HBO's "The Leftovers"

"Nobody is ready to feel better. They're ready to f*cking explode."

In an instant, they're gone. Two percent of the world's population. Mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, and sons and daughters, all of them different in age, race, gender, sexual orientation, and religious background  -- not a single common denominator among them. Over 140 million people gone from the face of the Earth, without a trace and without explanation. If it was the biblical Rapture, then why weren't all of the departed Christians? Was it a random harvest? Those are important questions to be asking, but the most important question of all, according to The Leftovers, is: What of those left behind?

While this inexplicable event -- which, in the context of the show, is referred to as the Sudden Departure -- is a global phenomenon, The Leftovers takes a small scale approach to the crisis, focusing on the denizens of Mapleton, a small suburban hamlet in New York. And although the opening scene of the pilot episode is a short glimpse into the actual Sudden Departure, the show leaps ahead three years, where the citizens of Mapleton are preparing to commemorate the departed with an ill-advised "Heroes' Day" parade on the event's third anniversary. The parade is a clear attempt at providing closure, but what it does instead is expose a community's festering wounds that have yet to heal, even three years later. With more questions than answers from both religious and scientific experts, the survivors are left to ponder the unknowable fate of those who disappeared -- and consider why they themselves were not granted the same fate.

The Leftovers is based on a novel by author Tom Perrotta, who is no stranger to adaptations of his work after 1999's Election and 2006's Little Children. Perrotta co-created the television series with Damon Lindelof, who served as co-showrunner for Lost with Carlton Cuse, the executive producer of FX's upcoming horror drama The Strain. Lost was criticized for asking more questions than it answered, with Lindelof himself drawing considerable heat from disappointed fans in the wake of the series' polarizing finale, and the fact that The Leftovers appears to have no interest in providing an explanation for the show's Rapture-like event could be perceived as Lindelof asking for trouble. But the decision to render this event as an unknowable phenomenon is what makes this show fascinating for me, at least, because it allows the writers the freedom to focus on the characters, rather than the mystery. Make no mistake, there are certain elements of the premiere that would seem to hint at unexplainable (or even supernatural) forces at work, but the heart of the show lies with the people of Mapleton in the aftermath of the Sudden Departure.

Kevin Garvey, Mapleton's beleaguered chief of police, is our central protagonist. Though he lost no one to the Sudden Departure, Kevin has felt the unfortunate ripples of the event firsthand, both as a police chief trying to maintain some semblance of order among the chaos and as a father whose family has been torn apart. His teenage son Tom Garvey has dropped out of college -- and out of contact -- to become the loyal disciple of a dubious, self-proclaimed prophet called Holy Wayne, and his teenage daughter Jill Garvey has seemingly lost all ambition in life. But the most painful departure has been that of his wife Laurie Garvey, who has abandoned her family to join the ranks of the Guilty Remnant, a secretive, antagonistic cult dedicated to ensuring that the people of Mapleton are reminded of the moral implications of the Sudden Departure. As his mental state begins to deteriorate -- much like his father before him, who was forced out as chief of police after a nervous breakdown -- Kevin mounts a desperate search for meaning, which feels especially bleak in a world where entire belief systems were rendered meaningless in an instant by a single event.

In case you hadn't picked up on it, The Leftovers is not a show about sunshine, rainbows, and puppies (although a pack of feral dogs do have a prominent role in the premiere episode). It's not a show that's going to provide temporary relief from the trials and tribulations of your own life with a few belly laughs. But it's one of the most compelling new dramas on television right now, and I say that having seen all of one episode. I liked Perrotta's novel quite a bit, but I read it with advance knowledge that it was being adapted into a television series. So while the novel ultimately left me wanting more, I never felt the pangs of disappointment, because I knew I would be spending more time with these characters in another medium. I would list the show's cast here, but I doubt you'd recognize more than one or two of the names, and that is not a detriment to the show. There is nothing extraordinary about these characters, other than the fact that they're ordinary people desperate to find a true north after an extraordinary event turns their lives upside down, and the show's casting choices reflect the need for actors that can be the people next door.

What Television Critics Are Saying...

"Many will hate it. But there will be viewers in whom it strikes a chord so deeply that they will feel themselves overwhelmed by it in the best possible way: not like they're drowning in the misery, but like it's teaching them a new way to breathe." - Alan Sepinwall, HitFix

"The first few episodes don’t showcase enough artistry to justify all the slogging and weeping, the bloodied faces and broken hearts. But I’d be lying if I said The Leftovers didn’t fascinate me. The totality of the suffering feels new. The scale of it overwhelms, so much so that nitpicking the dialogue, the performances, or the filmmaking seems petty." - Matt Soller Zeitz, Vulture

"But on the whole, it’s elegiac, ingenious television, unlike anything else on the air. It has elements of mystery, like Lost, and it has elements of satire, like [author Tom] Perrotta’s novels, but it’s also its own thing, a weird art film and character piece that also features large packs of feral dogs running wild." - Todd VanDerWerff, The A.V. Club

The Leftovers airs on HBO on Sundays at 9:00pm CST. You can watch the first episode online here.

Summer TV Watch List

I know what you're thinking: "Who sits inside and watches television in the summer?" But let's be honest here. On more than one occasion, you'll find yourself snuggled up on a couch in front of the television, resisting the allure of the outdoors no matter how warm and beautiful it may be outside. And if you're going to be spending your precious summer days sitting in front of a TV, you might as well make sure that what you're watching is worth your time.

The three television series that I'm following right now -- HBO's Game of Thrones, FX's Fargo, and Showtime's Penny Dreadful -- will wrap up their respective seasons in June, but this summer also holds the promise of several exciting new shows that should be able to hold you over until the fall rolls around, when all of your favorite shows return from hiatus. So let's take a look at a few of the best and brightest this summer has to offer (in my humble opinion, at least).

Halt And Catch Fire. Set in the early 1980's, after the release of the IBM PC signaled the beginning of the computer revolution, Halt And Catch Fire revolves around a former IBM executive who recruits a pair of computer programmers to reverse engineer his previous employer's flagship product and put Cardiff Electric, his current company, on the map. The tumultuous business partnership between Lee Pace's ambitious exec Joe MacMillan and Scoot McNairy's less confident engineer Gordon Clark will no doubt be subject to obvious comparisons with Apple's Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, but any similarities are not unintentional, as the show draws inspiration from other real-life computing pioneers. Lee Pace, who will also star in Marvel's sci-fi romp Guardians of The Galaxy later this summer, returns to the small screen, where he was last seen in ABC's short-lived critical darling Pushing Daisies. With Breaking Bad done and the end of Mad Men on the horizon, AMC will need to replenish its stock of compelling drama series, and Halt And Catch Fire appears to be its most promising new show and a step in the right direction. Halt And Catch Fire was created by Chris Cantwell and Chris Rogers, and stars Lee Pace, Scoot McNairy, Mackenzie Davis, Kerry Bishe, and Toby Huss. (Premieres Sunday, June 1st at 9 p.m. on AMC)

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Tyrant. From Gideon Raff, the creator of the Hebrew television series Prisoners of War (the series that served as the inspiration for Showtime's Homeland), comes perhaps one of the riskiest cable television shows of the year. Bassam Al Fayeed is the second son of a Middle Eastern dictator, who fled the fictional nation of Baladi twenty years ago and exiled himself to America, where he now works as a pediatrician in Los Angeles with a wife and two teenage children. When he returns to his homeland for his nephew's wedding, dramatic events transpire that force him and his family to remain in Baladi, resulting in a culture clash of both familial and national politics. Set in the Middle East, with a plot that revolves around elements of Arab culture and politics and not a single name actor among its cast members, Tyrant is a huge gamble for FX, but the network is hopeful that the series will appeal to American audiences that have embraced shows like Homeland and FOX's 24. And with Howard Gordon (Homeland) and Craig Wright being brought on as executive producers to help shepherd the series, you can bet this will be one of the most intriguing shows of the summer. Tyrant was created by Gideon Raff, and stars Adam Rayner, Jennifer Finnigan, Ashraf Barhom, Moran Atias, and Justin Kirk. (Premieres Tuesday, June 24 at 9 p.m. on FX)

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The Leftovers. Two percent of the world's population has vanished in the blink of an eye, in what will come to be called The Sudden Departure. But unlike the Rapture prophesied in the Bible, where all of the true believers ascend to the heavens, this appears to have been a random harvest, with there being no common religious denominator among the missing. Based on the novel by author Tom Perrotta, The Leftovers is about the poor souls left behind, all of them searching for meaning in life after having their belief systems torpedoed by this inexplicable event. The book leaves the true nature of The Sudden Departure open to interpretation, and I'm sure the show will follow suit, choosing instead to focus on how the citizens of the small town of Mapleton try to move forward with their lives. The town's chief of police is our main entry point into this existential crisis, as he copes with a wife who has abandoned her family in favor of a bizarre cult, a son who has fallen under the dubious influence of a self-proclaimed prophet, and a daughter who appears to have lost all motivation to better her station in life. The Leftovers was adapted for television by Damon Lindelof (Lost) and Tom Perrotta, and stars Justin Theroux, Amy Brenneman, Carrie Coon, Christopher Eccleston, Ann Dowd, and Liv Tyler. (Premieres Sunday, June 29 at 9 p.m. on HBO)

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The Strain. Bid farewell to the vampires of Twilight that sparkle in the sunlight and sweep teenage girls off their feet. The vampires of The Strain are here to restore their reputation as creatures to be feared. Based on the trilogy of novels from Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, who also co-wrote the series pilot, The Strain takes place in New York City, where the Center for Disease Control is called in to investigate the unexplained deaths of everyone onboard a passenger airplane. The epidemiologists tasked with leading the investigation come to realize that this incident is merely a harbinger of the sinister events to come, as an ancient darkness returns to the fold and threatens to consume all of mankind. With this series, FX is hoping to capitalize on the recent resurgence of the horror genre in television and match the success of AMC's surprise hit The Walking Dead, even bringing aboard former Lost showrunner Carlton Cuse to helm the show's writing staff. Be on the lookout for a more in-depth blog post about The Strain later this summer, once we're closer to the show's actual premiere date. The Strain was adapted for television by Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim) and Chuck Hogan, and stars Corey Stoll, Mia Maestro, David Bradley, Kevin Durand, Sean Astin, Robert Maillet, and Jonathan Hyde. (Premieres Sunday, July 13 at 9 p.m. on FX)

Top 5 TV Shows of 2013-14

As May draws to a close, another season of television is in the books -- even though the idea of a traditional season of television is fading fast as both broadcast and cable networks have begun to premiere shows in the fall, spring, and summer. For the purposes of this post, I'm including television shows with seasons that premiered between June 2013 and May 2014, although a series like Showtime's Penny Dreadful, which premiered two weeks ago, is at a disadvantage due to the small sampling size. With that said, I've assembled here a list of the five shows from that period that I thought stood tall above the rest. These are the shows that left me wanting more each week, anxious to know what was going to happen next. My hope is that you'll find one or all of these shows interesting and that you'll give 'em a shot, if you haven't already.

One thing I'd like to mention: I couldn’t bring myself to watch the final season of Dexter. I was so dismayed after a disastrous Season 6, I was gifted Season 7 on DVD, but never got around to watching it. I felt the urge to try and catch up as the final season premiere edged closer, but once the scathing reviews started rolling in, I sought greener pastures and haven’t looked back since. I’m sure I’ll sit down and watch the last two seasons at some point, but part of me wants to vanquish all traces of the series after Season 5, when the train started to go off the rails.

But enough about the bad. Let's talk about the good!

5. The Americans (FX, Wednesdays, 9 p.m.) Philip and Elizabeth Jennings -- the deep cover Soviet spies whose covert exploits on American soil during the 80's Cold War era function as the central conceit of The Americans -- understood the obvious risks of their mission when the KGB first sent them to America to assume the unassuming identities of a domesticated married couple. But what of the children oblivious to their parents' true identities? While the first season of The Americans focused on the struggles of a marriage that had become more than the operational cover it was intended to be, the second season is as much about Philip and Elizabeth as it is about Paige, the daughter whose growing suspicions about her parents' late night excursions and all-too convenient explanations have only fueled her teenage need to rebel. When Philip and Elizabeth find another family of Soviet illegals murdered in a hotel room in the season premiere, it serves as haunting reminder of the real danger their work poses to their family, one that lingers throughout the season as the elder Jennings consider how the knowledge of their true allegiances would affect their children. The Americans surprised with a strong debut season last year, but a stellar second season has solidified its status as one of the best and most thought-provoking shows on television.

4. Game of Thrones (HBO, Sundays, 8 p.m.) Few shows are as ambitious as Game of Thrones in terms of the scope of their storytelling, and I'm not talking about the mere fact that the show services more than a handful of different storylines. Game of Thrones is not the first nor the last show to adopt a sprawling narrative, but the series has become masterful in how it balances its various storylines, with this season's emphasis on quality over quantity. While the trial of Tyrion in King's Landing has provided the season's most compelling drama, I never grow impatient when the show shifts to Daenerys' rule over Mereen or Arya's trek across Westeros with the Hound or even poor Theon's miserable existence. For once, the show's writers seem to have a strong grasp of how to best utilize their characters, allowing the individual breadth of each storyline to dictate the division of screentime. Pedro Pascal, in the role of Prince Oberyn Martell, with all the swagger of a man who cares little what people think of him or his proclivities, has also proven to be one of the season's most indelible assets. Though he has been relegated to a supporting character for much of the season, Oberyn's deep-seated hatred for the Lannisters and his disregard for the politics and culture of King's Landing have helped build this season's themes of family, justice, and revenge.

3. True Detective (HBO, Sundays, 8 p.m.) I’ve heard this era of television referred to as the “golden age” of original scripted programming on more than one occasion, and with good reason. The level of quality storytelling has never been higher across the board, in my opinion, attracting top talent both in front and behind the camera and reversing the notion that television is a wasteland for declining film actors. But whenever upstart cable networks like FX, Showtime, and AMC begin to dominate the conversation, HBO is quick to remind everyone who started this revolution in the first place -- and I can’t imagine a more sobering wake-up call than True Detective. The series follows a contained storyline that unfolds over the course of eight episodes, each one written by show creator Nic Pizzolatto and directed by Cary Fukunaga. In this first season, Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey take center stage as Detectives Martin Hart and Rustin Cohle, respectively, who are tasked with investigating a ritualistic murder in South Louisiana. From that simple logline, it might sound like a straightforward whodunit, but I assure you it is not. While the traditional elements of a classic pulp crime novel are intact, the cinematic aesthetic, the intricate writing, and the riveting lead performances are what set this show apart from the rest.

2. Hannibal (NBC, Fridays, 9 p.m.) Had a certain other television show not produced one of the greatest single seasons of all time, Hannibal would be sitting atop this list after an outstanding sophomore season, having avoided the dreaded second year slump that has plagued lesser shows. Opening the premiere with a shocking tease of the reckoning to come in the finale, Hannibal promised its audience members that it knew where it was going, and those who strapped in for the roller coaster ride were treated to a tense cat-and-mouse game between a brilliant psychopath who hides in plain sight and the criminal profiler determined to expose him for the monster that he is. By reversing the dynamic of Red Dragon, with Will Graham forced to outsmart and outmaneuver Dr. Hannibal Lecter from behind bars for much of the season, Hannibal continued to be both wildly unpredictable and wickedly entertaining. While the remarkable performances of lead actors Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen remain the show's main course, Michael Pitt proved to be one of this season's most appetizing new additions (if you'll forgive the obvious dinner puns) in the role of Mason Verger. His turn as the cruel and sadistic brother to one of Hannibal's patients helped energize the latter half of the season as it hurtled towards the bloodbath glimpsed in the premiere.

1. Breaking Bad (AMC, Sundays, 8 p.m.) If you expected any other television series to be holding down the top spot on this list, then you must have been living under a rock while one of the most acclaimed television series of the last decade concluded with a final season run of eight spectacular episodes. From the moment that garage door closed behind Walter White as he prepared to go toe to toe with his brother-in-law Hank Schrader in the midseason premiere, it was clear that the writers had no intention of pulling their punches. The gloves were off, and what followed was one of the most thrilling seasons of television I have ever seen. Each episode packed the punch of a finale, pulling the pin on grenades that the show had been stockpiling for four and a half seasons. While the first half of the fifth and final season saw Walt attain the unequivocal success he had fought so hard to achieve, the back half of the season was all about forcing Walt to consider the true weight of his achievements as the sins of his past began to consume everything he held dear. The show's exceptional cast all delivered the best work of their respective careers, saving their best for last, but the highest praise belongs to creator Vince Gilligan and his writing staff for crafting and completing a series that will go down as one of the greatest of all time.

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For context, the shows I also watched this season that missed the cut: American Horror Story, The Bridge, Fargo, Justified, Penny Dreadful, Silicon Valley, Sleepy Hollow, and Sons of Anarchy.