Sci-Fi shows for non-fans
There’s a great post at film.com today that identifies science fiction shows that non-fans might enjoy. As someone whose spouse is completely uninterested in sci-fi, I can relate. Their list of recommendations includes Lost, Heroes, Charmed and The Twilight Zone. Check out the full list here.
Now, I can tell you that Charmed would be a hard sell (my wife calls it “Three Hot Chicks Flaunt Their Boobs”), but the others could work. Most people opposed to science fiction TV shows are keen to avoid space ships and aliens. Certainly Lost, Heroes and The ‘Zone don’t feature either prominently.
If we could add our own to the list, we’d choose The X-Files (the whole Mulder/Scully love angle as well as the mysterious stand-alone episodes) and maybe Night Gallery (stories vary widely). What would you add?
I have to disagree with your wife on Charmed – this is actually quite a good show (most of the time) and touches on a whole range of issues. Yea, the girls are pretty enough, but that’s true of any tv show and can hardly be a reason to not watch it. I know a number of parents who’ve actively watched this with their older tween/younger teen girls (the 11-13 crowd) as a great way of opening all sorts of discussions about all sorts of subjects.
I also beg to differ about Night Gallery and X-Files – both are pretty hardcore SF and for those not liking “SF” as such, those would be very bad choices. Lost, Heroes, Charmed sure – Twilight Zone, harder, just for the name – Fringe might even be a good intro – but BSG is one of the best – there’s LOADS of folks who “don’t like SF” watching this show – how they watch a show ALL set in space with ‘bots that regenerate and *not* call it SF, I have *no* idea – but it seems to be selling very well to the Non-SF crowd.
Twilight, I’d agree that Charmed has a wide audience ranging from adults down to young girls, but don’t think for a second that the prime demographic is anything but young males. There were a number of episodes where the trio’s main function was to wear skimpy or fantasy based costumes as pure fan service. As shows go, Charmed wasn’t bad at all, its just that it was fairly transparent in the kind of appeals it made to the male demographic.