TV Talk Rec Fest: Mysteries or Horror

[yourlibrarian]

Welcome to day 5 of Rec Fest! Today please recommend shows which could be considered mysteries or horror. While these two formats can be quite different there may also be overlaps at times. Mysteries might include procedurals, detective series, or dramas which center on a mystery which runs for the whole series or on a season by season basis. Horror often includes supernatural events but may also overlap with the suspense genre where dread and fear predominate.

Please include in your recs the following information:

Show Title:
Audience Rating: Young Children/All Ages/Teen and Up/Mature Content
Warnings: (Could include gory content, raunchy situations, explicit sex, offensive content, etc.)
Length of Episodes: (30 minutes/1 hour/Other)
Length of Series: (Number of seasons or number of episodes)
Why you recommend it: (What draws you to it? What niche does it fill/mood is it good for?)

You can copy and paste the following code into your comment.

<strong>Show Title:</strong> <strong>Audience Rating:</strong> <strong>Warnings:</strong> <strong>Length of Episodes:</strong> <strong>Length of Series:</strong> <strong>Why you recommend it:</strong>

Feel free to include any other information you’d like, such as what year(s) the show was originally broadcast, standout cast members, or what other shows it may connect to or be like. You can also include outside links to Wikipedia, Fanlore, IMDB, your favorite review etc. which contain more show information.

If someone else has already recced a show you were planning to rec, please include your own rec as well! People have different takes on shows and it can also help people if they see a number of people find a show to be a must-watch.

If you have questions about what to post or how the Rec Fest will run, please ask them at this link, not in comments below

Comments

Endeavor

[yourlibrarian]

Show Title: Endeavor
Audience Rating: Teen and up
Warnings: Period social attitudes
Length of Episodes: 90 minutes
Length of Series: 9 Seasons (36 episodes)
Why you recommend it: Designed to be a prequel to Inspector Morse, this series runs from 1965 to 1972, and does a good job of developing the setting and characters. Although the focus is mostly on Morse at first, the family of his superior, his commander, and his fellow officers all get some time in the series. Attitudes change, the police offices change, and some case elements get carried over into various seasons. In this respect I'd call this more drama than procedural, even if the main focus is on a case.

I never watched the Inspector Morse series, but did see its sequel Lewis and its sequel Hathaway. I can recommend them as well for anyone for whom Endeavor is not enough. I find Endeavor to be somewhat darker and more sobering than the later Lewis, which is a cozier view. But if one is new to the Inspector Morse verse, starting with Endeavor makes sense.

Re: Endeavor

[innie_darling]

I ADORE Endeavour! Shaun Evans and Roger Allam are remarkably good as Endeavour Morse and Fred Thursday, and I love that the show is very clear-eyed about what kind of loneliness comes with such intellect (and yet Endeavour is very rarely obnoxious about his intelligence). If you're watching in the US, all nine seasons are on Prime, but the pilot episode is not. If you want to give the show a spin, you really should watch the pilot first - reach out to me if you can't find it any other way (my local library has it on DVD).