The Prisoner first aired in the late sixties and was like the granddaddy of cult television and television that made you think. It was about a British secret agent who resigns without explanation, and is subsequently captured and taken to a mysterious village, where he and others who know too much are questioned and manipulated in an attempt to extract information. He resists, however, and the show is about his struggle to escape and resist attempts to extract what he knows. There is only one bubble thing, called Rover, and it is designed to prevent escape. It is controlled by the people who run the village. See my signature for the exchange that occurs each week between our hero (Number Six) and the new village leader (Number Two, who is mysteriously replaced each week). It is probably the most thought-provoking show on television show that I have ever watched and has the greatest ending I have ever seen in any movie, book or show.
Early Edition was pretty much the exact opposite. I think it originally aired in the late nineties, it seemed to be a pretty standard feel-good drama about a guy who gets tomorrow's newspaper today. I am not sure why I love it so much, especially since I first found it at two o'clock in the morning on Sunday nights. It has great characters and an incredible sort of morality. The guy gets tomorrow's newspaper and never once cashes in on the lotto numbers. There are no words to explain why this show is cool, especially since I later found out that it was a big hit with my mom when it originally aired. 😛 And I know, it does sound like a news program, so much so that when looking for it in the TV Guide, I often think that it has been replaced by one. 🙂
That was probably more than you wanted to know, but I never miss a chance to pimp my favorite shows. 😀
