Had a crazy summer getting trashed at booze filled art openings; stayed out all night on stealth bike missions with your crew, and pashed way too many people in your social circle? Well, now that the winter chill has kicked in, there’s never been a better time to recuperate, forget a few regretful moments and wrap yourself up in a ‘I’m not leaving the couch for 16 hours’ television drama series.
Why get a 'single-serving' movie blockbuster when you can have a 30-course meal spread out over four riveting seasons? Shows like
The Sopranos, Love My Way and
Six Feet Under are so addictive that in just a few episodes you’re completely hooked and ready to quit living your own life. Round up your housemates/loved ones and head down to your local video store and pick up these classic faves and hot newbies for your next visual T.V. series fix:
For those about to hibernate, we salute you!
#10: SKINS (2007 – present)
E4
3 Seasons
Skins is a modern day snapshot of pale-faced English teens living in Bristol. The show follows a tech-savvy gang of High School friends as they blunder through the gritty and realistic tribulations of teenage life. Good luck trying to rent this one seeing as it is a hit with creepy looking 50 year-old men.
#9: BAND OF BROTHERS (2001)
HBO
10 Episodes
A startling dose of explosive action and heart-wrenching drama is what you’ll experience if you choose to go along for the hell ride that is
Band Of Brothers. Watch as the brave Parachute Infantrymen of Easy Company start out at boot camp and end up in the brutal final months of WWII in Europe. Riveting stuff.
#8: NORTHERN EXPOSURE (1990 - 1995)
CBS
6 Seasons
If you need a super addictive television show to get you through the cold nights, there's never been a better time to get cosy with the bizarrely endearing townsfolk of Cicely, Alaska. Doctor Joel Fleischman and Co, will have you hooked on this kooky Alaskan mis-adventure in no time flat.
#7: MY SO-CALLED LIFE (1994 – 1995)
ABC
1 Season
Finally available to rent on DVD in Australia,
My So-Called Life is like being back at high school in the mid '90s. Revel in the issues of that socially aware decade as Claire Danes, Jared Leto and a whole cast of struggling teens grapple with homophobia, drugs, kinky sex, homelessness, censorship and school violence. This show is so good it’ll make you feel like you never graduated.
#6: MAD MEN (2007 - present)
AMC
3 Seasons
Deftly evoking the heady days of product marketing in the 1960's, Mad Men is all about the clean-cut advertising mavericks at the Sterling Cooper Agency, who aren’t so squeaky-clean as they appear. Seething with adultery, secret pasts, immaculate hair and chain smoking, this show is not recommended if you've recently given up the ciggies!
#5: ENTOURAGE (2004 - present)
HBO
6 Seasons
Loosely based on Mark Whalberg’s early escapades in Tinsel-Town with his East Coast posse.
Entourage is like watching a ‘how-to’ for dudes straight from the hallowed pages of the Encyclopaedia Bro-Tannica.
#4: SEX AND THE CITY (1998 - 2004)
HBO
6 Seasons
Now that the movie credits have rolled, it’s time to relive all the ups, downs, melt-downs and overtly frank sexual confessions of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda as they don the lippy to do battle with Mr Big, Steve Brady, Aidan Shaw and a whole army of potential boyfriends and steamy one night flings in the city that never sleeps.
#3: DEADWOOD (2004 – 2006)
HBO
3 Seasons
Take a wild horse ride back to 1870 and revel in the treacherous goings on of a fledgling frontier town called Deadwood that’s striking it rich. Full of standout characters and historical accounts, Deadwood is the drunkest, meanest, greediest, foulmouthed and downright most interesting place to be this winter. A few episodes of this engaging show and your favourite new cuss word will be ‘cock-sucker’.
#2: THE WIRE (2002 – 2008)
HBO
5 Seasons
The Wire is like a best kept secret that’s been forwarded in emails to co-workers, discussed over cups of coffee with friends and overheard by passengers on public transport for the last year. This show is so addictive it makes customers behave like crack-addicted babies if they miss out on a booking at the video store. Don’t ask for details, just rent it if you can and discover what all the fuss is about.
#1: TWIN PEAKS (1990 - 1991)
ABC
2 Seasons
Still the most original and engrossing series ever made, Twin Peaks is the ultimate way to hibernate this winter. Special Agent Dale Cooper and the twisted residents of Twin Peaks are like old friends that you just have to drop in on every couple of years, and they just get better with each visit to their bizarre world. You know damn well who killed Laura Palmer 19 years ago, but let the Log Lady, Deputy Hawk, Audrey Horne, Bobby Briggs, Josie Packard, Leo Johnson, BOB and the whole gang divulge their secrets for the tenth time!