Spud Rating System
√√√√ – Must See
√√√ – Worth Seeing
√√ – Take It Or Leave It, Unless You’re A Fan
√ – Sucks
Hey everybody. I’m going to have a very busy summer workwise (finally), so I’m going to be writing shorter columns till the fall. I know a lot of you will be relieved by that because I can go on. But I’m quickly embracing the quality vs quantity algorhythm and who knows, maybe someday I’ll get this down to the normal length. Naa, that will never happen.
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Summer Solstice
Today is officially the first day of summer. What that means to me is that the next three months will be gone before we know it. This has a lot to do with the winters we get up here, which tend to last forever, and by comparison the summers are relatively short. I don’t know about you, but I’m planning to make the most of it. In addition to the big weight loss, blood sugar level control challenge, which is actually proving to be not that hard to manage (so I must be doing something wrong) getting out of the Spudcycle every day for a good hard ride is really important. Fortunately since I work at home, and am in charge of the provisioning. I have a great two mile and change ride down to the Loblaws at Lakeshore and Leslie which also has a Price Chopper across the street for the items I don’t wish to get hosed on at Loblaws. So it’s a win win. Exercise. Good fruit and veg. And low prices on the other stuff.
At this writing, the summer is all of 11 hours old, but the weather has been gorgeous.
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Netflix Will Be Worth The Money When…
The big complaint I hear about Netflix is that it’s OK but everybody wishes they had more up to date series stuff. Sure it’s fun to revisit LA Law or NYPD Blue or even The Rockford Files (naaa, that’s pushing it). But what does that really leave to talk to your friends about at work? Rehashing conversations you had back in the last century? Like most people who despise the amazing amount of money you can pay for cable or satellite, I’ve been thinking about Netflix. But I‘ve got some conditions.
Here is a list of shows I think should be on Netflix that would make it really worth the whopping big 8 clams a month they are asking for. (All series Rated √√√√)
1. Game of Thrones. Arguably (but not by me), the best TV series ever produced. The first 10 episodes are a shining example of just how good, on every level, TV can be. One season in the can.
2. Burn Notice: One of the best spy vs spy series in the modern era of TV. This show is full of clever stuff, characters who don’t take themselves too seriously be cause they are way capable. This series just started its 5th season yesterday. But there are four whole seasons of rollicking good fun and adventure in the can.
3. Damages. A legal melodrama starring Glenn Close as an evil and nasty class action lawyer who will stop at nothing to eliminate competition. This show works hard on many levels and its totally riveting entertainment. Three seasons in the can with season 4 set to go on July 13.
4. Justified: Fantastic collaboration between crime novelist Elmore Leonard and Canadian writer producer Graham Yost. This is the purest distillation of Elmore Leonardness that has been put on film since Get Shorty. Tim Olyphant plays a reckless US Marshall Exiled to his home county in the middle of a huge coal mining feud. Chock full of great subplots, fascinating characters and lots of y’alls.
5. The Shadow Line: A 7-part British mini series about the heroin trade and police corruption in merry new England. This series moves slowly, is very complex and filled with top drawer performances right across the board. At the end of every episode you end up scratching your head, thinking, “Hey I thought I had this figured out.” But you didn’t and you don’t till the very end. One season in the can.
6. The Killing: A 13 episode AMC series based on a Swedish series of the same name, which was actually 20 episodes. It’s about too complex Seattle cops trying to figure out a very mysterious murder against a backdrop of local politics. Practically every character in the series has a deep dark secret. This is delicious and addictive.
7. Rubicon: Low key but highly intense mystery series from AMC again, about an intelligence analyst who spots a very strange pattern in the local newspapers. This show is perfect for people who like highly intellectual brain teasing with their drama. Rubicon was, sadly, cancelled because of low numbers. The 80/20 rule in action. 80% of the people out there were just too stupid to appreciate this show.
8. Injustice: A 5-part Brit mini series about a defense attorney (James Purefoy), defending an old college mate against a murder charge, and a slightly psychotic police detective who wants to nail James for the murder he’s investigating. This is a pretty straight-ahead series with lots of emphasis on the characters. It’s as well put together as anything the Brits do.
9. The Good Wife: This was pretty much the best mainline network show of the last couple of seasons. Produced by Scott Free (Ridley & Tony Scott), this show manages to do everything right. Great story, characters that you love or hate, a big giant story arc with lots of interesting little subplots going on, that all point to the larger arc. This is really hard to do and without getting caught up in your underwear. 3 Seasons in the can.
10. True Blood. When Alan Ball finished his 6th season of the incredibly popular Six Feet Under, which was one of the series that put HBO on the map, he was probably wondering just how the hell he could outdo himself next time around. Well no problemo. Thanks to the Southern Vampire Mysteries novel series by Charlene Harris, some brilliant casting including; Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, and some pretty amazing effects, he came up with another mega hit classic in the form or True Blood. For those of you who have never seen this series before, it’s really unlike any of the deluge of ‘vampire/werewolf/zombie’ stuff floating around out there. This series is top drawer, ultra violent and very sexy. Four seasons in the can.
I could go on, (Dexter, White Collar, Covert Affairs, The Mentalist, Numbers) but I’m kinda partial to top 10 lists. So there’s the challenge, Netflix. I love your idea. I have all the equipment to watch it on my big TV. All I’m waiting for, along with a number of other people, is some really hot content. See # 1-10.
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