Streaming Sci Fi TV: Tracking down sci fi and fantasy shows of interest on the streaming services. Note that streaming availability can change with little to no notice.
What Is It?
Based on the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name, American Gods follows Shadow Moon who is released early from prison after his wife dies and who meets the mysterious character who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. He learns that the gods of old are still living in America, though mostly in squalor, and are preparing for a war with the new gods of technology, media, globalism, and more and that he will play an important part in the upcoming conflict.
Aired: Starz, 2017-21, 3 Seasons Totaling 26 Episodes
Starring: Ricky Whittle, Emily Browning, Crispin Glover, Bruce Langley, Yetide Badaki, Ian McShane
Created By: Neil Gaiman, Bryan Fuller, Michael Green
Why Watch It?
American Gods is considered one of Neil Gaiman’s greatest works, and this adaptation remains relatively faithful to the book while also adding a fair amount of material to stretch it out over multiple seasons. Bryan Fuller (Hannibal) and Michael Green (Logan)–who had both worked on the well-respected first season of Heroes–teamed up again and delivered a visual feast across the show’s first year along with one of the strongest seasons of a sci fi/fantasy series in a long time. They took a very stylized approach, and with the help of Gaiman, fleshed out the story from the book, in my opinion improving on the original work and really delving into some of the concepts originally only touched upon. They also put together one heck of a good cast with Ian McShane as the perfect choice for Mr. Wednesday and Crispin Glover quite creepy as Mr. World along with oustanding appearances by Gillian Anderson, Orlando Bloom, Cloris Leachman, Kristin Chenoweth, and more.
Unfortunately, Fuller and Green departed after the first season over “creative differences”, though they did complete over half of the episodes for the second season. The show would go through further turnover behind the scenes, but Neil Gaiman remained closely involved, holding the production together and keeping up the quality. Some felt like the second and third seasons were not as satisfying (especially with some of the changeover in cast), but I enjoyed the show throughout and thought it did an excellent job building on and expanding the source material, and they came up with some creative ways to introduce new actors into existing roles. Sadly, Starz cancelled the show right as it was reaching the climax of the book (though apparently Gaiman still had two more full seasons planned), and left it on a cliffhanger (you can read more about the cancellation at this link). The show is still worth watching, though–especially the first season–and then you can go read the book to know how the story wraps up. This one had a rather tumultuous production history and was cancelled too soon, but it stands out as an accomplishment for genre television.
Where Is It Streaming?
All three seasons are available for streaming for free (with ads) on Tubi TV. That is one of several free streaming services similar to Hulu when it first started and it has a fair amount of sci fi and fantasy TV shows and movies available. They do not currently offer a premium version without ads, but the commercial spots are not too bad on this service. American Gods is also available on DVD and Blu-ray, and you can purchase it VOD.
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