If you go in for television serial dramas that are dark, noir-ish, and pulpy; featuring haunting imagery, jarring violence, and enough head-scratch inducing mind-play to keep even the most jaded of viewers coming back for more, then this is the season for you!

So, in case they aren’t already on your television-watching itinerary, meet two of this season’s finest entries in this genre – Banshee on Cinemax and The Following on FOX.

Banshee is the latest effort on Cinemax’s part to enhance their original programming, and is produced by Your Face Goes Here Entertainment (aka Alan Ball and the imaginative folks behind True Blood).  Since it’s an Alan Ball joint, you just know that there’s gonna be a slew of preternaturally attractive people in various states of undress, and no qualms about violence.   No supernatural creatures or activities, here; just very pretty people doing not-so-pretty (and sometimes downright creepy or cringe-worthy) things.  I can just hear the pitch now… “It’s Amish Mafia meets Twin Peaks if directed by Quentin Tarantino!”

This program actually packs so much into each episode that the first four episodes have unveiled more exposition than an average show might in an entire season.  The cast stars New Zealand hottie Antony Starr as “Lucas Hood” an expert jewel-thief who gets released from prison after a 15 year sentence, only to assume the identity of an en-route-to-be-sworn-in sheriff in the Podunk town of Banshee, PN – smack in the middle of Pennsylvania Dutch country.

Ivana Miličević plays his long-lost ex “Anastasia” (the estranged daughter of their former Ukrainian crime boss, the ruthless “Mr. Rabbit”), who has also changed her identity, is now living as “Carrie Hopewell” and is married to Banshee’s District Attorney.  Make no mistake, though – the lady can kick some major boo-tay.

But hands-down, my favorite character is neither the local crime boss nor the baby-faced twenty-something Mayor; but rather Hoon Lee as “Job” – the foul-mouthed androgynous hacker who might just as easily show-up as a black leather-clad motorcyclist as done-up in drags with a kimono, obi, and knee-high stiletto boots (with an actual stiletto inside) .  And again – fear not for this not-so-delicate flower, ‘cause s/he will whoop yo' ass!

And all of this set against the unlikely backdrop of a town that uses an abandoned Cadillac dealership as the Sheriff’s Department and Jail; abuts a Native American reservation upon which sits a small casino; and where the most common mode of transport is a horse and buggy.

It’s more than a little cray, and as television goes, is downright addictive.  Obviously, Cinemax must agree, since – based on the ratings from the first three episodes – the network re-upped for an additional 10-episode second season, to run in 2014.

Come back next time, and press-up into the Kevin Bacon/James Purefoy vehicle The Following that combines all the ingredients of a good serial killer drama, with the mythos of Edgar Allen Poe.  Nice…

Banshee on Cinemax
Fridays 10/9c
Click HERE for info

Get into it!