EMDB TV is getting a revamp!

Hi, whoever is out there reading. I’m not sure who you are or how you found this site, but thank you! Seriously, who do I know in Ashburn, Virginia? Let me know!

I hope you’ve enjoyed EMDB TV so far, which started out as a creative project to share my love and appreciation for TV and movies. But life gets busy and writing is hard, so as you’ve seen, my posts have been very sporadic. I can’t promise you that will improve, but I am going to try mixing it up a little.

Since my last EMDB post (which was to try and process the tragic Atlanta mass shooting that took the lives of 8 people, 6 of whom were women of East Asian descent in March 2021), I’ve had an emotionally tumultuous year.

• I transitioned back to being a working mom, now of two children

• I transitioned to working fully remotely from home

• I started to work on understanding my relationship with my female Asian American identity and how that shapes who I am and who I want to be

• I bought audio equipment

• I started a podcast with my cousin to talk through those topics (and lots of other very random shit). If you like EMDB TV, you might enjoy it. Search for “Double Cuzzies” wherever you get your podcasts and here. There’s also a link on this site and a page with the TV and Movie related episodes

• I realized that I am energized by and need to carve out more time for creative projects like Double Cuzzies and EMDB TV

• I missed talking in depth about TV and movies

In conclusion: get ready for some new and interesting content from EMDB, beyond just TV! In the meantime, follow me on social for the latest (ugh, I barfed typing that, but I’m trying to get over my cringiness at self promotion) at: @emdb.tv, @emdb.art, @emdb.merch, and @doublecuzzies

It’ll be an interesting ride as I try to grow this thing (that’s what she said). Stay tuned!

Chinese, Japanese, Look At These

Hey there,

So, we’re going to take a little departure from our usual programming on EMDB to talk about something in addition to TV. This country is fucked up. Like in so many different ways. But specifically I wanted to talk about the rise of hate crimes occurring against Asians and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) that’s been happening for over a year now. After the mass shooting in Atlanta last week, where 8 people were murdered, 7 of whom were women, and 6 of whom were Asians, it felt like a tragic inevitability. And just this week when another 10 people were murdered in a mass shooting in Boulder, CO it felt like a uniquely American tragedy.

On election night 2016, I was walking home from my polling place in a very residential neighborhood (safe enough for me to be walking home) when I entered a crosswalk at a four-way stop and two men in a pickup truck yelled “CHINK BITCH!” at me. While sadly that wasn’t the first time in my life I had been called that on the street, or the first time I had been made to feel unsafe while just trying to exist (all instances by men), this felt like the prelude to a dark chapter this country was entering. I wish I was wrong.

America has always been racist, and for those who think this is a recent problem, it means you’ve had the privilege of not paying attention. The history of discrimination against Asians in this country is a long one, and since it’s intentionally not taught in schools or covered in the media, many people are unaware of the extent, but will probably notice the similarities to how other ethnic groups have been treated by the US government. Chinese immigrants had their traditional hairstyles cut, were labeled as “unclean,” wrongfully blamed for spreading disease, were banned from even immigrating to America, were forbidden from owning land, forbidden from testifying in court against white people, were lynched by angry white mobs, had and are having their businesses vandalized and ransacked, and were/are scapegoated for taking jobs. Because if the playbook of white supremacy is anything aside from disgusting, it’s also predictable. Dehumanize minorities to make their elimination and subjugation easier, demonize them in the eyes of society so other marginalized groups think they are the problem and not the system of oppression.

I'm not trying to write a dissertation on the comprehensive history of Asian discrimination in the US nor am I trying to win a gold medal for Asians in the Oppression Olympics. Just because I’m talking about hate against AAPIs, this doesn’t discount the pain and suffering of other marginalized groups, but the mainstream media has failed and is still failing to cover AAPI discrimination and hate crimes appropriately. Evidence includes Chuck Todd just had a panel to discuss the rise in hate crimes against Asians WITHOUT A SINGLE ASIAN PRESENT and the fact it took actors Daniel Dae Kim and Daniel Wu offering a $25,000 reward for any information related to a series of attacks against elderly Asians and Asian Americans to finally get media attention. The latter example led some community activists to voice concerns over the reward being seen as a bounty creating more surveillance and policing of the Black community, which then brought up discussions on Asian/Black unity and the historically fraught race relations. So let me just clarify, and I’ll type it loud for those in the cheap seats THE ENEMY IS WHITE SUPREMACY, NOT OTHER MINORITIES.

A lot of other folks have already created some concise and informative resources. So do some homework, and take the time to watch and listen to the sources below. It's really the least you can do to educate yourself. Here's a very abbreviated list of some things you should know:

• AAPI are not a monolith. The group is comprised of many different ethnicities, each with their own histories, challenges, and cultural implications. Then again, racists tend to not be so attuned to whether someone is Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese etc so they just hurl the same epithets at all AAPI. Just like how they tend to group South Asians and people of Middle Eastern descent. Yellow is yellow, brown is brown, and all of it isn’t white.

• The two bookends of racial stereotypes that AAPI suffer under are Yellow Peril (forever seen as foreign invaders) and the Model Minority Myth (Asians are said to be the “good” kind of minority, which drives resentment amongst other minority groups, minimizes and de-legitimatizes racism we face, and ultimately makes our suffering invisible)

• AAPI women have been fetishized and hyper-sexualized for centuries starting with the US government banning the immigration of Chinese women under the pretenses that 1. they were all prostitutes and 2. they didn’t want Chinese people to start families in the US. They didn’t ban Chinese men at that time because they needed them as cheap labor to build the railroad and mine for gold

• The women murdered in Atlanta are not confirmed to be sex workers, but the fact that this was the assumption by the murderer shows the problematic way our society demonizes sex work as well as the deeply ingrained sexualization of women and hyper-sexualization of Asian women specifically. Even if the victims were sex workers, sex work is real work. Just ask Robert Kraft (remember that? Maybe you don’t because he faced no consequences. So maybe our society really only cares about the legality of sex work when it applies to the sex worker and not white millionaires)

And now back to TV because this is EMDB after all and if you’ve made it this far into the post, you deserve some recommendations. One thing I've always loved about TV is its ability to transport you into another reality, to live for a brief moment through the eyes of its characters no matter how different from you they may be. It's easier to hate something or someone you don't understand and in this hate-filled world we're living in, we could all use a little more empathy and perspective. So here's a quick list of some shows and movies with non-problematic representations of Asians

• Taste The Nation: San Francisco (Hulu): Padma Lakshmi takes you on a food and history tour of Chinatown in SF and meets up with comedian Ali Wong

• Kim's Convenience (Netflix): A really lovely sitcom that centers on a Korean family in Toronto who run a convenience store. Great representation of the relationships between immigrant parents and first generation children

• Never Have I Ever (Netflix): A charming coming of age drama-comedy by Mindy Kaling that focuses on an Indian American teen trying to lose her virginity

• Fresh Off The Boat (Hulu): I’ll be honest, I stopped watching this show after the first few seasons (bad Asian, I know) but I’d still recommend checking it out! My personal favorite episode is Season 2, Episode 10 The Real Santa

• Master of None (Netflix): A comedy-drama series by Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang that follows Aziz’s character Dev’s personal and professional life. Make sure to watch Season 1, Episode 2. Any child of an immigrant will feel it especially

• Selfie (was on Hulu, now I can’t find it anywhere, again, Asian erasure): Ahead of its time and suffering from a terrible name and marketing, Selfie was a romantic sitcom on ABC that premiered in 2014. Starring JOHN CHO as the male romantic lead

• Always Be My Maybe (Netflix): A classic romcom starring national treasures Randall Park and Ali Wong with an amazing performance by the one and only Keanu Reeves

• The Joy Luck Club: Such a classic. From Wikipedia “American drama film about the relationships between Chinese-American women and their Chinese immigrant mothers

• Fakin’ Da Funk (you can watch the whole movie on YouTube here): I’m going to say this is a classic that all AAPI Millenials watched, probably because there were not many movies with AAPI in them! Starring Dante Basco (RUFIO! RUFIO!) and Tatiana Ali. The IMDB summary is perfection “A Chinese baby boy is adopted by a black couple in ATL. 17 years later he moves with his mom and bro to a black LA hood. A Chinese girl ends up in the same hood for the summer with a black family. Will they fit in?”

• American Dragon: Jake Long (Disney+): Speaking of Dante Basco, he also starred in this kid’s show for two seasons in 2005-2006. Jake Long is a second generation, mixed race Asian American who is also a..you guessed it, dragon.

• Better Luck Tomorrow (you can watch on Crackle here): Directed by Justin Lin and financed by…MC HAMMER?? Another movie I’m going to say all AAPI Millenials watched. A bunch of overachieving Asian American high schoolers take a dip into the world of petty crimes that of course escalates. Asian Americans can do messed up things too, we’re just people!

Honorable Mentions:

• Minari (Hulu): I haven’t watched this yet, which is the only reason it’s not on the list above

• Awkwafina is Nora From Queens: again, haven’t watched this yet

• Crazy Rich Asians: This movie was decent although formulaic, but risks portraying all Asians as crazy rich and therefore falls into the model minority trap. That being said, it’s a good sign there’s more Asian representation in film and television where every film doesn’t need to live up to the high expectations of The Joy Luck Club

Thanks for reading and watching kids,

xoxo EMDB

The category is.....Quarantine Realness

Hello frands,

Well, we’re rolling into week 5 of quarantine life out here in California, with no clear end in sight. I’m lucky enough to be able to still do my job from home and for that I am truly thankful. It’s a scary time right now, and one we’ll remember for the rest of our lives and one we’ll tell our children and grandchildren about. I hate to say it, but things are going to get even worse in the coming weeks as our broken healthcare system gets pushed beyond its fragile limit. From the time I started writing this post, til now the US has tripled our number of cases. I actually started writing this post over a week ago and everyday since then the numbers have continued to climb exponentially. Please, please, please stay inside and away from people if you are at all able to. And to all those who are essential workers who can’t sit around and binge watch TV, I will never be able to express my gratitude to your service and sacrifice. After we finally do make it through this crisis, as a nation we must not forget it was the postal workers, the warehouse workers, the grocery store employees, the healthcare workers, the truckers, sanitation workers, and the farm workers who saved this country. And that childcare providers and teachers deserve to make a million dollars a day.

It seems trivial to be writing about TV at a time like this, but I think as everyone is coming to find TV can be a welcome escape these days. The shows I recommended last time were intended to make you forget about world for awhile, but for this post I decided to write about a show that can maybe help us see the current situation with clearer eyes and a little more empathy.

So this week, I’m imploring you to check out Pose on FX (season 1 on Netflix).

To give you the most concise synopsis, from Wikipedia:

POSE is an American drama television series about New York City's African-American and Latino LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming ballroom culture scene in the 1980s and, in the second season, early 1990s. Featured characters are dancers and models who compete for trophies and recognition in this underground culture, and who support one another in a network of chosen families known as Houses.

This show features the most diverse cast on TV, and will give you a newfound understanding of how mainstream trends originate, and how our society often exploits and disenfranchises the very people who drive American culture forward. In its essence, Pose is a show about the bodies and families we are born into and the ones we create for ourselves as we try to find our place in this world.

Season 1 takes place at the very start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with the escalating crisis playing a clear through-line to season 2. It’s not difficult to draw parallels to today’s pandemic as the series shows how the wealthy and privileged weather the same storms as the rest of society, only from above the clouds. While those in the very bottom of the economic and social ladder continue to be disproportionately impacted, furthering the cycle of poverty. But despite all the racist, homophobic, and misogynistic assaults they are subjected to, the characters of Pose march on (or maybe sashay is more fitting). And under the boot of a system designed to make them work infinitely harder for any crumbs of success, to crush their spirit and erase them from history, they refuse to be silenced. Theirs is a message of community and resilience; something we could all use in times like these.

So with that: stay inside, save lives, wash your hands, watch Pose.

Stay healthy friends, much love…

Keep it low key; shoes off in the house

Hello fellow quarantinees,

I’m currently at Day 17 of not leaving my house/neighborhood due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The world is pretty f*cking scary right now and I’d much prefer to be in a different timeline, but here we are, so all we can do is get through this together…well not together in the literal sense because y’all better stay 6-feet away from me ya hear!

For this week’s post, I wanted to do a little write up for two shows that I think you’d all enjoy as an escape from our present circumstances. Both are reality shows but take place in a much better reality than now, both have a low key aesthetic and theme, both require reading subtitles (think of this as a way to force you to stop reading the news on your phone), and both showcase good domestic hygiene by showing a clear delineation between outside clothes and shoes and inside clothes and slippers. TAKE NOTE ALL YOU NON ASIANS

I’ve written briefly about these shows before, but they deserve a much deeper dive. So without further ado, two shows you should be hunkering down with are Terrace House and Hyori’s Bed and Breakfast

Terrace House

Any season, but don’t start with Aloha State

For a show about six Gen-Z/Millennials living together trying to find love and personal development, it’s one of the most low-drama reality shows out there. If Real World is like an Instant Pot loaded with 5-alarm chili, Terrace House is more like a gently simmering clay pot of sukiyaki. It’ll leave you perplexed about how Japanese dating culture works. This show is kind of like the opposite of the Love Is Blind beginning because people live together for months and then abruptly enter into a committed relationship and then finally hold hands (told you, Japanese dating culture is…different).

A couple major things that sets this show apart from other reality shows is 1) the A+ commentary by the panel throughout the show and 2) the fact the show airs with only a few weeks delay from when it was filmed and there is no sort of social media ban on the housemates. This means the show is incredibly meta as the housemates are aware of their own celebrity and public reception while living in the house and also sometimes watch episodes together in the house revealing side conversations and secret crushes. Spicy!

Once you get obsessed with this show, you’ll discover the original series Terrace House: Boys x Girls Next Door ran for 98 episodes (that’s literally 98 weeks, almost 2 years) with many housemate changes and an actual house change too! Oh ya, that’s the other thing about the show, people don’t have to stay on it. So if someone accomplishes their goals, or feels like they’ve outgrown the house then they leave and they’re replaced with someone of the same gender. These shakeups can drastically change the dynamic in the house depending on how old the new people are, whether they’re outgoing, whether they drink alcohol, and whether they’re looking for love.

There’s several different “series” of Terrace House available on Netflix, but unfortunately I can’t find any legit streaming sites with the original series (that being said, I’ve managed to watch 84 of the 98 episodes). I’d recommend watching any of them (Boys x Girls In the City, Opening New Doors, Tokyo 2019-2020 - which is waiting to restart airing with part 3), but encourage you to not watch Aloha State first. Aloha State takes place in Oahu and has a bigger mix of Asian Americans and overseas Japanese so that makes for an interesting dynamic, but to get the pure Terrace House experience you should start with the other series that take place in Japan.

HOLY SHIT, I literally just realized as I was writing this that the series currently filming, Tokyo 2019-2020, is literally happening in real time, which means that we will get to see how the house is impacted by COVID-19. Hope they’re all healthy, it helps they don’t wear shoes in the house ;)

WATCH THIS SHOW. You’ll have lots of opinions about the housemates so I look forward to hearing who are your favorites and least favorites.

Hyori’s Bed and Breakfast

I feel like this show is a bit of a sleeper. It’s super well known in Korea and Asia in general, but definitely never reached the cult following in the US like Terrace House. Each episode is 1-1.5 hours, but there is only two seasons of the show and no expectation of a third season because they kept getting stalkers trying to break into the house as a result of the fame brought by the show, so that might be part of why it hasn’t caught on yet in the US. Let’s change that now, folks!

I mentioned this show in a previous post:

I "stumbled upon" this show because because Netflix kept trying to incept me to watch it since I liked Terrace House so much. It's a Korean reality TV show that's filmed Terrace House/Big Brother style and it's about Hyori Lee (who is a former, mega K-Pop star) and her husband Sang-Soon (also a famous Korean musician) and them opening their home on the picturesque Jeju Island as a....you guessed it...bed and breakfast. For the non K-Pop fans reading, think if Britney Spears opened her house up as a BNB and you showed up and Ariana Grande was the staff member doing the dishes and making you coffee

After watching more of the show and learning more about Hyori, I think it’s actually more like if Madonna opened her house up as a BNB because Hyori was, is a huge musical icon. Not that you’d be able to tell just how famous she is though by the charming and nurturing way she and her husband treat their guests and staff. You’ll be really surprised at how hardworking and diligent these very famous K-Pop artists are given they could just hire assistants to do everything, but if you watch the episode of Explained about K-Pop it makes more sense. Being a K-Pop star is like going through Making The Band/the Army in terms of discipline and rigor.

Season 1 takes place during the summer and season 2 takes place in the winter so you get to see the island and the BNB in two vastly different settings. In either season, the scenery of Jeju island is dreamy and the quiet little sanctuary Hyori, Sang-Soon, and their staff create for their guests is something that’ll maybe make you embrace this Stay-At-Home order.

Stay safe, and stay tuned my friends, love you…

WELCOME TO HELL!!!! aka the year 2020

WHAT UP NERDS!

So it’s been almost two full years since my last update. I make no apologies, I make no excuses. I got busy at work, then I got busy in life, then I got pregnant, had a baby, and then went back to work (in that order). DEAL WITH IT.

But now, not even three months into the year, everyone is (or should be) holed up inside trying to flatten the curve on this here COVID-19 pandemic we got on our hands. Speaking of hands, WASH YOUR DAMN HANDS PEOPLE. So with everyone stuck inside with nothing to do, but reconnect with ourselves and our loved ones, I’m sure everyone’s looking for recommendations on what to be binge watching. Cue EMDB’s triumphant return!

I’m not going to make any promises about posting regularly because even though I’ll be WFH for the next month at least, there’s still lots of other things to keep me occupied and distracted. You get what you get, and you don’t get upset.

Stay tuned for a list of everything I’ve watched in the two years since I’ve last posted, but that’ll take some time and motivation so here’s something to tide you over in the meantime. To ease back into this, and to get everyone started with their COVID binge watching, here’s a quick list of my recommendations based on what you’re feeling like:

I WANNA ESCAPE THIS CURRENT NIGHTMARE (not too dark or violent, just some good TV)

• SCHITT’S CREEK - NETFLIX (final season airing on Pop TV): A+ jokes, A+ character development. Created by father and son Eugene and Dan Levy and starring them plus Annie Murphy and Catherine O’Hara as a richer than God family who loses it all but finds themselves in the process. Did I mention Catherine O’Hara is in it? Go watch it already

• THE GOOD PLACE - ABC (seasons 1-3 on Netflix): This show is so smart, so funny, so well written and acted. Will make you think about what is life and what is morality (but in a funny way!)

• FLEABAG - AMAZON PRIME: Again some really smart television. Watch this and fall in love with Phoebe Waller-Bridge and then watch her other work (Crashing, Killing Eve)

• I’M SORRY - NETFLIX (airing on TruTV): A mom with the mouth of a sailor. Hm, wonder why I like this show.

• LOVE IS BLIND - NETFLIX: I made an exception to my reality dating show rule and watched this and man, was not disappointed. It is SO weird, especially the first episode, but stick with it and you’ll easily forget about the craziness happening in your own lives right now (even if Jessica’s vocal fry and baby voice make you want to smash the TV and maybe your brain)

• NEXT IN FASHION - NETFLIX: Fashion competition show on Netflix that’s like Project Runway but the challenges are more realistic and the challenges are more grounded in actual fashion than gimmick

• UGLY DELICIOUS (season 2) - NETFLIX: The entire first episode focuses on David Chang preparing to become a father as he discusses with his chef friends how they manage to have families and restaurants. Since I’ve got a little bb now, this episode definitely tugged at my heartstrings. Then the second episode starts out with Padma Lakshmi and again set my heart aflutter. Oh Padma, you my #1 gurl.

• MAKING IT - NBC: I know i’m recommending a lot of reality TV which isn’t really my norm, but there’s a lot of great competition shows and documentaries these days. If I had to think of a competition show I would actually want to participate on, this would be it. Amy Pohler and Nick Offerman host this very sweet, calming, and inspiring crafting competition series that’s basically the arts n craft version of Great British Bake Off except the winner gets actual prize money and just not a cool cake plate

• BLOWN AWAY - NETFLIX: Ok this is yet another reality competition series, but about GLASS BLOWING!! The contestants are some of the most pompous “artists” I’ve ever heard, the drama is wayyyy overplayed, like comically so, and the editing at the end of every episode is so abrupt you’ll think Netflix autostarted the next episode prematurely. But I love it and you will too

• GRACE AND FRANKIE - NETFLIX: Two old gals making their way in this world

• BROAD CITY - COMEDY CENTRAL(? I have difficulty finding this for streaming aside from Hulu): Two young gals making their way in this world

• SEX EDUCATION - NETFLIX: Brilliant performances by a ton of previously unknown young actors. It’s set in a gorgeous English village. Gillian Anderson is in it and looks fantastic. It can be pretty sad in some parts, but such is life

I WANNA SCARE THE SHIT OUTTA MYSELF (these aren’t scary like horror type scary, but they could make you sad or worried, which in itself is kinda scary right now)

• COUNTERPART - STARZ: parallel universes, one of which experienced a major flu epidemic (told ya, scary. BUT SO GOOD)

• WATCHMEN - HBO: Some of the most perfect television ever made. More white supremacists though, just can’t get away from those guys

• THE BOYS - AMAZON PRIME: I put this one right after Watchmen because it’s kind of like that. Think about the actual business of being a superhero and that they can be narcissistic, power hungry, assholes just like anyone else.

• WESTWORLD - HBO: I mean, how could you not watch Westworld. Sexy Robots

• BETTER CALL SAUL - AMC (seasons 1-4 on Netflix): Can get pretty dark at times, but not like Breaking Bad levels of dark.

• KILLING EVE - BBC AMERICA (and HULU): The description from BBC America basically covers it “Two women — equally obsessed with each other — go head to head in an epic game of cat and mouse.” Written by the aforementioned Phoebe Waller-Bridge, just brilliant and suspenseful and dark and funny.

• KIDDING - SHOWTIME: Jim Carrey really blew me away with his performance in this series. He plays a Mr. Rogers type TV show host whose life unravels as he deals with grief and rage. Plus Catherine Keener is in it too

• JACK RYAN - AMAZON PRIME: Jim Halpert fights terrorists, basically. But in all seriousness the show is really good and John Krasinski is excellent in it.

• HUNTERS - AMAZON PRIME: Nazi hunters in the 70s

• MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE - AMAZON PRIME: Parallel universes AND Nazis!

You better watch yo-self, bitches

Hello friends in TV land! I feel like every post I make is going to unfortunately start with "Apologies for the delay," so get used to it

Apologies for the delay! I could lie and say it's been a busy few weeks, but in reality I'm just lazy and have prioritized sleeping and watching TV over writing about it. Plus, I don't really know if anyone reads this so I don't think I'm disappointing that many people..

For those who actually do follow this site, it seems it's most useful in helping decide what you're going to watch next.  To account for that, I've added a new section called "What you should watch."  Clever title, right?  In addition to the Reviews section, this will be a shortlist of shows I'd recommend watching based on your mood.  Go check it out here next time you're scrolling for hours trying to figure out what to watch.

And now, onto what I've been watching since my last post:

NEW VIEWING (listed in order of enjoyment)

• TRANSPARENT (4 seasons, Amazon): This show is fantastic. You should watch all of it immediately.  It focuses on Mort/Maura (Jeffrey Tambor) as a trans-gender woman coming out to her family and navigating life as a trans parent. HA! Get it? TRANS-PARENT! Read more
• GRACE AND FRANKIE (Season 4, Netflix): The most recent season is just as good as the first three, and if you haven't watched of this then you're in for a nice binge. Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda are a comedic duo for the ages, the sharp humor will catch you off guard 
• RITA (Season 4, Netflix): If you haven't heard of this show, I wouldn't be surprised. A badass teacher who only cares about helping her students, regardless of the rules. The only life she can't help is her own...because she's self destructive. It's a Danish show so get ready for subtitles, but so worth it
• TRAVELERS (Season 1 - half of season 2, Netflix): I never had any interest in watching this show whenever it came up on Netflix. Possibly because I didn't like the title art and didn't know what the show was about. Interesting concept set in present day, but time "travelers" who are sent back in time to try and prevent the events that led to humanity's demise. Think 12 monkeys but when you go back in time it transports your consciousness into the body of someone in the 21st century and you take over their life. I binge watched the first season in a day!
• QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY (Season 1, Netflix): This show has the power to bring this country back together. In this reboot, the Fab 5 tours the southern US making over men and breaking down barriers and stereotypes
• THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE (Season 1, Amazon): This show is interesting and overall very good, but I'm having a hard time getting really into it
• ALTERED CARBON (2 episodes, Netflix): What if you could live forever by uploading your consciousness into a new body? This show is confusing, but decent.  The CGI is pretty ridiculous and there's a lot of nudity especially by that evil, hot, young Republican dude from House of Cards.

Travels Through The Amazon (Prime Video Library)

Aloha and Mahalo for reading! I'm going through withdrawals from my recent Hawaiian vacation so bear with me.

Sorry for the extended delay, but like I warned before, I have a short attention span. That being said, just because I was quiet, doesn't mean I wasn't busy!

Since my last post, I made a major dent in the Amazon portion of my to-do list:

CONTINUED VIEWING

• THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL (episodes 5-8)

NEW VIEWING

• MOZART IN THE JUNGLE (3 seasons): Gael Garcia Bernal is such a pocket sized dreamboat in this delightful series about the New York Symphony and how their uptight attitude gets a shakeup when he becomes their new maestro.  Beautiful people and music, think How The NY Symphony Gets Its Groove Back

• THE NIGHT MANAGER (mini series, 6 episodes): SPIES! Aryan Loki and Evil House M.D. face off in a desert game of cat and blonde mouse. The cast must have had a requirement of being at least 6-feet tall unless your character’s name is Corkie.

• THE AMERICANS (season 2): MORE SPIES! More really hot spies, but in the 70s instead of the desert.

• PHILIP K DICK’S ELECTRIC DREAMS (episodes 1-4): There’s lots of tech that goes onto your face and transports you into different realities. Lots of “ohhhh I get it” moments, but just something kind of “meh” to me about the episodes so far. For better or worse I don’t feel haunted by it like with Black Mirror

• GOLIATH (episodes 1-2): Billy Bob Thorton stars in this show and when I first put it on the convo with the hubby went as such:

Hubs: What is this? Bad Santa 2?

Me: No, he’s an alcoholic down on his luck attorney.

Hubs: Oh. Bad Lawyer 1.

Pretty much

• SNEAKY PETE (episodes 1-2): Two white dudes look enough like each other for one guy to con the other guy's family into thinking he’s the other guy. The one guy, the con guy, he’s really sneaky. But his name isn't Pete, that's actually the other guy. The guy who isn't that sneaky. Or maybe he is, I'm not sure yet, I only watched two episodes.

As you can maybe deduce from the list, I charged through Maisel, Mozart, and Night Manager because I loved all three! Congrats, you’ve all had some very good recommendations so far, keep ‘em coming!

I slowed my pace a bit and made some progress in The Americans (Keri Russell girl crush I never thought I’d have) and watched a few episodes of Electric Dreams, but like I mentioned it couldn’t hold my attention like Black Mirror.

Then I took a dip into Goliath, but either for lack of interest or energy I didn’t feel like watching past the first two episodes so back down the queue it goes for now.  Got off to a promising start to Sneaky Pete last night before heading to bed, but putting a pin in that to finally start Transparent today!

Mickey, Morty, and Maisel

Happy Friday/Saturday Y'all!

Thanks everyone for all the show recommendations! My to-do list is now even longer, but it's okay, I'm a strong confident woman, I got this *insert meme*

Had a very productive Thursday night and started crossing something off my to-do list; The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel!  Before I turned on the XBox to access our Amazon Prime account (thank you Lord Bezos for the many blessings you bestow upon us) I caught up on the latest episode of The Mick and re-watched some Rick and Morty until I mustered the energy to change TV inputs.

Now that I've opened the Amazon video floodgates, Man in the High Castle, Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle, The Night Manager, Fortitude, and Sneaky Pete just moved up in the queue...holy shit that's a lot of TV

Onto the reviews!

CONTINUED VIEWING

• THE MICK: The most recent episode was not that good, and it's lost a bit of its shine versus the first season. But damn, when it's funny, it's like almost spit take funny.  For fans of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, this show is basically if Sweet Dee was raising rich kids.  Worth watching the first season for sure, and has some really bright spots in season 2 but it's pretty inconsistent.

REPEAT VIEWING

• RICK AND MORTY (2 episodes)

NEW VIEWING

• THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL (4 episodes): I. Love. It. I was a huge fan of Gilmore Girls when it originally aired, and even though I have a lot of issues with that series upon reflection, I had high expectations for this show from the same creators.  I've got a couple more episodes to finish so I'll save my full thoughts until then.  

Weeknight (parks and) recreation

Fell into an unplanned Parks and Recreation binge last night and somehow completed Season 4 by watching episodes 8 through 22...and then slid into Season 5 a lil bit

At this rate, instead of checking something off my to do list, it feels like the right time to explain why Parks and Recreation is so binge-able.  I envy you if you haven't already watched the entire series.

But before I get into that, a quote from the Season 4 finale (aired in 2012) that is still eerily pertinent.  Without context, it's hard to tell if this is from a sitcom or Virginia 

"I will certify the results after all the precincts have reported. A final tally within 1% would trigger an automatic recount.

In the event of an exact tie, the seat is awarded to the male candidate, and the female candidate is put in jail."

Now back to the reasons why Parks N Rec is always on my list...

PARKS AND RECREATION (2009-2015)

It's one of the most consistently funny series given it ran for 125 episodes and luckily managed to retain its core cast through the entirety of the series.  Just as importantly, the show doesn't fall apart when a few major characters do depart and the few additional characters they bring on feel fully developed and integral in the story.  Although the show focuses on the progression of the main character, Leslie Knope, the relationships with and between the supporting characters are complex and only strengthen over time.  By the end all their storylines are fully developed so in the final season their fates feel organic and well deserved and not tacked on like a bow.

I hate to keep comparing it to The Office, but seeing as they ran on the same night for 4 years, it's near impossible.  Parks N Rec avoids all the problems I have with The Office and its characters by keeping its overall positive vibe every episode, but also in the following ways (you can start to deduce the problems I have with The Office, but that'll be in a later post)

• The core characters are never competitive with or jealous of each other. Of course there's lot of interpersonal conflict and competition from external forces, but the characters deal with their conflict directly and challenges presented only serve to galvanize the core team

  • The one debbie downer of the group was the initial love interest/Jim Halpert character, Mark. He was always too snarky compared to everyone else so when he did attempt to be genuine he just sounded kind of like a boring dick.  He was replaced with Adam Scott and Rob Lowe's characters towards the end of Season 2 which is when the series really stepped up its game

• The characters evolve and grow their careers and lives together as genuine friends who support each other

• The characters are actually very competent at their jobs and care about the success of their department

• All the characters are equally goofy and no one is judged for that goofiness

• Nothing overly dark or tragic befalls the characters

The main story arc follows Leslie's rise from local to federal government and the challenges she faces as a competent woman working in a world of rampant misogyny and overall lack of civic engagement from the town she loves so dearly. Since it originally aired from 2009 to 2015, it premiered at the beginning of the Obama presidency and ended before we started descending into the current madness we are trying to wake from.  It stands as a time capsule for an optimistic period where it seemed like the good guy or gal actually would win and everyone finds success and happiness.

But with the recent groundswell of feminism and the unprecedented number of women running and winning office, the show takes on a renewed relevance. Maybe now, more than ever before, we as a nation need to be binge watching a universe where people rally behind an intelligent, compassionate, and competent female and the world is better for it.

Watch from beginning to end, friends, it’ll make you feel good, I promise.

Runaway start to the year

Got home from work tonight and tried to jump back into Season 1 of The Path after a several month departure from it.  Spent about 10 mins playing the "Previously On..." recaps and not understanding or recalling WTF was going on before landing on the episode I could last remember.  And then I wasn't in the mood to watch a semi-menacing show about a cult so I changed it to the latest two episodes of Runaways!

*Note: this is why The Path still remains on my to-do list*

NEW VIEWING

• RUNAWAYS: This is a great new sci-fi, action, comedy, teen, drama (ok, so it's got a bit of everything) on Hulu set in the Marvel universe, although how it's connected to that universe is TBD as of now. Really diverse cast, solid acting and character development all around, although I guess I'm old because I can't tell if high school kids are just way more socially conscious than I ever was at that age, or the writers are making the characters super woke...

REPEAT VIEWING

• PARKS AND RECREATION SEASON 4 (7 episodes)

NON TRACKED PROGRAMMING: PBS NEWS HOUR-We recently cut down on channel selection and increased our wifi speed instead so we lost access to cable news. It's been a soothing change to catch up on current events with PBS News Hour instead. Objective and calm reporting with minimal to no digital effects/breaking news tickers/don lemon asking guests, "thoughts?"

New year same old TV addiction

Happy 2018 everyone! It's long been a goal of mine to document all the television I watch and I figured this was the year to start.  My mental archive of my lifetime TV history is still incomplete so that list is still a work in progress. But I hope to post regularly starting today on what I'm watching as to have a comprehensive record from here on out!

So to kick off the new year, today I watched the following programming:

NEW VIEWING

• THE TOYS THAT MADE US: Four part series about the history of some of the biggest toys in history like: Star Wars, Barbie, GI Joe, HE-MAN. Very entertaining watch and fascinating how much of our childhoods and gender roles were defined through calculated commercial decisions by toy companies and designers. I binge watched all four.

REPEAT VIEWING

• RICK AND MORTY
• THE OFFICE 

NON TV PROGRAMMING WATCHED: Dunkirk, The Founder, Dave Chappelle: Equanimity and The Bird Revelations