Netflix Time Wasters, Sherlock

A friend of mine recently began a campaign to get as many friends as possible to watch the BBC crime drama, Sherlock. She practically took up a part-time job of promoting the show and having viewing parties to ensure that her friends were indeed watching. Since this friend has proved herself to have great taste in television, I went along to one of these viewing problems parties to see for myself what the big deal was.

The show is a modern day remake of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle detective, Sherlock Holmes, and his friend Dr. John Watson. Described as "A New Slueth For The 21st Century," the show follows Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) as he works with Scotland Yard's detective Lestrade. Watson (Martin Freeman) is an Afghan war veteran who immediately forms a partnership with the sociopath Holmes, despite being advised otherwise by a Scotland Yard officer. Just as before portrayed, the duo work together to determine who and/or what is behind some of London's biggest crimes.

The show just finished airing its second series on BBC and is renewed for a third, and potentially final season, to air in 2013. The first series, which consists of three, one and a half hour episodes, is available on Netflix. The second series will air in America on PBS in Spring 2012. The benefit of having less episodes per series is that the content is concentrated rather than dissipated, and thus you are forced to pay attention to the details.

I hate to sound un-American, but the British really are much better at creating series that are thoughtful, intelligent, and captivating. Add to that the fact that British actors are just on a totally different level in terms of skill and character development, and it becomes very obvious that this show is well deserving of the 2011 BAFTA award fro Best Drama Series.

Check it out! And, if you are fans of The Lord of the Rings, get excited because both Cumberbatch (Holmes) and Freeman (Watson) will be in the new Hobbit films. Of course, Freeman might already be familiar to some for his role as John, the porn photo-double, on Love Actually.

Netflix Time Wasters, The Wonder Years

Oh little Kevin Arnold and Winnie Cooper, how your 12-year-old romance makes me smile.

A few weeks ago, I discovered The Wonders Years had been added to Netflix's Instant Queue. I immediately celebrated.

I forgot how much I love Fred Savage, and how great this show is until I started watching it again on Netflix. The Winnie and Kevin young love is just too adorable at times. Fortunately, romance aside, the show is a great reflection of how I imagine the late 1960s and early 1970s to be. From Kevin's hippie older sister to his stern and unsmiling father, everything about this show is charming and quaint. In fact, I imagine that, had I grown up in the 1960s/1970s, my family would look very much the same.

Here is how I see it: my older and younger sisters would be hippies (despite the general typecasting of me as the hippie in this family) because they are rebellious and quirky, respectively, which fits Karen Arnold; my older and younger brother are stellar in the role of pestering and annoying brother, so they were really made for the role of Wayne Arnold; my dad was raised in the military so he can successfully play stern and he rarely smiles, he is like a modern day Jack Arnold; lastly, as a teacher in California, my mom is currently unemployed so she is getting great practice as the stay-at-home mom/wife, hello Mrs. Arnold! Obviously, I'd be a female version of Kevin because this is my life so only I could have the starring the role. It'd be like if Winnie were Kevin and then Kevin were Winnie.

I forget what my point was with that last bit...To conclude, The Wonders Years is one show definitely worthy of consuming your evenings before bed and your freetime on the weekends.

Netflix Time Wasters, Eureka

A few years ago I found myself unemployed and spending a whole lot of time in front of the TV. This mostly consisted of CSI marathons on Spike, but then one day I happened upon a Eureka marathon on Syfy network and my life has never been the same.

The show is part sci-fi, part drama, part comedy, and ALL wonderful. Per the shows IMDb page, the show is about a northwestern town where: "The best minds in the US are tucked away in a remote town where they build futuristic inventions for the government's benefit." The show can make anything happen, no matter how absurd, because sci-fi shows have the priviledge of being beyond what we think is real. I get really frustrated when regular shows (or movies) try and sell me a story-line that is NEVER gonna happen in real life, but when a sci-fi show feeds me that I eat it all up and enjoy it.

In the show, former US Marshal Jack Carter (played by Colin Ferguson) serves as the sheriff of the small town where seldom a week goes by without something crazy happening. He also is the lone "normal" person in the town. With an I.Q. of just 111, Carter is the dumbest person in the town of geniuses and yet he manages to save the town everytime. I just realized, he is kind of like a superhero. While everyone else uses logic and brains, Carter uses guts to solve a problem. He is constantly putting the towns safety over his own because his duty is to the people first. Very admirable.

Aside: Colin Ferguson who plays Sheriff Jack Carter was in the American re-make of fellow Netflix Time Waster, Coupling.

The show is Syfy's greatest hit (that is total opinion, although the ratings do suggest it is doing pretty well). Currently wrapping up season 4.5 on Syfy, the latest season has boasted an incredible list of guest stars, including: Wil Wheaton, Felicia Day, Stan Lee, Dave Foley, Wallace Shawn (Inconceivable!), and Ming-Na.

Unfortunately, the cost of production now exceeds the profit, and thus the show was recently cancelled. The silver lining to that utterly horrible news is that there are still 13 episodes for season 5 plus a partially animated Christmas episode which have been filmed but not yet aired.

Weeks before the network announced the shows cancellation, I had the dream come true of seeing some of the stars and creator at Comic-Con in Ballroom 20.

Colin Ferguson (Jack Carter), Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Allison Blake), and Neil Grayston (Fargo) at the Eureka panel at SDCC 2011

Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Allison Blake), Neil Grayston (Fargo), Wil Whaton (Isaac Parrish), and Felicia Day (Holly Marten) at the Eureka panel at SDCC 2011


This show basically opened up the door for me and sci-fi, and helped solidify my standing in the world of nerdiness and for that I am grateful. I mean, I loved Space Cases as a kid so I think sci-fi was always gonna be a part of my life, but I denied it for years until this show. Plus, after I started watching it I found out quite a few of my friends watch it which means it is obvi a great show.

For now, I suggest you spend some time watching seasons 1-3 on Netflix, then catch a season 4 marathon so that when season 5 starts up next year you can join me in mourning the cancellation/celebrating the shows life.

Netflix Time Wasters, Coupling

Once upon a time, TV watching was done on the TV. These days TV and movie watching is done instantly on Netflix and the world is a better place as a result. My social life might suck, but that is an opportunity cost I'm willing to take. Besides, I'm meeting all kinds of new people as a result of Netflix, they are just fictional which is one step up from imaginary so I think I'm doing alright.

Let me take this time to introduce you to some of the great people I'm meeting on Netflix. To begin, meet the characters of Coupling (U.K. edition): Steve Taylor, Susan Walker, Jeff Murdock, Sally Harper, Patrick Maitland, and Jane Christie.

Coupling was suggested to me via Netflix, Netflix is so good at recommending shows to me, it is kind of scary. Not only does this show feature British actors equipped with accents, but it also falls in the category of British Comedy which I am discovering to be quite fantastic. It is like a British version of Friends, but with only 4 series (U.K. for seasons) and a total of 28 episodes, it moves quickly and thus feels a little bit more fulfilling (you know how U.S. shows will just drag on and on, the writers making us suffer, U.K. writers are much more kind to their viewers). Steve is a mix of Chandler and Ross, Susan is Monica (kind of the leader of the group), Jeff is an extreme version of Joey only without Joey's skills with the lady (Jeff is so NOT a ladies-man), Sally is a more uptight version of Rachel, Patrick is actually a bit of Joey (total ladies-man), and Jane is all the ditz of Pheobe but with a total ego-complex. Only, those comparisons should not be taken literally because the show is not just a copy of Friends, it definitely holds its own.

The first three series were great, I'm on the fourth series right now and it gets a little weird with a lot dream sequences and the departure of Jeff Murdock, but I'm still laughing loudly and disrupting my mom as she watches actual TV (I suppose it is more difficult for older people to break the habit).

Check it out, and stay tuned for more to watch on Netflix.