SF Signal Readers’ Choice: What was Your Favorite SF/F/H Television Show of 2012?
By John DeNardo |
Thursday, December 27th, 2012 at
12:25 am
The end of the year is often a time of reflection and, more importantly, list making!
Help us compile a list of the best genre television shows of the year by telling us which science fiction, fantasy and/or horror shows were your favorites. These do not have to necessarily be shows that were originally aired this year — we are more interested in the best shows that you consumed for the first time in 2012.
Sound off in the comments!
Tagged with: Readers Choice 2012
Filed under: TV
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Farscape, Babylon 5, Star Trek: Voyager, Arrow, Moonlight, Once Upon A Time, Grimm
Dr. who with Warehouse 13 and Haven tied for a close second
Doctor Who
“Game of Thrones” and the more recent webisodic “Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome” and “H+: The Digital Series” (although I abandoned it after 20+ episodes…). Also the pilot of “Continuum” was interesting and I really hope it doesn’t get too melodramatic and/or predictable later on…
Once Upon a Time.
Runner-up: The River.
Blakes 7
Smeg yeah. Awesome
Would add Starhunter to that as well
DOCTOR WHO.
On the American side of the pond on broadcast TV:
ONCE UPON A TIME and GRIMM.
On cable, SyFy’s WAREHOUSE 13.
Pass. Didn’t watch enough genre TV. I did watch Doctor Who but found it very uneven. Patrick long since knows this from our conversations on the subject.
Walking Dead, Doctor Who…..and the rediscovery via DVD of the original, wickedly fun Dark Shadows.
Most of the 2012 debuts were entirely forgettable, perpetuating the post-Lost trend of high-concept premieres with no or disappointing followthrough (River, Revolution, Last Resort). Awake was the only one of the bunch that had any life to it, and it got cancelled.
I didn’t watch much genre television myself, but did watch Dr. Who Season Six on DVD which I have no doubt would be my favorite even if I had watched many of the shows. Like Paul I found the first part of this current season to be uneven and it didn’t have the overall emotional impact that I’ve come to expect from Dr. Who, but I loved the first episode and am looking forward to the new companion.
Though not specifically genre, the standout TV show for me in 2012 was BREAKING BAD. Some have said it is the best drama TV has ever produced and I wouldn’t argue that point. The show can be seen as a perfect, textbook example of how to tell the story of the Rise of the Evil Overlord, after all, what is a drug lord in today’s world? Bryan Cranston is arguable the best actor on television, and the writing for the show is smart and precise.
Genre specific, I liked GAME OF THRONES quite a bit even if it was typically oversexed like much of HBO’s output. It wasn’t too much of a surprise that the episode written by Martin himself was the most well-received episode of the series.
My wife and I really enjoy GRIMM, the police procedural with monsters. If the DRESDEN FILES TV show was a bit more like this, then I suspect chances are it might still be on TV.
THE WALKING DEAD was superb this past season, having learned from its pacing mistakes and lack of zombie killings in the past two seasons. Though the Governor was played differently than his character in the comics, he was still effectively creepy
The biggest surprise for me is ARROW based on the C-level DC Comics Character Green Arrow. Since it is on the CW, it is filled with Beautiful People, but actors who can, you know, act pretty convincingly. Speaking of Dresden, Paul Blackthorne, the actor who portrayed Harry Dresden on the show plays the police chief who is the foil to Stephen Amnell’s Oliver Queen. If the show continues this trajectory and continues to pepper in references to the DC Universe and learns from the many missteps SMALLVILLE made, then we’ll be watching the show for a good few years.
#1 Fringe #2 Dr.Who #3 Person of Interest.
IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
GOING POSTAL
UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS
TRUE BLOOD
WALKING DEAD
EUREKA
FRINGE
ARROW
666 PARK AVENUE
BEING HUMAN (NORTH AMERICAN VERSION)
SHERLOCK
SPARTACUS
DOCTOR WHO
THE RIVER
GAME OF THRONES
Pay Cable – Game of Thrones
Basic Cable – Walking Dead
US Television – Fringe
British Television – Doctor Who
Supernatural
Once Upon a Time
Grim
Doctor Who
Walking Dead
Teen Wolf
Eureka
Warehouse 13
666 Park Avenue
Babylon 5
Dark Shadows
Torchwood
Farscape
Absolutely am loving:
The Walking Dead
Grimm
Sherlock Holmes (the newest BBC one)
Person of Interest
Revolution
sf: none
fantasy: Once Upon a Time
horror: American Horror Story & American Horror Story: Asylum
A Game of Thrones is by far the best genre(Sf/F/H) show on tv. I used to like Fringe but felt it went offtrack this season.
WAREHOUSE 13
DOCTOR WHO
SHERLOCK
Fringe
as well -
futurama
walking dead
falling skies
alphas
clone wars
warehouse 13
dr who
tron: uprising
sherlock
_Big Bang Theory_ as best foreign SF
_Misfits_ Best Adult SF
_Dr Who_ Best Juvenile SF
Forgot to mention Sherlock (I guess updating element, Moffat make it sci-fi in a way).
The only respectable sf tv show is Futurama.
Game of Thrones is #1, but I have to mention Person of Interest as well, which this fine website introduced me to and I am enjoying quite a bit.