Binge Watching TV

Over the years I've grown to love binge watching. Whether it's an old show that’s been off the air for years or a new one that I’ve been meaning to check out, it’s so much fun. I dive into a new show, normally with the Huz, and for a month or two that's what we watch whenever we have time. 

Our latest binge is Friday Night Lights and we just finished it this week. I can't even begin to tell you how much I loved it. I've waited to watch this one for years because I thought it was going to be just about football… and I'm not the biggest sports fan. But it was about so much more than football. Landry, Tami, Matt's grandma, there are so many great characters that I’m going to miss. Sure there are cheesy plot lines and annoying people as well, but overall it was so good! It reminded me why I love being able to sink into a show and lose myself for hours in excellent story writing and character development. 

Ana wrote a great post on the show at Things Mean A Lot that was one of the reasons I finally decided to give it a shot. 

Here’s a few of the shows that I’ve binged… 

House of Cards, Doctor Who, The Bletchley Circle, Game of Thrones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Orange Is the New Black, Scandal, Orphan Black, Sons of Anarchy, True Detective, Dollhouse, Bones, Sports Night, Drunk History, Firefly, The Wire, Sopranos, Call the Midwife, and Luther.  

So, what shows and my missing? What do I still need to binge? I tried Battlestar Galactica, got three seasons in and then Netflix dropped it! I've also got The West Wing, Supernatural, Boardwalk Empire and Damages on my list, but what am I missing? 

P.S. If I haven't mentioned it before on this blog, I kind a love TV. But only a couple weeks ago we finally pulled the plug and have no cable. We’re currently using Netflix and debating whether we should get Hulu Plus or Amazon Prime too.   

P.P.S. There a few notable shows that I've never binged like, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Parks and Rec, Parenthood, Fargo, Gilmore Girls, Walking Dead, Downtown Abbey, and Scrubs, but that's only because I watch the shows  from the very beginning and I've loved them all the way through.

 

Image from here.  

Pairing Books with Movies: Excellent Women

Excellent Women
by Barbara Pym
★★★

Set in 1950s England, Excellent Women explores Mildred Lathbury’s small world. She’s a “spinster” in her 30s who lives a quiet life. Her closet friends are a vicar and his sister. When the Napiers, a contentious married couple, move into her boarding house her life is thrown into turmoil. 

I struggled with this one because I honestly couldn’t decide if Pym intended it as a parody or not. Mildred comes across as a cookie cutter version of a spinster. She’s a bit nosy and seems to have no real personality. She’s easily swayed by whoever she’s with at the moment. On the other hand, Helen Napier is a fascinating character. She’s a self-proclaimed horrible housekeeper and cook. She’s passionate about her work in the field of anthropologist, and she’s struggling in her marriage. Unfortunately she’s the one who is presented as a bit of a villain. 

The book was not without its charm. There’s a scene where Mildred returns to her childhood school for a reunion event. She’s with an old friend and they are talking about how small and simple everyone’s jobs and descriptions sound. They talk about how the main thing everyone cares about is whether or not they are married. It’s sad and true how little our lives can seem so small when we describe them in a single line or two. The depth and heart of anyone’s life get missed when they are simplified in that way.

BOTTOM LINE: Not my cup of tea, but I’d like to try something else by these author to see if it was just Mildred’s personality that rubbed me the wrong way.

Pairing Books with Movies: Excellent Women is set in England in the 1950s, so the BBC show “Call the Midwife” is a perfect pairing. It also explores England during that time period, but it gives some balance to the role women had in that world. “Call the Midwife” shows a group of strong women who work as midwives in a poor community, it’s a much more progressive and realistic version of England at that time. It’s a fantastic show and that’s coming from someone who is kind of terrified of all things connected to childbirth.