In a normal year, I might be getting ready for the new fall TV season soon. But it’s no small understatement to say that this is not a normal year. Since all production was halted a while ago due to the ongoing pandemic, we won’t be expecting much from the networks. Streaming channels have built up a bit of a backlog of content, so they’ve been continuing to release new stuff, including a few fun, interesting and exciting genre shows.

The Umbrella Academy (Netflix)

Picking up straight after (or technically before) the events of the successful first season (time travel is tricky!), the Hargreaves family gets a second chance at saving the world from apocalypse/cataclysm/armageddon as they’ve teleported into the past, and been scattered across various dates in the 60s. As much as I enjoyed the first season, I found the offbeat nature of this quasi-superhero series a bit quirky. I’m a sucker for people with powers, though, so I have watched a few episodes of season two already and kind of enjoy it. Having jumped back in time, the main characters get to impact American culture, and they each experience some adventures in history (making things feel a little bit like Forrest Gump). However, for the most part they are in the wrong place at the wrong time and things don’t go so well for the people around (which is a kind of story I don’t enjoy). I am not a fan of stories exploring how real-life consequences get in the way of characters having powers or doing extraordinary things. Especially when time travel is involved, sci-fi screenwriters avoid making things too easy for their characters, so that leads to plots like Allison Hargreaves getting married to a civil rights activist but getting into trouble when she uses her persuasion abilities to save him from a beating by racist cops. As much as I am interested in the historical context that our favourite super-powered adopted siblings find themselves, I’ve actually spent most of the first few episodes eager for them to reunite and try to save the world again. Still, I guess there’s some fun to be had along the way.

The Boys (Amazon Prime)

Also back for another go, another series with a perspective on superheroes, The Boys picks up the story of our ragtag band of freedom-fighters(?), who are on the run from the law (not to mention mega-corporation Vought) as they plan their next moves in trying to liberate society from the oppressive grip of spandex-wearing superheroes. I have mixed feelings about this show. While I seriously enjoy this inverted perspective on the concept of the superhero, this show is very dark and extremely mean and violent as well. The show amps everything up, especially the worst qualities of humanity — cynicism is its super-power. Even the non-super heroes of the story are messed-up and unpleasant. Nevertheless, this next chapter introduces some new characters to the mix, including a new member of super-team, The Seven. Stormfront seems to cut through a lot of team leader Homelander’s pretentions to try to “keep it real” superhero-wise. Also, “The Boys” get involved in trying to take-out (or is it rescue?) a new super-powered person who is smuggled into the country. Meanwhile, team lead Butcher is struggling with the complication of finding out that his wife is alive. While I can only take this show in smallish doses, I’m very excited that it’s back.

Lovecraft Country (HBO/Crave)

HBO’s newest genre series is an odd but thrilling blend of horror and historical drama. Set in the 1950s, main characters Atticus Freeman, Letitia Lewis, George Freeman and Montrose Freeman face not only the supernatural and otherworldly monsters that you’d expect, inspired as this show is by seminal American horror author H.P. Lovecraft, but also defend themselves from the racial violence and persecution that was a reality in Jim Crow era America. The show gets off to a bit of a white-knuckled start when the main characters race against the setting sun in order to escape from a “sundown county” (where they can be killed just for being Black, outside after sunset). However, craziness follows with horrific nightmare creatures, cabals of secret sorcerers, and a house full of bloodthirsty ghosts. I’m enjoying not only this unique combination of setting and story, but also how each episode is a bit of a different subgenre. The most recent episode was even more of an Indiana Jones kind of treasure-hunting adventure unlike the more horror-tinged previous episodes. It’s kind of an anthology but not an anthology (which is also how it was in the original book that the show is based upon). The characters are interesting and often guarded, but also spirited and adventurous.

Raised By Wolves (HBO/Crave)

Originally, the thought of a show where a group of young children are raised by a pair of androids on a barren planet seemed only mildly interesting. However, since this series comes from Alien and Prometheus auteur Ridley Scott, that concept only scratches the surface of a high sci-fi series. I don’t think it’s set in the same universe as Alien, but we are introduced to a similar breed of white-blooded android that we’ve seen before. Known mainly as “mother” and “father”, the show begins with them crash-landing on a desert planet where they bring to life a handful of human embryos and try to raise them safely on the planet. However, the plot quickly turns when most of the children don’t survive long, and then we meet other humans who have been in orbit above the planet in a giant space ark. There is a broad backstory involving a religious civil war, and the destruction of Earth that led to the remaining humans fleeing for a new homeworld. Also, what any good sci-fi audience expects is that one or both of the androids will eventually go berserk. Amanda Collin (who I’ve never seen before) gives an impressive performance as Mother, especially when she starts to show signs of malfunction and takes some extreme actions that alter events in a major way. We also get other characters into the mix when officers from the ark end up on the planet as well. This series is amazingly cinematic and has movie-level production values, not to mention the sophisticated, high-brow flavour of excellent sci-fi. The first three episodes were released at once, and now I cannot wait until I get to watch more.

Years and Years (BBC/HBO/Crave)

This mini-series is not new, but I didn’t notice it when it showed up last summer, so I only just binge-watched it now. To describe it simply, it’s like a blend between This is Us and Black Mirror. The story of the Lyons family of four adult siblings is set in the not-too-distant future (spanning the next decade) and imagines how this British family handles the many changes that may be coming. At first, I thought this was just going to be a gimmicky family drama about loves and losses, with a few smatterings about the future sprinkled in. However, I should have known that for Russell T. Davies, master UK TV storyteller and rebooter of Doctor Who, the story goes much beyond the small stuff (while keeping it focused on the Lyons family). Against the backdrop of the political rise of a Trump-like right-wing politician, played by Emma Thompson, the eight episode series explores in the foreground the future possibilities of socio-geo-political upheavals, financial crises, trans-human technologies, civil rights while it also manages to work in topics such as gender issues, racial prejudice, food sustainability, deep fake video, viral pandemic, and so many more. Featuring some impressive acting performances from an excellent British cast (including Rory Kinnear — who was actually featured in the first episode of Black Mirror, Russell Tovey, Jessica Hynes, and Anne Reid). It tackles all these issues by weaving them into the very personal lives of this family of characters and it pulled me in all the way. Now one year after it aired, in the midst of the craziness of 2020, the speculative aspects of the stories seem unbelievably prescient, and as I watch the Lyons family turning on their news, the lines blur between their fictional headlines and the present real world. As engrossing as this fiction was, it never really felt like full-on fiction, and I guess that was part of the point. The series leads to a major climax that focuses on the political events in this fictional British future, but the cautions and warnings are loud and clear. As heavy as this kind of show is for me to watch, I found it exciting, provocative and captivating. There are few shows that have had this kind of impact on me.

As we approach a fall that is perhaps a bit light on new network TV content, those are a few more that we can stream to fill a genre fan’s screen time for a while.