Season One Schedule

It’s time to jump into our actual schedule. As mentioned before this is for over the course of five nights of television (Sunday through Thursday) originally I was going to schedule about two hour blocks for each night. But since this is still an early experiment and to give a little bit of leeway for extra long episodes or just life getting in the way, I have settled on it being an hour and a half to two hours a night. Also with it being October, my girlfriend and I are currently trying to watch horror movies as we are able.

Maniac

The newest show on my schedule. Two strangers in the future join a drug trial and seem to keep on being drawn to each other for some reason. I have already watched the first episode and even in the very mundane the show finds beauty in its presentation. I’m excited to see where the show goes and see more of the gorgeous visuals.

Godless

Another Netflix miniseries. This one set in the Wild West. Many people already saw this when it premiered over the summer last year, but I’m behind. It won a couple Emmys and looks like an interesting take on the genre.

Fargo (season 2)

I loved season one of this anthology show. But never got around to season two, even though I heard it was somehow even better. Having Ted Danson in it likely helps as he makes everything better. This is another show I have already started, I’m two episodes in and the web is already being spun, soon enough everyone will be caught up in it and it will be gloriously done.

Money Heist

I had never heard of this show, but while researching shows to watch for the schedule, I ran across this. A Spanish show broadcast on Netflix, Money Heist made it on several lists of great shows you need to binge. As you can tell by the name, it’s all built around the planning, execution, and fallout from a heist. In this case the heist involves stealing newly printed money. It looks fun, and it’s our first show from outside the US.

Dark

And here’s our second show from overseas. Dark is a German thriller that loads of people talked up last year after it came to Netflix. I’ve been told it is intriguing, thrilling, and well dark. Well worth watching and the more you don’t know about it going in the better. Happy to finally get to this show, even though I have been putting it off because I haven’t wanted to dedicate a whole week to JUST this show when I’ve been told it is a darker show. But an hour a week? I’m sold!

End of the Fucking World

We continue the international fair with another Netflix show. This is a story about two teens, one who believes they are a psychopath. It looks to be about two lost teens who like all lost teens in cinema go on a road trip and find out about themselves along the way. But with more thoughts of being a murderer.

Black Lightning

I have been very off and on with the DC/CW TV shows. But Black Lightning has really intrigued me, it’s not in the same world as the rest of the Arrowverse, and also seems to be set up to be less melodramatic. There’s only 13 episodes of season one, which I like as 20 episodes is insanely too long. I’m ready for a steadily good super hero show, and I hope this is it.

Girls’ Last Tour

Two young women take a tour of the world after war has destroyed it. Post-apocalyptic without being grim, but still allowing the young characters to analyze and question why those who came before would ever do it. I’ve been wanting to get back into watching some anime and this felt like part of a great start.

Aggretsuko

Here’s the other anime, it’s a slice of life story that features anamorphic characters dealing with the stress of working in an office. Our protagonist is a panda who is over worked and underappreciated, but she finds an outlet by singing death metal songs at karaoke.

The Good Place

This is the best show on broadcast TV right now. It is hilarious, thoughtful, and brilliantly executed. If for some reason you haven’t seen the show yet it follows a woman who has died and mistakenly ended up in the Good Place. What follows is some of the best humor on the air along with the best cliffhangers. This show is an absolute treat and I’m excited to be watching this season week to week instead of all in a day or two. It’s that forking great.

Insecure

I know I know, everyone is well up on this show and here I am dragging myself behind. My girlfriend watched season one when it aired and I got to hear some of it while working in the other room. Now it’s time to finally catch up on this show.

The Detectorists

A slow, understated comedy. I watched season one and loved it, and never got back to it once season two actually aired. Now seems to be the perfect time to return to see the Detectorists dream big but stay small.

Return to Old School

I watch a lot of TV, as I’m sure you do. I’m also sure like me, you have binge watched many shows. You get hooked into the story and as the credits start to roll the app asks if you want more. How could one more hurt? So you watch the next, and the next, and the next, until there are no more left. Maybe you’re fortunate enough to find the next show, or maybe you sit adrift for a bit until the next show hooks you. But there’s definitely more, at no other time in television history have there been more shows created in a single year. You even have a massive list of shows you NEED to watch. Your friends keep saying this show is good, your family touts another. Of course there is that one show you haven’t seen that everyone loves, the general populace and all the critics. You feel guilty you haven’t gotten to it yet, but it’s so hard when there are so many options. Besides you just fell in love with this new show, maybe after you binge this one you will finally get to that other one. Maybe.

Anyways I’m tired of this process. I’m tired of running through a show at breakneck speed only to hit a wall once I’m done and unable to figure out what to watch next. Yes I hear the Handmaid’s Tale is good, but do I want to dedicate the next 12 hours of my viewing time to a show that depressing? Am I in the mood to watch Brooklyn 99 for the next few weeks to understand why so many people were upset that it got cancelled for a day?

 In the hopes of getting to actually watch more shows on my massive to watch list, while also not needing to dedicate myself to watch ONLY that show. I have decided to return to the scheduled TV viewing. Just like when the only way to watch TV shows was for them to on RIGHT NOW, I’m going to watch about two hours’ worth of shows each school night. Sunday night through Thursday. With each night will be a different block of programs. The following week I will go back to the next episode. This should not only allow more variety, but I’m hoping it will increase the quality of the shows. It seems that episodes blend together as you binge them, making it harder to remember what specifically happened and when it happened. Also I miss ruminating and theorizing what will happen next. When I find that out a minute after the question is asked, it loses some suspense and satisfaction.

I’ve mostly worked out my schedule, and being a giant nerd oh did I spend a lot of time working on the schedule. I’m less concerned on what day each block of viewing goes and more about the themes going together. I will post the list next time, for those curious.