Fantasy TV

Fantasy on television has had a checkered career. It languished for years in the classless, yet lucrative, sub-basement of sitcom, with shows like Bewitched, purporting to be the life of a suburban witch trying to forgo her magic.

Cheesy, yet cult-campy soap opera Dark Shadows turned us all into vampire fans, little mini-goth-wannabes before Goth was even Goth. Arguably, Dark Shadows made Ann Rice possible. This afternoon soap opera had us all racing home after school to catch the adventures of the beleagured governess, trapped in the house 'haunted' by a vampire, a ghost, the odd werewolf or two - if it was supernatural, it had a representative in the spooky town of Collinwood.

It was perhaps the classy, romantic Beauty and the Beast that brought fantasy into the respectability of episodic drama - few women of the eighties could resist the star-crossed lovers separated by class, and perhaps even species. It was soon followed by other dramas, some consciously campy, some played straight - Buffy the Vampire Slayer and spinoff Angel, Hercules and Xena, Warrior Princess... okay, so I exaggerated - they were all pretty much camped up.

Still, fantasy is now something one can admit to watching on television without embarrassment, and each season brings a fresh crop of fantasies to sample.

This category celebrates fantasy television in all its forms; the campy sitcoms, the spooky dramas, the creepy soaps and the impossible action adventures.

This is a wiki, so feel free to add your own special favorite if you don't find it represented here.