Sons of Anarchy- Season 1, Pilot

Sons of Anarchy is an American crime drama television series created by Kurt Sutter, about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in California's Central Valley. The show focuses on protagonist Jackson "Jax" Teller (Charlie Hunnam), initially the vice president of the club, who begins questioning the club and himself, especially after reading a book his father wrote and left for him in a storage unit.  

Sons of Anarchy premiered on September 3, 2008, on cable network FX. The series' third season attracted an average of 4.9 million viewers per week, making it FX's highest rated series ever, surpassing FX's other hits The Shield, Nip/Tuck, and Rescue Me. The season 4 and 5 premieres were the two highest-rated telecasts in FX's history.  The series finale premiered on December 9, 2014.

During the first episode of the show, a rival gang steals the Sons' stockpile of assault rifles, while Jax's ex-wife's drug overdose leads to an emergency c-section and life-threatening surgery for their baby.  This is already an action packed show within the first 15 minutes.  Jax grows weary of the increasing lawlessness of the motorcycle club.  His life becomes more unstable when he discovers his late father's true vision for the Sons of Anarchy, and his crank-addicted ex-wife gives birth to his son.  He begins to realize that there might be more peaceful ways to handle the gang's affairs and to avoid conflict.  His stepfather disagrees and believes in the violence.  We find that our characters have a lack very soon in the show.  Jax needs to find a way to make the gang his father's vision and also find a way to help his poor son that was born in very serious conditions.  

In November 2013, Kurt Sutter indicated that he was in talks with FX to make a Sons of Anarchy prequel set in the 1960s.  I hope that this comes out soon, I miss watching this amazing show! I would encourage anyone that likes action, drama, and badass Californians to watch this show! Conveniently, it is available right on Netflix! 

Strong Characterization in Six Feet Under

Few shows have ever involved me as much as Alan Ball's Six Feet Under. The show premiered in 2001 on HBO and ran for 5 seasons. Its about one family who runs a funeral home out of their house. The first scene in the first episode of the first season the father, and owner of the business, is killed in a car accident. The rest of the show follows the family as they spiral out from this event. My mother and I binge-watched this show when I was in high school and when the last episode ended we took ourselves out for a mourning dinner. We felt like we had lost a part of our family. This sounds super cheesy and corny but its true. Six Feet Under has some of the strongest, most developed, most realistic characters on TV, and anyone who's watched the show can tell you that you can't help but get entangled in their drama.

One of the main things that makes these characters so special is the fact that they have flaws. Not just little things, like they're messy or disorganized, like big, reoccurring flaws. But it's not far-fetched or random things like "they're evil" or "they're crazy" its much more subtle and realistic things that everyone can relate to. For example, one of the main characters David Fisher is a closeted gay man in the first season but even when he comes out he struggles with deep feelings of shame and guilt which ruin relationships and lead him to some of his lowest points. I have not seen any other shows which allow a character's flaws and past to impact their present, and the show, as much as Six Feet Under does.

Another remarkable thing about the Fisher's is that they change. Again these are not superficial changes like getting divorced or getting a new job, they change on a deeper level than that. For example in the beginning of the show, Claire Fisher, the youngest, is an angsty high school student who smokes crack and leaves severed limbs in her ex-boyfriends locker. Over the course of the show she realizes she wants to be a photographer and the show follows her on this journey. We see her grow up and mature. The Claire in season 5 is completely different than the Claire in season 1, but yet she's still her. I feel that not many shows that I've seen give characters changes like this. They may change on the surface or be depressed for half a season, they might have a completely random personality change that doesn't make sense but in Six Feet Under people age and mature and change with their experiences.

Because the characters in this show are so realistic and relatable the show is realistic and relatable. If  more films and TV series strove for this, we would have much better things being produced. If a show or film can get audiences engaged with the characters, they can keep that audience interested. The show can be on the melodramatic side, but its the strong characters which ground it, and make it an exceptional show.