Hard to believe we’re getting to the end of summer. I mean, it’s almost Labor Day! Can you believe it? The chill is apparent in the air in the early mornings and evenings, it’s inching toward darkness a bit earlier every day and school has already started in some places. I don’t know about you, but despite looming deadlines for some of us, I think we have to take advantage of the final lazy days of summer to do a little TV watching–or bingeing, as the case may be. So Wickeds, what have you been bingeing? Anything on tap for the long weekend?
Edith: Once again, my credentials as a cultural desert come back to haunt me. No Netflix
bingeing up here north of Boston. What I am doing is as much reading as I can, preferably on a beach. I have Netflix binged in the past, though. I was a little slow to catch on to Downton Abbey, and had to catch up quick on the first two seasons once I realized what a great show it was. This end of summer? Just trying to binge on sun-warmed tomatoes, gin & tonics, a great mystery, and warm sand between my toes.
Sherry: I confess I’m not much of a binge watcher. I seem to get bored after a couple of episodes of anything. I don’t binge read either. However, Bob and I do like the Bosch series on Amazon Prime and did watch three episodes of it in a row once. I keep meaning to watch The Crown on Netflix, but haven’t gotten to it yet.
Liz: I try to stay off TV as much as possible, but I did get sucked into The Fall – a Netflix original starring Gillian Anderson. It’s about a super creepy serial killer and she’s the head cop. It takes place in northern Ireland and it’s really good! One of those shows that will keep you up at night…
Julie: Welp, looks like I am going to be picking up the TV watching crown in this group. I LOVE binge watching shows. I get Acorn TV, so I watched Mr. & Mrs. Murder and The Brokenwood Mysteries. When I write I like to have the TV on, but only with shows I’ve seen so I don’t get sucked in. So, Midsomer Murders has been on this summer. With 19 seasons, I forget a lot of them. I am watching The Defenders this week (love Marvel series), and watched Supergirl earlier this summer with the nieces.
Barb: I love binge watching, too, Julie. Bill and I started doing it before it had a name many, many years ago when PBS ran episodes of Prime Suspect back to back. We kept saying, “Just one more, just one more.” The bingers lament. For years we watched 24 hours of 24 every New Years weekend. Here in Boothbay we have been doing a major project sorting Bill’s late mother’s saved photos, cards, letters, her kids’ juvenilia, etc., for the various members of the family. Watching TV is a boredom reliever for this massive task. Since we don’t have cable here, binge watching on Amazon and Netflix has been the solution. So far this summer, Bosch, Orphan Black, Orange is the New Black, Ozark and Broadchurch.
Readers: what do you like to binge-watch?
I don’t like bingeing (except Netflix originals) but sometimes it’s the best way to catch up on shows (I just finished season 1 of “Lethal Weapon”). Netflix may be the only way to legally watch “The Fall” in the US and perhaps it contributes to production costs but I don’t think it’s really a Netflix original. It’s a BBC show and airs on BBC in the UK and Bravo in Canada months before it airs on Netflix US. That typed, it is a great show.
I started to watch THE FALL, but it is pretty dark. I will likely go back to it. I love Acorn to help me catch up with what I’ve missed re Canadian, UK, Australian, New Zealand shows.
Lethal Weapon is on Netflix???? Oh! I love that series and missed the first few episodes. Anyhow, I have binged on Longmire, both the TV series and the books. And I’ll happily binge on Leverage anytime I have a free Sunday afternoon.
I must have a thing for series beginning with the letter “L.”
Lethal Weapon starts on Netflix Canada on Sept. 21. (Can’t help you with Netflix US). I recorded it because I didn’t have time to watch it when it was on. I only watched a couple of seasons of “Leverage”. I need to catch up.
I haven’t watched LETHAL WEAPON. Sounds like I need to remedy that!
You do. It’s a bit uneven at times, but when it is “on,” it is wonderful! (And I’ve just saved you reading my longer review which will be up in a couple of weeks when the DVD set hits shelves.)
I love Lethal Weapon too!
Hmm. I stayed away because I was afraid. Maybe I need to put that on my list.
Not for years have I binged, but when I did it was British Comedies on PBS.
My family loved ARE YOU BEING SERVED and FAWLTY TOWERS.
I’ll be bingeing with the DVDs of season 10 od Murdock Mysteries shortly, as a reward for meeting various deadlines. I like having my own copies of series I like (mostly mystery and SF) and have been known to re-binge. Doesn’t hurt that watching the mysteries qualifies as “research” either.
I love that series! I watch it on Acorn.
Sherry, “The Crown” is excellet. Julie, we watched all of “The Defenders” in a weekend – we didn’t even try and pretend to space them out. We were able to do that the first time “Longmire” was on Netflix, but after that?
I think we’ve binged on all Netflix Marvel shows (“Jessica Jones,” “Daredevil,” etc.).
Like Annette, I’ll happily bing-watch “Leverage.” When I had Amazon Prime I binge-watched “Lewis.” Most of this happens on the weekends or if I’m sick.
I like the Marvel series too, though I didn’t see IRON FIST. Trying to hold out on the last two DEFENDERS until my brother-in-law catches up. He gives me great background on the characters.
I haven’t binge-watched anything (unless you count Law and Order and its clones, which seem to be available on one or another network at any time of the day). The closest we come at our house is Midsomer Murders on Netflix. We’re watching the seasons in order, and I think we’re up to Season 3 out of twenty. But only one at a time. Where do you all find the time to watch hour upon hour of anything?
Sheila, for me old reruns are less watching, more company while I write. Some folks like silence, others like music. I like TV humming in the background.
I’ve been watching Midsomer Murders on Netflix, too.
I binge-watched The Fall. Once is enough, thank you very much. I’ve watched all the Midsomer Murders more than once and Inspector Lewis. Now I’m working my way through Vera. I love that show! Vera is a real woman, about my age, with a no-nonsense attitude. She would have been the high school teacher most loved and feared at the same time with that scary old-lady ability to see right through you. I’m so looking forward to honoring Brenda Blethyn (as well as Louise Penny) at next year’s Malice.
Definitely Vera! Ann Cleeves, her creator, will be interviewing Louise Penny at Bouchercon this fall. In the NYT interview this past week, Louise Penny said that Ann Cleeves is one of her favorite authors.
I’m enjoying VERA as well! What a great series!
I’m with Edith. Cherish the sunny days and absorb those wonderful days by walking and beaching and picnics and barbecues. Save the tv for when its raining outside!
I’m not a binge watcher. The only show I binge is Frankie and Grace or is it Grace and Frankie.
I can never remember either. But it’s “Grace and Frankie”. That’s an easy one to binge since the episodes are only about a half hour.
I haven’t watched the newest season, but when I do I binge.
So define binge watch. Because I will watch a season of a show on DVD at a time (usually with the idea to review it), but I generally watch one, maybe two episodes per day. At that rate, it takes me a few weeks to get through a season. Then I switch to a season of something different. Does that count? I’m like Sherry – too many episodes in a row and I get bored.
Oh, and I don’t have Netflix. I am so busy trying to keep up with my cable shows, it would be a waste of money.
I know plenty of people who binged a season at a time of 24. I couldn’t do that. When they had their two night/four hour premiers, I’d wind up watching all four hours at one time (biggest binge I’ve ever done), and I was so hyped up on adrenaline after that I could hardly sleep. Of course, just a regular hour of that show would be enough to keep me from sleeping right away. If I wasn’t done with that show by 10PM, I was out of luck.
Last fall, when I finally started watching This is Us, I watched all the available episodes in a week. I think there were 8.
This summer, I’ve watched the first season sets of Murder, She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, and The Father Dowling Mysteries. Right now, I’m working on the final season of Newhart.
And earlier this month, I decided to give The Good Place a chance via On Demand. It took me a couple of episodes to get into it, but I loved it. I disagree with it on a theological basis, but accepting it for what it is, I definitely enjoyed it and can’t wait to see what they do with the show this season.
I really enjoyed THE GOOD PLACE as well, and look forward to seeing what they do with it this season. I’d been told to give it a couple of episodes, and glad I did.
As part of your reviewing world, you look at this with a different lens, certainly. I haven’t watched THIS IS US. Hearing folks cry while watching it. I had a hard enough time watching the last episode of THE FLASH.
Yes, you cry while watching This is Us. That was one reason I wasn’t planning to watch it. But it is a good cry. You’ll just have to trust me. It’s not because life is hard. It’s because the characters are good to each other (eventually, after some drama).
I am definitely a binge watcher–but I do it while I am making dinner or doing dishes afterward (I have a tablet computer that is set up on a shelf right over my sink). I rarely have time to dedicate to the tube/Netflix unless I am multitasking. I love Grace and Frankie, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Miss Fisher’s Mysteries (please, please, please hurry up with the movie!), Downton Abbey, Poldark (even though I am extremely angry with Ross right now and I’m not sure I’ll get over it), and Longmire. I also binged A Series of Unfortunate Events (which I loved because I read these with my son when he was little) and The Great British Baking Show. Thanks for the great recommendations, everyone!
I have got to watch Grace and Frankie!
I love Grace and Frankie and I’m saving the ones I haven’t seen for when I really need them. Adore Longmire–but that’s one I have to watch and pay attention to because it’s carefully paced and subtle, and if I tried to multi-task during it I’d miss too much. Same with the Great British Baking Show (I see the new version, minus Mary, is debuting this week locally)–if I missed one step I’d be doomed. She did what to the which? For how long?
I’m a big binger. The best one I’ve binged recently was Loch Ness on Acorn – moody, atmospheric, twisted.
Oh, that sounds good!
I’m with Edith: too many books awaiting read-and-review (and not enough data to stream). I may even finally listen to the first audio book I have to review while attempting to catch up on the LONG over-due housekeeping.
Reading is so much more important than housekeeping!
Midsommer murders and NCIS.
I love NCIS!
I enjoyed The Medicis about Florence, Italy and Marco Polo, which are Netflix originals. I just watched “The Promise” and The Founder.” The Founder about how McDonalds came to be was really interesting. Too bad it takes Netflix so long to upload the latest Season for different shows. There is a good Spanish show called, “Velvet.” (Hope I remembered the name correctly.) https://brilliantviewpoint.com/2017/09/04/movie-review-the-founder-story-about-mcdonalds-on-netflix/