Underrated Shows Everyone Should Watch

There are so many shows available now, it’s hard to figure out what to watch. Here are some shows that you might have heard of and definitely need to watch.

Eureka

Welcome!

Jack Carter is transporting a fugitive, which happens to be his daughter Zoe, when they stumble upon the town of Eureka. Eureka is not your normal small town; its population consists of super geniuses. Carter and Zoe, on the other hand, have average IQs. Since nobody is supposed to know that Eureka exists, Carter and Zoe have to start a new life in town.

The father/daughter dynamic that Carter and Zoe have is truly believable. They have their own inside jokes, and Carter interacts, or rather chastises, Zoe with such ease. As an only daughter, it definitely reminded me of my interactions with my father.

I also love the town’s personality. The setting totally acts as a character. Although everyone in town is super smart, sometimes (almost weekly), they make HUGE mistakes. Somehow Carter always find the very simple solution.

Hercules

I need a hero.

We follow Hercules and his friend Iolaus through Greece as they help innocent people and deal with the gods. I love how this show introduces people to Greek mythology, as well as sprinkling other mythos in later seasons. I know, as a kid, this was my first memorable experience with mythology.

Hercules and Iolaus are a great example of the hero/sidekick trope. Hercules’ call to action is the murder of his entire family by Hera (not really a spoiler). Iolaus is Hercules’ childhood friend and would do anything for him, including travel the world and righting wrongs.

Xena

Girl power!

Xena, although a fictional character, shows incredible growth as a person. We are first introduced to her as a side character in Hercules, and she’s a villain. Not exactly what you’d expect from a female character in this time of TV (this show premiered in 1995), but it’s a refreshing surprise.

Xena and Gabrielle are the epitome of girl power. They show that women don’t need men to solve their problems, and they can defend themselves as well. Gabrielle, for example, was a quiet girl who didn’t know what the world offered. Once she was trained by the Amazons (again, not really a spoiler), she gained so much self-confidence.

Enterprise

Boldly go!

Enterprise acts as a prequel to the original Star Trek series with Kirk. Here, Captain Archer and his crew are just barely exploring space, and we get introductions to some of our favorite alien races, as well as some brand-new ones.

I really enjoyed what each crew member brings to the table. T’Pol is the necessary logical character, a la Spock and Data. Hoshi is this version’s Uhura, and she gets even more screen time than our original communications officer. Dr. Phlox is one of the new races that we encounter, and I love that he acts as a sort of comedic relief. Just as a warning: this show was cancelled while the writers and producers were writing another season, so the ending is a bit hasty.

Psych

I sense something…

Shawn and his friend Gus want to get involved in some detective work, so instead of applying for a job at the police department, they make the most logical decision and open up a psychic detective agency.

This is definitely a comedy, but I love some of the nerdy Easter eggs hidden throughout the show. In every episode, a pineapple is hidden somewhere, and it’s quite a fun party game to try to find it. There have also been themed episodes throughout the series, such as the ever-necessary musical and an Alfred Hitchcock-themed show.

What underrated shows are must-sees to you?

"Star Trek Beyond" Went Below Expectations: Geek Movie Review

You'd expect a movie titled "Star Trek Beyond" to take you into a world of deep wonder and awe- a world so extraordinary that you forget about your daily squabbles. In a sense, that's suppose to be the goal with most movies, (to take the audience out of their realm of reality and into another), but somehow the third installment of the popular sci-fi film franchise managed to remind me that I forgot to purchase those items in my Amazon cart, that I had to wake up early for my gym date the next day, and that Chipotle unfortunately closes at 10pm (which led to a internal debate of whether I wanted to leave the theater early or not).

Yet at the end of the night I managed to stay in my $6 movie theater seat until the end credits flashed on the screen feeling pretty content with my decision but overall still disappointed in the movie.

Maybe this is because my expectations for this movie were too high. Maybe I shouldn't have expected an enthralling villain like Benedict Cumberbatch's Khan in "Star Trek Into Darkness". Maybe I shouldn't have expected more jokes like in the original film, "Star Trek". Maybe I should have expected only a simple movie, with simple jokes, and a simple plot.

Maybe I should have just expected to watch a futuristic, tech savy version of "Fast and Furious" because that's what I got.

With all due respect, the movie is definitely much better than anything in the "Fast and Furious" franchise, but it does not raise up to the quality of its previous two movies. The point still remains, the plot in "Star Trek Beyond" fails to make me care about anyone, not even Spock.

"Star Trek Beyond" starts off with Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) talking about how he has become bored with the routines on the fleet. To put it even more simply: Kirk is bored and is having an early mid-life crisis. He's comparing himself to his father (again) and is trying to decipher who he really is. He's ready to step down as captain and do something else with his life. Meanwhile Spock (Zachary Quinto) is also ready to jump ship and go back to his Vulcan planet to take the place of his recently deceased father (RIP Leonard Nimoy). Before Spock could tell Kirk of his plans of course our main problem occurs.

The bitter villain Krall (Idris Elba) invades the ship, completely destroying it and taking the crew as prisoners all in hopes to get one small doo-dad that only has the power to kill everything without a trace. This is all because he refuses to unite with the Federation who believes in co-existing with past enemies. You know the good 'ol "kill the world" plot.

I could go in deeper about what the movie is about but there's no point because you've probably already seen it before in the first and second movie. The only thing is those movies made me care that the world was about to be destroyed. The plot had more meat in it, you understood the villains side of the story and you understand the heroes. Most importantly, you just understood what was going on instead of being distracted by a sub-par story-line with asteroids and robot bees.

Take away all the cool explosions, astro-speed chases and comedic points and you'll see that "Star Trek Beyond" is void of a plot interesting enough to keep you for two hours. The saving grace of these films is, as always the relationship between their colorful characters but even that isn't as heart-hitting as before.

The choice to separate the crew into pairs --Kirk and Chekov, Uhura and Sulu, Spock and McCoy, and Scott and Jayla---was the most entertaining part of this movie. Yet the initial vibrant character and charm that sold enough tickets to create the 150 million dollar budget for this movie was weak.

The only character I truly cared about and understood in this movie was Jayla. Her story was actually interesting. She's a scavenger living in one of the Federation's wrecked ships after having lost her family to Krall and his men. She exhibited some much needed attitude, and her time with Scottie led to some much needed comedy as the movie continued to stroll it's way to it's end.

Overall the movie was good, but the creators just stayed in their safe zone, making "Star Trek Beyond" another forgettable adventure.




Written  By: Endia N. Mathews