I read somewhere that Thursday is the new Friday. Just in case that’s true, let’s talk about our weekend plans.
There was a brief time between 1997 and 2000 when I worried about solid Friday and Saturday night plans, out of the house, out on the town, likely in uncomfortable shoe choices with an aggressive amount of eye liner. Those days are now few and far between, and with age comes much more expensive, far comfortable shoes. These days I’m very protective of my Friday nights and they usually involve yoga, takeout dinner, popcorn and white wine and television binge… full decompress. According to me, this is a glorious along with cat companionship, buying myself roses, and eating Nutella from a jar until I can’t possibly any longer.
Adulthood. Amen. What a time to be alive.
There are all sorts of ways to finagle quality binge television watching from laptop computer to full HD television. I don’t have traditional cable, but opt instead of the Amazon Fire television box (which I love) souped-up (is that right?) with a Hulu and Netflix subscription. Between all of the shows available and streaming of Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix, I feel like I have everything ever made on my tiny television (hieroglyphs excluded).
โข The X Files Season 1 (1993) โข Let’s go back to the time before we all had the Internet in our pockets and we believed in alien abduction along with Mulder and Scully. If you’re in your early 20’s you might not understand the drama, intrigue, and amazing mystery that occurs when aliens are real in The X Files. I wanted to be an FBI Agent for several years in the mid 1990’s. Obviously. Turns out I make a much better baker. This show was scary and odd and it’s coming back so we need to study up: Find The X Files Season 1 here on Amazon Prime or here on Hulu.
โข Making A Murderer Season 1 (2015) โข This is all (literally) everyone has been talking about for the past month. If you’re familiar with the podcast Serial, you understand the intrigue of the real-life murder mystery. Making a Murderer seems unjust, painful, heart-wrenching, and just…. it’s deeply messed up for everyone involved. And here we are. Is this just ‘highbrow vigilante justice’? This article: Dead Certainty. Find Marking A Murderer here on Netflix.
โข The Missing Season 1 (2014) โข Maybe I binge watch some pretty gnarly stuff. I have yet to mention Amy Poehler or Zooey Deschanel. The Missing is the tragic story of a couple whose young son goes missing while they’re on vacation. The characters are complicated and emotional and I couldn’t stop watching. Find The Missing here on Amazon Prime.
โข Mr. Robot Season 1 (2015) โข is a show about a computer programmer who knows all the codes to all the things, is dark and twisty, with moral dilemmas and take-down-the-man attitude. Also, Mr. Robot looks like my long-lost brother according to Tracy Shutterbean… but I don’t actually have one of those so it’s just a coincidence. Find Mr Robot here on Amazon Prime.
โข I watched The Jinx (2015) on a very long airplane flight and was sufficiently horrified by the time I got off the plane. It’s the life of millionaire Robert Durst and details of some of the mysterious deaths that occurred around him Some people are weirdo, eccentric, lying, murderers. This show was really well done, right!? Good grief. Find The Jinx here on HBOGo.
โข Difficult People Season 1 (2015) โข is SO FUNNY, so pup-culture, and full of so many guilty-laughs. It’s about two aspiring comics in their 30’s in New York City. They’re mean. And funny. Find Difficult People here on Hulu.
โข I’ll watch Olivia Pope save the world on Scandal Season 1 (2012) if only for her outwear choices alone. Shows with strong female leads who solve problems and look amazing and occasionally get kidnapped? I mean… they’re just like us. Find Scandal here on Amazon Prime.
โข Hotwives of Orlando Season 1 (2014) โข This comedy is so ridiculous and so off-the-wall, yet deeply amusing if you’ve seen every episode of every Real Housewives of Everywhere like I have. This isn’t a proud moment for me. I’m just saying. Find Hotwives of Orlando on here on Hulu.
For your snacking consideration:
// Roy Choi’s Furikake Kettlecorn // Hot Tamales // Peanut Butter and Nutella Sandwiches // Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies // Pistachios // Root Beer
Now tell me, please please. What are you watching?
119 Responses
My husband’s birthday/Xmas gift to me was to watch Felicity with me (I was rewatching it). So we did 83 episodes in 1 month. Actually, he was on his phone for 80 of them, because after the 3rd episode he asked, “Do she ever do anything except talk about Ben and Noel?”
Scandal is my favveee! I have been wanting to see Mr. Robot and I am so far really impressed with the new X Files. My husband and I have been binge watching Narcos lately. I can only take a few episodes at a time because most of the events are ones that actually happened and there is a lot of violence. But is a great show and the country of Colombia looks beyond beautiful.
I have never binge-watched anything harder than I did the two seasons of Mozart in the Jungle on Amazon Prime. I adore Gael Garcia Bernal. In more shameful pursuits, I also like to binge-watch the HGTV shows on Netflix… right now I’m on season 2 of Property Brothers. I’m not proud of it, but that’s not going to stop me from watching every season they have available.
Uuuugh that picture had me drooling ????
Sherlock! Duh. Getting caught up. Also the new Downton Abbey. That’s all until I hand my manuscript in and then – binge time. Maybe I’ll get caught up on Suits.
“I’ll have what Phil is having” on Netflix. A little like Anthony Bourdain, but nerdier and more endearing. There are only six episodes, but I’m craving more.
Outlander! ????
I’m watching “Happy Endings” and “The Goldbergs” on Hulu. I also finished Season 1 of “Man Seeking Woman,” and it is bonkers. All are comedies, and highly recommended.
I loved “Hotwives of Orlando.” The reunion was amazing, haha.
Doc Martin and Downton Abbey
I just finished a two-season binge of Outlander. I hadn’t heard of it but saw it was nominated for (and, I think, won) several Golden Globes in the major categories like Best TV Series, Best Actress in a TV Series…I took a chance and paid the add-on price through Amazon Prime to get Starz and it was totally worth it. (True story, please don’t judge: I picked up my daughter from the bus stop unshowered, with a coat over my pajamas, no bra, and five minutes late because I was binge-watching all day. It’s THAT compelling.) My mom said she’d read the book series and liked it, when I told her about it. The acting is first-rate, as are the costumes and the locations. I guess I’m out of the loop because I haven’t heard anyone talking about it and I think it’s up there with Game of Thrones…well, it’s definitely worth watching as we all wait for the new season, anyway.
LOST. I haven’t been able to (emotionally) invest in another drama / hour block show since I wept along to the final episode with my best friend just before we graduated college. I’m re-watching it now from the beginning, and it’s just as addictive and surprising the second time around. There’s a lot buried in earlier episodes that I can now recognize as significant. The storyline is admittedly a love-it-or-hate-it kind of affair, but for me the characters (and that I’m unhealthily attached to almost all of them) were the reason to watch; so much of the show comes down to the value of human connection. And the magnetism of Josh Holloway’s furrowed brow…
Re. Scandal. I expect more popcorn recipes to pair with red wine here on the blog imminently!
Fortitude is my new fave. Mozart in the Jungle is great. Luther is also great.
We (me and my daughter) have been loving ‘Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries’ – it’s worth watching just for the 1920’s fashion. But also nice to have a show about an unconventional forty-something heroin plus the acting is great.
I just watched Season 1 of the X-Files again after I finished The Fall (if you haven’t done that one, you must. It’s Gillian Anderson being totally boss and it’s on Netflix, although it becomes a little unsettling because the serial killer is seriously hot) and am flirting with Making a Murderer – for some reason I’m resistant. Haven’t done The Jinx yet either. I really enjoyed Narcos on Netflix, though again I had a strange attraction to Pablo Escobar. I’m taking the whole Bad Boy thing up a notch I guess…
Peaky Blinders – about a family of brothers who threaten, fistfight and occasionally dynamite their way to the top of organized crime in post-WWI England. They’re called peaky blinders because they keep razor blades in the bills of their hats and use them against their opponents (supposedly – I don’t think that ever really happened on the show).
Frankie and Grace – with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as newly divorced seniors whose law-partner husbands have recently admitted to a decades-old homosexual affair with each other.
Bloodline – with that hunky guy from Homefront a long long time ago. A story of family secrets set in the Florida Keys.
The White Queen – based on a Phillipa Gregory novel, so characters are dressed in cool period dress, until they’re not.
Fargo – Each season is different, but connected. Similar to the original film in terms of mood and crazy criminal goings-on.
True Detective, Season One, only Season One.
Better Call Saul – just getting good after one season. Waiting on season two.
Silicon Valley – nerd laughs, a lot of them.
There are more, but that seems like enough to admit to :) I watch a lot of TV. My husband says I would die of grief over the loss of my shows in a Zombie apocalypse. Seems like the better way to go :)
Recently purchased all of the X files dvds and have been binge watching before the new season! Currently in season 4, with many a shoulder pad and brick sized mobile phone
About making a murderer I started to watch and what was with the cat part? From one cat lover to another I had to stop watching immediately because I thought I would hate the guy regardless and think he deserves jail. Am I being too extreme? Should I continue watching?
Daredevil and Jessica Jones on Netflix are great. You HAVE to watch Mozart in the Jungle on Amazon. Season 1 and 2 each episode just gets better and better. I was so glad it won an award. SO GOOD!
Just finished binge watching all seasons of The Good Wife; I do love that show. Working on Parenthood now. I miss the Bravermans!
Just love The Blacklist right now!
OMG Scandal has taken over our evenings. We are just about done every episode Netflix has to offer and I’m a little antsy wondering when I will be able to get my next “fix”.
Catastrophe is brillant. Plus just binged on 3 seasons of Vikings on Amazon prime (season 4 next month) – kind of a game of thrones vibe. And of course I love game of thrones. Parks and recreation and Jimmy Schmidt are hilarious too. I really want to try making a murderer! So much tv!!!!
I was sick all last week and starting watching Twin Peaks!! So weird and crazy. I’m loving it!!
Definitely Orphan Black. Tatiana Maslany is so amazing I often forget that I’m watching one actress play multiple characters.
Was smitten with Friday Night Lights- yes Riggens is the man. Bawled my eyes out for the Bravermans on Parenthood. Now getting my Chicago Fire on- you’d like it, I mean, firemen in uniform….right.