MISFITS: The Best Show You're Not Watching...

Forgotten UK Dance Troop: Lazy Kidz 4Eva

...Because it's not on American TV.

But this BBC cult hit is available on Hulu.com, (and below) so watch it now, all of it (16 eps so far), before they make the American version that will likely be considerably less cool.

The day Robbie Williams came to the set.

The Rub: So a bunch of these Brit brats are doin' Community Service, right? Not a particularly likeable bunch but they seem real. Then a storm rolls in, a freakishly odd storm. The group gets hit with a big old bolt of lightening and presto! Superpowers for (almost) everybody!

Sounds like typical Superhero/ Comic Book origin and setup, right?

But it's not superheroes as much as it is "Young, Dumb and Full of Powers". There's no spandex, no costumes - unless you count Orange Jumpsuits. No Crazy-Season-Long-Villain. No Leader/Teacher/Trainer to help them. No "Save The Cheerleader - Save The World" missions. No secret base. No dragged out story-lines because the season are so short, they really couldn't if they tried.

Orange: Not just for psycho-killers, anymore.

Do they use their powers? Oh sure. Do they save they world? Maybe a few times, when they're not busy hiding dead bodies. So there are mysteries? Oh, you betcha. Answers to questions? Not always, because for the most part, we only know what the kids know/see. Is it for Lil' kids? Shit no! It's loaded with all kinds of foul language (look out for the flying C-Bombs) and naughty behavior! So, there's sex? Well, those who can have it, do and those who can't - watch. What? You'll see!

Sadly, none of them can control the weather.

Doc Jensen at EW.com recently wrote a piece about how Viewers and Execs are looking for the next Lost. Well, I won't compare the two directly, they're very different shows, but I haven't been this interested in a show in a long time. Misfits has me hooked in a similar way that Lost, Battlestar Galactica or even Breaking Bad has: I'm just dying for the next episode. I'm not comparing concepts like story "depth", "hidden metaphors" and "mystery structure". Misfits is fun. I await it. I miss that aspect of TV - hunger for new episodes.

What's interesting to note (for me anyway) is how striped down, simple and clean this show feels compared to NBC's Heroes which used many of the same troupes. Except here, we're not following people who want to save the city. That's crazy talk to them. They're too busy worrying about their own little world. Clubbing. Whatever. They're young. One suspects that deep down, that idea of professional hero shit is just bigger than them, pose it to them and they'd likely reply, "And how the fuck am I supose' to do tha', yah?"

"Seriously. Let's go find someone to make it stop raining."

So unlike Heroes, which arrived slightly bloated, Misfits manages to stay tight-knit. By nature of the characters being relative outcasts already, and realistically narcissistic, we don't run into vast amounts of powered people - they pop up - but not as much.

Is it perfect? Nothing is. But my quibbles are few, and fewer than almost any other show I have ever watched. When it's good, it's very good. Stylish but not slick, smart but un-pompous, it has edge with realism, and painfully funny. Nathan is the nuttiest wanker you'll ever meet.

And you can watch the first episode right now...



 By Bill Sweeney