I am a recent "cable cutter" so I'm only using streaming platforms to view media. Yep, I'm kinda old... so, here's what I have been watching this week:
10. Grey's Anatomy - a few seasons streaming on Hulu
This show is produced by Showrunner Shonda Rhimes and her producing partner Betsey Beers. They are the powerhouse team behind Shondaland, where a TCF alum interned last summer (yep, I'm jealous too)! This show is a bit dramatic and soapy but the storylines and dialog are well-researched and come from headlines and medical journals. I am in love with the characters and will ride with them through every plane crash, car crash, crisis and armed gunman in the hospital.
I am missing Christina Yang and the presence of more Asian-American actors on-screen so here's one of a fan created video of Grey's moments called "you will always be my person":
9. ER - every episode is streaming on Hulu
My first obsession with medical dramas was ER which was part of NBC's "Must-see TV" on Thursday nights. I used to watch this with my Mom while I was in high school. You can now stream all 15 seasons and 331 episodes on Hulu!
This show was born of the creative genius of novelist and medical Dr. Michael Crichton and was produced by Amblin Television and Warner Brothers. This is the longest-running medical drama in primetime television history. This fictional telling of Chicago General featured a multicultural cast that starred folks like George Clooney, Eric LaSalle and Julianna Marguiles. If you have never watched this show and like this genre of television, go back and watch them all!
Here's the opening credits that introduces you to all of the characters.
8. Stranger Things - streaming on Netflix
I love the science fiction meets horror show created and showrun by the Duffer Brothers. Set in the fictional Hawkins, Indiana and filmed on location in Georgia, this show shares what it was like to be a child coming of age in the 1980s but when strange things happen. There is great cinematography and camera work on this show. Like with many sci-fi and horror stories, it's as much about what you can see and what's lurking around the dark corner, especially when the lights flicker.
Here's the trailer:
7. Grace and Frankie - streaming on Netflix
Old ladies with potty mouths - what's not to love? And yes, Frankie is my spirit animal!
This show comes from Mara Kaufman, one of the brilliant minds behind Friends. This show stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as unlikely friends brought together when their husbands announce they are divorcing them to marry each other. The show is a comedy that follows broadcast conventions but is shot single camera and the jokes are raw and storylines go there... this is not your mama's sitcom, well maybe it is, if your mama is like me!
6. Star - streaming on Netflix
This show is sort of so bad and melodramatic it's good. Stylistically it's like a television drama meets music video that is modeled like the Fox show Empire. It stars Queen Latifah, who I adore, and three young singer-actors who are doing anything and everything they can to try to climb the ladder to stardom. It's cheesy and cringe-worthy at parts and amazing all at the same time. I get these girls and think they really do live somewhere in Atlanta.
Here's the show's season one trailer:
A here's a taste of the "music videos" in the show with "I Bring Me" which is the opening credits theme song. It's cheesy but so good in all the wrong ways. I love this show!
My favorite thing is this blog about every wig that Miss Carlotta (Queen's character) has worn on the show... the styling on this show is hilarious and incredible!
5. The Fosters - old episodes are on Netflix and it airs Freeform
This is another soapy teen drama show with a queer twist. From showrunners Peter Paige and Bradley Bredeweg, which is produced by Jennifer Lopez and her Nuyorican Productions.
The story follows Callie and her little brother Jude, who get adopted by the queer Moms of the Adams-Foster family. Jude is gay and has really progressive storylines, including a trans boyfriend for Callie in a more recent season. Free Form, the company that ABC Family transFORMed into (you get it, huh?) is soapy teen dramas but with a softer and more contemporary feel.
My summer in LA class visited the set and it was AMAZING to sit on their couch, which I may kinda sorta have done quickly. Also the actor who plays Lena has waved to me... twice. The actor who plays Jude stopped and talked to us during our tour & Fun fact: the actor who plays Brandon Foster was my hallway neighbor the C&IS IN LA class. I maybe sorta took my trash out whenever I heard his voice in the hallway.
The story follows Callie and her little brother Jude, who get adopted by the queer Moms of the Adams-Foster family. Jude is gay and has really progressive storylines, including a trans boyfriend for Callie in a more recent season. Free Form, the company that ABC Family transFORMed into (you get it, huh?) is soapy teen dramas but with a softer and more contemporary feel.
My summer in LA class visited the set and it was AMAZING to sit on their couch, which I may kinda sorta have done quickly. Also the actor who plays Lena has waved to me... twice. The actor who plays Jude stopped and talked to us during our tour & Fun fact: the actor who plays Brandon Foster was my hallway neighbor the C&IS IN LA class. I maybe sorta took my trash out whenever I heard his voice in the hallway.
4. Weeds - streaming on Netflix
One of my favorite showrunners is Jenji Kohan who wrote and produced this Netflix original. She is also the mind behind Orange is the New Black and as exec producer of G.L.O.W. (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling).
Her work is dark comedy that features mostly high-key lighting because you should be able to laugh at the absurdity of life in suburbia and life in prison.I've been called Nancy Botwin, just without the dealing... but I love me some Starbucks with a straw!
One of my favorite showrunners is Jenji Kohan who wrote and produced this Netflix original. She is also the mind behind Orange is the New Black and as exec producer of G.L.O.W. (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling).
Her work is dark comedy that features mostly high-key lighting because you should be able to laugh at the absurdity of life in suburbia and life in prison.I've been called Nancy Botwin, just without the dealing... but I love me some Starbucks with a straw!
3. The End of the F***ing World - streaming on Netflix
This is a really clever British dark comedy that is also dramatic. It's a British television series that is based on the comic series The End of the Fucking World by Charles S. Forsman. The story follows the awkward and unlikely pairing of a high school boy who believes himself to be a serial killer in the making - he reminds me of a young Dexter, which is another show that I loved! So this sociopathic teenager meets angsty Alyssa and the two escape their boring yet tumultuous home lives and find them selves in trouble.
2. Chasing Coral - streaming on Netflix
I spent 100+ days living on the ocean teaching on a voyage around the world. I also spent 150+ hour of my sabbatical volunteering at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California. I love the ocean and am passionate learning about it. This is an incredibly shot doc. There is a scene in the film about the challenges of shooting this --- it is a much-watch doc!
1. The 13TH - streaming on Netflix
This documentary is directed by Ava DuVernay who is a brilliant filmmaker who was also the featured filmmaker at our very first Black Warrior Film Festival. After visiting us, she hired several of our students who continue to work with her today... ask about this in class!x
If you haven't seen this film, WATCH IT! It's tough to learn about this side of our country, but it is important, and the cinematography is BRILLIANT. Kira Kelly is my new favorite DP and one of the most talented women cinematographers on the rise.
... & up next in my queue is The Handmaid's Tale. I missed this during my sabbatical so now I want to watch it all. What else should I be watching right now?
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