The Best Television of 2015: No.3 - FX's FARGO

Set around Luverne, Minnesota, Fargo, North Dakota, and Sioux Falls in 1979, season 2 followed beautician Peggy Blumquist (Kirsten Dunst) and her husband, butcher Ed (Jesse Plemons), in their attempt to cover up the hit-and-run murder of Rye Gerhardt; son of crime family matriarch Floyd Gerhardt (Jean Smart). Meanwhile, State Trooper Lou Solverson (Patrick Wilson) and Sheriff Hank Larsson (Ted Danson) are investigating three murders committed by Rye before his death...

What made it so good? It was just a joy to watch this story unfold with a hugely talented cast involved in the telling. I loved the first season, but it was sedate compared to what happened in season 2. The ramifications of oddball Peggy hitting someone with her car, moments after he shot and killed three people in a diner, set in motion a chain of events that became both darkly comical and often quite harrowing. There wasn't a bad link in the whole ensemble, and everyone got a moment that burrowed itself into your memory, but I was particularly spellbound by Bookem Woodbine as laconic gangster Mike Milligan, and the silent charisma of Indian hitman Hanzee Dent (Zach McClarnon)—both relatively unknown faces in a starry cast.

Autumn 2015 TV - Part One

We're a few months into the 2015/16 television season, so I just wanted to run down all the shows I'm watching, how I think they're getting on, and my degrees of continued interest in them.

'Agents of SHIELD' (season 3) - ABC.
Season 1 became good halfway through. Season 2 turned bad halfway through. Season 3's proving to be a real bore from the start. It seems someone decided what we really want from AoS is lots of people with superpowers, so they're going big on the whole Inhumans angle. I just wish the show didn't feel like a live-action X-Men more than a spy-fi show that could tackle a lot of different subjects and ideas. Unsurprisingly, the best episode (so far) concerned an hourlong flashback to Simmons stranded on an alien planet, having to survive until rescue arrived. While it was probably inspired by The Martian novel, or knowledge of the film adaptation, it was something you don't see TV do very often.

Trailer: FARGO - Season 2

FX have released the official trailer for season 2 of FARGO, which looks fantastic. I was a huge fan of the first season, but have been concerned about the idea of telling a completely different story each season. It's not working out too well for True Detective over on HBO, is it. Mind you, Fargo appears to have a much wiser strategy—because while the story, characters and even the decade's different (this takes us back to 1979), it's still all taking place in snowy Minnesota and works as a prequel for Keith Carradine's cop-turned-restauranteur Lou Solverson.

Dan's 10 Favourite TV Shows of 2014

It's that time of the year again. I know the internet's full of top 10 lists, but mine's less about what was "the best" and more what became "a favourite". Sometimes, show X is objectively better than show Y, but X has something about it that just makes it more entertaining—for me. Basically, here are the TV shows that most captivated me during their runs, and I looked forward to sitting down to watch every week.

Isn't that all that matters, really?

Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons join FARGO season 2 cast

HBO recently confirmed the new casting for True Detective, and now it's the turn of FX with FARGO. We already know the second season will jump back in time, to dramatise the 1979 Sioux Falls, South Dakota case mentioned by Keith Carradine's character Lou Solverson. Now we know that Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man) will play Peggy Blomquist, "… small town beautician with big city dreams who is trying to figure out who she really is and what she really wants as she struggles with traditional societal expectations." Her husband, a butcher named Ed, will be played by Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad).

Digital Spy: 12 Fantasy Television Crossovers

Over at Digital Spy today, it's my latest article. This one fantasises about 12 "crossover" episodes of past and present TV shows, that would be extremely unlikely but incredibly fun to watch. Dexter meets Hannibal? Sherlock travels to Fargo? Justified visits True Blood? Click through to read more, and remember to share if you enjoy it!

From AMERICAN HORROR STORY to FARGO, will U.S cable's sudden love of 'anthology series' last?

There's an emerging trend in U.S TV for cable dramas to have seasons that deviate from the preceding one, becoming anthologies. FX's American Horror Story started the ball rolling, when creator Ryan Murphy announced its second year wouldn't continue the 'haunted house' plot of its inaugural run. Instead, AHS told a completely different story set in a crazy asylum, utilising some of the same actors.

FX will return to FARGO

Having secured 18 Emmy nominations, it was almost unthinkable FX wouldn't commission a second season of their hit crime drama FARGO. Unusually for U.S television, it will concern a completely different story, with new characters, in a different time period.

MSN TV: Channel 4's FARGO, 1.1 - 'The Crocodile's Dilemma'

Over at MSN TV today: I've reviewed the excellent TV adaptation of the 1996 film FARGO, starring Billy Bob Thornton and Martin Freeman, which had its UK premiere on Channel 4 last night...

We're seeing a good deal of big-screen properties transfer to the small-screen lately: Hannibal, Bates Motel, From Dusk till Dawn, the upcoming Rosemary's Baby, etc. The thinking appears to be that audiences are so consumed by TV, studios need to cut through this digital din by pitching remakes of stories with which people are already familiar, or else lean on brand recognition. On hearing about a Fargo mini-series, the very idea felt pointless. Fortunately, screenwriter Noah Hawley (Bones) knew there was no improving on the Coen's original production so he wisely decided to tell another "true crime" story with fresh characters.

Continue reading at MSN TV...