Before "Twilight" beguiled a billion teen-age hearts and "True Blood" took over Louisiana and Sunday night ratings, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" rescued seriously besieged Sunnydale, California, from werewolves, vampires, zombies, and random undead. Created by uber-vamp writer-producer Joss Whedon, who felt profoundly disappointed with the film version of his original premise, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" helped the fledgling WB network hold its own against "the big 4," and it made Sarah Michlelle Gellar a tween and teen icon. In each episode, Buffy and her posse of slayers known as "the Scooby gang," follow sage advice from The Watcher as they banish fearful creatures from their otherwise peaceful and perfect suburb. Whedon insisted, "The supernatural elements in the series stood as metaphors personal anxieties associated with adolescence and young adulthood." Whedon's allegories may have been lost under cute teen fashions, but the dramas' substance attracted critics' attention, earning the show 3 Emmy Awards and a tribute show from the Television Academy when it left the air in 2003.

Sterling K. Brown stars in Dan Fogelman's addictive mystery thriller about the head of security for a former US president who dies suspiciously inside a secret underground community called Paradise.

Reasonably well adapted from big screen to small, "Highlander" showed the continuing exploits of Duncan MacLeod, super-annuated Highland warrior challenged to fight evil in the modern world. Unlike modern crime fighters who rely on DNA and cyber-tracking, MacLeod battled malefactors the old-fashioned way"”with valor, virtue, courage, and a healthy dose of vengeance. Every "Highlander" episode began with the same ritual narrative: "I am Duncan MacLeod, born four-hundred years ago in the Highlands of Scotland. I am Immortal, and I am not alone." In the first six episodes, Duncan himself delivered the preamble. MacLeod and his girlfriend, Tessa Noel, cleverly and comfortably have adapted to modern life, and they hide effortlesly in plain sight, operating an upscale antique store. From the very first iteration of the preamble, viewers understand MacLeod is by no means the only Immortal roaming the streets and subways, and not all of them are nearly so noble as MacLeod. Although he had hung-up his mace, MacLeod now has chosen to rejoin "The Game" for the sake of defending everything he cherishes as good and right. For many contemporary viewers, MacLeod represents the ever-living proof of the old adage, "Old guys rule."

"His Dark Materials" is a TV series based on a trilogy of books by Philip Pullman. It is set in a parallel universe where humans have animal companions called daemons, and the story follows the adventures of a young girl named Lyra who is searching for her missing friend. Along the way, she discovers a sinister plot involving a mysterious substance called "dust," and becomes embroiled in a power struggle between different factions who seek to control it.

Charlie Brooker's essential anthology series returns, delivering more brilliantly unsettling near-future stories about technology's darkest implications. Streaming on Netflix.

Foundation is Apple TV+'s sweeping adaptation of Isaac Asimov's classic saga, following mathematician Hari Seldon's centuries-long plan to preserve civilization across a collapsing Galactic Empire.