What We're Watching | Entertainment
One of the many things my husband and I have in common is our love of movies and television series. I call them television series because we watch them primarily on the TV and well, I'm fifty nine years old. It remains part of my vernacular like the phrase "I need to tap MAC" when I draw cash with my debit card. That phrase itself is unique to the Northeast, particularly the Philly region. My hubby gave me an odd look the first time he heard it. He's originally from Kansas so he had a learning curve when he relocated to the area. Okay back to what we're currently watching before I drive this train onto another track altogether.
SERIES
NETFLIX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTE5MAGpflw
Last week we binged the Netflix series "The Irregulars" and absolutely loved it! But we're not getting our hopes up for a second season. Why? Because Netflix is notorious for cancelling good series because a premiere season failed to achieve their ridiculously high viewership counts. Fortunately, the season ended in a way that feels final enough if the series doesn't get renewed. It also allows for a possible second season. It's the best case scenario in my humble opinion. We tend to avoid reviews for shows and movies written by the "esteemed critics" because quite frankly we haven't found a critic that wasn't an anal, pompous ass.
BROADCAST CHANNELS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZgrJqXCGUk
Rebel premiered on April 8th. We still haven't had the time to sit down and watch it but we're looking forward to it. Anything that has Katey Sagal in the cast is always worth watching. I was also excited to see that the executive producers are from Grey's Anatomy and Erin Brockovich is also an EP on the series. Hubs has the next few days off from work so we'll be settling in to watch episodes 1 and 2 this week.
We don't watch a lot of broadcast series on the nights they air but The Rookie on ABC and The Equalizer on CBSs are the exceptions. Let's start with The Rookie, which is currently in it's 3rd season and ABC better renew it for more. I know, I know, it's another cop show when society is screaming for cop shows to be cancelled. That's another topic for a blog other than mine. This show blends just enough comedy with drama to keep it entertaining. We love the use of bodycams in the production and the entire cast of the show. While we were unhappy with the loss of a few first season characters, the addition of Mekia Cox to the cast has worked extremely well. Admittedly, I despised her character Nyla Harper at first, but as season 2 progressed and her backstory unfolded she quickly became my second favorite character. This is a show we watch live even though we hate commercials. The Rookie is rocking ABC's 10 pm (EDT) Sunday time slot.
The Equalizer debuted February 7 of this year. The night of Super Bowl LV. We were grumbling about the Chiefs' loss to the Buccaneers and decided to hopefully end our evening in a better mood. Queen Latifah and her new show delivered that better mood. This reboot of the 80s original series is superior in all ways. Believe me, I was a young wife with a military spouse that worked strange shifts. I remember my television series. This is the only other series we watch when it airs. The Equalizer is holding the 8pm (EDT) time slot on CBS Sundays.
Another new series that premiered last week is Law & Order: Organized Crime on NBC. Right now we're recording it to watch when we have time. I'm not completely sold on it even though it centers around Elliot Stabler. Christopher Meloni played Elliot Stabler for years in Law & Order: SVU. With the departure of the character at the end of season 12, my interest in the series began to wane around season 16. I watched the crossover event last Thursday and my feelings are mixed. Perhaps that will change when the new spinoff isn't tied to SVU. Mariska Hargitay has been a staple of the SVU cast and has done a superb job with her character Olivia Benson. In recent seasons the character just comes off as tired and dialogue feels forced. Hargitay says she loves playing the character so I'm chalking it up to the writing. Perhaps one day I'll get around to watching beyond season 16. For now, I'm hopeful that the spinoff with Meloni will be a solid addition to the Law & Order library.
MOVIES
We're movie fans. We love everything about movies: cinematography, score, wardrobe, make-up, behind-the-scenes development etc. We eat sleep breathe movies. If we could afford to chuck it all in and get jobs as cafeteria workers at a studio we'd be packed tomorrow. One of our favorite trips included a tour of Warner Brothers Studios. Our love of movies is apparent when we reveal our movie library. Before we made the switch to digital purchases we owned more than 700 movies on DVD. If felt like we were running a Blockbuster video store with the kids coming over to borrow movies to watch. Our digital library is at 300 movies. A far cry from what we owned on DVD. The difference is that we currently subscribe to a lot of streaming platforms and movie channels. Why buy a favorite movie if it's running on a streaming service?
FFXIV went down to implement patch 5.5 so it was a perfect night to watch movies. Jack Reacher and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back were my picks. I love Jack Reacher novels too. The first movie is solid and we enjoy it a lot. The sequel, as with most sequels, isn't as good. Cobie Smulders joins Tom Cruise in this one. The part of this movie's story that we think should be tossed is EVERYTHING to do with the "possible daughter". It wasn't needed. This movie would have done nicely, better in fact without the teenager. She brought nothing to the film. But we have it in our library because it's not a horrible sequel. We just grit our teeth during the teenager scenes.
Since I kicked it off with two Tom Cruise movies we're going to continue this week with other movies starring Cruise. We recently watched the Mission Impossible series so they won't make the cut. Our picks are
Rain Man
War of the Worlds
Far and Away
Knight and Day
Valkyrie
Top Gun
Next week we're thinking it's time for a Tom Hanks movie marathon. You can never go wrong with Tom Hanks movies.
Happy viewing.
