Netflixin’

This is the one. Here is where I talk about programs I have seen on Netflix that if you have missed, you just have to watch them. And there’s 2 reasons why I think you’ll find this blob worth checking out. Second of all, if you are married and you and your spouse, or live-in S.O. have a hard time deciding  between gushy romantic flicks (her favorite) and heart pumping, or mind challenging action or spy thrillers (my favorites), this entry may be of help; or perhaps, it will at least show how we arrived at a friendly stand-off. So the second thing is not that hard to figure out; you may have already figured this one out for you and your beloved. The discussion goes something like, “I watch a gushy show with you, then you watch a heart pumping one with me!” Now, the interesting thing is (and I hope she doesn’t read this) but, I think she has turned over to the dark side. I must admit, some of the softer fare that I have watched has been easier on the brain than I would have thought. Be that as it may, the first reason may be a little more to your liking.

So, first of all, I am going to list programs that have by far gotten 5 thumbs up from both my wife and me, and my proposition to you is this. I will be listing 18 shows. Nine as of this writing and 9 in a future blob. Some will be familiar to many of you. A lot of these will have never been seen by some of you. Most will be known by a few of you. But not all 18 will have been watched by every one of you. The reader, or readers, who match all the programs on the list, or the most number will be eligible for a season’s pack of one of these programs (or one you may want, even if not on the list). That is to say, this blogger will give away a full season up to the present of one of these programs to the one who matches most closely all 18. If there are more than one with the same matching number, there will be a simple raffle to determine the winner.

To make this even more productive, I will include a brief (very brief) blerp about each one I list. If you become curious and want to know more about a particular one, by all means check with Netflix, or Google it. Not all the programs are currently being aired. A couple are available on Amazon, but mostly for a fee per episode or for the whole season.

These are listed in no particular order; just as they occurred to me. I will rate them with a five thumb rating scale (five is the highest).

1. Goliath. 5 thumbs. Billy Bob Thornton stars as a wasted, burned out attorney who spends more time in bars than in the courtroom. He reluctantly agrees to take a wrongful death case and winds up in an impossible battle with a massive law firm that he helped to create. For Thornton fans, this is a must!
2. A Place to Call Home. 4.5 thumbs; 5 for her, 4 for me. Gorgeously filmed in Australia, Sarah Adams, a nurse returns to her homeland in the 1950’s after 20 years in Europe. She made it through WWII even though she had converted to Judaism. She brings with her a dark past, but is looking for a new start in her old land. She finds an odd mixture of admiration and rejection as she, a thoroughly modern woman meets with strong, handsome and rich men and unaccepting old world women. Romantic with great drama.
3. The Killing. 5 thumbs from both. This is a gripping drama presented by a great cast, fine writing and intense plot twists. A pair of out and out detectives, Sarah Linden, a single, often absent mom, struggling to raise a not much of a stay-at-home adolescent, and her partner, Holden, a former drug addict, continue to get closer and closer to the killer of a 16 year old girl whose parents are enraged at the slow, bungling progress of the investigation. The killer keeps slipping through the cracks as mistakes mislead the investigation to high profile community leaders.The drama is intense; the performances of the two investigators is outstanding.
4.  5 thumbs. Glen Close is featured in this hard hitting legal drama where corruption and wealthy clients try to outmaneuver each other with the use of quasi-illegalities, as well as many outright broken laws. Who are the bad guys becomes who are the badder guys: the accused or the advocates for either side and their associates. Check it out, seriously.
5. Stranger Things. 5+ The official description reads: “When a young boy disappears, his mother, a police chief, and his friends must confront terrifying forces in order to get him back.” The operant words here are “terrifying forces”. It is tough to watch late at night, before bedtime; your mind just keeps working. The story is told through the eyes of the boy’s friends, and they are a gifted bunch of kid actors.
6. Outlander. 5++ This one takes a little ‘splainin’. In 1946, former WWII nurse Claire Randall and her husband Frank Randall are visiting Inverness, Scotland, when she is carried back in time from 1946 to the 1700’s in Craigh na Dun, Scotland. She inadvertently falls in with a group of Scottish Highlander rebels being chased by British redcoats lead by Captain “Black Jack” Randall. After confusing dialogue to which she attempts to understand, she realizes her name, Randall may get her into deathly straits. She remains under the care of the Highlanders and eventually develops a romance with one of the MacKenzie clansmen.

There are many, many close calls and some brutal fighting between the rebels and the English. She is captured and rescued at least twice.

All of season 1 and season 2 she remains in the 1700’s. Season 3 is a doozie. This is one of the favoritests of the favorites.

7. Alias Grace. 5 (only because it was only 1 season) Young American Doctor Simon Jordan arrives at Canada’s Kinston Penitentiary (circa late 1840s) to study the perplexing mind of Grace Marks, a convicted murderress. What makes this show so compelling is the main character, played by Sarah Gadon. Her portrayal of Grace Marks is riveting in its under acting. It is seriously focused. As she is interviewed by the psychiatrist (a very early form of that medical model) Grace spins a story that tells parts of her early childhood, as well as how she came to the estate of the people that were murdered by Grace’s compatriot and herself. It is the unravelling of the murder that is the force of the drama.
8. 5 thumbs. This program, a crime solver format, explores how the murder of a boy in a small community in the English coastal town of Dorset, affects the close knit community, and how the characters react to the media attention and the suspicion that throws a pall over the whole town. The investigators, DS Ellie Miller and DI Alec Hardy pursue many a theory and through no effort of theirs make the viewer suspect everybody at one point or another. But while it is a serious show and the events around the murder of the 10 year old boy are brutal and disturbing, the glue of the show is the dynamics between Alec and Ellie. Theirs is a very dry demeanor, particularly Alec’s. The other element that cannot be left out is the tight directing/acting of the cast. They are outstanding in presenting a very personal, sometimes maddening view of the people around this murdered boy. It is very good that there is more than one season, and the second is just as good as the first.
9. Lost. 5++ thumbs. I end this first 9 with the show that started it all for me and my wife. If you have not seen it, you must have been under the rock next to mine, for by the time I saw it most of the rest of the civilized world had seen, analyzed and blogged it. That never did bother me for it never once took away any of the spellbinding force that it had on me as well as my wife. The premise starts out simply enough. An airline, Oceanic Flight 815 is on route to Los Angeles from Sydney, Australia. It deviates from its original course and disappears somewhere in the Pacific Ocean with all 324 passengers. Two months later pieces of the wreckage are found somewhere in the Indian Ocean. All passengers are presumed dead. But they were not all dead. Many made it to land on a large island. And from here the story develops. It starts out linearly. The survivors typically expect to be found. Some of them take stock of their provisions and begin to consider a longer term before rescue. Factions form. Time passes. Certain dangers begin to loom.

After months of existence, and after the first several episodes we are all treated to a life on the island that would have made the creepiest episode of the X-Files on steroids, seem like an evening at a Mary Kay get together. So, if you have never seen it, come on out from your bomb shelter, Khrushchev is dead, we made it to the moon, and watching TV is now called streaming on Netflix, Amazon, Sulu, and other such venues.  And if you are coming out from under your rock and wind up here, you are not in the Twilight zone, you’re in a blog!

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That’s the nine for this time folks. Come back next blog and catch the next nine of the most favorite Netflixes of Mr. and Mrs. luibooks.com

May I remind you that after you skim through all 18, enter your name

(details of contest rules will be provided next time) and the names of all of the shows out of the 18 that you have watched. The person who has watched all 18 complete series will be awarded a season on video of one of those shows. If there are ties, there will be a simple raffled of the entrants.

BY THE WAY!! When you send your list please be sure to include the name of the series YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE AS YOUR PRIZE. You will be sending your entries to the contact information on the link of my website. DO NOT SEND YOUR LIST YET. WAIT TILL NEXT BLOG.

UNTIL NEXTIME, HAPPY NETFLIXIN’!