Back in 2012 the American TV network ABC aired a tv show called “The River”.

You ever had one of those moments where you see a trailer for something and you instantly think “I NEED to watch this!”

This was a TV show that I thoroughly enjoyed and each episode had me on the edge of my seat, something that very rarely happens to me.

Well that’s exactly what happened to me with this show, they had me hooked before I’d even seen an episode, that’s the power of good advertisement right there. It’s not often something like that happens to me so when it does I really take notice and I’m certainly glad I did with this.

The show was about a crew on a research vessel who are on a quest to find a missing TV explorer in the Amazon, in fact it’s his family and friends that go looking for him. The show was done in a ‘found-footage’ style which really intrigued me as I’m a big fan of the sub-genre and it’s a rarity for a tv show.

I can’t praise the shows writing enough, it truly was absolutely fantastic and it featured some amazing storytelling that drew you in right from the beginning and never let go. Even the pacing of it was perfect, it’d tease you just enough so that you wanted more and when you got answers it gave you more questions.

The cast was also terrific with the likes of Bruce Greenwood, Joe Anderson, Leslie Hope, Paul Blackthorne, Thomas Kretschmann, Lee Tergesen and more. There wasn’t one weak actor in this series and I applaud each and every one of them for a great job as it didn’t look like the easiest work.

Unfortunately, like a lot of shows, it got cancelled after just one season so we only got 8 episodes. Luckily for us each episode manages to outdo the last one and keeps the ongoing story fresh with it’s twists and turns. I also praise the show for taking some big risks and it paid off big time.

The show had some seriously creepy moments that were refreshing to see when it was released, it was some truly tense viewing. I was seriously disappointed when the news came out that it had been cancelled, I wondered if this was going to be another show that was going to leave me with a huge cliffhanger.

Looking back on it now I realise that one season was enough, the story had mainly been told and it didn’t outstay it’s welcome or become something that became stagnant and had run out of ideas after too many seasons. We were left wanting more but that’s part of why it’s still talked about by fans.

I liked the ending, it was done in a way that if it had carried on then there was more that could be done but also it was a fitting ending to the way the story was told, it’s not often we get that so I’ll take it. I just seriously wish it would get a DVD release here in the UK, damn you DVD region codes!

“The River” seriously was an excellent TV show that had a ton of potential to it and used it well. I really do urge you to seek it out if you haven’t watched it, If you do I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.