Snowfall

Slackers serving Satan as his bounty hunters? At a bare minimum, "The Reaper" does offer conclusive proof that colluding with the devil is considerably more exciting than a job at the Work Bench, a fictional Seattle home improvement store. Imagine Sam Oliver's surprise when he learns on his twenty-first birthday his parents negotiated a long-ago deal with the captain of the underworld: Save daddy's life, and they will give Satan their first-born child. Of course, mom and dad used every form of contraception imaginable until Satan released their doctor from his gambling debts in exchange for Doc's telling mom and dad they could not conceive. Sam ensues. Satan himself shows-up at the big twenty-first gala to detail "The Reaper's" new job description. Sam, who once complained that college "made him sleepy," naturally balks at the devil's deal; but the devil is at least as persuasive with Sam as he was with Eve. Satan tells Sam, should he decline, his mother forfeits her soul. Sam grudgingly accepts new super-powers and goes to work hunting down wayward sinners who have contrived to escape Hell. Television drama ensues. "The Reaper" earned an extremely devoted"”albeit somewhat cultish"”following. A representative review explained the attraction: "This show is so refreshing - great premise, great characters, and they don't take themselves too seriously. The Devil is a hunk, and just couldn't be played better than Ray Wise."

Netflix's stunning Australian adaptation of Trent Dalton's beloved novel follows a boy in 1980s Brisbane finding hope and magic amid a turbulent, crime-touched childhood.

Another reality television show that actually has merit is School Pride. The show is based on an actual restoration on Carver Elementary, a school in Compton, California seven years ago. The schools chosen on this program will receive around two million dollars worth of upgrades and repairs that were sorely needed plus plenty of exposure via the television program. Additionally the student participation helped with School Pride as they were a part of renovations and it is their family, volunteers, and neighbors that help organize the production. The premise is that schools in need of costly repairs can receive help when they showcase how much need there is for improvements and students participate by showing how much pride they have for their school. Somewhat based on the television program "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" the cameras follow students, teachers, and community members performing the renovations badly needed by a particular school. In seven days it's amazing how much can be done and camera crews will return a few months later to see just how much improvement has been made and how it affects the surrounding community.

"Mad Men TV show" delivers its drama in the same slick and glossy packaging the Madison Avenue ad-men serve-up to their clients, making it just as stylized, trendy, and gotta-have-it cool as anything as a two-page spread for Chryslers and Chesterfields in the centerfold Life. Central character Don Draper, a pitch-man with a secret and sordid past, ruthlessly and relentlessly courts clients and seduces women, attempting to feed his insatiable ego. In other words, he personifies the archetype of the ad-man. Draper races full speed to stay one step ahead of changing times, cut-throat competitors, and revelation of his secrets: Born the son of a prostitute who died in childbirth, he stole a Korean war buddy's identity to put on a patina of respectability. Propriety and respectability figure prominently in the drama, which accurately represents steamy seductions and corner-office conniving hiding behind the Norman Rockwell wholesomeness of 1960s family values. Brilliantly written, beautifully photographed, and consummately well acted, "Mad Men TV show" has collected a boatload of awards, including three Golden Globes and back-to-back Emmys.

"Parade's End" is a British television miniseries that aired in 2012. It is based on a series of novels by Ford Madox Ford and is set during World War I. The story revolves around a wealthy Englishman named Christopher Tietjens, who is in a troubled marriage with his adulterous wife, Sylvia. He also falls in love with a young suffragette named Valentine Wannop, who becomes his confidante and ally during the war.

One critic characterized "Breaking Bad's" dark humor as "Thelma and Louise as seen by Dostoyevsky" and that was one of the perkier, more optimistic descriptions. A seven-part AMC series, "Breaking Bad" TV show tells the story of Walt White, high school chemistry teacher turned methamphetamine cooker and dealer. Of course, as Glenn Frye crooned, "The lure of easy money has a very strong appeal," but "Breaking Bad" does not allow for even a split-second of sunshine through the abysmal darkness. In this corner of the universe, crime never-ever pays. Walt, expertly portrayed by Bryan Cranston of "Malcolm in the Middle" fame, is neck-deep in problems, complications, and flat-out ugliness from the minute he lights the Bunsen burner. Although the writers have woven-in some amazingly ironic lines, known in the trade as "comic relief," the characters deliberately deliver their quips in such a super-slow, slack-jawed drawl they seem more tragic than funny. Of course, "Breaking Bad" TV series make some pretense toward allegory of the American middle class struggling through the throes of deep recession, and it scores some hard hits. Most of all, though, "Breaking Bad" shows that even when fine writers, directors, and actors can find humor and pathos in displaced white-collar workers' undignified struggle for dignity, it still looks awfully damned dreary and ugly.