La Bene Vita

What I Learned from Netflix

I have been binge watching on Netflix.

Call that lazy or unproductive if you like, but I actually find myself watching subplots, story arcs, characterization and dialog with a critical eye. I'm very interested in what sucks me in, what sucks Keith in, and what sucks the kids in, and why. I'm interested in why I adore some shows while the boy hates them and vice versa.

We're caught up through the end of Season 3 on "The Walking Dead" - which we both love, but which is getting a bit forced, in my opinion, particularly things like who dies and who doesn't, who's on which side, and the coincidental reunions.

I tried to watch "How I Met Your Mother" and got through maybe 2.5 episodes. Then I remembered watching the show when it launched and never watching it again (I'd forgotten I did that), and now I remember why. The "no, the stripper wasn't your mother" type sidebars start to get annoying. Just get on with it and tell us who the freaking mom is. I have no interest in waiting nine seasons to find out. Good Lord, that story took almost a decade to tell. Somebody just tell me the punchline, okay?

I tried to watch "Doctor Who" and got through maybe as many episodes as "How I Met Your Mother" because the show is kind of stupid. It might be more appealing if I weren't quickly approaching forty.

We watched the first episode of "Breaking Bad" together. I think I could get into it, but he wasn't overly impressed. I found his reaction interesting, because it's clearly an action show, something that your quintessential "guy" would like, but I think the character is so unmanly that it just doesn't appeal to a typical guy the way "Wicked Tuna" or that crabbing show do. (Don't get me started on Pawn Stars, Storage Wars and American Pickers - no action at all, just a bunch of bartering for old crap that should be in the trash, and the appeal is wholly lost on me.)

Now I'm watching "Once Upon a Time" and think I love it. I didn't bother asking Keith to watch it with me, and when he came home and found me watching and asked for a brief synopsis, and he said, "It sounds like a chick show, fairy tales and stuff." Yep, pretty much, which is why I didn't invite him to join me.

As a team, I think we might try "Dexter" next. It comes highly recommended, and my premise description interested Keith. But I'm afraid it will be just like "Breaking Bad" - the protagonist is some kind of forensics analyst, I've been told, and that sounds too geeky for the boy. I suspect he won't like that character, or therefore, the show, any more than he liked Breaking Bad or Bones or CSI or any other seemingly-guy show that's too geeky to actually be a guy show.

*shrug* Keith doesn't like to read, either, so I guess I shouldn't over-analyze him anyway. He (and the millions of non-reading Call-of-Duty-playing bad-old-artifacts-and-manly-boating-show-watching middle-aged men in America) are not my target market.