I
frequently get texts or tweets from friends asking me to recommend something on
Netflix streaming (which, by the way, pretty much makes my day when that
occurs). So I’m starting a new series
for the blog in which I will pick a specific subcategory of films or TV shows
on Netflix streaming and lay out my Top-5 in each of those categories.
More
often than not, when the wifey and I set out to find something to watch on
Netflix, it ends up with me searching for something for over 10 minutes because
I see the same stupid recommendations over and over, and then we settle on
something neither of us really want to watch that much and then fall asleep or
just completely tune it out while we play Angry Birds or Tetris. Also, don’t you just freaking hate it when you know there’s something
you spotted while browsing that you wanted to see, only you forget to put it on
your queue, and then later you can’t remember what it was that you wanted to
see?
So that’s the point of this series: next
time you can’t decide on something, and all of the recommendations are totally
uninteresting, you can come here to the blog and look and say, “Oh YEAH!! I’ve
been wanting to see Chinatown! How
could I forget?!” And then you can call
me and thank me after watching it, and then we’ll go ride a tandem bicycle
together and drink iced tea and discuss the merits of Jack Nicholson’s
performance (or, you know, something like that, it’s not like I’ve thought it
all out...)
Top 5
On Netflix: Top 5 TV Dramas
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| Few mornings go by where I don't wake up wishing I turned into Don Draper overnight. |
I
never really talk about TV on this blog, although I have wanted to on several
occasions, so for my first post on this series I want to recommend a few of my
favorites. As one of my idols, Chuck Klosterman, put it recently, slow-burning
TV dramas have “replaced reading.” As
sad as that is, I agree. For example, it
takes a similar frame of mind to be able to sit down and watch an episode of Mad Men as it does to read a chapter of
an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel.
I
know the ink isn’t exactly still drying on the news that the shows on this list
are awesome. But I’m always surprised at
the people who would be into these shows (and equally, enjoy wasting their time
on TV as much as I do) who haven’t seen one or more of the shows on this
list. Having instant access to every
episode of all five seasons of Friday
Night Lights, for instance, is some kind of incomprehensible gift from
Heaven; it’s like those times when you go shopping at a nice clothing store and
find some ridiculous deal on something that would normally be twice that price,
and you assume somebody must have mismarked the price tag, and then even after
you pay that price you walk out feeling like you stole something.
For
most of this series I will write a little bit about each of my choices, but for
this first one since I’ve already babbled on long enough, I will let my choices
speak for themselves. Just know that on any given day of the week it's a debate for me between my number one and two choices.
Note: because HBO continues to be douchebags
refuses to put any of their shows on streaming (and reportedly will stop
offering their shows even on DVD soon), great shows like The Wire and The
Sopranos couldn’t be a part of this list.
Top-5
Television Dramas
1. Mad Men
2. Breaking Bad
3. Friday Night Lights
4. Lost
5. Dexter
