that’s something that you see at times in other shows, but they do a good job of drawing the main character in multiple different directions because of that. There’s definitely a message to the show about growing up and taking responsibility for yourself and not just living based off of what others tell you to do. It’s played out most obviously with Jack and his grandfather, but the multiple factions piece helps solidify it as kind of the drive of the main story, beyond trying to get into the order and get to Edward Coventry.

I think that one other thing for these shows that you want to pay attention to is how well they do with the monsters. Obviously, the older you go the poorer they’re going to loo, Haven looks real bad in comparison, but I don’t think that The Order leans so much on having the best looking monsters. The story has comedy in it and leans into that bit campier nature, so it doesn’t need the best looking monsters and it doesn’t need to be hyper realistic. Instead, it can look a bit cheesy because the show is a bit cheesy. That helps keep the cost of the show down, but also gives it a feel that’s different from a few of the other shows in the genre that really take themselves seriously and consider themselves to be more important than they are.

Acting wise, I think that the acting is just okay. I love the actor who play Jack’s Grandpa, Matt Frewer, and I knew him previously from having played Taggert in Eureka. This show even has a bit of a Eureka vibe, just more adult. Jake Manley who plays Jack Morton does a good job as well. There’s an earnestness to his performance that comes across. There are plenty of other characters that I like as well. When I say the acting is just okay, I don’t mean that it takes away from the story or from the show, because again, it’s meant to be a little bit campy. And so we get some campy or sillier performances, Jack’s RA (resident assistant) in college is a funny character, though does have some moments of depth. They do a good job of sprinkling those moments in and generally I think that they work well and they act them out well.

Overall, The Order is a show that from the trailer looks like it takes itself more seriously than it does. It has a nice blend of comedy and monsters and offers some interesting thinking points. For me, that’s what I want in a show like this, it can’t just be heavy otherwise I have trouble wanting to stick with it, and if it’s just silly, I have to be in a particular mood for that. Would I recommend the show, I would say that it’s meant for adults, there’s swearing, murders, and plenty of things that aren’t appropriate for younger children, but yes, I do recommend the show. Just know that it’s going to be campy and it’s going to have some absurd moments to it, but overall, it’s a fun show that’s worth checking out, and a fast watch as there are only 10 episodes in season 1.

Let me know what you think of it below? Is it the type of show that you enjoy or was it too campy for you?

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5 – Futurama
Yes, it’s an animated show that had a weird break in the show, but I love it. The humor is great in the show and for a show that is a comedy, there are so many heartfelt moments that tug at your heart strings, it’s very impressive. And for all of that, you still have Bender and Zoidberg who are generally just weird. I think what works so well in Futurama is that it feels like it relevant to life without taking time to bring up specific real world events. Other animated shows lose some of the timeless quality that Futurama has, because they try and talk directly about the real world instead of talking generally, over all, it’s a show that I can sit down and watch most episodes over and over.

4 – Supernatural
There have been a few seasons of Supernatural at this point, and I’m a few seasons behind at this point. But the fact they’ve been able to keep it going so long and while it isn’t always extremely new and fresh, they have done a ton of different things with the show. I like how it has transitioned between strong horror elements and then lighter episodes and seasons that are meant to be more self aware and goofy. I think it shows that the show has evolved over time, even if the characters seem to have stayed pretty similar throughout the whole show. Will I ever get caught up on Supernatural, who knows, but the episodes that I have watched, I really enjoyed the show, and that was around 10 seasons worth.

3 – Dark
I haven’t watched the second season of this yet, and I feel bad about that, but the first season was so amazing. I love the idea of time travel in stories, and sometimes they manage to get it right, Dark gets it right. This show is so extremely thematic and atmospheric that you get sucked into it from the very beginning. Downside is that I think it’s best with subtitles, not dubbed, but if you can get past that fact, the story is really engaging and weird. Definitely one that I need to get back to soon and start from the beginning and go straight through season 2. The downside to the show is that it is dark, so while I watched it in the later parts of winter, it can be a bit depressing to watch.

2 – Psych
Some of it as to why Psych has dropped is that there hasn’t been any new Psych, but we’re getting a new movie in 2020, so that might push it back up again. But Psych is a show that I can sit down and with the exception of the first season which I’ve seen so many times, I can watch and enjoy basically any episode. The humor is great, the stories are absurd and fun, and overall they just get the show right. The chemistry between the characters is really good as well. I also love the references to different bits of older pop culture that are strewn throughout almost every episode and different spoofs of movies and TV shows that they do in their episodes as well.

1 – Stranger Things
With three seasons under it’s belt, I can definitely say that this is my favorite show. Every season has been good, and I think through three seasons, I can only think of one episode that’s been bad. The kids on bikes aspect of the show as well as the other circles of people are really well done. The characters all have issues and flaws and the monsters are generally pretty disturbing. I like the 80’s feel of the show, and I really like how it takes horror tropes from that time and runs with them in interesting ways. Overall, it wasn’t close for my favorite show.

Kind of a weird combination of shows, let’s see if my honorable mentions help clear it up at all?

Honorable Mention:
Rain
The Simpsons
Grimm
Doctor Who
The IT Crowd

There are a lot of good shows out there which have just fell to the wayside for me. Killjoys was a ton of fun to watch, but I’m behind on that one now. The Mandalorian is coming out and while the show has been great thus far, it’s not even done with one season yet, so I couldn’t put it on my list. What are some shows that you really enjoy?

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I’ve mentioned Urban Fantasy before in some articles, but I wanted to delve deeper into it and provide some more examples beyond my normal one.

Urban fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy in which the narrative has an urban setting.^[1][2] Works of urban fantasy are set primarily in the real world and contain aspects of fantasy, such as the discovery of earthbound mythological creatures, coexistence or conflict between humans and paranormal beings, and other changes to city life.^[3][4] A contemporary setting is not strictly necessary for a work of urban fantasy: works of the genre may also take place in futuristic and historical settings, actual or imagined.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_fantasy

I figure I can just drop in some Wikapedia knowledge to get the conversation going since they are going to define it basically the same way that I’m going to describe it. I would say that urban fantasy basically does always show up in a contemporary setting at least from what I’ve seen. But as they say it isn’t required, but it is extremely normal for it to show up in that contemporary setting.

The best way that I would describe it is that it takes a realistic setting, generally earth and our world, and then puts a twist on it. Whether it’s Fae creatures as in Grimm and The Dresden Files, to the weird London Below in Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, there are large chunks of the normal world still there for the story. These twists on the world can be highly hidden such as in Neverwhere or sometimes very obvious as in The Dresden Files, though magic and monsters are still generally kept under wraps there as well.

What generally makes strong urban fantasy is the balance of normalcy with the absurd. You see the normal world happening around the characters and you often see the characters pining for or rushing headlong into the more magical aspect of the world. While I wouldn’t quality Harry Potter as Urban Fantasy since most of it takes place at Hogwarts, it does have some elements of urban fantasy, and Harry is someone who rushes headlong into the magical world because anything seems better than living in the space beneath the stairs. That compares to Grimm where Detective Nick Burkhardt is not all that excited to find out what else is going on in the world. It makes his job much harder and makes his life much crazier in ways that he doesn’t want. I think this really helps drive the home the humanity of the main character as you see the struggle. There is some Urban Fantasy, and Lost Girl is an example, where the main character, Bo, loses touch with her humanity seemingly as the series goes along. Now, a lot of that is just writing, but it hurts the show when the focus on that has been lost and it was stronger at the start of the show. They made some poor decisions in the show by trying to be edgy, but unfortunately the writing dropped off too much and the acting talent wasn’t up to snuff to pull it off.

When I think about it, I don’t think that there are many particular things that make urban fantasy strong that doesn’t make most other books, movies, and TV shows strong. It has to focus in on an interesting character with flaws and have an interesting plot to go along with it. Within that a good focus on the tension between the two worlds is generally one of the driving forces. Shows like Grimm and Supernatural, which isn’t pure urban fantasy, but is closely aligned to Urban fantasy, and book series like The Dresden Files, all the main characters are the gate keepers keeping the world of monsters and other scary things back and allowing humanity to live in blissful ignorance of what is actually going on. That tension, whether or not the main character is the gate keeper, is probably the thing that is most unique to urban fantasy as it’s the most consistent theme to it. However, it is certainly not a required part of urban fantasy or something that is only limited to urban fantasy.

So I’ve mentioned some of the examples of Urban Fantasy that I’m familiar with. There are certainly a whole lot more out there, and I’m always interested in finding more to read. So I’m going to ask for some suggestions and then give some suggestions of my own. If you have some that you’ve enjoyed, let me know.

The Dresden Files
My #1 recommendation. The books are very well done and Jim Butcher does a really good job of developing an interesting world with interesting monsters. The series starts off a bit rough as it was some of if not Jim Butcher’s first major writing experience. But besides that, it’s about Harry Dresden, a wizard PI in Chicago who is basically one of the only forces holding back hordes of darkness from not just consuming the city, but at times the world.

Grimm
I believe this show was met with mixed reviews, and I will say that there is some camp factor to the show and special effects. However, I liked the show. It is a bit monster of the week throughout a lot of it, but it does that well. The main character is interesting, and the creatures and building up of the world is quite interesting as well.

Neverwhere
Probably my first introduction to Urban Fantasy, though I might have read the first Dresden Files book before. Neverwhere is an interesting and crazy crafted world of the London Below. A normal human runs across a girl named Door whose life is in danger. After helping her, Richard Mayhew starts having changes in life, and he starts to disappear from the world. He finds out that he’s now moved from his normal life in London to being part of London Below.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
One that people might not think about as it’s moved on from being part of the collective view, but like Supernatural, it’s a modern show with monsters. The reason that I would say this is more urban fantasy, at least as how I would qualify it, is that Buffy takes place in a single town of Sunnydale that just happens to be sitting on a hellmouth. It’s a classic show and one that does have a bad season or two in there, but is mostly very strong.

Just to do some more quick hits based off of what other places are calling Urban Fantasy that I’ve enjoyed:
Warehouse 13
Supernatural
Reaper
Stranger Things
The Librarians
All fun TV shows

Big Trouble in Little China
From Dusk Til Dawn
The Last Witch Hunter
The Librarian
Underworld
All solid movie choices, though a lot of them B-movies.

Little Witch Academia
Blood Blockade Battlefront
Ghost Hunt
Those are some anime options.

American Gods
Harry Potter
IT
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Last two I would say are urban fantasy adjacent books. But I recommend all of these books.

So you can see that I’ve watched a lot, but what are some other recommendations especially in books and anime?

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I think the biggest reason that there aren’t more of them is because publishers and writers want something that feels familiar. A writer can feel like it’s their own unique twist on something that is familiar and safe, and a publisher can look and see how well things have sold. Now there is plenty of variety within the standard epic fantasy that we often think of and that we see published most often, but there’s always some medieval feel to it that feels normal and allows us to jump into a world quickly and pick up the edge cases about the world that are different from others.

What are some of the tropes of fantasy that are used often?

While it’s less the case now, it often feels like fantasy is the clear good versus evil. Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are both clear examples of this where there is clearly a good side and there is an evil side, and there really isn’t ground in between. Sometimes you really want that delineation, but fantasy can lean too much so into the good versus evil and it simply being that and nothing more.

Also there is the medieval feel, or what we attribute to a medieval feel. There are going to be knights most likely, though they might be called something else, a king, either good striving against the evil forces coming to the lands or evil keeping the people oppressed so a rebellion must rise up and there’s not all that much in between. Lots of castles, sprawling forests, and generally a lot of what you’d expect from Robin Hood shows up in your standard epic fantasy. Even in urban fantasy, there is often some leftover feel of the medieval period. In the Dresden Files, the wizarding council holds old traditions, in Harry Potter, Hogwarts is literally a giant castle.

Finally, while it’s not in all fantasy, there is very often some form of magic. This is often where fantasy diverges the most as different people use different things for magic. It could be that the magic comes from the divine, it could be that magic is steeped heavily in ritual and must be done at ritual locations, or it could be a quicker and dirtier magic that can be done on the fly. Magic can be fine and precise wielded like a scalpel or it can be swung around like a club, bludgeoning everything. So there’s plenty of leeway for magic, but it is something that is commonly found in fantasy.

That’s epic fantasy, is all fantasy like that or are there different types of fantasy?

While that might be the type that people think of when they think of fantasy thanks to Lord of the Rings, it certainly isn’t the only type of fantasy out there. There’s paranormal fantasy, urban fantasy, low fantasy, dark fantasy, or even steampunk would qualify as a different type of fantasy. Probably the biggest growing type of fantasy falls into that area of urban fantasy. The Dresden Files series is one of the biggest or Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman are two of the better known. But TV shows like Grimm also fall into that Urban Fantasy sub-genre of fantasy.

There are a few that I really want to call out, though, the first being Urban Fantasy. This is one of my favorite genres of fantasy as taking a modern world and putting magic not just into the world as a whole, but a densely populated area and really focusing the story down into that world can be done so well. In all of Neverwhere, Grimm, and The Dresden Files, there’s a grittier side of the world that you don’t a lot in fantasy. That grittier side of things is what sets it apart from contemporary fantasy which would qualify as something like Harry Potter where it’s in a modern setting, but doesn’t deal as directly with the modern nature of the world.

Another one can either be modern or not, but it’s a non-standard medieval fantasy. That’s a long name, but basically, it’s looking at fantasy that really goes outside of the normal sword and sorcery that you can see and takes us to another world or part of our world than London or the medieval European equivalent. An example of this is the Daughter of Smoke and Bones trilogy. Those books are set in Prague, so different location than normal, but they also deal with a very different subset fantasy with how they talk about a number of fantasy tropes, which you can see from above, and the creatures that you see. You don’t really have your standard goblins, trolls, and faeries. It’s often a bit jarring not to have your standard fantasy tropes, but it’s also refreshing to see fantasy step away from it’s roots and branch out into new areas.

Finally is a sub genre of fantasy that I want more from, and that’s the Weird West. But this can also fall somewhat into historical fantasy as well, so I’ll use that genre so I can talk about  more things. But in the Weird West genre, you’re getting something that we’re familiar with, because of westerns, and adding in some mix of magic, steampunk or advanced technology, aliens, or monsters. The movie, Wild Wild West is an example of what Weird West can be. But when you expand it to look at other parts of history, you see it around WWI and WWII, even something like Wonder Woman which falls under the umbrella of Superheroes, but the movie was as much an alternative history fantasy movie as it was a superhero movie because of Wonder Woman’s backstory and Ares being a Greek god.

Now, there’s so much more you can go with into fantasy. And a lot of what I’ve talked about with world building before for RPG’s or just in writing in general you can pull into fantasy as well and use it to help shape your thoughts around fantasy. I’m going to be doing a follow up article soon on magic and high, medium, and low magic as well as different ways of using magic that I touched on here in this post.

But I’ll leave you with the question, what are some of your favorite genres inside fantasy, and some of your favorite books or TV shows or movies in that genre?

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The Obvious Ones:

Supernatural

This show has been going seemingly forever at this point, but it’s a classic monster of the week show. They have developed a nice cast of characters for the show and really found a groove. The first few seasons are definitely leaning more into the horror aspect, but even some of the goofier episodes in later seasons still is a solid hit for Halloween. While the show can be a bit repetitive, Sam and Dean Winchester more than make up for it by being fun characters to watch.

Stranger Things

Last year, the second season came out around Halloween, so it makes perfect sense that this is on the list. The show has a decent amount of suspense and the monsters from the upsidedown are pretty classic for horror. What makes Stranger Things so good is the feel of nostalgia that you get form it as the Duffer brothers reference the 80’s a ton and have pulled from horror and Halloween masters like Stephen King and John Carpenter. The first season especially has that tightly constructed story feel to it, and you are on the edge of your seat wondering what is going to happen next. And because it’s only two seasons and not long seasons at that, it’s certainly a digestible show to jump in and watch.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

This definitely falls into the campier area, especially now looking back at hos Joss Whedon tried to add drama into the show. But it’s a classic monster of the week show at this point and has some completely amazing episodes. There are some weaker seasons in the show, and the show itself kind of tapers off, though it did have a final season, in terms of it being worth watching. The musical episode is definitely a standout episode.

So now some deeper cuts for Halloween shows. They probably will still be somewhat known, but there might be a few odd ones in there that people might not have heard of.

Dark

Another show that can be found on Netflix, like Stranger Things, Dark doesn’t have the typical horror elements, but leans much more into suspense. It’s a German show that can be watched in English, but I’d personally recommend it in German with subtitles, just because of matching out up the mouths with the words and the issues that you can get in German with that. Dark is deeply thematic, and the time travel in the story keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s a very heavy show but it always leaves you wanting more of it. For some this show will be too stressful, but I personally found it engaging in a great way. Also, the music in this show is amazing and would work really well for a Halloween party.

The Rain

The final Netflix show on the list. The Rain is a Danish show that has some aesthetic similarities Dark. In this case, The Rain walks more on horror theme, but has some feel of The Walking Dead and a show that’ll be further down on the list, from what I can tell, I’ve only seen some of The Walking Dead (it isn’t on my list). The Rain deals more with people living in a tough world after a plague that has killed most of the population of at least Denmark because of something in the rain. Simone and her younger brother Rasmus are left on their own for years in a bunker while their father, who seems to be tied to the plague that has happened is out searching for a cure. Eventually Simone and Rasmus have to return to the surface to deal with the “humanity” that is left. There’s a little bit of a 28 Days Later feel to it, now that I think about it. I haven’t finished the show yet, but from what I’ve seen, I’m loving the show and the on the edge of your seat feel that it gives.

Grimm

This show is more main stream as it was on NBC for a while, however, now that it’s off the air, I think it’s less of a known. It’s a bit monster of the week as it follows around a cop who finds out that he has a connection to a world that he never knew existed. It’s another show that I’ve heard drops off a bit, but from the parts of it I’ve seen, the first three seasons I want to say, it was very enjoyable. Definitely less tense than the previous shows on the list, but none the less, very enjoyable.

Helix

This gets back into more of the harder horror show feel. This is the show that The Rain, for me, feels like it’s borrowed some from the feel of it. Though Helix focuses primarily on the scientists and trying to figure out who might be infected with the disease that is ravaging their Antarctic base, where the disease even comes from, and why it is being worked on. There’s a vibe that I’m pretty sure is similar to The Thing, I just haven’t seen that movie yet, somehow. I believe that Helix only had a two season run on SyFy and I only watched the first season. Even as a single season show, the tension and twists that happened made this into a very solid show and definitely one that is binge worthy to watch the first season around Halloween.

What are some of your favorite shows to watch around Halloween? I haven’t seen much of The Walking Dead, but that show, Fear the Walking Dead, and American Horror Story seem like prime candidates for Halloween watching, as well as The Strain.

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