Belinda's Crafts

In reflecting on 2016, I have thought about a lot of things but one thing that I thought would be fun to share with you was my binge watching shows on Netflix. First, you need to know that I don’t watch television during primetime (with the exception of football). I have a few shows that I watch on-demand typically on my lunch break.  Part of the reason is I don’t watch much TV is I don’t have time.  I also don’t watch television before bed anymore and opt for reading my fantastic collection of books.  Frankly, I don’t care for much of the shows I see on television.

We’ve had Netflix for what seems like forever. When we first got our membership we really took advantage of getting the DVDs sent home and the kids even picked selections for our movie nights.  Somewhere along the way, we stopped selecting DVD options and I began to really love watching the streaming shows.  I haven’t rented a DVD in I don’t know how long.  I often watch on my Kindle during my lunch break. So I thought I’d share a few of my favorites from 2016 that can’t be coming back or kept me pushing ‘next episode’.

The first would be Mozart in the Jungle: I heard about that show on one of my NPR podcasts that I subscribe to and went and checked it out and never looked back. The show focuses on a New York symphony orchestra and the soundtrack is beyond amazing. I could Watch the show simply just to listen to the soundtrack but the story itself is really interesting. It follows this a handful of orchestra members and their maestro. But it gives you a cool inside look at the life of a person that’s a member of the symphony, the inside politics and gives you a deeper appreciation for not only their talent and perseverance and their ability to show up even when times are sometimes unpleasant and unsure. You get to watch the characters lives unfold while experiencing the most amazing music.

The next one is called Grace and Frankie. I can’t remember where I heard about this one I think it might’ve just been a notice from Netflix of new shows. This show features the talented Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. Need I say more? The show is about how they deal with the sudden announcement that their husbands fall in love with each other and want to divorce them. But it’s a lot more than that and the casting is brilliant. They do a great job of balancing serious scenes and injecting loads of humor. It will have you laughing at times but it will also make you think. I never watch just one episode at a time that’s how good it was. There are two seasons of it and I’m hoping that they’ll renew for a third season.

The next one is called Stranger Things. I think I heard about this one on a podcast and it sounded like a throw-back show similar to the movie Goonies or E.T. the type of show with a bunch of young boys that ride bikes, play games similar to Dungeons and Dragons (this will definitely date me if mentioning Goonies wasn’t enough). The filming it’s so cool because it actually looks like it shot in the 80s. The clothes the kids wear and even how they talk is so eighties. The story is about how one of the boys goes missing and we find out that it’s some type of being or some type of experiments that some secret agency may have created that have caused the disappearance. The focus is to find out what happened to him. I can’t say more for fear of spoiling it. It’s a bizarre show in many ways but it works. Winona Ryder plays the mother of the missing boy and she’s brilliant. I couldn’t stop watching and I’m really excited to know that they have renewed it for another season.

The next show that I watch was Luke Cage (by Marvel). I heard about this show from my oldest son who doesn’t watch it because it is a bit more mature for him but he’s read the comic books with this character. There are not many black superhero characters in Marvel so I thought I would give it a shot. First, I really enjoyed the soundtrack for this show – it’s funky old school R&B with jazz undertones. All I know it always has me bopping my head every time it came on. However I think because I’m a big Game of Thrones fan and I watch a lot of Roman Empire inspired movies, I am a bit more desensitized to some of the violence.  But if you can get past that, it’s a really good superhero show.  Season one has been completed and I believe there is a season two to be aired soon.

My final show I would like to share with you is Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. This was one of my absolute favorite shows that I enjoyed binge watching. It’s an Australian production. Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries revolves around the personal and professional life of Phryne Fisher, a glamorous private detective in the 1920s. It is based on the novels by Kerry Greenwood. I have not read them but will be picking up some this year to see how close they stayed to the character. Phyrne is a real bad-ass heroine. But she does it with so much style and grace. There is so much to love about this show. Just watch and you will see. You won’t be able to watch just one episode per viewing and the cast is brilliant.

So those are a few of my binge-worthy shows I watched last year that I feel are worth a peek. Did you binge watch any shows on Netflix or Amazon? If so I love recommendations.

Did you binge watch any shows on Netflix or Amazon? If so I love recommendations. Have a wonderful weekend!

Belinda