Watching:Paradise. Season 2 started on Monday. Do not sleep on this show. I could not stop watching. I even posted to stories about how it's like watching a movie. You MUST try it. It's on Disney+. Again, DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS SHOW. GO TO WATCH IT IMMEDIATELY. I cannot stress this enough.
We watched the original Guardians of the Galaxythe other night. I'm not a movie person but Scott is and when I offer up "Love is Blind?" as a suggestion when he asks what I want to watch, the look I get in return is something else. So he will occasionally find a movie he knows I haven't seen because he knows I don't watch movies. This is how we ended up watching Interstellar a few weeks ago. I like Chris Pratt and it was funny so this worked out okay.
Over the weekend, I made it through all three episodes of the America's Next Top Model Documentary on Netflix. I definitely recommend. The show started in 2003 and I don't think I picked up on it, really, until 2006-2007ish but there must have been 3-4 cycles a year because there were a ton of reruns available by that point. My only takeaway is that Tyra is definitely a villain and the two Jays and Nigel were definitely victimized as much as the contestants in the end.
Also, I am caught up on the first two drops of Love is Blind and it's just not that interesting to me, unfortunately. The men are trash, the women have weird expectations, and I'm no fan of Chris, but the fact that Jessica got divorced during covid because her husband "didn't understand" is a red flag. She was probably really annoying.
Okay, I do enjoy a good Whatever debate with Andrew Wilson. This one was something to behold. She was bragging about her IQ before she started and these comments had me rolling:
1. We finished watching season one of Landman. It's so good. If you've been putting it off, like I have, go find it on Paramount+.
2. I tried to watch the the first episode of season 2 of Severance (Apple TV) last night but man that show is weird. I remember being SO invested at the end of season one but that was TWO years ago so I have no idea what's happening and Scott is convinced he's never seen the show after watching the 2 minute recap (we literally watched it together).
Mark your calendars for the following. I have.
3.The Night Agent comes back next week. I think I'm going to rewatch season one this weekend (Netflix) so this doesn't happen again.
4. And Reacher (Amazon) comes back at the end of February for fans of that. We are fans.
5. The Bachelor starts at the end of January and I've struggled the last few years but I'm going to give it a whirl. I feel like the formula has been disrupted so much lately in recent seasons and the formula is what makes it fun.
Between Landman, Yellowstone, and The Mayor of Kingstown, I'm CONVINCED that Taylor Sheridan is the only one out there making new and original TV these days.
7. Huge weekend for football and then, soon, I'll start falling into my cycle of depression over the fact that football is over for the year and I'll start my countdown to Labor Day weekend.
8. I've read a lot of good books so far this year too. You can find me on Goodreads, as I haven't made the leap to Storygraph yet.
Another mom at the park started telling me her favorite tv shows a few weeks ago.
Have you seen that meme where someone asks you to recommend a book or show or movie and all thoughts just leave your head and you remember nothing that you've even read or watched, let alone liked?
I couldn't remember a single show I'd watched, ever, that was worth recommending.
I know I didn't like the shows she was recommending and I could say that (in my head) because I had seen them all. I just wasn't a fan.
I'm writing this a bit off the cuff here, so these are the first shows that come to mind when I think of bingeworthy series that I cannot get enough of and have seen too many times to count.
The Office. It's more than annoying that Netflix removed it. I ain't subscribing to Peacock. I have the DVDs but nothing is as convenient as turning on this show as background noise. (Shameless link back to the time I met the cast.) Though...it must be said...Pam/Jenna is awful and just listening to some of The Office Ladies podcast was enough to start to ruin the show for me.
Breaking Bad. This is, perhaps, the most brilliant show of all time. It got us through having norovirus on a cruise ship (thank GOD I had packed DVDs and Scott had his laptop). Follow it up with El Camino if you want the full experience.
While feeding a baby way too late at night, back in April.
Better Call Saul. Okay, never mind. This is the most brilliant show of all time. It is a prequel to Breaking Bad. It's a full SIX seasons of prequel material that feeds into 5 seasons of BB without a single misstep. It's the work of an absolute genius. This one got us through the first month of being locked down in Pittsburgh and then a rewatch got me through the few weeks after Sutton was born and during the 6 days we were in the hospital. It was the only background noise I had while I was being given (toxic) doses of magnesium to counteract PPPE and the nurses definitely had a particularly look on their face when they saw what I was watching. (What was I stereotypically supposed to watch? Bravo?)
Anyway, season six just aired on AMC but I bought each episode from Amazon instead of waiting a year for it to come onto Netflix.
Gossip Girl. I absolutely love Gossip Girl. It is such a comfort watch. I watched it all the way through the first time in 2014 and probably 5 or 6 times since. Notably, I rewatched the whole thing when I was like 9+ months pregnant with Wells back in 2018.
Weeds. Again, an absolute comfort watch for me. We got the DVDs one by one from Netflix back in 2012 and watched them on a projector in our loft in Alaska. (Alaska winters are long and boring. I would go to the gym after work, make dinner, and then Scott would come home and we'd watch Weeds.)
Shameless. I watched this all the way through back in 2016, I think. If you can get through the first episode, you can get through more. It was just so good. The first few seasons are the best ones. I'm not caught up on the new seasons on Netflix because I don't care about the characters they're focusing on now.
I went through the subset of modern depression that's only caused when you are out of episodes of something to watch and are helplessly scrolling through the millions of options available to you and still finding nothing to watch...Scott picked this movie. VERY GOOD. We love Carey Mulligan.
I was about 2 weeks old when the Challenger exploded in 1986. I always knew about it and it always kind of hung over me as a thing that happened around the time I was born. This was so incredibly well done. We couldn't stop watching.
I was initially really excited about this. I loved Reese's take on Big Little Lies, even though it was quite different from the book. This started out promising but then it just got kind of weird. While I didn't mind Mia's character at first, it quickly became evident that Kerry Washington was playing one disgruntled note over and over again and she was too different from the Mia in the book. She was so mean to everyone. Literally. She liked no one, and only seemed to care about Pearl because she was "hers".
We watched seasons 1-2 in Colorado and watched seasons 3-4 when Wells was a newborn. I tried to get into season 5 last spring but couldn't do it. We picked it up again two weeks ago and then started season 6. I really enjoy this show. It just pulls you into the detective world. Though, my least favorite character: Maddie.
Admittedly, I knew nothing about Waco so we did some Googling when we watched. I mean, it was fine? I thought things in that compound looked awfully modern for 1993. Also, it was done from *quite* the anti-establishment/government angle. Which, I get that, but I felt nothing but sympathy for the Branch Davidians. While it definitely made its point that they were living their own lifestyle, it didn't really hammer home the fact that it was a CULT and that people and children were being abused. Scott kept reminding me of this every time I started in on how awful the ATF was...Which, I also knew nothing about the ATF prior to this.
I think it created too much empathy for a cult, and I just felt awful by the end and wished I hadn't watched.
Unless you are a modern history buff or have a connection to Texas/Waco, I would skip it.
This was cute and funny. Laugh out loud hilarious, actually. This is Mindy Kaling's project and, if you read her first book years ago, she describes growing up in an Indian family in LA a lot like what happens in this show. She wrote about it in a really funny way too. Angela Kinsey is in this and it's reason #534 why Angela is always better than Jenna Fischer: she's a real actress who plays characters who aren't exactly like her. Jenna always plays a version of herself. Lame. (If you listen to The Office Ladies podcast, you'll get what I'm saying here.)
I just finished this yesterday after initially starting it in January. I listened to the True Crime Obsessed take on it last week and was motivated to finish the 3-episode series.
I have many thoughts but, really, it was just such an interesting story. And I don't know what rock I was living under in 2013, but I had no idea any of this ever happened. It's also possible that, due to my own NFL biases, I heard "New England Patriots..." on the news and automatically tuned out. I've never liked them.
Also, I didn't even know he was dead. Neither did Scott, because I told him this the other day and it was new information for him.
Anyway, I have very strong feelings about kids playing football because of this and the permanent injuries that can be sustained. Though, we could argue that Aaron was the product of terrible, passive-aggressive and abusive parenting, and maybe he was also just a sociopath, considering that it was a pattern of events, not just one murder.
Ugh. I wish I had access to all of season 5. I added the AMC app after we finished season 4 on Netflix but they only had the most recent 5 episodes so there was no point. It's SUCH a good show. Vince Gilligan is a genius. To put together a prequel like this isn't something many would attempt, let alone master.
If you don't like Saul Goodman (we did not in Breaking Bad), just watch anyway. It's not about Saul. It's about Jimmy.
I hear the upcoming season 6 is the last one which makes me sad. I need more BB spinoffs.
I loved the first 2-3 seasons of Homeland. Then...they started killing off all the good characters. Soon, only Carrie was left (or that's what it seems like anyway). Scott is the one who watches and I try to care. In fact, there's one more episode on Hulu in the series and we haven't watched yet because I haven't reminded him that it's there.
This show, as I've said before, will make you feel disgusting but it's really well done. My two former coworkers and I loved it and talked about it often.
Season 10 started taking it to a whole new level with a few particular triggers for me...I won't spoil it. But I knew enough to just not continue with it right now. It's not bad. It's just not for me during this exact time.
If you've read here for awhile, you may know that I love good TV the way some people love music or movies (I don't like music or movies that much, oddly). I'll take all of your TV recommendations!
I meant to post yesterday and that didn't happen. Usually these types of posts are for Fridays, but there's no rules at this point, right?
I plopped this in the middle of the living room, so I do think rules are out the window. And yes, you all have your teepees for toddlers in muted pastels and I grabbed the biggest eyesore of a ball pit that I could. Needs must.
1. The Innocence Files. This is a limited series on Netflix. Enthralling if you like true crime. Scott also watched Outer Banks, which is likely designed for the under-25 crowd as the whole thing looks like it's shot through an IG filter. But he stayed up until 2am watching it...I'm trying not to judge too hard on that one. I didn't watch. I get the feeling it might be like Gossip Girl? Worth the watch? 2. I canceled my subscription to Crime Junkie because I listened to all of the episodes. Then I joined True Crime Obsessed through Patreon. With Crime Junkie, I felt like I was learning a LOT. With TCO, it's more comedy, so I wanted their takes on certain topics and documentaries, and those episodes are on Patreon. The two Making a Murder seasons are giving me life this week. It's worth the $5 just for the Ken Kratz impersonation. Trust me.
3. Speaking of laughing, Scott asked me to "find a funny movie" on Netflix the other night. He was, apparently, a bit depressed after 6 days of The Innocence Files, which has been my go-to in the evenings lately. Coffee and Kareem was FUNNY. I haven't laughed that hard in awhile. It's slapstick-ish, violent, and the language is horrrrrrible. Keep the kids out of the room. But holy cow, it was funny. If you like The Other Guys or the Channing Tatum version of 21 Jump Street, I recommend this.
4. I got an email the other day with an ARC of Lisa Jewell's newest book, Invisible Girl, which doesn't come out until October. That made me incredibly happy, but I haven't started yet. I'm in the middle of This Won't End Well and have a library ebook copy of Tell Me Three Things to read first.
5. Virtual doctor appointments. It's SO EASY. I've done 3 or 4 now, including counselor appointments and I really am having a hard time wrapping my head around ever going into the office again. Especially if you already have a rapport with your doctor and have been there many times.
I don't know about you, but I've found that late winter is when Netflix puts out the best TV. It's like they know we need it. They always know. Lately we've been skipping around from show to show, instead of bingeing full seasons.
But we'll start with HBO...
1. McMillions This is an HBO documentary. I don't quite remember how we ended up with an HBO add-on to Prime? Is that a thing? I just know that Scott and our friend Jeff turned this on last weekend and it was so good. We watched two episodes and would've kept going...but they're released one at a time each Tuesday. Super interesting if you like mystery documentaries!
2. The Pharmacist. This is like Dateline. Again, we're not finished with it, but it's very interesting and it's sad too. I would recommend it, definitely. It's not really being talked about online and I haven't done much in terms of research or looking into the backstory, but I think it's worth a try.
3. Locke and Key I haven't finished this. It's a bit YA but it's good. It's mysterious. It's based on a comic book which is not my genre at all (I can't even appreciate a decent graphic novel...poor future Wells). But it's interesting. I won't say much more. Scott watched the whole first season and I'm about 5 episodes into it.
4. Love is Blind. An absolute cringe-fest. Normally this is not my style, but when something is presented to me on Netflix (as opposed to Hulu or regular cable), I'm likely to at least watch the preview. This interested me but it. is. cringey. Very hard to watch at times. I guess I don't understand why they have to get married. Why can't they just choose someone to date after a week or so in "the experiment"? But this is likely a better method of choosing a spouse than regular dating culture...if you really consider it.
5. The Other Guys. I really think this might be the funniest movie I've ever seen. We saw it in the theater back when we went to the movies every week (can you even imagine?!). I really like Mark Wahlberg in just about anything but this takes it to another level. We laugh so hard.
I bring this up now because it's on Netflix now and you should give it a try if you like funny movies. We've watched it twice in the last week.
+Barre workouts at home. Since I made a big deal about quitting the gym and getting workouts done at home, I figured I should share some of what I'm doing. I started just clicking around on Youtube the other day and came across some different barre workouts.
I did a few over the weekend that I should've bookmarked! Then I did this 25 minute one last night. I broke an actual sweat and had to put shorts on halfway through.
+TV this week...
Cheer. I finally watched this over the weekend and it wasn't at all what I expected. I found it interesting, for sure. I also found that it was the opposite of the competitive cheer documentary I had assumed it would be; there were no stage parents, aside from Gabi's. The kids were mostly in this on their own. Many came from hard childhoods. Morgan and Jerry's stories were really sad.
Also, it seemed like some of these kids had NO skills when it came to college. Like, the most they required of themselves academically was taking an online course, together, in a library, with an adult hovering over them to make sure they did it. At a community college.
They had these coaches/trainers helicoptering over them to make sure they did the basic requirements of life and that, to me, was the sad part. Eating, sleeping, doing laundry (Gabi's parents, especially). Like, just survive, please. I don't quite trust the university system at this point, as there's a lot of preying on 18 year olds when it comes to loans and ideologies. We're not setting up future adults for the success needed to become contributing members of society.
But many, many 18-19 year olds have figured out things without the hovering and hand-holding that was happening here.
Monica runs a tight ship and I liked that part of it. She has high expectations. But she only seemed to have those expectations because she needed those students to compete.
It seemed a little like high school to me.
Schitt's Creek.
I tried to watch a few episodes of this awhile back and there's something about Catherine O'Hara that makes me want to ....not watch anymore. She's so shrill. I just can't. I think this stems back to Beetlejuice being my least favorite movie ever and I just can't watch this without seeing her in that. For some reason, she's easy to ignore in Home Alone.
But Scott had watched season one at some point and said the siblings were funny enough to keep at it. So we started from the beginning. It's definitely hilarious.
Aaron Hernandez documentary.
I only have watched the first two episodes.
I think it's safe to say that Hernandez LITERALLY videotaped himself and his fiancee committing criminal acts using his own security system. Handed that case to the police. Just plain handed it to them.
Also, this was in 2013? I do not remember this happening. At all.
But I do need to finish this limited series this weekend so I can catch up with the rest of the world. Fleabag
We watched both seasons of this two weeks ago. If you like crude British humor, it's for you. It was incredibly depressing in many ways but the storyline was enthralling. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next and where the story would go. (Did I already talk about this show? I feel like I did?)
+I read two books over the weekend. I'll talk about them more come February book link-up time, but both were really great.
I suppose I'll have some Bachelor thoughts tomorrow? I feel like there's not much to say but once you're this far into the canon of useless knowledge, it seems silly to stop now.
The Perfect Date. A cute high school rom-com. We spent the whole movie trying to figure out what role the main actress played in Superbad.
Someone Great.This had everything in it that I'm grateful I never went through. Breaking up with someone after 9 years of dating? Ugh. I kept saying to Scott WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM? and You probably shouldn't be surprised if someone dumps you after 9 years of dating...if they're not willing to marry you by then, something isn't right. I know not everyone wants to get married, but then what are you even doing? Grow up. And I kept thinking that if they'd just gotten married after two years of dating, this plot point wouldn't even be an issue; they'd be committed to each other instead of the insane childish wishy-washy-ness. The more minor parts of the storyline contributed to the bigger problems in society (drinking to solve problems, drugs, passing out randomly in parks, random hookups, etc), but the whole crux of the main relationship was an annoyance to me. It was 30 year olds acting like 18 year olds.
The Last Summer. This was actually closer to American Pie than I wanted it to be. I don't know why we watched it, to be honest. It was pretty dumb. What realllllllly jumped out at me was how the 18 year old was like You have a job, you pay your bills, you're on your own to the 22 year old guy. I would think that most 22 year olds fall into that category. Or they used to. This is going to be the demise of our society, I'm certain: childhood extending to the age of 30.
Chernobyl. One of the most depressing things you'll watch, but very informative and true-to-historical events. In fact, we were really enjoying it until they started killing all the pets (spoiler alert), and then that was it. No more Chernobyl. There were only 6ish(?) episodes anyway.
Dead to Me. Like everyone else in the world, I've also watched it. It's okay. It wasn't mind-blowing but it was fine. I really like Linda Cardellini in just about everything.
The Resident. If you haven't watched this show, it's a great summertime binge-watch. It's the only show I've kept up with week to week. That's saying something. A third season starts in the fall, so that gives you a whole summer to watch the current 46 episodes.
Always Be My Maybe. I think Randall Park is hilarious so I had this on my radar and then I took cold medicine last week and could. not. sleep. (I refuse to take the drowsy/nighttime kind because of the baby). So I asked Scott if I could turn on the TV and he's like fine and right away I was like Yes! A movie I wanted to watch anyway! and he was very surprised that I found something so quickly and then even more surprised when I finished the whole thing at 3am.
(No real spoilers here, but if you wanted to see what happened this week, you've already seen it.) I posted this on Instagram a few weeks ago:
And all of that is true. Characters were all killed. Storylines moved incredibly slowly. I actually had a few of the books but had no desire to even attempt them once I saw the direction the show was going. It would take a whole season for anything to happen! It was being dragged out in an unnecessarily painful way.
So I stopped watching. Probably when we moved to Colorado (season 4?). I remember my brother visiting and watching it all while he was there and I had no idea what was going on because I was just behind and I didn't care. Scott never stopped caring about the show but he was deployed during each spring in Colorado, so he never watched it on schedule and we didn't watch it together. I would never watch it by myself. I always just ask questions the whole time. What I don't like about the show is how much backstory you absolutely have to remember in order for it to make any sense. So it's not even that I'm asking questions because I don't know; I'm trying to clarify my own thinking because this show has been on for-freaking-ever at this point.
Last week, Scott decided he wanted HBO to watch Game of Thrones so he added it to Hulu and we watched the first two episodes and then the third episode with the battle scene the other night. I had every intention of doing Pilates and writing a blog post while it was on, but I couldn't stop watching. Some mentioned that the quality of the darkness/filming was poor simply because this was the epic battle scene and we should've been able to see it clearly. Producers/creators defended this because they wanted it to look realistic and I agree with that. It wasn't that difficult to tell what was happening. It wasn't meant to look like the battle scene in Narnia, for instance. Plus, this was the long-sought "night is coming/winter is coming" moment: it needed to be dark.
I still think the show is highly overrated for what it's become, but there was something about the battle episode that just brought it all together. Literally, all of the factions of people coming together was actually kind of heartwarming. I cannot believe the slowness of some of the episodes that it took to get to that point, and that's why I stopped watching in the first place, but it is what it is, I guess? We spent most of the episode this week analyzing the battle plan and the tactics they had taken. I found this to be interesting. And Scott reminded me of little things like how only Dragon Glass/Valyrian steel and fire can kill white walkers and how Arya was hiding in that library because she'd dropped her Dragon Glass.
He also had to remind me what Bran was doing, why he was doing it, etc. Bran's storyline is definitely a slow one. And Daenerys is still professionally useless, save for the dragons. Also, Jon Snow trying to sneak up on the Night King: I haven't laughed that hard in awhile.
However, the award for Most Useless in general appears to go to Sansa. I don't care enough to dig into what she's been up to for the last few seasons.
Maybe the lesson that we can take from this is that you, too, can skip multiple seasons of the show, have someone remind you of key details during the most climactic scene of the last 8 years, and you can still understand how everything wraps up. I suppose the next thing we'll have to catch up on is Homeland, because that's something else I'll only watch if Scott is around to watch it with me because, again, everyone seems to have died in the last few years and that's usually when I start to lose interest in a show.
I didn't watch. But I also didn't watch any of the movies that were nominated. And I also haven't watched a movie in awhile.
I don't really like movies.
But I found this documentary on Netflix about the 2000s. It is called, appropriately, The 2000s. The first two episodes were all about the T.V. landscape starting in the year 2000.
First, I came across the shows that were a little before my time and I just kind of missed.
The Sopranos, for instance. I know people will go back and watch it now, but it just seems like it's been too long. I don't have an attachment to any actors on the show and I don't have a deep-seeded desire to go that far back in time, to be honest.
Six Feet Under. My old principal recommended this after he and I talked about Dexter, once upon a time. He said how much he liked it and said Michael C. Hall was so great in it. I remember I watched one or two episodes after that and it just didn't pull me in. And, again, I don't know if I'm now willing to go that far back in time.
The Wire. Everyone recommends this. We watched maybe half of season one last year? It wasn't bad at all and I know I could restart or keep going. Again...it's that back-in-time thing. I'm really terrible at getting into shows that started before I was able to understand what they were about.
Shows I saw on the The 2000s that may just be my favorite ever. Breaking Bad. This is just so brilliant. There's nothing else I can say. It's such a story. If you haven't watched, you need to (which is what I know everyone will tell me about The Wire). I think Scott and I could say this is our favorite show, having watched all of it together.
Mad Men. Oh how I loved this. It was beautiful to watch. The last season was an eyeroll, though.
Dexter. They didn't give enough time to discussing True Blood and, as much as I loved that show, it totally jumped the shark at the end. The first 3 seasons were perfection, though. With Dexter, the last season was the actual worst, but the first several seasons were also perfection. They did a comparison of the anti-hero in Dexter, and the anti-hero Nancy Botwin in Weeds. I definitely recommend Weeds.
Friday Night Lights. I don't know that a show has ever made me feel as good as FNL. I didn't watch in real time because I was in college then and had "things to do" in the days before Netflix and DVR. But I binged the entire series more than once in 2014 and again every year after that. It's a wise investment of time. It was taken off of Netflix, but is on Amazon if you have Prime.
And then the next two episodes of The 2000s were about politics. Though, I was reminded of the greatness of George W. Bush.
What am I watching lately?
We just caught up on The Resident and that's kind of a big deal because I haven't held this type of interest in a new show in a long time. I really recommend it if you like not just medical shows but dramatic shows. It's very twisty and I like that.
I thought about going back to catch up on New Amsterdam but the thought pales in comparison to The Resident. The same with A Million Little Things.
Also, I'm watching The Bachelor, but that's more of a hobby I follow along with than a show I'd recommend.
I watched Tidying Up and I have thoughts on that I'll share at a later time.
I started You, quickly lost interest and was reminded of how much I disliked the book, and Scott finished it, completely pulled into the story.
Made this recipe. Definitely addictive. I think this is the third year I've made them. Then I put together another version that was 2 cups of pecans/walnuts, 2 T. brown sugar, 2 T. white sugar, 1 egg white, 1 T. water, and 1 T. pumpkin pie spice. Bake at 275 degrees on a foil-lined pan for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.
Watched the rest of Making a Murderer (season 2). Ugh. It's sickening. Kathleen Zellner is a hero and perhaps the smartest person around. And Laura Nirider too. They are tireless. Have you watched it? What do you think?
Watched season 5 of Younger. It was good, for sure. Afterward, I went back and watched a few of the first episodes. It's really that good if you haven't watched it yet. However, I have a question: not only is Hilary Duff's wardrobe questionable (what was that fur THING she was wearing in season 5?!)..but what is up with her hair? It always looks like the top of her head is dipped in an oil slick. Everyone else's hair looks great, so I'm assuming they just let her do her own. Or something like that. If you go back to season 1, her hair looked great. I don't get it.
Anyway. I just adore Josh.
Started putting up Christmas decorations. Did not finish.
------------------------------------------
I feel like I have a lot to do today? Lately, we've been sleeping in (Wells and I, that is, because he's up half the night) so that throws off naps and anything else I attempt to get done during the day.
I really debated a weekend post yesterday and then decided not to because all I did was watch TV and read and that's not the *most* exciting weekending I can imagine, but it's perfect for me. Scott hunted most of the weekend as duck season is almost over and, you know, wouldn't want to miss a day. But he took the dogs and I'm happy when they get to hunt.
Sometimes a dog needs to borrow a coat.
Over the weekend, we watched Big Little Lies. As in, all 7 hours in two evenings. I was a huge hold-out with this show this on purpose: I read the book almost 4 years ago and I loved it. It's a listening experience that I still remember because it was just so good. It led me to read the rest of Moriarity's books over a couple of years. I will always recommend her writing just because it's good.
I was holding out because: I didn't like that they changed the setting. The book's charm was that it took place somewhere I'd never been, yet was so relatable. The narrator made that book, and the character of Maddy especially, come alive. I could see what was happening. However, in the end, Monterey was a perfect second setting if one had to be picked. The way this miniseries was shot was beautiful and magical to watch with such attention to detail. Sometimes that can make or break a show*....and this made the show come into its own and be different than the book in a good way.
*I can't watch Parenthood because of the way the camera moves constantly. Also, I can't stand Lauren Graham which is why I also can't watch Gilmore Girls (because of the pacing), which leads me to...
Casting.
I was initially insulted that they chose Nicole Kidman to play Celeste. Or, rather, that they allowed her to play Celeste because she was also a producer and I'm guessing threw a lot of money at the project in the same way Reese Witherspoon did.
In the book, I think I remember, Celeste was described as being younger than Maddy and 'the most beautiful person ever' (or something like that). That is not how I would describe Nicole Kidman. She was FAR too old to play Celeste. I'm not saying she's old or she looks haggard or can't act or whatever (even though that Australian accent slipped out many times). I'm saying that she was not Celeste, as Celeste was originally written.
However, in the end, I realized that this is a show based on a book and she did an amazing job of playing Celeste the character on the show and it didn't have to be the exact same Celeste as the book.
Reese was fine.
The reason I really pulled the trigger on watching it (and adding HBO to my Hulu) was because Adam Scott was in it. That was the deciding factor because I will watch him in anything.
Also, Alexander Skarsgard. We kept calling him the vampire. His days as Eric Northman were showing in this.
The 6 year olds were also perfectly cast.
Shailene Woodley usually bothers me greatly for many reasons, but she was also okay in this.
Overall, this was really well put together.
It also may be worth watching for the:
Music.
I didn't expect to like the music because I'm not a music person, but this was, again, SO well put together.
The theme song is a great fit and just really makes me believe that it doesn't need to be a verbatim copy of the book, after all.
I finished Little Fires Everywhere last night. That's right. I came home on a school night and just sat and read a book because I wanted to finish it that badly.
I started it last week, read it in bed while eating cereal on Friday night, and then spilled cereal all over myself (that was a mess). I read in snippets over the weekend, but then I read for 15 minutes yesterday while the students were reading...if I read silently while they read silently, they're better at it so here's to setting a decent example.
And then I was ticked that I had to go out for recess duty and couldn't keep going.
So I finished it at home and I would whole-heartedly recommend it. I don't remember the last time I felt that about a book (Whew..finally).
I won't post straight up spoilers because it was just suspenseful enough to keep me reading, yet predictable enough to not hate parts of the plotline.
Semi-spoilers in red...if you're haven't read it, skip to the bottom...
I thought Elena was awful. She was terrible to Izzy and had some weird complex. I thought Izzy initially had the issues but NO WONDER with a mother like that.
I wish Lexie had told Brian why their relationship ultimately ended.
I was completely on the fence about Miribelle. I wanted the McCulloughs to have her because they did so much for her but I could see the other sad side of the story.
Good for Izzy. Seriously.
I was thinking about how metaphorical that last page was...the parent/child thing really came full circle and I wonder, really, what would've happened after the book.
I could see a sequel, actually.
So, have you watched Big Little Lies? Did you read Little Fires Everywhere?
The question mark is because I don't know if you're interested in my opinions on fall TV or not.
To begin with, I came across an episode of the I Hate Green Beans podcast in which they were talking about fall TV and I was interested in exactly none of the shows mentioned. They were awful returning shows or dumb-seeming new shows. (I do not reserve judgement when it comes to TV-viewing tastes.)
They were interested in Big Bang Theory, DWTS, Grey's Anatomy, This is Us, etc.
While it's an excellent podcast, I found myself frustrated. There's a lot of good TV out there and none of the shows mentioned fall into that category. They also said that they had heard a fall TV preview episode from The Popcast and they weren't familiar with most of the shows so they did their own preview.
I listened to The Popcast one: they talked about a lot of good shows. I was in a lot of agreement with them, actually.
I also decided I'd write my own preview, in case you're more like me.
Note: There are no links because I'm knee-deep in paper-grading. But you have probably heard of all of these anyway.
Also, FAIR WARNING...I am an absolute TV snob. I like what I like and I hate what I hate. Time is precious when you're sitting in front of a screen. No offense is intended. These are just opinions. Also, I'd check out those two podcast recaps I linked to above ^ to get more opinions :)
Shows I'm excited for:
Stranger Things. End of October. Scott and I both liked the first season a lot.
Shameless. This is absolutely written in my planner for November 5th. I would classify this in my top 5 shows ever. I'm invested.
Riverdale. I kind of hate that I like this show so much. I binged the whole first season in two days in May. With season one, the CW released the episodes week by week onto Netflix as they aired. It comes back October 11th.
Shows I'm on the fence with:
Jane the Virgin.I don't know. I hate time jumps. I get the why but how they execute it is not always ideal. I don't think it's as likable as it was that first season but I'll try it again.
Once Upon a Time.All the eyerolls. Jennifer Morrison, Josh Dallas, and Ginnifer Goodwin all left the show. They are trying to time jump to an adult version of Henry. I will watch (I think it's the last season but they may drag this dead animal along for a bit longer...you never know). I do need to finish the last season on Netflix first. I just can't with the Aladdin stuff. Emilie de Ravin and others have also left the show (or been written out), so it seems like an entire re-working of things.
It comes back October 6th, in the Friday night death slot (where shows go to die).
Also, Gareth will be playing adult Henry. Fascinating, right? (google it)
New shows:
Ghosted.I love Adam Scott. Craig Robertson is funny too.
10 Days in the Valley.This is being talked about and maybe it'll be worth it. I prefer drama so I'll try it.
Shows I will not watch:
This is Us. Otherwise known as This is the worst. I tried last year and couldn't do it. I had major FOMO about it so I think I tried twice. Mandy Moore voicing over the previews is the worst. I literally could not care less about this show. I have very strong feelings about trying to convince people they should watch other things instead though.
(You better believe I googled how did jack die? and my answer was that it wasn't even completely resolved in episode one? I think.)
Young Sheldon. The Big Bang Theory came out when I was in college. I don't know why people still watch it. It's not funny once you get past one or two seasons. It's tired. It makes money, I'm convinced, because it comes on after the news and people just forget that their TVs are on, so it gets decent ratings. Why there needs to be a spin-off is something I will never understand.
In my TV snobbery opinion, there are people who watch CBS and there are people who watch decent TV. You can't be both.
Outlander. I wish I liked this. I didn't like the book. I don't find myself drawn to the cast. You know how sometimes you just love/like an actor and will watch anything they're in? That doesn't apply to me here. I can't get into the story.
Grey's Anatomy. How long will this go on? I will say that I was a fan from day one and I watched the pilot in January 2005. I kept up with it for a few years and then it just got old and weird and tired. I think I quit when Katherine Heigl left. Somehow it's still in existence but I don't know why or how. Meredith is the actual worst. Probably the worst female character written in recent years because she's needy and petty and wishy-washy and just overall unnecessary.
What will you be watching this fall?
Whether we have the same taste in TV or not, you should check out the #GreatPumpkinSwap. Because *everyone* loves fall.
