I decided to do some advance research. What shows are out there that would appeal to the four of us? They don’t need to be full blown comedies but a healthy dose of wit is important. The shows must take us away from current traumas. So, The West Wing and Veep are right out, no matter how good they might be. Distraction is imperative. (Also too, now that teevee costs money, we can’t just turn on the set and *boom* watch interesting shows for free like when I was a kid – yes, I’m old. The programs must be available on the platforms Jen and Oni subscribe to.)Ideally we’d like science fiction but we’ve already watched most of the good, fun, big series and franchises.
Battlestar Galactica (the 2003 version), The Mandalorian (I couldn’t get into a lot of the other Star Wars teevee offerings. Dunno why. Just not my bag I guess), Alien Earth , Dollhouse, Eureka, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, WandaVision, Misfits, Murderbot, Firefly, Warehouse 13, and of course...
Star Trek:
Discovery ✔️

Strange New Worlds ✔️
Voyager ✔️
Picard ✔️
Next Generation ✔️
Deep Space Nine ✔️
I know Star Trek Academy is out right now. We’ve watched a couple episodes and, honestly, it’s not grabbing me at all.
I don’t know if it’s because the cast is primarily VERY young (teenagers) and I’m so VERY not young so I’m NOT the target audience. Or maybe I just can’t get past the fact that they replaced Chief Engineer Peli, a thousands of human years old Lanthanite, previously played by the seriously awesome Carol Kane, with a younger, much less naturally charming and eccentric actress. She also lacks Kanes’ dry, surreal, easy carriage. Kane, no matter what she says or does, feels organic. The replacement, on the other hand, is on the clock and really, truly giving it her best damn shot. You can see that she's working hard – she's sweating. It’s distracting.So, I can watch the show but I’m not psyched about it.
We’ve taken in a couple episodes of the interesting Why Women Kill.
A darkly comedic drama detailing the lives of three women living in three different decades: a housewife in the 60s, a socialite in the 80s, and a lawyer in 2019, each dealing with infidelity in their marriages. (source)So far it’s clear that infidelity is just one reason for each of the marital unions' endings. It’s reductive and simplistic to say that’s the only reason. The humor is subtle and the show's engaging.
Minx is fun. The main character is a bit of caricature of an earnest, young, early ‘70s feminist though. At least at first. She’s just graduated from Vassar and, in her ultra serious, inexperienced, biz world neophyte way is, bumblingly, trying to start a feminist publication a la Ms.magazine. She falls in with a savvy, bighearted men’s porn-mag publisher and they work together to produce the first erotic magazine for women (with a feminist bend). Hilarity, warmth, and personal evolution for all ensues.
And we just watched our first I’m Dying Up Here episode, which we all loved. This is the most serious of the three new-to-us shows despite it being about standup comics. It’s set in the LA stand-up scene of the early ‘70s. A group of young comedians try to become successful at Goldie's comedy club and potentially snag a star-making spot on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.It has a documentary-ish feel to it. Reminds me a little of John Sayles’ Return of the Secaucus Seven – an old favorite of mine. I look forward to seeing more of this.
Anyway, I’ll definitely miss Maisel but I think we’re all set in Distraction Land…for now.































