Lord of the Flies is the first-ever television adaptation of William Golding's landmark 1954 novel, written by Jack Thorne and directed by Marc Munden. A co-production that aired first on the BBC before reaching Netflix, it brings fresh scale and psychological depth to a story that has haunted readers for generations.
After a plane crash strands a group of British schoolboys on a remote Pacific island in the early 1950s, the boys attempt to govern themselves. Ralph (Winston Sawyers) tries to hold the group together with the counsel of the clever, bullied Piggy (David McKenna), but the charismatic, power-hungry Jack (Lox Pratt) foments a rebellion that fractures their fragile society into fear, tribalism, and violence. The production cast a large ensemble of young newcomers, many making their professional debuts.
Released in 2026, the four-part series earned wide critical acclaim for its stunning direction and its unflinching portrait of how quickly civilization can unravel. Filmed on Malaysia's Langkawi archipelago, it stands as a definitive screen version of Golding's parable. It is streaming on Netflix.
Kenny Powers can play baseball with the best of them but when his career as a professional pitcher is on the downslide he decides to go back home to Shelby, North Carolina and become a physical education teacher. Some may wonder where those coaches come from and this might be a clue. Plenty of pro athletes return to their roots when they find there are only so many positions to go around and lots of excellent potential superstars to fill them. Helping mold and train those brilliant young athletes is what coaching is all about and Kenny Powers plans on doing his best to help build the best. Danny McBride stars as Powers and this Will Ferrell produced television show made for HBO is excellent programming that shows the difficulty and rewards of becoming the best that you can be. The trip back to his middle school and home town give this burned out ball player a new lease on life and is an inspiration for young athletes and physical education in general.
"Kourtney and Kim Take New York" chronicles the continuing adventures of the unmarried Kardashian sisters as they work their strange magic on adoring fans in the Big Apple. Like magnets among loose nails, the girls draw a crowd wherever they go, cameras stalking every step. Viewers enjoy more of the intense Kardashian programming they apparently craved and demanded. On any given day, E! empowers you to keep up with some kind of Kardashian in at least three ways during approximately twelve hours of non-stop first-letter-"K" programming. If it weren't for the success of Chelsea Handler, E! News, renegade women fleeing the Playboy mansion, and "Fashion Police," the Kardashians would fill entire programming days. Apropos of "reality" programming, "Kourtney and Kim Take New York" has neither plot nor script, but it has plenty of "situations." Kim, more or less determined to remain single for an entire year, nevertheless has no qualms about exciting hook-ups with assorted styles and flavours of eligible New York bachelors. Kourtney, ostensibly the more level-headed and businesslike of the two, apparently lives vicariously through Kim. Together, they allegedly run a business in-between pictorials, promotions, parties, and "Patron"-powered club appearances. Moralists might worry, as "Kourtney and Kim Take New York," they corrupt an entire generation of impressionable "˜tween girls, but studies show thirteen-year-old boys are the Kardashian sisters' biggest demographic.
Merlin is about a teenage magician who learns his trade from Magister Gaius. It is his discovery of his abilities that the show centers around and viewers find the idea intriguing to see how he learns how to concentrate his new powers for the sake of good. Plenty of humor along the way keeps this program from becoming a documentary and the likeable characters make for fun television. Special effects are in play to make Merlin's talents appear even more fascinating. Merlin becomes a squire to noble Arthur, the crown prince and has more opportunities to put his magic to work. King Uther Pendragon hates magic and has subsequently outlawed it from his kingdom, but his son Arthur is the one Merlin must worry about and keep his magical capabilities a secret or fear execution. An imprisoned dragon tells Merlin he has a destiny to fulfill and that means staying alive at any cost. Talented young Colin Morgan plays Merlin and Bradley James as Prince Arthur head up an extremely talented cast in the magical world of Camelot.
Another successful crossover from British television to North American is found in Being Human. The premise of the show involves showing how different yet similar we all are and how a vampire and a werewolf can live with a ghost and all get along. Any time a combination like this one comes to the TV you can imagine how scary dark and brooding it may be but there is a lot of humor in this show as well, making it well worth watching. Aidan (Sam Witwer) is a vampire who works as a nurse in a hospital in Boston. He began his career as a prince of darkness during the Revolutionary War back in the 1860's and with a job in a hospital they might want to watch out for the blood supplies. Josh (played by Sam Huntington) happens to be a werewolf working in the same hospital as an orderly as his day job. Sally (Meaghan Rath) became a ghost after her unfortunate death and now haunts the house she had planned to live in when she got married. Now Aidan and Josh rent the house and find it to be haunted by Sally.
We all love to witness a successful comeback and when it involves the sport of boxing that usually means a punch drunk older fighter attempting to make it back into the ring and winning. The expression lights out generally infers someone has been punched out or unconscious, followed by a ten count, and then the match is over. Patrick Leary has the nickname "Lights" for a reason and even though he wants to make a comeback the odds may be stacked against him. With mounting bills and a family to support he needs to make up his mind if he should make a living as an intimidating debt collector or make good on his dream of the comeback in boxing. Either way his brain has been dulled by too many punches to the head and he suffers from pugilistic dementia. In other words Leary is punch drunk. Holt McCallany stars as "Lights" Leary and to prepare for the role he trained with Freddie Roach in an attempt to imitate some successful pugilists they know. It will be interesting to find how successfully he can make that comeback.
Powerful cast makes Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior a huge hit on CBS As far as spin offs from television series go this one is a winner! The original Criminal Minds (debuted in 2005) has been so well written it was bound to spawn a sequel and Suspect Behavior is bound to excel. This is all about the FBI and profiling but goes way beyond the previous "Profilers" program and includes study of human behavior and why some of us do bad things. Situated in Quantico, Virginia, the teams of the FBI's BAU or Behavioral Analysis Unit solve cases by "getting inside" the minds of dangerous criminals who have no respect for the lives of others. Forest Whitaker stars as Sam Cooper, a Special Agent with the FBI who bravely attacks his job each day, intent on getting the criminal element off the streets. His specially selected team include a skilled marksman, a former convict, and slick cunning agents who must be smarter than their targets in order to out wit them. Their missions involve capturing the most dangerous of the criminal element and bring them to justice. Also starring Matt Ryan, Michael Kelly, and Beau Garrett.
The serene suburb of Kansas City, Kansas called Overland Park is the setting for a Showtime hit called United States of Tara which follows the life of Tara Gregson. She is a wife and mother of two who doctors have diagnosed as having dissociative identity disorder. She has multiple personalities that she transitions into when severely stressed. She may become a flirty teen who calls herself "T" or Alice who is a housewife straight out of the 1950's. She may turn into a beer swilling, loud male she calls Vietnam Vet Buck when particularly pressured or even displaying a fourth personality who goes by the name of Gimme. Multiple personalities are uncontrollable and can't be chosen but just happen when she is in a weak moment or facing problems difficult to cope with. Tara does have the support of son and daughter as well as her husband, Max. Charmaine, her doubting sister, sometimes thinks Tara is faking it for sympathy reasons. This intriguing show follows her various personality changes and how they affect the family unit.
Confession time on MTV - I used to be fat! Cards and letters come pouring in begging to be on the popular MTV television reality show called "I used to be fat". Young people from all over need help with their weight problems and some are really compelling to hear. Most are well over two hundred pounds and have been overweight for many years. Being heavy is not only psychologically difficult it is also extremely bad for anyone's health, especially young children and teenagers. They need support from friends and family but also a clear cut plan to lose weight that will actually work for them. Diabetes and heart problems are among the most common illnesses to befall those who weigh more than average but in the case of teenagers there are issues of self esteem and the need to socialize with their peers involved, making it a vital issue faced by many younger people. While reality TV programs like "I used to be fat" on MTV may not solve all their problems, teenagers can gain self confidence by seeing it work for others if they follow advice, may work for them as well.
Just as we all began to wonder whether or not William H. Macy ever would land a role as juicy and delicious as playing Felicity Huffman's real-life husband, he scored arguably the greatest part of his entire career, starring as Frank Gallagher on Showtime's gritty new "Shameless." Frank drinks. Frank drinks shamelessly, intrepidly, relentlessly, recklessly and irretrievably while his six motherless children learn to fend for themselves on Chicago's unforgiving south side, "back of the stockyards," as they say, although the cattle have long-since gone. In the first episode, a properly burly Chicago police officer deposits Frank on his entryway floor, noting his incontinence and suggesting, "I wouldn't put him anywhere near a carpet until his pants dry." This ain't no Wisteria Lane. Adapted from its British companion, the American version of "Shameless" fulfils producer John Wells's long-standing desire "to make a television show where familial love, juicy cursing, casual sex and drug use, bluntly put humor, mega-alcohol bingeing and total chaos reign." The subject matter and setting naturally lend themselves to that treatment, and the entire casts rises to the occasion. "Shameless" depicts abject poverty, incurable alcoholism, and hopeless co-dependence as grimly and accurately as they deserve, yet it still persuades slightly spellbound viewers the Gallaghers genuinely love one another.
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."