I'm more of a reader than a tv watcher….not that I don't watch plenty of tv, but if I had to make a choice it would be books. For the last few months however, with this dizzy-whatever stuff going on with me, I am having a hard time reading. At first I was trying to force myself to read, but I finally realized I wasn't absorbing any of it. I kept checking the same books out of the library online, with no idea that I'd read them, except for the fact that when I opened them they were already at the last page. So, I've more or less given up for now. I skim over the news and Facebook and the like, but I have found myself watching tons of tv. I was utterly exhausted yesterday and spent most of it on the couch, yes, watching tv. It's a new era.
My current recommendations:
BEST GARDEN SHOW EVER! ALL HAIL MONTY DON!
Steve Lindstrom mentioned this on Facebook so we pulled it up and I became downright obsessed. It's the sweetest show ever and makes me want to rethink my yard…and I actually learned a few things. Season two is on Netflix, and you can get season one and season three on Amazon if you pay $5.99 a month for some package of British home and garden shows. I almost wept when we got to the last episode.
I've watched a ton of British detective shows, and/or shows about someone moving to a small town and discovering the local characters. None are better than my beloved Vera (you have to hope around from Netflix to Amazon BritBox to Hulu to get all the seasons), and a big shout out to New Zealand's 800 Words. Still have a few episodes of that yet to come.
We sped through the three part A Very English Scandal, although I did spend half the time wondering if Hugh Grant really looks that old.
I am currently in the midst of Scott & Bailey, which is kind of a British remake of Cagney and Lacy, only with more women in charge. I'm hoping we have some more rain so I can feel justified watching tv in the middle of the day.
Onward.
I loved BD,SS. I love the way Monty came around on the mud head, and how it seemed most enthused about the couple with the very small outdoor space, so they did mostly wall things, and for very cheap.
You also might try Love Your Garden. It’s not the same … ethic as Monty Don, but it’s gardening, and for a cause (there is a reason each family was picked, like terminal illness, child in wheelchair, etc.) It also made me realize, the English call everything by their latin names – I was flummoxed at what they were planting.
I haven’t found another good gardening show like these. You also might try Grand Designs. I’ve seen some interesting and crazy stuff on there (a cob mansion builder, mixes cob by front loader!)
Yay…I'll give those a try Melissa…thanks!!
oh-I also recently found Big Dreams, Small Spaces; I LOVE Monty Don!
ps–Happy Birthday!!
Everyone loves Monty Don. He resurrected Gardener’s World which is a Friday evening institution in the UK. Se if you can find the series Mastercrafts where he arranged for unemployed people to become apprentices to local crafts, I think there were thatching, blacksmithing, weaving and other stuff – it was wonderful! You might also enjoy The Beachgrove Garden which is the Scottish equivalent of Gardener’s World. It’s very gentle and sensible. I’m presuming you’ve already found the classic Morse series with John Thaw and Kevin Whately and the follow up Lewis with Whately and Lawrence Fox. Stunning scenery and intricate plots. There’s also a prequel Morse series called Endeavour, which is wonderful. I really like Roger Allam’s Inspector Thursday. I like Midsomer Murders, both the original series with John Nettles and the scarier follow up with Neil Dudgeon who has taken over as Barnaby’s cousin. Have you come across the Italian series, Inspector Montalbano and The Young Montalbano. They are awesome! Funny, good storylines, lots of food and stunning scenery set in Sicily. You can watch them again and again and it’s improved my non-existent knowledge of the Italian language. There was also a very gentle Swedish whodunnit series a few years ago called Crimes of Passion. It was really fortuitous because they had the contestants on Great British Bakeoff make a particular kind of Swedish cake one week on the Wednesday and then on Saturday night there was the same cake being shown on the Crimes of Passion episode during a party so I knew what it was! Hope this gives you some ideas if you haven’t come across these before. 🙂