Best of the Blogs: Five TV shows you should stream immediately

UnREAL, Bloodline and Wolf Hall feature in Paul Casserly's top five TV shows not on TV.

We’re looking back at our columnists most popular pieces from 2015. Today, Paul Casserly takes a look at some of the best TV not on TV.

We now live in a world where the first words out of kid's mouth when visiting is no longer "can we watch TV?" but "what's your Wi-Fi password?"

They thought that the internet would kill TV but it's the other way round, as streaming is almost clogging up the old copper network.

Here are five of my favourite TV thingies that live on the internet.

1. High Maintenance (Online and Vimeo)

This is the first online show that managed the feat of making me part with actual money, all US$1.99 of it so far, but I'll be back for more episodes of the new series. The comedy follows a Brooklyn weed dealer as he makes his deliveries, and part of the joy is that we get to peer into the lives of his customers. Essentially these are character portraits viewed through the purple haze.

It's as good as any HBO-style comedy, which is why the show has just been bought by the cable channel, which will air their next series. The latest series is on video-sharing site Vimeo, part of their plan to dabble with Netflix-like programming. Behind it all is a husband and wife team, Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, a casting agent (30 Rock) and actor respectively. Sinclair plays 'the guy' - the amiable dealer who moves between his customers acting as matchmaker, priest or just shocked observer. Sure the stoned conversations - "would you rather shoot a baby out of a catapult or catch a baby that was shot out of a catapult?" - are part of the fun, but at the heart of the show you'll find a brilliantly observed drama of life as it is actually lived. Charming, insightful and delightful. And bloody funny even without herbal enhancement.

You can watch the first series for free here ...

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