Stranger Things is an American science fiction-horror web television series created, written, and directed by the Duffer Brothers and released on Netflix. The Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy, and Dan Cohen serve as executive producers. The first season, released in July 2016, stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono, and Matthew Modine, with Noah Schnapp and Joe Keery in recurring roles. For the second season, Schnapp and Keery were cast as series regulars, along with the additions of Sadie Sink, Dacre Montgomery, Sean Astin, and Paul Reiser.
Set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, in the 1980s, the first season focuses on the investigation into the disappearance of a young boy amid supernatural events occurring around the town, including the appearance of a girl with psychokinetic abilities who helps the missing boy's friends in their own search. The second season, titled Stranger Things 2, is set one year later, and deals with attempts of the characters to return to normality and consequences that linger from the first season. The Duffer Brothers developed the series as a mix of investigative drama alongside supernatural elements portrayed with childlike sensibilities. They established its time frame in the 1980s and created a homage to the pop culture of that decade. Several themes and directorial aspects were inspired and aesthetically informed by the works of Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, and Stephen King, among others, including several films, anime and video games.
The first season premiered on Netflix on July 15, 2016. It received critical acclaim for its characterization, pacing, atmosphere, acting, soundtrack, directing, writing, and homages to 1980s genre films. The series has received 31 Emmy Award nominations, including for Outstanding Drama Series, four Golden Globe Award nominations, and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2016.
On August 31, 2016, Netflix renewed the series for a second season of nine episodes, which was released on October 27, 2017. In December 2017, Netflix ordered a third season, which began production in April 2018 and will consist of eight episodes, and is expected to be released in mid-2019. The Duffer Brothers have said that Stranger Things is likely to end after its fourth or fifth season.
Rick and Morty is an American adult animated science fiction sitcom created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block Adult Swim. The series follows the misadventures of cynical mad scientist Rick Sanchez and his good-hearted but fretful grandson Morty Smith, who split their time between domestic life and interdimensional adventures. The series premiered on December 2, 2013, and the third season concluded on October 1, 2017. In May 2018, the series was picked up for an additional 70 episodes over an unspecified number of seasons.
Roiland voices the eponymous characters, with Chris Parnell, Spencer Grammer and Sarah Chalke voicing the rest of the family. The series originated from an animated short parody film of Back to the Future, The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti, created by Roiland for Channel 101, a short film festival co-founded by Harmon. When Adult Swim approached Harmon for television show ideas, he and Roiland decided to develop a program based on the short. The series has received universal acclaim for its originality, creativity and humor.
The X-Files | |
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Created by | Chris Carter |
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Music by | Mark Snow |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 11 |
No. of episodes | 218 (list of episodes) |
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Running time | 45 minutes |
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Distributor | 20th Television |
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Original network | Fox |
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Original release | September 10, 1993 ?
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The X-Files is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The original television series aired from September 10, 1993, to May 19, 2002, on Fox. The program spanned nine seasons, with 202 episodes. A short tenth season consisting of six episodes premiered on January 24, 2016. Following the ratings success of this revival, Fox announced in April 2017 that The X-Files would be returning for an eleventh season of ten episodes. The season premiered on January 3, 2018. In addition to the television series, two feature films have been released: The 1998 film The X-Files, which took place as part of the TV series continuity, and the stand-alone film The X-Files: I Want to Believe, released in 2008, six years after the original television run had ended.
The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who investigate X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder believes in the existence of aliens and the paranormal while Scully, a medical doctor and a skeptic, is assigned to make scientific analyses of Mulder's discoveries to debunk his work and thus return him to mainstream cases. Early in the series, both agents become pawns in a larger conflict and come to trust only each other and a few select people. The agents also discover an agenda of the government to keep the existence of extraterrestrial life a secret. They develop a close relationship which begins as a platonic friendship, but becomes a romance by the end of the series. In addition to the series-spanning story arc, "monster of the week" episodes form roughly two-thirds of all episodes.
The X-Files was inspired by earlier television series which featured elements of suspense and speculative fiction, including The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Tales from the Darkside, Twin Peaks, and especially Kolchak: The Night Stalker. When creating the main characters, Carter sought to reverse gender stereotypes by making Mulder a believer and Scully a skeptic. The first seven seasons featured Duchovny and Anderson equally. In the last two seasons, Anderson took precedence while Duchovny appeared intermittently. New main characters were introduced: FBI agents John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish). Mulder and Scully's boss, Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), also became a main character. The first five seasons of The X-Files were filmed and produced in Vancouver, British Columbia, before eventually moving to Los Angeles to accommodate Duchovny. The series later returned to Vancouver to film The X-Files: I Want to Believe as well as the tenth and eleventh seasons of the series.
The X-Files was a hit for the Fox network and received largely positive reviews, although its long-term story arc was criticized near the conclusion. Initially considered a cult series, it turned into a pop culture touchstone that tapped into public mistrust of governments and large institutions and embraced conspiracy theories and spirituality. Both the series itself and lead actors Duchovny and Anderson received multiple awards and nominations, and by its conclusion the show was the longest-running science fiction series in U.S. television history. The series also spawned a franchise which includes Millennium and The Lone Gunmen spin-offs, two theatrical films and accompanying merchandise.