Television Binge Watching #MFRWAuthor

For two weeks, I participated in MFRW's 52-Week Blog Challenge on Fridays. I was really happy about the 3rd week's topic--bingeing on TV shows. So happy, I wrote my post before realizing I'd already committed to Chrys Fey's "I Survived" Blogfest last Friday. Waste not, want not, as my mother would say. Even though, it's not Friday, here's my post.

TV Shows I Binge On

If you follow my blog, you know I love watching movies and television. Never ask me to name my favorite book, movie, or TV show. I can’t. My favorites change like Michigan weather. Binge watching takes favorites to an extreme. Let me tell you about some shows I’ve binged on.

photo: IMDB

Firefly: science fiction adventure. Long gone, but not forgotten. After watching the movie Serenity, I found a DVD with all fourteen episodes. Watched them all the way through and then over again several times. What’s not to like about Captain Reynolds (Nathan Fillion)?

photo: IMDB

Stargate SG-1: action/adventure. I missed all ten seasons when they were on originally. I’d catch one here and there, but not faithfully until we got Amazon Prime. Binged on all of them, just not all at once. Interesting premise (traveling via a portal to different planets) and a great cast.

photo: IMDB

Farscape: science fiction, action/adventure/romance. Totally missed this series during its four-season run. Besides the sci-fi aspect, I loved the creatures designed by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. The romance started slow and built. I just hated the way the series ended.

The above were shows I binge-watched because they were no longer on. But I have other favs besides science fiction. Here are my current ones. Thank goodness, we’re getting the Ovation Channel now on cable.

photo: IMDB

Murdoch Mysteries (aka The Artful Detective): mystery. My sister gave us the 1st season on DVD for Christmas one year. She is so lucky to live near Detroit because she gets a Canadian channel and watches new episodes as they're released. For ten years, Detective Murdoch, with the Toronto Constabulary, solves crimes in the 1890s using unusual at the time (but commonplace now) scientific methods. Meanwhile, he and Medical Coroner Dr. Julia Ogden danced around each other in a will-they/won’t-they romance. Based on books by Maureen Jennings. Before Ovation came to our cable network, I went to the library and borrowed the DVDs.

photo: IMDB

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries: mystery. Another recommendation from my sister. Phryne Fisher of Melbourne solves mysteries in the late 1920s in this Australian three-season series. Based on the books by Kerry Greenwood. I'd read the first book, Cocaine Blues, first in the series before watching the TV series. Love the period costumes, Phryne’s battles over injustice, and her banter with Detective Jack Robinson. I haven't seen all the episodes but, sheesh, would they just kiss!

photo: Amazon

Father Brown: mysteries on PBS. You might recognize the actor who plays the sleuth-priest in a 1950s English village from Doctor Who (Rory's dad) and Harry Potter (Ron Weasley's dad), Mark Williams. He's accomplishes are a hoot. As I've said with regard to most of my favorite shows, it's the cast that makes the show.

See what I mean about not being able to choose one?

Do you binge watch? What are your favorites?

Post-Holiday Blues

The tree and decorations are put away for another year. The house looks bare, a lot like the world outside. No leaves on the trees, the shrubs dormant, the snow has melted enough to reveal the brown grass and dirt from the construction next door, the sky is Michigan-in-January gray. I really don’t like this time of year.

In November when the gray skies start, we have holidays to look forward to. In January, what? I guess we can look forward to spring. Spring that won’t be here for another three months. Or longer.

What do we do as we wait for spring to arrive? Hide out in our caves. If it were up to me, I would stay indoors . . . and watch movies. Hah. Bet you thought I was going to say write. That, too. I am working on the third book in the Outer Rim series. But I love my movies and television series. Thanks to accidentally getting Amazon Prime (I forgot to discontinue after the free month), we’ve been able to get old television series. Lately, I’ve been OD’ing on Stargate SG-1. (I didn’t know when I started that there were ten seasons. Holy cow!) I’ve had to “bribe” myself into writing in the morning. The reward is watching TV in the afternoon . . . after Hubs drags me to the fitness club.

Oh, yes. We go out in the snow. We grew up driving in this stuff. Not during blizzards, of course. A great benefit to being retired from regular jobs. We don’t have to join the idiots who forget they need to reduce speed in bad weather. But snow-covered roads don’t stop us. Our little cul-de-sac and parking lots present the biggest challenge. Baby steps, I tell myself as I walk from the car to a store or restaurant. I sure don’t need to fall and break my arm or wrist. How would I write? One handed? Yikes. Better to stay in my cave. If only Hubs didn’t get cabin fever.

Just saw this wonderful picture from George Takei. Perfect.

What do you do in the winter? Hibernate or brave the weather and go about your regular routine?