Wednesday, September 18, 2013

TV to Download and Watch, When the Kids Aren't Home...

 
FX Channel's SONS OF ANARCHY and The History Channel's VIKINGS are no DOWNTON ABBEY, but they are well written, engaging, and both are a wild, violent, sexy, adult only ride you can download and watch a whole season over a weekend, just watch them when the kids aren't in the house or quietly under the sheets with ear buds..
 
Amazingly, they both have about the same story line of an upstart young warrior rising through the ranks of a violent, bloody gang to be its leader. SONS OF ANARCHY,  a modern day, gun running motorcycle gang in California's central valley...
 
 
and VIKINGS, well, is set about 1,000 years earlier, but still a gang, with an unbreakable internal code, a reign of terror and  a lot of tough guys who ride...
 
                                    
in boats and pillage and raid the island of Britannia to the west.  
 
Oddly, the main characters, could be the same actor or brothers, but are not...
 
 Charlie Hunnam, plays Jackson Teller in SONS OF ANARCHY
and is from England, yup, he's English and..
 
 Travis Fimmel, who plays Ragnar Lothbrok in VIKINGS, grew up
on a ranch in Australia, you'll believe it when you watch him ride.
 
 
Similarities don't stop there, you need a good women that can "kick ass" right beside you when you are taking over a dynasty...
 
Maggie Siff as Tara on SONS OF ANARCHY...
 
and Katheryn Winnick as Lagertha  on VIKINGS don't let anyone mess with their men and families.
 
Both shows have also come somewhat out of the mind of one man...Michael Hirst meticulously researched Viking history just like he did for his other epic historical dramas...
 
 
 
 and SONS OF ANARCHY is pretty much the brain child of Kurt Sutter...
 
 
 who also plays "Big Otto" in the series, a SOA member serving time and coordinating  the clubs "biz" in the system.
 
In real life, Sutter is married to Katey Sagal who plays SOA's reigning king's "Old Lady"...
 
played by Ron Perlman.
 That's right, Al Bundy's "Old Lady"
 
( MARRIED WITH CHIDLREN) 
 
has hooked up with the Beast...
(BEAUTY AND THE BEAST)
 
VIKINGS reigning king, or Earl is played by Gabriel Byrnes (THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK, LITTLE WOMEN)...
 
His queen is played by Jessalyn Gilsig (GLEE), who can be pretty bad ass when it comes to protecting her children.
 
Of course, everything is relative in VIKINGS and SONS OF ANARCHY. If you are in the "club" you have a family and are protected, as long as you "ain't a rat," or are in prison, there is a nullifying clause for not sleeping with a gang member's "Old Lady" if you are in prison and if the "gods" need you to sleep with another clan's Viking princess well then the marriage bed becomes less sacred.
 
 

 Ragnar and Jax are not "good guys" trying to get out of the "bad guy" life. They are the "best of the bad guy", by far the cleverest and both with debatable moral compasses,  something that is very easy to forget  in each episode, where consistently innocent outsiders suffer and die on their watch. Wrapped up in each episode, I find myself rationalizing  right along with them that they had no other choice and what they did was for the good of their families.
 
Both these series are more "drama" this "historical" but each is so well written, executed with such detail, from filming in the desolate and industrial central valley of California...
 
 
to the gorgeous world created for VIKINGS...
 
 
that they are luscious to watch along with being disturbing and violent.
 
The sixth and new season of SONS OF ANARCHY just started on FX Channel and season 1-4 are available on Netflix and Amazon Prime , season five and six are also available to buy per episode on Amazon.
 
First season of VIKING is only available at the moment through buying per episode on Amazon and new season will be out in 2014. I don't get the History Channel, but the series was so good I actually subscribed to it last year and for $1.99 would get the newest episode in my library the Monday after it aired.
 
photos from...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

2 comments:

  1. Charlie Hunnum has finally responded to rumors that he's a favorite to play Mr.Grey's role.
    Nice Blog!!!
    Thanks for sharing... Keep sharing more
    EL james



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    1. I just read that- kind of glad I did not know that when I wrote the post- Hunnum was also the real creepy albino side kick to the bad guy in COLD MOUNTAIN and the lead in Dickens NICHOLAS NICKLEBY (2002), he says he is really picky about his roles, he is diverse- that is true!

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