8 Best Spectrum Originals TV Series
Another streaming platform bites the dust: The telecom company Charter Communications is in the process of shutting down Spectrum Originals.
Charter launched Spectrum Originals in 2018 with L.A.’s Finest and has since bolstered its offerings with exclusive originals, co-productions with other networks, and overseas imports. Now, the company is exploring options for the shows on its programming slate, according to Deadline, which first reported the news of its demise.
With Spectrum Originals’ end upon us, here are some of the standout series that found a home on the platform.
Curfew
Curfew, a British import that originally aired on Sky One, was a dystopian drama with Sean Bean and Adam Brody that takes place in a totalitarian United Kingdom ravaged by a virus and under strict curfew orders — where drivers have a chance to earn a ticket to freedom through an illegal street race.
L.A.’s Finest
Fans of the big-screen Bad Boys franchise got this spinoff, which continued the story of Gabrielle Union’s ex-DEA agent, Syd Burnett, as she transferred to the LAPD and found a new partner in Jessica Alba’s Nancy McKenna.
Angela Black
After an encounter with a mysterious private detective, a London woman discovers horrifying truths about her abusive husband in Angela Black, a six-part crime drama starring Joanne Froggatt, Michiel Huisman, and Samuel Adewunmi.
The Bite
Robert and Michelle King tapped their Good Fight star Audra McDonald to star in The Bite, a six-episode horror satire about New Yorkers dealing with a strain of COVID-19 that seemingly turns humans into zombies. The star-studded cast also included Taylor Schilling and Phillipa Soo.
Long Slow Exhale
Long Slow Exhale starred Rose Rollins as a women’s college basketball coach whose star player accuses her assistant coach of sexual assault. Told over multiple timeframes, the series also shows that Rollins’ character has skeletons in her closet, too.
Temple
Spectrum also streamed this British crime drama, originally aired by Sky One. Based on the Norwegian drama Valkyrien, Temple stars Mark Strong as a surgeon who runs an illegal medical clinic beneath London’s Temple Underground Station, treating criminals and other patients who won’t get medical attention elsewhere.
Mad About You
Twenty years after it ended its NBC run, this Emmy-nominated sitcom Mad About You returned on Spectrum Originals, with Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser reprising their roles as married couple Jamie and Paul Buchman, now empty-nesters whose daughter is in college just blocks away.
Joe Pickett
A neo-Western based on characters by novelist C.J. Box, Joe Pickett followed a game warden (Michael Dorman) and his family as they navigate life in a struggling, rural Wyoming town. The drama ranked as Spectrum’s most-watched original series in February, when it scored a Season 2 pick-up.