TV series about despair

Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children's games—with high stakes. But, a tempting prize awaits the victor.

After a brutal virus wipes out most of the population, two young siblings embark on a perilous search for safety. A Scandinavian thriller series.

When Walter White, a New Mexico chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of only two years left to live, he becomes filled with a sense of fearlessness and an unrelenting desire to secure his family's financial future at any cost as he enters the dangerous world of drugs and crime.

The crew of a Royal Naval expedition searching for the Arctic's treacherous Northwest Passage discovers instead a monstrous predator.

When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces, and one strange little girl.

40 years in the future, space captain Ryan Clark and the crew of the luxury space cruise ship Avenue 5 navigate disgruntled passengers and unexpected events after experiencing technical difficulties onboard.

Los Angeles. 1983. A storm is coming and it's name is crack. Set against the infancy of the crack cocaine epidemic and its ultimate radical impact on the culture as we know it, the story follows numerous characters on a violent collision course.

Laura Price, a local news producer in San Francisco, is helping the police to hunt down a serial killer. After the killer strikes close to home, a twist of fate allows a “Groundhog Day”-type reset, and Laura relives the week prior to the string of murders. Can she change fate and stop the killer?

Stuart Pritchard is an awkward, overly-confident Englishman trying to date in Los Angeles – where he repeatedly attempts to infiltrate the world of beautiful people.

The disappearance of a baby from a small coastal town in Australia is the catalyst for a journey into the disintegrating psychology of a young couple as they deal with an unthinkable tragedy under both the white light of public scrutiny and behind closed doors.

A doctor searching frantically for her missing baby daughter finds herself tangled in a web of ruthless criminals, suspicious cops and dark secrets.

Talented and successful surgeon Daniel Milton has his world shattered when his wife Beth develops a fatal degenerative disease. After conventional treatment options run out, Daniel partners with the lonely yet resourceful Lee to start a literal Underground clinic in the vast network of tunnels beneath Temple Tube Station in London.

There is a place after death that’s neither heaven nor hell. A bar that serves you one chance to win. You cannot leave until the game is over, and when it is, your life may be too. From Studio Madhouse (Death Note, Black Lagoon) comes a thrilling new series where the stakes are high and the rules are simple: your life is on the line.

Peep Show is an award-winning British sitcom starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. The television programme is written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, with additional material by Mitchell and Webb amongst others. It has been broadcast on Channel 4 since 2003. The show's eighth series makes it the longest-returning comedy in Channel 4 history. Stylistically, the show uses point of view shots with the thoughts of main characters Mark and Jeremy audible as voiceovers. Peep Show follows the lives of two men from their twenties to thirties, Mark Corrigan, who has steady employment for most of the series, and Jeremy "Jez" Usbourne, an unemployed would-be musician. The pair met at the fictional Dartmouth University, and now share a flat in Croydon, South London. Mark is initially a loan manager at the fictional JLB Credit, later becoming a waiter, and then a bathroom supplies salesman. He is financially secure, but awkward and socially inept, with a pessimistic and cynical attitude. Jeremy, having split up with his girlfriend Big Suze prior to the first episode, now lives in Mark's spare room. He usually has a much more optimistic and energetic outlook on the world than Mark, yet his self-proclaimed talent as a musician has yet to be recognised, and he is not as popular or attractive as he would like to think himself, although he is more successful with the opposite sex than Mark.

Freddie Jackson is released from prison in 1984 having served a four-year sentence for armed robbery. His wife Jackie, who has been waiting for him on the outside in the mistaken belief that that he wants to go straight, soon finds herself disappointed: Freddie is in fact raring to get back into the game and has set his sights on becoming top dog in the East End underworld.

Jericho is an American action/drama series that centers on the residents of the fictional town of Jericho, Kansas, in the aftermath of nuclear attacks on 23 major cities in the contiguous United States.

Cashmere Mafia is an American television comedy-drama which ran on ABC from January 6, 2008 to February 20, 2008. The series was created by Kevin Wade, who also served as executive producer alongside Darren Star, Gail Katz, Jeff Rake and Michael Pressman, with Susie Fitzgerald co-executive producing. Peyton Reed directed the pilot. ABC decided not to renew the series for a second season. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released Cashmere Mafia on DVD.

Set in the charming town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, the series follows the captivating lives of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, a mother/daughter pair who have a relationship most people only dream of.

Amanda Vaughn, once the ultimate high school "mean girl," is forced to return home in disgrace after her marriage ends in scandal. As Amanda and her teenage kids try to adjust to their new lives, the ladies from her past alternate between sympathy and scheming.

Dead Set is a critically acclaimed BAFTA-nominated British television black comic horror drama created by Charlie Brooker. The show takes place primarily on the set of a fictional series of the real television show Big Brother. The five episodes, aired over five consecutive nights, chronicle a zombie outbreak that strands the housemates and production staff inside the Big Brother House, which quickly becomes a shelter from the undead. Dead Set is a production of Zeppotron, part of the Endemol group of production and distribution companies that produces the actual Big Brother. Dead Set first aired on E4 starting on 27 October 2008, just six weeks after the end of Big Brother 2008 on that same channel.

A virus has decimated humankind. Those who survived emerged blind. Centuries later when twins are born with the mythic ability to see, their father must protect his tribe against a threatened queen.

Single Ladies is an American comedy-drama television series on VH1 that debuted on May 30, 2011, as a two-hour television film. Created by Stacy A. Littlejohn and produced by Queen Latifah's Flavor Unit Entertainment, the series chronicles the lives of three friends — Val, Keisha and April — and their relationships.

The series centers on four Latina maids working in the homes of Beverly Hills’ wealthiest and most powerful families, and a newcomer who made it personal after a maid was murdered and determined to uncover the truth behind her demise, and in the process become an ally in their lives.

The true story of Colombia's infamously violent and powerful drug cartels.

Set amidst a wave of violent animal attacks sweeping across the planet, a young renegade scientist is thrust into a race to unlock the mystery behind this pandemic before time runs out for animals and humans alike.

The intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and an enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives. Explore the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, the ferocious pull of motherhood – and the danger in believing that following the rules can avert disaster.

Terra Nova follows an ordinary family on an incredible journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as a small part of a daring experiment to save the human race. In the year 2149, the world is dying. The planet is overdeveloped and overcrowded, with the majority of plant and animal life extinct. The future of mankind is in jeopardy, and its only hope for survival is in the distant past.

Three "good girl" suburban wives and mothers suddenly find themselves in desperate circumstances and decide to stop playing it safe and risk everything to take their power back.

Persons Unknown is an American mystery drama television series that revolves around strangers who are imprisoned inside a small ghost town. The thirteen-episode summer series premiered on June 7, 2010 at 10:00 p.m. on NBC. On June 30, NBC moved the show to 8:00 p.m. on Saturday from its Monday time slot. It completed its run on August 28, 2010. The series was canceled shortly thereafter.

Subversive, darkly comedic drama Big Little Lies tells the tale of three mothers of first graders whose apparently perfect lives unravel to the point of murder.

Under the Dome is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. It tells the story of the residents of the small town of Chester's Mill in Maine, where a massive, transparent, indestructible dome suddenly cuts them off from the rest of the world. With no Internet access, no mobile signals and limited radio communication, the people trapped inside must find their own ways to survive with diminishing resources and rising tensions. While military forces, the government and the media positioned outside of this surrounding barrier attempt to break it down, a small group of people inside attempt to figure out what the dome is, where it came from, and when (and if) it will go away.

Picking up one year after the events of the final broadcast episode of "The Good Wife", an enormous financial scam has destroyed the reputation of a young lawyer, Maia Rindell, while simultaneously wiping out her mentor and godmother Diane Lockhart's savings. Forced out of her law firm, now called "Lockhart, Deckler, Gussman, Lee, Lyman, Gilbert, Lurie, Kagan, Tannebaum & Associates", they join Lucca Quinn at one of Chicago's preeminent law firms.

Three years after the zombie virus has gutted the country, a team of everyday heroes must transport the only known survivor of the plague from New York to California, where the last functioning viral lab waits for his blood.

A global cataclysm, caused by a fatal accident in Geneva (Switzerland) during the implementation of the particle accelerator will lead to the crew and students of the school-ship Polar Star to live the greatest adventure of their lives. Isolated and aware that we only have each other, the ship will become their only home.

The Big Bang Theory is centered on five characters living in Pasadena, California: roommates Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper; Penny, a waitress and aspiring actress who lives across the hall; and Leonard and Sheldon's equally geeky and socially awkward friends and co-workers, mechanical engineer Howard Wolowitz and astrophysicist Raj Koothrappali. The geekiness and intellect of the four guys is contrasted for comic effect with Penny's social skills and common sense.

A group of lesbian friends struggle with romance and careers in Los Angeles.

While running from a drug deal gone bad, Mike Ross, a brilliant young college-dropout, slips into a job interview with one of New York City's best legal closers, Harvey Specter. Tired of cookie-cutter law school grads, Harvey takes a gamble by hiring Mike on the spot after he recognizes his raw talent and photographic memory. Mike and Harvey are a winning team. Even though Mike is a genius, he still has a lot to learn about law. And while Harvey may seem like an emotionless, cold-blooded shark, Mike's sympathy and concern for their cases and clients will help remind Harvey why he went into law in the first place. Mike's other allies in the office include the firm's best paralegal Rachel and Harvey's no-nonsense assistant Donna to help him serve justice. Proving to be an irrepressible duo and invaluable to the practice, Mike and Harvey must keep their secret from everyone including managing partner Jessica and Harvey's arch nemesis Louis, who seems intent on making Mike's life as difficult as possible.

Stripped of everything, the survivors of a horrific plane crash must work together to stay alive. But the island holds many secrets.

A group of friends from Boston who feel stuck in life experience an unexpected wake-up call after one of their friend dies unexpectedly.

Michelle, a Las Vegas showgirl, impulsively marries a man, moves to his sleepy coastal town, and takes an uneasy role at her new mother-in-law's dance school.

Lipstick Jungle is an American comedy-drama television series created by DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler for NBC Universal Television Studio. The hour-long series was based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Candace Bushnell, who also served as executive producer alongside showrunner/head writer Oliver Goldstick. The pilot was directed by Gary Winick.

Guts, a man who calls himself "The Black Swordsman" looks upon his days serving as a member of a group of mercenaries, the Band of the Hawk, nicknamed "the Grim Reaper of the Battlefield." Led by an ambitious, ruthless, and intelligent man named Griffith, together they battle their way into the royal court, and are forced into a fate that may change their entire lives.