Whirlwind week…

It has been a great week of golf, mahjong, end of season parties for my fitness group and my gourmet group and a fabulous 50th anniversary party for friends. It was a real pleasure this weekend to spend time under the stars dining with longtime friends and sharing soothing beverages around the campfire. It was a rather busy week which included a great family birthday dinner at one of Toronto’s best rated restaurants, Edulis, located on Niagara St. in the trendy Bathurst and King area. Needless to say, it hasn’t been a great week for TV watching, but I do have a few recommendations:

Streaming/Netflix

After our wknd company departed today, and we had finished 3 loads of laundry, George and I collapsed in front of the TV and managed to binge our way through the last 5 episodes of House of Cards on Netflix. Still not as crazy as the Trump White House, but pretty enthralling nevertheless. I am in awe of Robin Wright’s incredible posture. Of course, Claire Underwood’s ramrod posture is perfectly in keeping with her steely resolve, but she is my posture idol anyway. There are many Shakespearean echoes in this season, and evil absolutely runs amuck. This is perhaps the darkest series around these days, but it is having trouble at being as entertaining as the actual shenanigans coming out of Washington.  There are cheeky echoes of the Trumpian distractions (impeachments, obstructions of justice, election tampering, etc.) and you will chuckle when you see real-life journalists from CNN, MSNBC, etc. interviewing fictional characters from the show. Sadly, this fifth season of the show is not quite the escapist entertainment it was in its first season.

A Man Called Ove (film adaptation of the novel by Fredrick Backman) is now available on Netflix. This charming film about a curmudgeon and his redemption is a wonderful adaptation of the novel. You will not like this leading character at first, but you will root for him by the end, so stay with it.

Movies to Stream

You might get a kick out of some of these films that are so bad, they’re good:

https://theringer.com/the-50-best-good-bad-movies-a9add81b5b7f

Audible.com

Crazy Rich Asians (the novel by Kevin Kwan) is our current read on Audible.com. Soon to be a major motion picture, this social satire pokes fun at the old money world of the super rich in Singapore. Very entertaining look at rich people problems (also the name of one of the two sequels in Kwan’s Singapore trilogy).

Moments of Zen

As always, I adore my CBS Sunday Morning (Sundays at 9 am) show as a gentle way to while away a peaceful Sunday morning. This morning’s show included a very moving segment about a woman who has survived two heart transplants with a lot of support from her friends which reduced me to tears.

PBS

Sunday nights are incredibly satisfying as the PBS lineup currently includes 3 British series:
My Mother and Other Strangers (period nostalgia) at 8; Grantchester (dishy vicar in a small town) at 9; Prime Suspect: Tennison (Masterpiece Mystery) at 10 (a prequel to the wonderful Helen Mirren series).

NBC

Sunday Night with Megan Kelly at 7 pm features an interview wth JD Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy, a terrific look at a segment of the US population that voted heavily Republican in the Trump election.

ABC

Downward Dog, (Tuesdays at 8 pm) a comedy about a talking dog and his owner is one of the most charming shows you’ve probably never seen.  Its cancellation after one season has been announced, but it is being shopped to other networks. The owner is played by Allison Tolman (formerly of Fargo Season 1) and her boyfriend is played by Lucas Neff (formerly of Raising Hope).  Great performances and clever writing.

FX

Fargo (available on demand on FX) aired the last episode of its third season. A restrained bloodbath compared to its first two seasons. Ewan McGregor is terrific in dual roles, David Thewlis is terrifying as the villain, but the two female leads Carrie Coon and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, steal the show whenever they appear.

AMC

Better Call Saul (available on demand on AMC) aired the last episode of its second season. This series has had a slow burn effect in its depiction of Jimmy McGill’s metamorphosis into the nefarious Saul Goodman. This prequel to Breaking Bad is a very noir experience as we watch the protagonist and many of the secondary characters evolve into the characters they become in Breaking Bad.

Preacher returns for its second season on AMC at 10 pm Sunday night.. It is part of a current trend in fever dream entertainment that includes Legion, Mr. Robot, Twin Peaks, American Gods and numerous other shows. These shows are bat shit crazy and you will either love them or hate them. Preacher‘s great cast includes Dominic Cooper and Ruth Negga, both of whom you will recognize from their many film appearances.

HBO

The Handmaid’s Tale (now available on demand) had its first season finale last week. An adaptation of the 1985 Margaret Atwood novel, this very dark dystopian series features a searing portrayal by Elizabeth Moss in the leading role. It is chilling and ends on a cliffhanger that will be followed by a second season. TV has taken a very dark turn lately with several series that deal with dark mysterious worlds. The Leftovers, Incorporated, and The Man in the High Castle are all examples of dark tales of a world gone terribly wrong.

Veep and Silicon Valley have their season finales on Sunday night. These brilliant comedies feature very clever scripts and hilarious performances. Kumail Nanjiani is my favourite SV performer and he is also on the big screen right now playing himself in a comedy he both wrote and starred in about his own life, The Big Sick.  I can’t wait to see this comedy that also stars Holly Hunter and Ray Romano.  Great reviews!!

National Geographic Channel

On the bright side (especially if you’re a fan of nuclear energy and the atomic bomb), National Geographic’s series Genius about Albert Einstein (now available on demand) had its finale last week. Amazing performances by Johnny Long and Geoffrey Rush as the young and old Einsteins respectively. This series portrays a deeply flawed man who cares more for the problems of the world than he does for his own family. An epic that follows Einstein’s life from childhood to death, it spans two world wars and the Cold War.

Bravo

Animal Kingdom has aired the first 4 episodes of its second season (on TNT in the US and you can catch Season 1 on Netflix. This terrific crime series stars Ellen Barkin as the grandma/crime boss of a Southern California gang of career criminals. Incredibly gripping, you will be able to catch this season on Bravo later this year.

There are a couple of series making their debuts/season returns on the summer tv schedule:

Younger returns to TVLand for its 4th season on June 28. It’s about a 40-something woman who pretends to be 26 in order to get a job in the publishing industry. It stars the forty something Sutton Foster in the leading role and she is completely believable as a 20-something.  Fabulous and funny! Try and stream it online if you don’t have access to TVLand. The season will air on Bravo in Canada sometime later this year.

CBS

CBS is introducing a new season of the incredibly silly series Zoo Thurs June 29. Cheesy special effects and ridiculously lame scripts are the norm for this series where genetically modified creatures have run amuck and are taking over the world. I can’t look away!

Similarly insane in its concept, Salvation, an asteroid disaster series will debut on CBS on July 12. Can’t wait!

 

Political Comedy

On the comedy front, Stephen Colbert is currently in Russia filming segments for The Late Show on CBS M-F at 11:35. I will also be tuning in to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO Sunday at 11, Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO Friday at 10, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee on Wed at 10:30, Jim Jeffries on Comedy on Tues at 10:30, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah M-Th at 11:00 and The President Show Thurs at 11:30 following Trevor Noah.

Closing Words

This week will be pretty full with the usual activities plus our end of season bookgroup party, a golf outing to Owen Sound, dinner with longtime friends, etc.
I am looking forward to having our family gather in Thornbury next weekend for Canada Day festivities. Thornbury is hosting a number of special events for Canada’s 150th Birthday celebration and we will be looking forward to watching a very special fireworks display on the holiday.

Until next week, enjoy this spectacular weather (often including amazing thunderstorms) and make the most of the days that do not have torrential rainfalls.

Recovering from company…

As lovely as it was to show off our city and countryside to our American friends, it was just as heavenly to have a little down time this past week to recoup and just enjoy the quiet.  Much napping was done and George picked up his new Ford Explorer (which will be our car for driving back and forth to Florida and Thornbury), and I picked out a new Mini Cooper Countryman SUV.  So cute!  I pick up my new car tomorrow afternoon.  Fingers crossed that all goes smoothly. We still haven’t made it out to the movies to start catching up with our summer blockbusters, but I did manage to watch a little TV this past week. Here are some recommendations:

Netflix

Animal Kingdom season 1 is now available on Netflix. As season 2 has begun airing in the US, those of you who want to catch up with this terrific crime series (Ellen Barkin, Scott Speedman) can see it on Netflix before it begins airing Season 2 on Bravo later this season.
House of Cards is airing its Season 5 episodes on Netflix.  I think audiences will honestly have a hard time engaging with its dark storyline in light of the madness that is hitting the news media everyday re Trump’s America.
Bloodline is airing its third and final season on Netflix.  Still dark and brooding, this series continues to take us down its noir storyline in sultry Isla Morada, Florida.
The Girl With All The Gifts is a wonderful and original zombie story from England about a post-Apocalyptic world where a fungus has brought about a zombie Apocalypse and a group of survivors tries to develop a cure.  Very suspenseful and starring a wonderful group of actors that include Glenn Close, Paddy Considine, Gemma Arterton and a terrific child actress named Sennia Nanua in the leading role as Melanie.

Amazon Prime

First of all, I keep forgetting that I can actually watch this channel from an App on my iPad.  We are Amazon Prime customers, so see if you can get the app.  Some of their shows are terrific:  Flesh and Bone, The Man in the High Castle, Goliath, Bosch, Transparent, Catastrophe, Fleabag, Good Girls Revolt, Patriot, Mad Dogs, Alpha House, The Night Manager, Mr. Robot, The Expanse, Red Oaks, Sneaky Pete, Mozart in the Jungle, etc.

American Gods is like no other series I have ever seen.  Old gods versus new gods amidst humans who scarcely understand where they fit in.  Ian McShane is wonderful as the god behind this story. New episodes air weekly!
I Love Dick comes from the creative team behind Transparent. It’s a savage social satire of the artistic life and the poseurs who pretentiously act like artists.  Not for everyone, but give it a try.  Very naughty sexual triangle!

Comedy

Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show airs M-Th at 11:00.  I love his sense of humour! He skewers Trump nightly.
The Jim Jeffries Show airs Tuesday at 10:30.  This irreverent Australian is having a very good time making fun of the lunacy of US politics.
The President Show airs Thursday at 11:30.  You have to see this show to believe it.  A wonderful Trump impersonator has real guests on his show and takes  a devastating look at all things Donald.
Samantha Bee’s Full Frontal airs on Wednesday at 10:30.  Bee is fearless in her weekly attacks on the US political scene.

PBS

PBS has returned from its fundraising hiatus with some new summer programming on Sunday nights.

Masterpiece Theatre:  My Mother and Other Strangers, Episode 1 airs tonight at 8 pm. Rose meets Captain Dreyfuss.  Emma goes on a date and incites an international incident.

Masterpiece Mystery:  Grantchester, Season 3: Episode 1 (Christmas Episode) It’s the week before Christmas, 1954.  Vicar Sidney Chambers is engrossed with holiday duties, but distracted by an impossible situation – how can a vicar and a woman carrying her estranged husband’s baby ever make it work?  He is one dishy vicar with a knack for solving crimes!!!

Bravo

The Handmaid’s Tale This dark dystopian adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel is chilling and stars the wonderful  Elizabeth Moss in a story of female oppression under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship.  Particularly timely given the Trump administration’s intent to roll back Roe v. Wade, defund Planned Parenthood, etc.

NBC

The Night Shift returns for its 4th season this Thursday June 22. It is a throwback tv series in which a group of doctors from the Army return to work the night shift at a hospital in San Antonio.  All the usual TV Doctor show cliches but starring a very dishy Irish star named Eoin Macken as the lead doctor.  Guilty pleasure to the max!!

CBS

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (Monday – Friday at 11:35) has taken the lead among the late night talk shows because of his relentless attacks on Trump.  Must see nightly viewing!!
CBS Sunday Morning is playing in the background as I write this.  This wonderfully soothing show has been airing since 1979 and is now hosted by Jane Pauley.  Celebrity interviews, human interest stories, current events, pop culture, the arts, etc. are all covered in wonderfully inspiring and moving ways. The moment of nature at the end of the show is my Zen moment every Sunday.

HBO

Veep and Silicon Valley both air on Sunday nights. Terrific writing and performers in two very funny shows.

Audible.com

We are currently listening to the comic novel Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan.  The Ibooks store describes it as the outrageously funny debut novel about three super-rich, pedigreed Chinese families and the gossip, backbiting, and scheming that occurs when the heir to one of the mot massive fortunes in Asia brings home his ABC (American-born Chinese) girlfriend to the wedding of the season.

Bonus Reads: Irreverent Editorials on Recent Events in the US

I was very impressed by this recent editorial in Maclean’s Magazine following the latest mass shootings:

I came across this story in Texture and thought you’d find it interesting: “America’s mass delusion” Maclean’s, June 19, 2017.

https://read.texture.ca/dl/content/mme/2017-06-19/ri/3462bcab-e02e-3541-9430-041a4a4f53c7/?src=iOSShareMail

 

In addition, my husband sent me this editorial from today’s NYTimes regarding the Trump administration’s fixation with a ban on Muslims and illegal immigrants:

Closing Thoughts

We just had a lovely Father’s Day lunch today with our children and extended family.  We’re celebrating our son David’s 35th birthday with a special dinner for him on Wednesday.  My gourmet group of almost 30 years is gathering at our place in Thornbury next weekend and 15 of us will be dining under the stars in our backyard.  Fingers crossed that the spectacular summer storm we experienced last night doesn’t make a repeat appearance next Saturday!  There were tornado warnings and one did touch down near Creemore.  That would be way too much excitement.  In the meantime, get out there and enjoy this wonderful summer weather between raindrops.

 

 

Southern Ontario touring with Americans

Our pals from Florida and North Carolina are headed to the airport as I write this.  I’m a little weary, having spent most of the last week showing our friends the sights in Toronto, Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Stratford, and Thornbury.  We got to tour down memory lane as we revisited the haunts of our past lives as students at U of T where we showed them our colleges, toured through Hart House and then meandered up Philosopher’s Walk to Yorkville where we shopped and had the most expensive Gelato ever!

We also walked through Chinatown, Kensington Market,  the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Eaton Centre, The Distillery District, and many spots along Bloor St.  We feasted on Schnitzel at Country Style, Dim Sum at Mother’s Dumplings, French food at Merlot, etc.  We wanted to immerse them in all things Canadian, so we sampled Tim Bits, Poutine, Butter Tarts, etc.

They got to play golf at the Georgian Bay Club in Thornbury and we enjoyed Sunday night dinner with them and our kids at Lambton in TO. As well as seeing two plays in Stratford (Guys and Dolls and HMS Pinafore), we took them to see Second City’s Monday night show (Canada: The Thinking Man’s America).

Perhaps nicest of all we got to introduce them to some of our Thornbury pals with a dinner under the stars in our backyard followed by s’mores around the campfire.

Our last bit of touring came on our drive back to Toronto on Sunday with a little detour to the Cheltenham Badlands (1501 Olde Base Line Road between Creditview and Chingcousy Roads).  This little bit of Ontario geography is pretty magical.  Hidden away in Caledon, these rolling red hills are made of shale which has turned red because of iron oxide deposits and they are exposed because of erosion. Just off the Bruce Trail, they are part of the Niagara Escarpment and the roads are being reconfigured to allow for parking and better protection of this incredible area.

Our friends both confessed to not watching any TV except for sports and the occasional Netflix program, so I haven’t watched much myself this past week.  I did get them to watch The President Show (follows Trevor Noah on Thursdays at 11:30 on Comedy) as I wanted to see their reactions.  Although they both voted Republican, they are completely non-political and took the full frontal attack on Trump and his cronies with good humour.  We didn’t discuss politics very much (as we have learned from our Florida visits that it never ends well) and we also learned that many Americans seem to just tune out the daily barrage of news about the political scene.  They seem to have a sense that America will emerge from this period of total craziness the same way it always does and that “this too shall pass.”  I even got them to watch most of the Tony Awards last night which thankfully remained mostly apolitical.  For more on the Tonys (which I think went pretty smoothly under the leadership of Kevin Spacey as host), here’s an article I meant to send out yesterday:

 

We also intended to take them to see Wonder Woman, however, we were exhausted from attending Stratford, so here’s an article re the upcoming Summer films instead:

https://flipboard.com/@TheAtlantic/-your-2017-summer-movie-preview/f-ff02620e84%2Ftheatlantic.com

Live on Stage

Canada: The Thinking Man’s America (at Second City on Monday nights) was a great introduction to our friends about how Canada sees its relationship with its powerful neighbour.  It was a very sweet and gentle explanation about how insecure we are, generally not terribly patriotic, etc., i.e. totally opposite from Americans in most respects.  Although Americans were made fun of in a gentle way, I don’t think our guests were unduly offended.

Guys and Dolls (Stratford Festival Theatre) is a fabulous production of the classic Frank Loesser musical which opened on Broadway in 1950 and was remade as a film in 1955 starring Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando.  Great dance numbers (directed and choreographed by Donna Feore), wonderful songs and tremendous performances.  Who could ask for anything more?

HMS Pinafore (Stratford Avon Theatre) is a classic Gilbert and Sullivan show.  First performed in 1878, the show is still funny with great songs and more sailors’ hornpipe dance numbers than I could ever have imagined in one show.  Word of advice, when attending two shows in one day, if possible, see the more sedate show first at a matinee.  We had toured Stratford, had a picnic lunch by the Avon River and then seen Guys and Dolls at the matinee.  We followed that up with a quick change at our lovely B&B, a boozy dinner and then the 8 pm show of Pinafore. Needless to say, we did close our eyes a few times during Pinafore, so see this show at the matinee if you are able to squeeze in two shows in one day.

TV Viewing in furtive bits and pieces

The rest of the week was hectic.  I only caught up with some of my late night comedy favourites after heading to bed.  Real Time with Bill Maher‘s Friday night show (HBO) was fascinating in its emphasis on Maher’s apology for his N-word usage.  Last Week Tonight with John Oliver had great fun last night in his interpretation of the Comey testimony and his analysis of the prospects of Brexit now that Theresa May has a shaky coalition government.  The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Comedy) continued to satirize the Washington melodrama, and I missed a new Samantha Bee Full Frontal (Comedy) program entirely!!  Much catching up to do On Demand.

Fargo and Better Call Saul (on FX and AMC, respectively continued in my absence.  I did catch the Gotham (Fox) season finale and Batman has finally emerged!!

I finally finished watching the first season of the very black comedy series Fleabag (streaming) and loved its very British sensibility.

We were able to get our friends to sit through a screening of War Machine (Netflix) with a gravelly voiced Brad Pitt playing a thinly disguised version of Gen. Stanley McChrystal who gave a career ending interview to Rolling Stone Magazine while he was commander of US forces in Afghanistan. This movie was a hybrid of a war movie and a satirical anti-war movie as it makes clear that the forces on the ground in Afghanistan did not understand their mission under Obama which was to wind down the US presence there. Very odd and Pitt’s performance is a little odd and one-note.

I was able to get my friend Lois to agree to watch another Netflix program from the BBC. Planet Earth is simply one of the most gorgeously photographed documentary series I have ever seen.  We watched The Seasonal Forest episode and gasped at seasons of fledgeling ducklings plunging out of their nests, cicada bugs going through their 17 – year spring awakening, martens hunting for squirrels, etc.  The Circle of Life is enacted every day in the forests.

I caught a bit of my Sunday morning Zen experience with CBS Sunday Morning yesterday.  Our friends were amazed that Jane Pauley is still cute as a button at 67. I adored the segment on the 40th anniversary of the Broadway musical Annie. The segment on the coast guard rescue of a Long Island fisherman thrown overboard was incredibly moving.

Closing Words

We will return to our regular routines of golf, mahjong, visiting mothers and the rest of our families and commuting between TO and Thornbury this week.  We are off to pick up a new Ford Explorer SUV for George today and I am going to test drive some Mini Cooper Countryman SUVs.  I love the car’s cheerful and irreverent  demeanour.  I’ve been driving an Audi Q5 for the last several years and as we have moved into a condo with an underground parking lot with columns that seem to jump out at you from nowhere, I am looking for a shorter, narrower vehicle.  This cute little Countryman shares a platform with the BMW X1 and I have fallen a little bit in love with it.  If it turns out to be a disappointing ride, I will likely revert to an Audi Q3 which seems to be most highly rated for its quiet ride and safety features and I have thoroughly enjoyed my Q5 over the years, even though it has been stolen and had a tree fall on top of it. Not to mention the odd close encounter with pillars.

Summer is definitely here now with temperatures in the high eighties and low nineties (oh my gosh, one week with Americans and I have forgotten my Celsius), so enjoy this glorious weather!

 

Our North Carolina friends visit Canada for the first time…

We had a lovely Thornbury weekend, celebrating our 44th wedding anniversary with some longtime friends. We hiked the Loree Forest portion of the Bruce Trail, sampled flights of beer, wine and cider at the Thornbury Cidery, and then had our traditional lobster dinner followed by dessert and an amazing red wine around the fire pit under a cloudless star filled sky.

It’s going to be a busy week of sightseeing and theatre going as we take our Florida neighbours (summer home is Pinehurst, NC) on their first ever tour of Southern Ontario (not to mention Canada!). We’re going to introduce them to Toronto’s multicultural diversity by taking them on the subway, touring St Lawrence Market and Kensington; Yorkville and the Eaton Centre; Chinatown, Little India and Greektown; Little Portugal; the Lakeshore; Casa Loma; High Park, etc. We may take them to Niagara Falls and Niagara on the Lake if they are keen. We are headed to Stratford to see Guys and Dolls and HMS Pinafore and stay overnight in a B&B. We’ll finish our tour with a weekend in Thornbury, some golf at the Georgian Bay Club and a backyard barbecue with friends. It doesn’t look like a good week for TV so you’ll all have to watch on my behalf.

Summer Previews

Here’s a helpful summary of new shows coming this summer:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/25-exciting-new-summer-tv-shows-to-make-sure-you-never-see-the-sun?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning

On the Big Screen

The Exception with Christopher Plummer is opening in limited release this week.  I saw it at TIFF last year and absolutely loved it.  A German soldier tries to determine if the Dutch resistance has planted a spy to infiltrate the home of Kaiser Wilhelm (Christopher Plummer, who steals every scene he’s in) in Holland during the onset of WW11, but falls for a young Jewish Dutch woman during his investigation.

Streaming/On Demand

Sleeping Giant is a Canadian film from 2015 which has been described as a masterpiece.  While spending the summer in cottage country on the shores of Lake Superior, three teens cope with boredom by testing the limits of their experience.

Fleabag This wonderful British comedy series can be streamed from Amazon.  It’s a six-part series adapted from the award-winning play about a young woman trying to cope with life in London while coming to terms with a recent tragedy.  Very naughty!!

Animal Kingdom This very dark series has returned for its second season on TNT and will be seen in Canada on Bravo.  It’s a fabulous story about a crime family in Southern California led by a most unmaternal granny played by the still attractive Ellen Barkin.  Very noir!!

Netflix

House of Cards Here’s a terrific analysis of how this season of House of Cards is having difficulty making fiction as interesting as fact:

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/television/under-trump-house-of-cards-sees-capitolgains/article35123619/?ref=https://www.theglobeandmail.com&

Bloodline continues its noir story of a family of adult siblings who find that their pat secrets and scars are revealed when their black sheep of a brother returns home.

All my favourites

You can still catch Genius (National Geographic), Fargo (FX),
Better Call Saul (AMC), and The Americans (FX) before their seasons come to an end.

Still Star Crossed debuted last week on ABC.  It’s the continuation of Romeo and Juliet, picking up from their untimely deaths.  My head is still reeling from the insanity!

Gotham  (Fox) is one of my favourite guilty pleasure shows!

Sunday Night Madness

Things have slowed down as PBS takes a break and several series are ending their seasons including The Leftovers, Veep and Silicon Valley.  John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight returns for a new episode tonight.

Comic Relief

Bill Maher (Real Time with Bill Maher HBO) got into a bit of trouble last week for using the N-word in a very unfunny joke.  He’s still not in as much trouble as poor Kathy Griffin for her stunt with a decapitated Donald Trump. She has now lost many jobs and seems genuinely apologetic for her actions.
Samantha Bee’s Full Frontal (Comedy) continues her full-on attack of all things Trumpian.
Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show (Comedy) continues to poke fun at the regime.
Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show  (CBS) was on a vacation break last week but returns for new shows this week.
The President Show (Comedy) has been flying under mot people’s radar since it debuted 6 weeks ago (Thursdays at 11:30).  Here’s how IMDB describes it:  The losers dominating late-night are in for a rude awakening when the smartest, handsomest, most winningest president of all time enters the fray to address the nation.  The President Show brings television back to the people – by putting a plutocratic billionaire behind the desk. It stars a comic named Anthony Atamanuik as Trump and it’s very funny.  Give it a look!!

Zen TV

CBS Sunday Morning (9 am Sundays on CBS) continues to be my most relaxing hour and a half of TV. Gotta love its take on popular culture.

Fareed Zakaria GPS is a level headed look at current events every Sunday on CNN at 10 am.

Sunday Night with Megan Kelly debuted tonight (NBC at 7).  I thought she was very brave interviewing Putin (surely the scariest man on earth).  The rest of the show was remarkably like 60 Minutes with a team of investigative reporters assigned to segments about elephants in Africa, pharmaceuticals that kill people, etc. I really enjoyed the show!

Closing Words

I’m looking forward to showing our Florida friends what their neighbours to the North are really like when we’re not basking in the Florida sunshine.  Enjoy your week, whatever it holds for you.  Fingers crossed that the taste of sunshine and warmth we had this weekend continues.  Everything looks so much better when the sun is shining!!