BINGING

November 19, 2019

I watch a lot of TV, but I rarely go on "binges."  I remember binge-watching The Sopranos, which was very weird for me to do, but I had decided I wanted to see the last season and needed to "catch up" first.  I have this quirk that if I want to follow a show, I need to follow it from the beginning so if it's a long-running show, I really need to see the first season first (which is why I have never watched Blue Bloods, which I know I would like, but it's in its 10th season and it's overwhelming to think of catch up to Season 10.)

Walt got to where he was using the "f-word" as a joke as he came in from work, because he was hearing it so often while I was watching The Sopranos.

I also binge-watched Breaking Bad because Ned likes the show so much (to put it mildly) and I wanted to know what was happening when the last season was coming up.  I wanted to have something to talk with Ned about.

There are a lot of shows which run marathons on stations like ION and I often have them running during a day, shows like NCIS, NCIS-LA, Criminal Minds and M*A*S*H.  But those aren't binge watching.  They are just background  while I'm doing other things.

I have watched the first three seasons of The Crown, the story of Elizabeth II, and I've enjoyed it.  The latest season started a few weeks ago.  I had only seen part of the first episode as of yesterday.

I had just finished sending off my review of Threepenny Opera and wanted to take a break, so I decided to watch the next episode of The Crown.  Six episodes later, I reluctantly turned off the TV because I had to cook dinner!

This is the middle-aged Elizabeth and the cast has changed to older actors.  Claire Foy has played Elizabeth up until now and I was  quite used to her.  Olivia Colman, who has stepped in as the older Elizabeth took a bit of getting used to.

I hadn't really paid attention to whoever was playing Philip up to this season, but I was wondering how I could accept Tobias Menzies in the role now.  Menzies was an actor I knew well, from his portrayal of Black Jack Randall in Outlander.  He actually played both Black Jack (a nasty guy) and Frank, 20th century husband of Claire.  The thought of seeing him in another role seemed weird.

But he's a great actor and it didn't take long for me to forget Outlander and concentrate on his portrayal of Prince Philip.  In fact, there is one episode in which he is the central figure and it was so moving that by the end of it I was convinced he will get an Emmy award nomination.

Throughout the afternoon, I was putting together dinner.  Marta has specific tastes.  She loves broccoli and she loves cheese and I was convinced I had found a recipe, thanks to The Pioneer Woman, that she would like (she did).  It's broccoli-rice casserole and it layers of rice topped with a broccoli/cheese mixture that contains four different cheeses -- cream cheese, processed cheese (Velveta), Parmesan, and Cheddar.  I don't think I've ever cooked with Velveta before, but the Pioneer Woman assures me that it is necessary to get the proper creaminess.

I joked at dinner that the meal had taken me four hours to make...and it did because I would get up whenever I could during part of a show and do another little big.  It wasn't until I finally turned the TV off that I  actually put the whole thing together.  But I have to admit that it was worth the work.  It was delicious -- and Marta ate it, which was a win-win for me!

Now I have to decide whether to complete my binge today or watch the irresistible impeachment hearings today.  Decisions...decisions.