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Movies & TV

The television shows Toronto’s watching now


Bay Street Video (1172 Bay, 416-964-9088, baystreetvideo.com)

Dwayne Aylward, assistant manager

Five most popular TV series:

  1. Downton Abbey
  2. Borgen
  3. Homeland
  4. House Of Cards
  5. Game Of Thrones

On Downton Abbey: “Our clientele, they love their Downton Abbey. Every time a season’s come out, it’s always the bestselling DVD at the end of the year.”

On Borgen: “You wouldn’t think a foreign show with subtitles would be so huge, but it is really, really massive.”

Aylward’s favourites: Breaking Bad, The Wire, Mad Men, Justified

“Breaking Bad is the greatest show of all time. It improved in quality from season to season, which is generally not the case. And it didn’t go on forever – it ended when it needed to. It was a nice five seasons and never bored me or jumped the shark. It’s one that seemed to have an endgame from the beginning. It had a plan and it always knew it had a plan.”


Queen Video  (412 Queen West, 416-504-3030 480 Bloor West, 416-588-5767)

Aaron Mancyzk, employee at Queen West location

Five most popular TV series:

  1. The Wire
  2. Six Feet Under
  3. Sherlock
  4. Downton Abbey
  5. Borgen

On Borgen: “A lot of people are into BBC and Danish crime mysteries. Crime mysteries are a big one. There’s one called The Bridge that’s always been super-popular. Same with Borgen.”

On Downton Abbey: “We got Downton Abbey at the same time it came out on TV. People don’t want to have to stick to a schedule and watch it every single week. This way, most people burn through it on a weekend. It’s quicker and more convenient.”

Mancyzk’s favourites: X-Files and Freaks And Geeks

“The X-Files is just fun. It touches on a lot of maybe-real things. There’s a lot of weird inside jokes that maybe even the first time you watched, you didn’t pick up on.”

But he hasn’t seen the new X-Files show. “I usually wait till a show’s over until I sit down and watch it. That way, you don’t have to wait, which is why I think a lot of people still rent stuff. It’s hard to have a routine every week where you watch something.”


Suspect Video (605 Markham, 416-588-6674, suspectvideo.ca)

Luis Ceriz, owner

Five most popular TV series:

  1. Game Of Thrones
  2. Homeland
  3. The Jinx
  4. Mad Men
  5. The Newsroom

On Game Of Thrones: “It seems to cross a lot of different boundaries. I can’t really tell who’s into Game Of Thrones, to be honest. It’s everyone from the very young to older ladies who come in for it.”

Ceriz’s favourites: Downton Abbey, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos and Smallville

“I’m a bit of a comic book nerd, and Smallville is a take on young Superman. It was cast really well. It introduced a lot of characters from the DC universe, and they are all multidimensional. Heroes aren’t always good and villains aren’t 100 per cent villainous. There are 10 seasons, I think 22 episodes per season, each one an hour long, so it’s a lot. I watched it over the course of a year.”

Don’t miss: The best 25 TV shows to binge-watch now

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