Title Recommendations based on Toby Cavanaugh
Based on the critically acclaimed manga by Naoki Urasawa, Monster revolves around a central theme: how is evil created and spread? Following the adventures of doctor Kenzo Tenma as he tracks elusive serial killer Johan Liebert, Monster strives to explore the themes of evil and redemption in all their dimensions. Monster is a weighty but thoroughly enjoyable tale for those who enjoy media with philosophical meat.
Narcissistic, brash, and self-destructive "Jimmy Shive-Overly," thinks all relationships are doomed. Cynical, people-pleasing, and stubborn "Gretchen Cutler," knows that relationships aren't for her. So when they meet at a wedding, it's only natural that the two of them go home together and, despite their better judgment, begin to find themselves falling for each other.
Otis Milburn is near the bottom of the social totem pole in high school. After Otis realizes he's quite good at giving sex advice, he and his friend Mae Wiley team up to charge students for sex therapy.
Better Call Saul is set six years before Saul Goodman meets Walter White. We meet him when the man who will become Saul Goodman is known as Jimmy McGill, a small-time lawyer searching for his destiny, and, more immediately, hustling to make ends meet. Working alongside, and, often, against Jimmy, is "fixer" Mike Erhmantraut.
Fringe depicts an absurd world through the lens of real emotions and relatable flawed characters, whom viewers are drawn to root for. Olivia Dunham and her team try to solve a science-based case each week, slowly realizing that they have stumbled across a cover-up so big that it threatens the existence of our entire universe.
Twenty-somethings Hannah Horvath, Marnie Michaels, Shoshanna Shapiro, and Jessa Johansson all face challenges in work, friendship, and love in New York City. The girls are not sure if they're trying to smoothly transition into adulthood, or putting it off for as long as possible.
War and Peace broadly focuses on Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 and follows three of the most well-known characters in literature: Pierre Bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a count who is fighting for his inheritance and yearning for spiritual fulfillment; Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who leaves his family behind to fight in the war against Napoleon; and Natasha Rostov, the beautiful young daughter of a nobleman who intrigues both men. As Napoleon's army invades, Tolstoy brilliantly follows characters from diverse backgrounds—peasants and nobility, civilians and soldiers—as they struggle with the problems unique to their era, their history, and their culture.
When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana's quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms. Shocked yet thrilled by Grey's singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success—his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey's secrets and explores her own dark desires. This book is intended for mature audiences.
Sam, an 18-year-old on the autism spectrum, takes a funny, yet painful, journey of self-discovery for love and independence and upends his family.
To live in Texas is to love football—those who don't just don't know they love it yet. As the coach of the Dillon Panthers, Eric Taylor is out to make his players winners on the field. But his true coaching comes off the field, as his players deal with challenges of dysfunctional families, drugs, injuries, and heartbreak.
A hard-partying high school senior's philosophy on life changes when he meets the not-so-typical "nice girl."
As members of the Peaky Blinders, a local criminal gang, Tommy Shelby and his relatives navigate the treacherous social landscape to solidify their power within the city in post-WWI Birmingham, England. With the arrival of inspector Major Campbell and the tireless scrutiny of Sir Winston Churchill, organized crime is facing some tough opposition. Tommy and his Peaky Blinders plan on circumventing the crackdown, but it's not going to be easy.
Set against the backdrop of a hit dating competition show, "UnREAL" is led by Rachel, a young staffer whose sole job is to manipulate her relationships with and among the contestants to get the outrageous footage for the program. What ensues is a humorous, yet vexing, look at what happens in the world of unscripted television, where being a contestant can be vicious and producing it is a whole other reality.
Saved by the Bell follows five best friends during their time at Bayside High School in Los Angeles. The show covered all walks of high school life, from Zack Morris, the consummate schemer and rabble rouser to A.C. Slater, the amiable jock, to Screech the lovable geek, to Jessie Spano the feminist scholar, to Kelly Kapowski the teenage dream girl. At its best, the show was aspirational, showing a school that had almost zero ties to reality, and seemed to exist in some happier Day-glo universe. You either knew people like them, or you wanted to.
Set in 1982 in the suburb of Blackeberg, Stockholm, twelve-year-old Oskar is a lonely outsider, bullied at school by his classmates. At home, Oskar dreams of revenge against a trio of bullies. He befriends his twelve-year-old, next-door neighbor Eli, who only appears at night in the snow-covered playground outside their building.
