#but no. i get stuck with this criminal minds stranger things and the witcher

[olives-and-sunshine]

liking prodigal son is so hard sometimes. cause i wanna watch the show but every episode is heavy in at least some regard. like i just wanna have a silly goofy time and relax, not be worried about malcolm as he falls out a window. again.

why do they always have to be putting malcolm in situations? why can't we have a beach episode.?

[if-music-be-the-food-of-love]

What tv shows do you think Robbe and Sander binge watch on Netflix?

I am so utterly unqualified to answer this. 😳😂I can’t even—I mean I almost never watch what other people are watching, and I always show up way too late, like years after the show ended (I kinda need to know how it ends before I’m willing to spend the time on it; probably why skam appeals to me). I also prefer movies bc tv shows get cancelled or don’t follow logical plot or character progressions and end up hurting, angering, or disappointing me (case in point: wtfock).

BUT, I will give it a try. The only thing we know for sure is that Robbe watches Elite. So here goes…

When season 3 of Elite came out, Robbe convinced Sander to binge the whole series with him. Sander calls Omander by the 2nd episode, and he actually gasps and whispers, “no,” when they found out what happened at the pool. He secretly likes Guzman even tho his toxic masculinity can be a bit much. By season 3 he’s as in love with him as Nadia. When it’s over, he turns to Robbe and says, “you know this show is seriously messed up, right?” Robbe shrugs and says, “tell me you didn’t enjoy it?” And Sander just rolls his eyes and kisses him bc yeah, he did like it.

They’ve definitely watched Sex Education. Multiple times Robbe has to cover his eyes and cower in secondhand embarrassment, and Sander just howls, trying to peel his fingers off of his face. They’re both crazy about Jackson and would protect Eric at all costs (personal side note: French Horn rep, yeah!!!). They also yelled at the tv at the end of season two when Maeve and Otis don’t get their shit together. Sander couldn’t stop whining about how long they had to wait for the next season, and if they put it off another season he was going to boycott. Robbe makes fun of him for throwing a dramatic tantrum but secretly agrees.

They watched The Umbrella Academy as soon as it came out bc Sander had to know why there was a talking chimpanzee. Robbe was intrigued by the premise. Neither of them have a favorite character bc it changes all the time. Sander much prefers Diego’s season 2 look, and Robbe brushes back his long hair and rubs his hand over his several days of stubble and jokes, “I wonder why?” Sander teases that he sometime feels like “Five,” the old man stuck hanging out with younger idiots, but when Robbe attacks him and tickles him until they fall onto the floor, he takes it back and mumbles something unintelligible about the Broerrrs obviously being super mature.

They watched The Witcher bc of all the hype, and about halfway through, Robbe turns to Sander and says, “you know, I’m really not that into muscles. I mean, they’re not bad, but like, I dunno, they’re just not my thing.” Sander smiles at him teasingly and says, “oh I don’t know, I quite like muscles.” When Robbe frowns at him, Sander qualifies it by grabbing Robbe’s arm and then running his hands over his shoulders, back, and chest. “I like these muscles.” “San, you know I meant big muscles,” he whines back. Sander ignores him and removes his shirt, and they miss the rest of the episode. Neither of them care.

Sander convinced Robbe to watch The Dark Crystal, and he spent the whole series marveling and commenting on all the puppets and costumes and how amazing everything was, visually stunning, just beautifully done. Robbe expected to hate it, but ended up wanting a 2nd season more than Sander.

They’ve definitely watched Breaking Bad, Stranger Things, and Tiger King. Also, bc Robbe liked Elite, and it’s basically a sexed up murder mystery, I would think that maybe he’d like shows like Mindhunters, NCIS, or Criminal Minds. But Sander doesn’t, so after several nights of Robbe putting one on before bed, Sander asks him to stop bc they give him nightmares—just too creepy and realistic.

Robbe immediately changed tack, and instead they binged Young Wallander, Lupin, and Sherlock as a compromise. They are currently watching Zero.

[jclynne]

Epic Problems

  I’m back at it. It’s been a while. Writing writing writing. That’s what I do. Well, I get stuck doing the laundry and cleaning the house, but writing is where I’m supposed to be spending my time.

  The holidays are over. All of the offspring have launched, so now it’s just the dogs and me. And the cats. Oh, and The Beard.

  We spent a lot of time reading and binge-watching. Epic storytelling is the rage.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but I have a superpower. It’s more of an evil superpower. If I love a show, it will die. No kidding.

Shows I Love:

    Firefly

  Fringe

  Life (with Damien Lewis)

  Almost Human

  If it’s witty, cutting, and a little dark with excellent writing and a fantastic cast, I’ll kill it. So much so that when friends began their GOT addiction, they begged me NOT to watch it.

  Of course, if a show is slightly inane, completely ridiculous, and beyond most reason, it will never die. No matter how much I watch it.

Shows I Love to Mock:

    Criminal Minds

  NCIS

  Bones (though to be fair that one did recently end)

  Numb3rs (this one did eventually end as well)

  This evil superpower doesn’t actually apply to the written word. Those epic story arcs take care of themselves. Usually, through writer’s block, terminal illness, or what I call ‘ghost writeritis.’

  Ghost writeritis is the feeling that because a series is so long, the original author has passed the torch to someone who keeps churning out novels, so the cash cow keeps producing. I’ll let you decide which of your favorites you feel fall into this category. I know of at least two.

  The writer’s block needs no explanation, nor does the terminal illness. Note in the case of death, a sponsored writer finishing up the series doesn’t fit the ghostwriter scenario.

  I started out reading GOT at the recommendation of a friend in 2010. I quickly arrived at A Dance with Dragons well before the HBO series.

  I’m also a Wheel of Time reader, as is The Beard. Well, most of it anyway. That one I discovered in 1987 and anxiously waited for each new novel to be released. I stopped with Knife of Dreams, book eleven, and the last book Robert Jordan completed before succumbing to cardiac amyloidosis.

  We purchased twelve, thirteen, and fourteen for continuity sake, but haven’t cracked them open more on principle than anything else.

  Both epic series have similar problems. They both include novels that don’t provide any forward movement in the plot. If you are part of the GOT or WOT world readers, you know exactly what I mean. I’m not naming names, but at least two of the published GOT novels don’t offer much, and one even takes us BACK to the same events from another perspective.

  WOT has at least two maybe three (this is a debate that comes up any time WOT is a topic of discussion) novels that don’t offer anything besides a page count and a book sale.

  These novels fall into the cash cow category. Rabid readers (I’m one of them) are clamoring for more, but epics take time, so to fulfill the publishers’ needs, one of those filler books is offered to calm the horde.

  More controversy ensues when the projects become developed for television. HBO rocked GOT (I’m only going on hearsay here as I promised not to watch it until it came to a natural end, and now I’m not so sure I’m interested in watching it based on the finale failure).

  Mainly because there is no shortage of terrific things to watch nowadays, if you haven’t blown through The Witcher, I don’t know what rock you were under.

  I’m carefully metering episodes of The Expanse, a series only The Beard read, but mostly rocking it. (Though if Holden cries one more time, I might vomit.)

  I’m going to go back and give Lost in Space another shot. But daring fire and pitchforks, I really do wish Stranger Things would wrap it up.

  Here’s what I like, a series either book or television that tells a great story without all of the fluff in say, six episodes/books or less. I’m a literature professor, I like trilogies (shameless plug for The Esau Continuum here), but that’s not to say it’s a binding rule.

  Person of Interest wrapped things up in five seasons. The BBC’s Sherlock is a neat and tidy four seasons. Sure, they could squeeze in a fifth, but I’m happy where it landed. Sure, American Horror Story sometimes misses the mark for me, but I love the story switch each season. Granted, I think they are reaching the dry end of the well, but Ryan Murphy is offering us Feud and American Crime Story.

  If you’re a writer, a querying, pitching writer, you are feeling it as much as I am. The pressure to have a ‘sure thing.’ The demand to have a ‘strong’ platform. Which is fine if you’re one of those 15-minute of fame people, but the rest of us are trying to tell a good story.

  If you haven’t fallen for The Child or Baby NOT Yoda, you have no heart.

                      I may be stepping out of the ‘super SciFi geek’ rules, but I don’t need another Skywalker story. Okay, I am loving The Mandolorian, and Baby Yoda is one of the reasons. Yes, I am considering a CBS All Access pass to catch Picard. I think I could get into Tell Me A Story and Why Women Kill. I’ve heard good things about Star Trek: Discovery.

  But, I’m more interested in Avenue 5 or Locke and Key. And while I thought I was Marveled-out, Black Widow has me excited again.

  Here’s the news if you haven’t heard, WOT is being developed by Amazon. This could be AMAZING, particularly if they learn from HBO’s mistakes. They are already ahead of the curve, the series is complete.

  Epic Problems was originally published on JC Lynne