Tag Archives: binge watching

Back to an Old Obsession

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About twelve years ago, I started watching the FOX show Bones. I think season seven was airing at the time. After a few episodes, I was completely hooked. I binge watched every season and started episodes as they aired. I rewatched the series more than I can count. Up to a point. Around season ten, I became less entranced with the show. Characters that I really liked seemed to become caricatures. I am all for character growth. I encourage it. I just wasn’t seeing much of it in seasons nine and ten. So, after watching the two hundredth episode midway through season ten, I stopped watching. In 2017, Bones ended with season twelve, leaving me with 45 unwatched episodes.

Here we are in 2023, and I find myself floundering for something to watch. I considered a complete rewatch, but found myself skipping many episodes. I decided to do what I am calling a Top Ten Rewatch. I am watching my favorite ten episodes from each season. There are two exceptions to the ten episodes – in short seasons I’ll watch my favorite episodes, however many that may be. For previously unwatched seasons, I’ll watch every episode.

Following this plan, I am currently watching season four of Bones. I have already selected the episodes that I will watch through season seven. I’ll select episodes for seasons eight and nine when I get closer to them. And I’ll select a few episodes from the first half of season ten before watching the rest of the series.

To my delight, most of my favorite episodes remain favorites. I know my favorites might not be yours, but I think they are pretty darn good. If you’d like to know which episodes I’m watching, just leave a comment and I can post them here. I wish I could say that I have discovered some deep meaning that I had previously missed, but I haven’t. I’ve just rediscovered my love for an old show.

I plan to apply this plan to other shows in the future. As always, I’ll keep you posted.

Now Reading: I’m in between books at the moment. I finished Forever is the Worst Long Time by Camille Pagan

Now Listening: The Long Game by Elena Armas

Now Knitting: Temperature Blanket 2023 for my mom

Now Watching: Bones season 4

Let’s Hear it for the Boys (and Girls)

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Do you binge watch shows? Are Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video some of your best friends? Do you find yourself saying “one more episode” too many times to count? Yeah, me too.

For the past three days, while fighting a cold and feeling completely crummy, I have been binge watching 90210 (the reboot, not the original). I was watching this morning and had a realization. If you were to look at my watch list over the last few years, you would see a who’s who of teen dramas – The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, The OC, Gossip Girl, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dawson’s Creek, Veronica Mars, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Gilmore Girls and One Tree Hill. I’ve wondered why I’m drawn to them. I don’t come close to fitting the demographic, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I do enjoy a good teen drama.

The first thing that draws me to the genre is angst. Let’s face it, teens have more than their fair share of angst. It’s almost a monopoly. I love angst. I love to watch it. I love to read it. I want to feel a connection, an emotional one, to watch I read or draw. Angst probably draws me in faster than anything else. Yes, it can be played a little overdramaticly on a teen show, but I think that’s the reminder that it is fiction and not reality. Although, raising four children, one of whom is still a teen, we’ve had plenty of drama in our home of the normal, everyday variety – grades, broken hearts, curfews, etc. It’s the stuff that all parents deal with at some point.

That brings me to the other thing that draws me to the teen dramas. They aren’t reality. At the end of each episode, I’m relieved that I have a normal, boring family. The drama that goes on in our house occurs in thousands of other homes each and every day. Thankfully, for us, it doesn’t involve vampires, werewolves, witches, trust fund kids, Hollywood parties, love triangles, apathetic parents, gangs, drugs or teenage pregnancies. Other than the first three items on that list, all of those things are a fact of life for some people. But they aren’t for me. So, watching these shows while silently judging the adults who don’t seem to have a clue might give me a little “thank goodness that’s not me” moment. If nothing else, they provide an escape.

Isn’t that what fiction of any kind, whether books, tv, movies or theater, is about? An escape from your day-to-day life. I, for one, enjoy those little journeys.

Back to the angst for just a moment. All of the shows that I listed above are loaded it with it. Do you have a favorite moment from one of those shows? Maybe from a show that I didn’t list? Please share it in the comments. I love talking about my favorites and I’m always looking for something new to try.