TV Shows For Men: 7 Banshee

Cinemax commissioned Banshee in a bid to compete with the original content of other networks, and well into the second season it's safe to say they've got a winner. The plot is simple: a career criminal, upon finishing the last year of his 15-year prison bid, assumes the identity of a dead small town sheriff to reconnect with the woman he loves, who has started a family of her own in the time he's been away, and escape from a crime lord who wants him dead. Sound simple, even a bit hokey? It is, unapologetically. It's also hard-hitting, with graphic action scenes matched only by the graphic sex scenes. The fight choreography is brutal and bloody. Banshee won't win any awards, but it's addictive in the way that 80s action movies are addictive, and contains enough compelling characters -- Ulrich Thomsen's villainous ex-Amish crime lord, Kai Proctor, stands out -- to keep things interesting.