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To Binge or Not to Binge,
That Is The Streaming Question
by Sandra Olmsted
With the 4th comes steamy weather, and with the 4th falling in the middle of the week, most are either off the entire week for vacation or only getting a day or maybe two off at best. So, binge-watching, which I just taught my 91-year-old mom to do, seems a good option. Here are my favorite series to binge watch, some of them over and over. What to binge seems more important.
I simply cannot get enough of Amazon Prime’s The Last Tycoon, which they brilliantly adapt by opening up the story with more historical context and character development than F. Scott Fitzgerald has a chance to put in his unfinished novel. Against the backdrop of the Depression and the rising threat of Hitler, Monroe Stahr (Matt Bomer), the boy wonder of Brady American, and his boss and partner, Pat Brady (Kelsey Grammar), struggle with life, love, and keeping the studio afloat.
While their lives, loves, and relationships intertwine is shocking ways, Pat insists his wife Rose (Rosemarie DeWitt) plays bridge and his daughter Celia (Lily Collins) stays out of the movie business. Celia dreams of making movies and Monroe, who falls for Kathleen (Dominique McElligott). To complicate the plot, writer/director Billy Ray adds Szep (Koen De Bouw), the studio fixer with a cruel streak; Max Miner (Mark O’Brien), a Hooverville Okie with siblings to support, and Aubrey Hackett (Aubrey Hackett), a soft-hearted writer. Excellent acting, writing, and production design of the 1930s sets and fashions. If I had a dime for every time I’ve watched an episode . . .
Netflix’s Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries is another of my favorites. My mom and I love the 1920s clothes, the Melbourne sets, and the fabulous Phryne Fisher (Essie Davis), of course, who is a superhero of sorts. She’s fearless, can handle any social or crime fighting situation, and has a bit of scandalous past. She also has tons of money, great clothes, a fast car, a gorgeous mansion, and a maid, Dot (Ashleigh Cummings), who can get blood out of anything! But will she ever get her man, Detective Jack Robinson (Nathan Page)? This Australian TV series is so popular, that three movies are now in production to solve the cliffhangers at the end of the third season!
Here are several others I love: Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is set in 1950s New York and stars Rachel Brosnahan as Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel, whose perfect life falls apart, and she embarks on a career as stand-up comic. Netflix’s Anne with an E is a more psychological adaptation of Anne of Green Gables and is actually closer to the original. Netflix’s Lost in Space updates the 1960s TV show with a number of plot twists, including a female Dr. Smith. All these binges have excellent performances and exceptional sets and costumes.
To binge is like getting to eat the same bowl of popcorn over and over, and all these finely crafted series offer rewards — rather than consequences — when watched multiple times because each viewing reveals the depth and layers from the fine writing and directing.
