Netflix overflows with abundance….

We’ve had lots of company this week and I’ve been involved in lots of group activity including my regular golf commitments, mahjong, meetings re our club activities, and a farewell party for one of my lovely neighbours.  This busyness has, of course, interfered with my usual viewing activities (not to mention that darned March Madness basketball tournament which has turned my usually mild mannered husband into a crazy person who has to watch basketball every possible moment).  George is running a Basketball pool and has enlisted the participation of many of his golf buddies and friends here.  George and 7 golf buddies are leaving tomorrow for the Fort Lauderdale area where they will play 4 different golf courses.  While they are gone, I will be hosting several of the golf widows and we will be touring Naples, beach walking, and drinking festive beverages by the pool.  I have warned my neighbours to expect much giggling from our patio.

While George has been voraciously watching Basketball, I have been furtively trying to catch up with some of Netflix’s new original programming.

 

Netflix

Marvel’s Daredevil Bingewatch Confession:  This series (Season 2) was released on Friday and I am now up to Episode 10 of 13.  Not as engaging as Season 1 when this was all new, Charlie Cox is still lovable and watchable as the blind lawyer by day who fights crime with furious fists by night.  He is ably supported by Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood), Elden Henson (Hunger Games), Jon Bernthal (Walking Dead), Vincent D’Onofrio (Law and Order), etc.  Somehow, this season is even darker than the first.  Elektra (Elodie Yung) has made an appearance as a previous lover and her storyline is very dark as she fights a mysterious Asian crime cabal.  The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) also has a very dark storyline and is responsible for much of the mayhem that occurs as he tries to solve the murders of his wife and children.  I will stay with this series until the end, but I don’t have the fondness for it that I had for Season 1 which was very fresh and different.

Flaked stars Will Arnett (Arrested Development).  I have watched 2 episodes out of 8 in this California based comedy.  Arnett plays Chip, a “recovering alcoholic” who seems to be full of insights and advice for his contemporaries, but who is still struggling with personal demons.  Not really a laugh out loud comedy as it delves in to aging hipster scene in Venice Beach, CA.  A relationship comedy.

Cuckoo stars Andy Samberg (Saturday Night Live) in a British comedy series about a young British girl who meets and marries an aging American hippie whom she meets while travelling in Thailand.  The fun begins when she returns home to England and introduces her to her very surprised family.  This show is very goofy and features Samberg at his most sophomoric, but I confess I do love the British characters on the show.  Very, very silly.

Miniseries

I almost missed And Then There were None (aired last Sunday on Lifetime miniseries from BBC and now available On Demand) which was filmed in Britain and starred Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), Toby Stephens (Black Sails), Burn Gorman (Man in the High Castle), Aidan Turner (Poldark), Miranda Richardson (World without End), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Noah Taylor (Peaky Blinders), Douglas Booth (Romeo and Juliet), etc.  One of many remakes of the classic British film Ten Little Indians, this venerable Agatha Christie mystery features all the classic tropes of the British cozy mystery as a group of disparate characters is invited to a country house on a secluded island and one by one are murdered by an invisible predator.  If you long for Marple and Poirot, this is the series for you told in 2 two-hour episodes.

My usual addictions

Shameless (HBO Canada, Showtime) came to its season finale with a surprisingly upbeat cliffhanger ending. Guilty pleasure show.

Billions (HBO Canada, Showtime) continued its cat and mouse game between Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti. Intrigue and suspense abound.

Black Sails (Superchannel and Starz) is my favourite pirate show.  Toby Stephens does a great job as the menacing Capt. Flint trying to save piracy in the Caribbean.

Younger (TV Land) telling the story of a 4ish single mom who has to pretend she’s 26 to land a publishing job.  Great social satire of the millennial generation and their social media fixations.

The Walking Dead continues on AMC Sundays and follows our survivors as they fight against all odds to find refuge.

Better Call Saul continues on AMC Mondays. The prequel to Breaking Bad, it follows the escapades of Jimmy McGill as he transforms into morally challenged lawyer Saul Goodman.

The People vs OJ Simpson continues on FX Tuesdays.  The all star cast continues to impersonate OJ, Johnnie Cochrane, Robert Shapiro, Marcia Clark et al.

The Family on ABC Tuesdays follows the story of a gubernatorial candidate in New England whose son disappeared 10 years previously.  He miraculously escaped his captor and has now returned to the family – or has he?

Outsiders (Tuesdays on WGN) tells the story of a hillbilly clan who faces off with a big coal company that wants to blow the top off their mountain.

Colony (Thursdays on USA) had its season finale this week as the resistance captured an alien overlord!

You, Me and the Apocalypse (Thursdays on NBC) follows our group of comet survivors who are gathering in a bunker beneath the town of Slough, England.  An unusual comedy about the Apocalypse.

Damien (Mondays on A&E) is a continuation of the original Damien film starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick (plenty of flashback clips).  Damien is all grown up (Bradley James from Merlin) and has surfaced as a war photographer in NYC.  He’s trying to figure out who he is (the Antichrist) and why everybody wants to kill him.  I love this sort of thing, but it’s definitely not for all tastes.  Somewhat cheesy special effects.

The Political Pundits

It’s agonizing watching Trump’s campaign towards victory as the Republican Candidate.  Many Americans seem to hate Hilary with all the vitriol they used to reserve for Bill, so I can’t imagine how bitter the negative advertising campaign is going to be between the two candidates.  Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, Trevor Noah and John Oliver are my comedy saviours when it comes to any levity regarding the ominous prospect of Trump emerging as the next President.  I can’t imagine what the next 8 months of campaign coverage is going to entail.  It won’t be pretty as Trump and Clinton face off.

Naples Life

I am looking forward to my week with lady friends and I am planning on consuming many delicious meals and delightful cocktails.  We’ll be relaxing by the pool and touring the area.  I hope all our friends and family in the north are hanging in as Spring weather approaches.  For all the friends who are lucky enough to be in sunny locales, enjoy it while it lasts.  Dark skies here today and thunderstorms are approaching from the Gulf.  Into each life, some rain must fall…