When it comes to tv and series viewing, regardless if it something like Devs and Better Call Saul, those end up on my PVR and watched that night or a few nights later.
For shows on Netflix such as Kingdom, I tend to avoid binge watching and take in one episode every other day or even one a week depending on how busy I am.
The only show I’m currently stacking up on my PVR are episodes of Rick and Morty. I was very late coming into this one, so I’m trying to get as many eps as possible and catch up to the current season (which is what hooked me in the first place). Still, I’m only getting in one R&M episode whenever I do watch.
I don't watch anything when it airs. In fact, I've shifted so much of what I watch, combined with the fact that most of the good shows are all written 'for the season' so to speak that I binge just about everything. So much so that there are several things I'm behind on. Which speaks to your other point about juggling things in your head. A few years ago, before I started binging everything, I was trying to watch them as they aired and my brain could not keep up on the week-to-week shows. I would forget about whole story-lines. It's just easier for me to binge. :)
I say this in all jest, and good humor. As long as it’s taking you to write your Star Wars piece, and how much bigger you say it’s getting, I really hope you’re not becoming George RR Martin finishing his Song of Ice and Fire books! :-D
You know eventually Toshi's going to start adapting my review into his own piece about my review, and then he'll finish his before mine. Damn it! I am George RR Martin! How did THAT happen?!
I don't have cable or a stream-live service right now, so all that I watch is time-shifted. Monday mornings for me mean, "The Rookie." I almost never go in for procedurals (I never watched Castle regardless of how much I love Fillion) except in a few cases (the first five or so seasons of Bones were a delight; it fell-apart long before the end, though), but I really like this show. I like how it evolves, I enjoy the cast, which outside of Fillion and Richard T. Jones I had no familiarity with, I like the guest stars, I like the stories, and of course, I like Nathan Fillion.
Thursday morning means The Goldbergs (which is still good, even though it's limping a bit... the editing has gotten kinda crazy, like, weaving together the A & B plots when there's no way they could be happening at the same time of day or even on the same day) and Schooled (it's still not really working, but Bryan Callan and Tim Meadows make a great comedy team, so I'm in it to win it).
Finishing my week, Friday morning means the other police show on which my crush is huge: Brooklyn Nine Nine. I hope that show never ends, though Mike Schur shows always seem to come with an expiration date so they don't overstay their welcome.
What I miss on TV right now (and radio) is baseball. God I miss baseball. It's the ultimate "throw it on in the background while I'm doing other things," programming on television. It's even better than L&O reruns for that, if you can believe it. Also, for the couple of great games a month my Braves would play, it's 4 hours of turning off my brain and enjoying a piece of my childhood as I approach 40. I will say though, I miss the days of Maddux, Glavine, and the 2.5 hour game. These 4 hour games are a bit much.
Picard was a wonderful diversion. I blew through Harley Quinn in a day. It's kinda weird, but I haven't watched any of the newer releases of movies I love that I just bought. They're sitting there begging to be watched, but I'm not watching. Big Trouble in Little China and RoboCop. Sometimes I get like that with movies. If I don't think I can give it the full attention it deserves for 2 hours or more, I'd rather just watch another episode of Seinfeld while perusing the Interwebs.
I think, more than anything, the last month in captivity has shortened my attention span considerably, and I hope I'm able to reverse those effects when the shelter at home orders are lifted.
"Do you guys watch your TV when it airs or do you time-shift everything these days? "
TiVo saved our sanity when we had TWINS. If nobody's told you: having twins is 3-4x the work of a single baby for the first N months (for us it was 9 <= N <= 18, depending on the subcategory) and then it gets down to normal as, or even better than, a single baby. But those first N months, you WILL be interrupted by something: whether you forgot something due to addled-twin-parent-brain, or one of your precious young babies starts crying, or Just Won't Sleep. TiVo was new-ish technology... but not new enough where it had serious bugs. It Just Worked (TM), and watching-later, instantly-pausing, and even recording a show's run to watch it all at once (esp. useful for then-new "24") were wonders of the new century that served us well.
We've never broken that habit, and except for live sporting events, occasionally SNL, and "very special episodes" (e.g. series finales, like the recent ones of The Good Place and Schitt's Creek) we do not watch live TV. Even live, we breathe easier knowing that if we start 5mins late we only miss some commercials.
AFTERWARD: If you meet a parent of twins younger than age one: DO NOT SAY ANY OF THESE ACTUALLY-FALSE STATEMENTS:
- "Oooh, double trouble!"
- "Are they identical?!?"
- "Guess what, it only gets harder when they get older."
DO SAY:
- "It gets better once they hit toddlerhood. I had a twin parent tell me that."
I had no clue you were a Survivor fan, Drew. What are your feelings on Winners At War so far?
I personally hit a wall with media at some point. There's shows that I simply stopped watching due to this ever expanding Golden Age of TV we are in. I haven't seen The Blacklist or Blindspots or How To Get Away With Murder for a while now simply because it fell by the wayside. It depends on the show for me if I will binge something through or watch episode by episode. If it's on Hulu weekly, I'll just watch each episode.
For something like Survivor, I picked up CBS All Access so my wife and I can watch live (recently cut the cord!) Because it's such a big show in my house that we HAVE TO HAVE it weekly. We also used to pick up HBO every GoT season then drop it after. So it just depends
Solid season so far. I thought the Tribal where they got Sandra out was crazy, and so far, the Tribals have been the highlights of the season. Not sure who I want to win at this point. Can Boston Rob still sneak back in somehow? :)
I adore The Goodbye Girl and have seen it countless times over the years. Dreyfuss’ laugh is like a drug. Such a bottomlessly charming showcase for all three of the leads.
The wife and I recently did 2 Neil Simon plays together over the course of a year (we do a lot of community theatre, it's actually how we met) so we decided to watch The Goodbye Girl not long ago as research for potentially doing that show on stage. I hadn't see it in a long time, but it was a movie I watched all the time as a kid for some reason (I'm 47, so this would have been circa 1983-84). We had a Betamax copy, and I suppose because I was such a Jaws and Close Encounters fan, I liked watching Dreyfuss do his thing. The rewatch reminded me of just how great he was in the role, and what great chemistry he had with Marsha Mason. Sadly, the new state of the world has put the possibility of performing the play on hold for the foreseeable future, but it was good to see the film again. Strangely, The Goodbye Girl always reminds me of the Sally Field/Jeff Bridges/James Caan movie "Kiss Me Goodbye" which I also watched a lot on Betamax as a kid. I don't remember the last time I saw that one, I remember it being talked about on 80s All Over, but I doubt it holds up as well as Neil Simon.
I also believe we can only juggle so many series mentally at one time. When I look at my DVR, I haven't touched THIS IS US, SURVIVOR, IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY, THE NEW POPE & a few other series that I normally would watch. For me, right now, it's all about BETTER CALL SAUL & BETTER THINGS. We're struggling with season 3 of WESTWORLD. I'm 7 eps in and I have no idea what the story even is this season and I'm at that point where I'm getting close to pulling the plug on it. Now that CURB & SCHITT'S CREEK are done, we can move into some other shows. We watch that not project runway thing on Amazon Prime (Making the Cut?) because that's fast food for us. It's like HGTV. You get tremendous satisfaction from the predictability of the structure of those shows and how they finish a project by the end of the episode. I had a discussion with a Tony award-winning set designer one day and we both were going on and on about how we can watch hours upon hours of HGTV and never leave the house. We figured out as people who create things, we just enjoy seeing someone finish a task in the confines of an episode. There's a satisfaction in that.
We're also balancing our desire to watch shows with watching news at night right now. We get good at breaking that cold turkey and next thing you know we're caught in a Maddow/Brian Williams loop with a dash of CNN. I really want to stop that.
I also run into the thing that I can't start a new series without my wife because then it throws everything off. If I'm 5 episodes into something she hasn't started then I can't watch it during the hours we're together in the family room. It's an interesting thing how we share media when you live with someone. And yes, we have other TV's and rooms in our houses, but we also like to sit together at night. It's more important to me to spend time with her than binge something by myself.
I also am just saddened by how little I am retaining these days of films I saw decades ago. The great thing about the Criterion Streaming is I'm rediscovering films I had seen in my 20's when I had to see everything -- I think I binged film in my early 20's the way people binge Netflix so I didn't really absorb the films I was watching then. But there's nothing more disconcerting than watching a movie or a show and not remembering what happened last week. I find with WESTWORLD I have no f'ing clue where the story left off the week before. This saddens me because in season 2 they had that one standout episode about the Native American robot that was one of the best hours of TV last year. Nothing in this season has approached that.
I'm leaning toward film more during this lockdown or whatever we're calling it. I'm finding that film structure is far more appealing to me right now than getting into a series with dozens upon dozens of episodes. I think I just want a well-told story with an end instead of something that is being strung along whether they have enough story to tell or not.
I rewatched all the Kurosawa, Fellini content. I went on a Burt Lancaster binge -- Jesus was he a sweaty toothed madman -- was he the original uncomfortable leading man before Nicholson? I never feel safe in a scene with Lancaster.
I'm also finding myself looking for 90-minute movies. I watched TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID on Shudder the other day because it was 82 minutes and I loved it. I think I'm really drawn to stuff that tells a whole story efficiently in this current mental state.
Great piece on Lawrence. Probably my favourite film. I’ve worked as an artist/photographer, so on a purely aesthetic level I am spellbound with appreciation by what they captured visually. It’s also the piece of cinema I was most excited to see projected on my first full HD home cinema setup after I ordered and installed a 10 foot screen. Dream come true.
When it comes to tv and series viewing, regardless if it something like Devs and Better Call Saul, those end up on my PVR and watched that night or a few nights later.
For shows on Netflix such as Kingdom, I tend to avoid binge watching and take in one episode every other day or even one a week depending on how busy I am.
The only show I’m currently stacking up on my PVR are episodes of Rick and Morty. I was very late coming into this one, so I’m trying to get as many eps as possible and catch up to the current season (which is what hooked me in the first place). Still, I’m only getting in one R&M episode whenever I do watch.
I don't watch anything when it airs. In fact, I've shifted so much of what I watch, combined with the fact that most of the good shows are all written 'for the season' so to speak that I binge just about everything. So much so that there are several things I'm behind on. Which speaks to your other point about juggling things in your head. A few years ago, before I started binging everything, I was trying to watch them as they aired and my brain could not keep up on the week-to-week shows. I would forget about whole story-lines. It's just easier for me to binge. :)
I say this in all jest, and good humor. As long as it’s taking you to write your Star Wars piece, and how much bigger you say it’s getting, I really hope you’re not becoming George RR Martin finishing his Song of Ice and Fire books! :-D
You know eventually Toshi's going to start adapting my review into his own piece about my review, and then he'll finish his before mine. Damn it! I am George RR Martin! How did THAT happen?!
I don't have cable or a stream-live service right now, so all that I watch is time-shifted. Monday mornings for me mean, "The Rookie." I almost never go in for procedurals (I never watched Castle regardless of how much I love Fillion) except in a few cases (the first five or so seasons of Bones were a delight; it fell-apart long before the end, though), but I really like this show. I like how it evolves, I enjoy the cast, which outside of Fillion and Richard T. Jones I had no familiarity with, I like the guest stars, I like the stories, and of course, I like Nathan Fillion.
Thursday morning means The Goldbergs (which is still good, even though it's limping a bit... the editing has gotten kinda crazy, like, weaving together the A & B plots when there's no way they could be happening at the same time of day or even on the same day) and Schooled (it's still not really working, but Bryan Callan and Tim Meadows make a great comedy team, so I'm in it to win it).
Finishing my week, Friday morning means the other police show on which my crush is huge: Brooklyn Nine Nine. I hope that show never ends, though Mike Schur shows always seem to come with an expiration date so they don't overstay their welcome.
What I miss on TV right now (and radio) is baseball. God I miss baseball. It's the ultimate "throw it on in the background while I'm doing other things," programming on television. It's even better than L&O reruns for that, if you can believe it. Also, for the couple of great games a month my Braves would play, it's 4 hours of turning off my brain and enjoying a piece of my childhood as I approach 40. I will say though, I miss the days of Maddux, Glavine, and the 2.5 hour game. These 4 hour games are a bit much.
Picard was a wonderful diversion. I blew through Harley Quinn in a day. It's kinda weird, but I haven't watched any of the newer releases of movies I love that I just bought. They're sitting there begging to be watched, but I'm not watching. Big Trouble in Little China and RoboCop. Sometimes I get like that with movies. If I don't think I can give it the full attention it deserves for 2 hours or more, I'd rather just watch another episode of Seinfeld while perusing the Interwebs.
I think, more than anything, the last month in captivity has shortened my attention span considerably, and I hope I'm able to reverse those effects when the shelter at home orders are lifted.
"Do you guys watch your TV when it airs or do you time-shift everything these days? "
TiVo saved our sanity when we had TWINS. If nobody's told you: having twins is 3-4x the work of a single baby for the first N months (for us it was 9 <= N <= 18, depending on the subcategory) and then it gets down to normal as, or even better than, a single baby. But those first N months, you WILL be interrupted by something: whether you forgot something due to addled-twin-parent-brain, or one of your precious young babies starts crying, or Just Won't Sleep. TiVo was new-ish technology... but not new enough where it had serious bugs. It Just Worked (TM), and watching-later, instantly-pausing, and even recording a show's run to watch it all at once (esp. useful for then-new "24") were wonders of the new century that served us well.
We've never broken that habit, and except for live sporting events, occasionally SNL, and "very special episodes" (e.g. series finales, like the recent ones of The Good Place and Schitt's Creek) we do not watch live TV. Even live, we breathe easier knowing that if we start 5mins late we only miss some commercials.
AFTERWARD: If you meet a parent of twins younger than age one: DO NOT SAY ANY OF THESE ACTUALLY-FALSE STATEMENTS:
- "Oooh, double trouble!"
- "Are they identical?!?"
- "Guess what, it only gets harder when they get older."
DO SAY:
- "It gets better once they hit toddlerhood. I had a twin parent tell me that."
- "You {,guys} are SO lucky." (without sarcasm)
I had no clue you were a Survivor fan, Drew. What are your feelings on Winners At War so far?
I personally hit a wall with media at some point. There's shows that I simply stopped watching due to this ever expanding Golden Age of TV we are in. I haven't seen The Blacklist or Blindspots or How To Get Away With Murder for a while now simply because it fell by the wayside. It depends on the show for me if I will binge something through or watch episode by episode. If it's on Hulu weekly, I'll just watch each episode.
For something like Survivor, I picked up CBS All Access so my wife and I can watch live (recently cut the cord!) Because it's such a big show in my house that we HAVE TO HAVE it weekly. We also used to pick up HBO every GoT season then drop it after. So it just depends
Solid season so far. I thought the Tribal where they got Sandra out was crazy, and so far, the Tribals have been the highlights of the season. Not sure who I want to win at this point. Can Boston Rob still sneak back in somehow? :)
There's always the last EoE challenge for him to sneak back in. But I gotta say, I hope it's Ethan who becomes the final EoE returnee
I adore The Goodbye Girl and have seen it countless times over the years. Dreyfuss’ laugh is like a drug. Such a bottomlessly charming showcase for all three of the leads.
The wife and I recently did 2 Neil Simon plays together over the course of a year (we do a lot of community theatre, it's actually how we met) so we decided to watch The Goodbye Girl not long ago as research for potentially doing that show on stage. I hadn't see it in a long time, but it was a movie I watched all the time as a kid for some reason (I'm 47, so this would have been circa 1983-84). We had a Betamax copy, and I suppose because I was such a Jaws and Close Encounters fan, I liked watching Dreyfuss do his thing. The rewatch reminded me of just how great he was in the role, and what great chemistry he had with Marsha Mason. Sadly, the new state of the world has put the possibility of performing the play on hold for the foreseeable future, but it was good to see the film again. Strangely, The Goodbye Girl always reminds me of the Sally Field/Jeff Bridges/James Caan movie "Kiss Me Goodbye" which I also watched a lot on Betamax as a kid. I don't remember the last time I saw that one, I remember it being talked about on 80s All Over, but I doubt it holds up as well as Neil Simon.
I also believe we can only juggle so many series mentally at one time. When I look at my DVR, I haven't touched THIS IS US, SURVIVOR, IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY, THE NEW POPE & a few other series that I normally would watch. For me, right now, it's all about BETTER CALL SAUL & BETTER THINGS. We're struggling with season 3 of WESTWORLD. I'm 7 eps in and I have no idea what the story even is this season and I'm at that point where I'm getting close to pulling the plug on it. Now that CURB & SCHITT'S CREEK are done, we can move into some other shows. We watch that not project runway thing on Amazon Prime (Making the Cut?) because that's fast food for us. It's like HGTV. You get tremendous satisfaction from the predictability of the structure of those shows and how they finish a project by the end of the episode. I had a discussion with a Tony award-winning set designer one day and we both were going on and on about how we can watch hours upon hours of HGTV and never leave the house. We figured out as people who create things, we just enjoy seeing someone finish a task in the confines of an episode. There's a satisfaction in that.
We're also balancing our desire to watch shows with watching news at night right now. We get good at breaking that cold turkey and next thing you know we're caught in a Maddow/Brian Williams loop with a dash of CNN. I really want to stop that.
I also run into the thing that I can't start a new series without my wife because then it throws everything off. If I'm 5 episodes into something she hasn't started then I can't watch it during the hours we're together in the family room. It's an interesting thing how we share media when you live with someone. And yes, we have other TV's and rooms in our houses, but we also like to sit together at night. It's more important to me to spend time with her than binge something by myself.
I also am just saddened by how little I am retaining these days of films I saw decades ago. The great thing about the Criterion Streaming is I'm rediscovering films I had seen in my 20's when I had to see everything -- I think I binged film in my early 20's the way people binge Netflix so I didn't really absorb the films I was watching then. But there's nothing more disconcerting than watching a movie or a show and not remembering what happened last week. I find with WESTWORLD I have no f'ing clue where the story left off the week before. This saddens me because in season 2 they had that one standout episode about the Native American robot that was one of the best hours of TV last year. Nothing in this season has approached that.
I'm leaning toward film more during this lockdown or whatever we're calling it. I'm finding that film structure is far more appealing to me right now than getting into a series with dozens upon dozens of episodes. I think I just want a well-told story with an end instead of something that is being strung along whether they have enough story to tell or not.
I rewatched all the Kurosawa, Fellini content. I went on a Burt Lancaster binge -- Jesus was he a sweaty toothed madman -- was he the original uncomfortable leading man before Nicholson? I never feel safe in a scene with Lancaster.
I'm also finding myself looking for 90-minute movies. I watched TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID on Shudder the other day because it was 82 minutes and I loved it. I think I'm really drawn to stuff that tells a whole story efficiently in this current mental state.
Great piece on Lawrence. Probably my favourite film. I’ve worked as an artist/photographer, so on a purely aesthetic level I am spellbound with appreciation by what they captured visually. It’s also the piece of cinema I was most excited to see projected on my first full HD home cinema setup after I ordered and installed a 10 foot screen. Dream come true.