And addictive. Long story short, I got a Roku for my bedroom for my birthday in November and since then I’ve fallen in love. It’s like this gigantic search engine for just about anything that’s ever been broadcast. And, yes, it is amazing what you can find if you dig deep enough. Here are three older TV series I found that I had never even heard of before.
Colonel March of Scotland Yard (1954)
This is a one season series that is so unexpectedly charming it’s almost unreal. For one thing the star is Boris Karloff. Not playing a monster. The series itself actually has kind of a X-Files Lite feel to it. Partly because the episodes are 30 minutes each and partly because of what he investigates. March hides away in the basement of Scotland Yard and only investigates when people bring him stuff that is strange and unusual. The stranger the better as far as he is concerned.
Sherlock Holmes (1954)
I had major Sherlock Holmes cravings over Christmas holidays and ran across this one. It’s only one season but 39 episodes. It’s also in the 30 minute format which makes for some rapid fire deductions on the part of Holmes. One of the most charming things about this one is the portrayal of both Holmes and Watson. Holmes isn’t broody and neurotic and Watson has some serious wits and gumption going on. I think in a lot of ways they’re actually more true to the early Sherlock stories than most of the big time portrayals that have come out over the years. Oh, and one other thing, when researching this one I couldn’t get over the description that it was produced by an American in France for TV syndication in the U.S. And only recently been made available in England. Wow, weird pedigree.
Robin of Sherwood (1984)
AKA Robin Hood. I can understand not knowing about the first two series on this list. But not this one. Mainly because of how much I love Robin Hood and how highly it rates when you look it up. People flat-out adore this series. Basically it’s a mystical take on the Robin Hood story that is just mind-boggling because it ties him to the Green Man of English folklore. Mind-boggling because that actually seems like a very logical leap to take. It’s also three seasons and I haven’t finished it yet so I’ll probably talk more about this one when I finish it.