Penny Dreadful (2014-2016) Preview

My girlfriend, Rachel, and I, at her suggestion, are watching Penny Dreadful as our current couple television watching endeavor. She’d only watched a couple of episodes. I’d not seen any, but I remember it airing, wanted to watch it, and had it. I just never got around to watching it. To me, it’s one of those shows that I wouldn’t watch on my own, or I’d give up on way too early. We’d finished the first season of House of the Dragon, got through all of Letterkenny, and we needed a series instead of trying to search through various stand up comedy specials and films. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, but it’s nice to have something already built in to look forward to watching and enjoying together.

What is Penny Dreadful? Well, to begin, I think a better opening question exists. What is a penny dreadful? A penny dreadful is a form of literature, popular in the United Kingdom during the 1800s. A whole story, but in serial form, not unlike a television series. Each week, a new part of the story got published, roughly 8 to 16 pages at a time, and the price was, well, a penny. Penny Dreadful is a horror drama television series running on Showtime in the United States and Sky in the United Kingdom, running between May 11, 2014, and June 19, 2016.A short series, but over the three seasons comprised of 27 episodes, lasting between 45 minutes and an hour. The story arch runs to completion. This isn’t one of those canceled early because two fewer people watched one week.

We have John Logan to thank for Penny Dreadful. He’s the series creator. He also is one of the executive producers alongside Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, and Karen Richards. James Flynn, Morgan O’Sullivan, and Sheila Hoclain are producers. Desert Wolf Productions, Neal Street Productions, and Showtime Networks join forces to serve as production companies. Penny Dreadful filmed on location in both Dublin, Ireland, and London, England.

I’m not the biggest horror fan. At least, as far as watching. The genre is way too easy to make a horrible film and ruin a good story. Rachel said she’d like to watch it, but can’t stuff like that alone. Sure, I’m in. Looking at the key cast of players, the only familiar name is Josh Hartnett. Looking a bit more closely at IMDb, we have Timothy Dalton, better known as James Bond in a couple 1980s films, The Living Daylights and License to Kill. I’ve never seen a “Bond film.” I should, but that’s for another piece and another time. Season reviews, more like recaps, of Penny Dreadful will come as we get through them, so be on the lookout for those in the future.