Granite Flats

It's hard these days to find a good show that few have heard of. Netflix and Hulu and general internetiness mean we get to watch shows from Canada, England, and the last 40 plus years of the United States as well as find out about loads more that we might like. But there's a network out there that makes at least some of it's own quality original programming and keeps it to themselves. Brigham Young University TV is such a station. Being a college station you'd expect them to be mostly some PBS affiliate. Being a religious college you might expect it to be hyper religious. But, as near as I can tell, they're just trying to create mostly original programming. A quick scan of their listings shows a lot of marathons and reruns, but that seems unavoidable for a station their size.

Cartoonist Howard Taylor of Schlock Mercenary was invited to a screening of the season 2 pilot of Granite Flats and told his readers about it. It took me a few weeks to find the time to get through all of seasons 1 and 2, but I'm glad that I did.

Granite Flats is a series about a town of the same name located in Cold War era Colorado. The story follows several different groups within the town. The sheriff with a good heart, three kids playing investigators, a group of scientists doing secret mind control experiments for the government, a father with PTSD whose bully of a son has to be taken from him and cared for by a local nurse, and a KGB agent walking among them. Season two introduces Cary Elwes as a creepy CIA agent trying to take control of the secret project and Christopher Lloyd as a Shakespeare loving English teacher.

In season 1 a mysterious object passes over the area trailing a stream of strange metallic debris. The sheriff starts investigating damaged windows and bird baths, the kids start following the path of the strange light, and shadowy figures in dark cars are seen around the city. Then there's a huge explosion at the military base that starts casting suspicion everywhere.

It's actually a really good show. It's well written, well acted, and high production quality.

You can watch the whole series at http://graniteflats.com/. It's only 17 episodes long, so far, but I'll be looking forward to season 3.