Grace and Frankie Seasons 1-2 Netflix

Forget senior living when watching Grace and Frankie. Sure they live on the beach, but this is just about as far from Golden Girls as you can get. A story of switcheroo, Grace and Frankie become live-in platonic girlfriends after their husbands of 40+ years become live-in lovers. Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda are opposites in this heart-warming sitcom style series. Lily (Frankie) is a tie-dye clothed artist with a flair for getting into jams, and Jane (Grace) is a starched shirt martini swilling perfectionist. Their relationship fosters change and understanding as they toil through finding romance, being valued and dealing with vices. The series also explores the challenges of coming out in your 70s as the husbands Sol (Sam Waterson) and Robert (Martin Sheen) discover. Hiding the romance 20 years sounds easy when now faced with challenges of homes, and children and friends. Season 1 episode one will have you wonder why it is recommended, but hang in there, character development takes time.

The Affair Season 1-2 Showtime

Seasonal vs Local. Set in Montauk New York, this story of an Affair between a married repressed writer and a waitress at the Lobster Roll is told from multiple perspectives. The hour-long episodes are usually broken up into two points of view (her story and his story). Backstories are sadder than you expect and ego plays a large role in how the characters evolve. Local family rivalries developed from decades of shady behavior get wrapped around the couple’s trysts and result in a murder mystery as well as a romance. Brilliant actors in this cast include Dominic West (Noah Solloway), Maura Tierney (Helen Solloway), Ruth Wilson (Alison Lockhart) and Joshua Jackson (Cole Lockhart).

Subscription Services

YouTube

You don’t have to subscribe to YouTube to watch it but you should to get the most out of the service. YouTube will learn what you like and continually serve up recommended videos on your home page. Part of the Google family, YouTube content includes music, tv clips, movie trailers and video bloggers. Most of the content has been uploaded by individuals but some media companies including CBS, BBC, Vevo and Hulu are offering some of their material as part of the partnership program. This is more than a channel with cute animal videos. YouTube is the place for catching up on bits you missed like The Late Late Show with James Corden’s carpool karaoke or a daily dose of gossip from the Wendy Williams Show channel. Remember reruns? Well YouTube has it all from Merv Griffin to The Brady Bunch to The Rosie Show. A new service called YouTube Red allows you to stream ad free. For 9.99 per month, you have unlimited access to music, videos and new original programming with zero interruptions.

Hardware

fireTV stick

Amazon’s fireTV is another one of the new breed of electronics called streaming sticks. Similar to Chromecast and Roku, firetv is about the size of a jump drive and plugs into your HDMI source on your television. You receive a stick and a remote and a compact wall power with cord. There is an HDMI extender for a hard to reach back of the set plug in. The fire stick has premium components including dual core processor, one gigabyte of RAM and eight gigabytes of flash storage significantly better equipped than the Roku. The remote is slim and trim and easy to navigate. When you order a fireTV, it will be automatically connected to your Amazon account. If you are an Amazon Prime member, this is the choice for you as the Prime content loads almost immediately. You have the option to rent or buy, and shows will live in your Amazon cloud account. The coolest thing of fireTV are many free games. They work fine with the remote, but you can also get an add-on gaming controller. It is also portable. Travel with your fireTV stick and have your entertainment world with you.

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Series

Damages Seasons 1-5 Netflix

One of those you-might-have-missed shows. Damages stars Glenn Close in a raw and gory thriller. Now, Netflix has the entire Damages collection ready for you to stream. Damages centers around the relationship between uber New York lawyer Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and her protégé Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne). This is a modern day who-dun-it with pretty clear motivations and clues. Favors owed, positioning for status and outrageous amounts of monies in suits and settlements enables the characters to live in spacious city apartments and elegant second homes. Patty is constantly testing and tormenting Ellen throughout the seasons. What starts out as a cat and mouse game develops into lioness and lioness. The struggle to make your mark vs the struggle to keep your crown play out as Damages takes the time to develop its characters. Although each season follows one major case, you won’t be treated to the normal courtroom drama, You’ll learn the backstory and how their situation came to be. This is a bloody series. Twists and turns are not what you expect.

RuPaul’s Drag Race Seasons 4-6: Amazon Prime

Like cotton candy at the carnival, RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 4-6 is pink fluffy fun. The pleasure of watching cliffhanger “who will be next” is ultimate in streaming a series. Zip through RuPaul’s Drag Race and enjoy performers pushing their limits, face – ing and shade – ing off before those were a thing. RuPaul is the most specific coach ever to grace the screen. She is direct in her corrections, focused in her compliments and intent on making stars out of her cast. You’ll find you get closer to the contestants and you’ll discover that you have seen them before! Maybe even around town promoting their tours or their own post seasons. The fourth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race began airing on January 30, 2012. We won’t tell you the winner, You can be your own spoiler.

Subscription Services

Netflix

The leading premium streaming video service is number one because it is simple. For about $10 a month, you’ll have access to thousands of movies and tv shows to watch instantly. The $10 fee allows use of 2 screens at a time, meaning your partner can watch a movie on his iPad, while you stream a series on your tv. Streaming is different from downloading, streaming is transmitting a continuous flow of audio and video, while earlier parts are being used. Once the earlier parts are used they are discarded. Netflix streaming is commercial free and you can pause, fast forward and rewind as often as you like. If you have a great bandwidth and prefer a crisp picture, many titles are available in HD. Netflix is becoming a major player in original series. Only on Netflix can you watch the award-winning House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black. Over 81 million worldwide are Netflix subscribers.

Hardware

Chromecast

Chromecast is a media streaming device that plugs into the HDMI port on your TV. Simply use your mobile device and the TV you already own to cast your favorite TV shows, movies, music, sports, games and more. Chromecast works with iPhone®, iPad®, Android phone and tablet, Mac® and Windows® laptop, and Chromebook. To cast a show from your mobile devise to your Chromecast, you must first install the Chromecast to your tv. Once installed, you will look for the Chromecast “casting” icon when you launch Amazon or YouTube or other Chromecast compatible subscription services. Chromecast is only $25.00 and available for purchase at Best Buy. Chromecast supports Netflix, but not Amazon Prime.

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Series

Bloodlines Season 2 Netflix

The dream of you and your partner living in the Keys, running a hotel on the beach, with your own pier for fishing and boating might be changed after watching the intense family drama Bloodlines. Set in the middle Keys and Miami, the series follows the murder of the black sheep of the family. The small town politics unfold as the detectives are usurped by the FBI solving the case. Haunted by childhood secrets and vying for attention, this season the Rayburn siblings get messy in their cover ups and lies. The layers of the oldest Rayburn son played by hunky Kyle Chandler are peeled back to reveal ambition and the superman syndrome. Sissy Spacek returns as the matriarch replacing her loss of a son with love for a found grandson, and her “mother knows” suspicions. Is she confused or in denial of her family’s misdeeds?

Rome Season1: Amazon Prime/HBO

Body armor with pecs, sandals, exotic strong women, and flowing robes, this 2005 series hit is an epic. Rome is strong, lusty, gory and twisted with power and brawn. The series depicts the transformation of Roman Republic into the Roman empire. Caesar and Anthony fight for their places while the women strategically position friend and enemies to hold place in the hierarchy. Caesar is royally played by the captivating Irish actor Ciaran Hinds. Atia of the Julii, Caesar’s niece, is played by Polly Walker, notably one of the hottest female leads in HBO series history. Scenes of military triumph, severed heads, bloody battles, and celebrations of victory make this series larger than a television tale. Over 4,000 pieces of wardrobe were made or found. The set design must be seen to be believed. If you liked the entry scene of Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 hit Cleopatra, Rome is for you!

Subscription Services

Amazon Prime instant video

Amazon Prime instant video is the streaming service that comes with the annual Amazon Prime subscription. The service offers free delivery of Amazon shopping and is becoming more and more popular way of purchasing household items and pantry filling. The streaming service is easy to operate and contains a good library of movies. Amazon Prime instant video is also a good source for research videos, travel, cooking and do it yourself. Amazon has few original series, the Golden Globe winner, Transparent being the most popular. Amazon Prime is accessed using Smart TVs, Fire TV or Apple TV. The membership fee for Amazon Prime is $99 per year or $10.99 per month. The first 30 days of the annual subscription are free, and you can cancel anytime.

Hardware

Smart TVs

Looking more like a giant iPad or 60-inch computer monitor, the home base television is more than just the screen for cable. It is now your streaming platform for media brands. Connected to your home Wi-Fi, the smart TV can be your source for streaming music, watching YouTube videos, connecting on Facebook, shopping and surfing the Internet. The reliability of the connection and the ease of use are some of the challenges, but the technology is constantly improving. The basics are that the smart TV’s hub or streaming dashboard is like having a Roku or Chromecast installed. Upon selection of the app menu, you can connect to your subscribed channels. Some of these are free while others require a monthly subscription. The biggest challenge is using search. The search interface for Smart TVs are tough to manipulate with most television remotes.

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When the Tony Awards are over and the blockbuster summer movies start to show up you know it’s time to put your summer binging list together. Olivia Pope and Madame Secretary are on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, RuPaul has hung up her heels for the season, and the SNL team is on the road promoting Ghostbusters. Summer is here and regular TV is for crap.

Summer binging is when you indulge in episodic excess. When you say ‘just-one-more” at 1 am, watching with one eye open, a marathon, an addiction. A 2014 Netflix study found that 73% of subscribers watch 2 to 6 episodes at one sitting. The debate is lively about whether binge-watching is bad for your health. Anything worth doing in excess is usually not a smart idea. Holed up for hours on end devouring a series is not what we are suggesting. The healthy binge is the planned replacement of cheap summer network TV with a spellbinding drama, quirky sitcom, or foreign reality show.

This summer binge column is a healthy enabler, it will offer up series reviews, streaming hardware, recommended subscription services and hidden gems you’ll never find in the “recommended for you” listing.

Series

Orange Is The New Black Season 4: Netflix

On the day after Stonewall, my work pal Kevin Hopper wished me “an Orange Sunday with a hint of black.” The ladies of Lichfield Women’s prison are back. Season 4 has the penitentiary on corporate lockdown with new rules, a big bear head of the guards, courses in how to be on a chain gang and new inmates including one that is cross between Martha Stewart and Paula Deen. This dark comedy is best when it gives us the back story on how the ladies got there. The cast becomes more diverse this year and for sure you can find someone whose story you can relate to. As Kate Mulgrew (Red) said on The View, “It’s a serious show about a serious subject with a sardonic undertone.”

Masterpiece Theater Mr. Selfridge: Amazon Prime/PBS

Selfridges is the landmark London Oxford Street department store opened in 1909 by Harry Gordon Selfridge. The series takes us back to the early 1900s and the brilliance of changes in lifestyle from the introduction of read-to-wear to home appliances to make up. Jeremy Piven is such a pleasure to watch as the big idea American founder in a world of British business etiquette. His family relationships unfold in a predictable way but if you like period pieces this will envelop you. The costumes are stunning and the set design of the store makes you want to spend hours riding the elevator and browsing. Outrageous women’s hats with plumes and elaborate embroidery. Men’s suits so sharp you can hear the collars snap. Words like haberdashery and proper fitting and delightful are in every episode. Even the dowdy are stunning. You’ll be astounded by the importance of print media for advertising and be inspired by Harry’s visionary leadership.

Subscription Services

HBO Now

You don’t have to have cable to get HBO. The HBO Now services offers all the series from Bill Maher to Game of Thrones on one $14.99 subscription service. The HBO Now App is available on Smart TVs and though many streaming hardware devices. HBO Now, also includes the library of old series including the Emmy award winning Curb Your Enthusiasm and Sex In The City. The difference between HBO Now and HBO Go is that HBO Now is not a part of your cable packaging. HBO Now is an independent streaming service. As you are evaluating your choices and you are cutting the cord on cable packaging. HBO Now might be something for you consider.

Hardware

Roku www.roku.com

A Roku streaming stick is about the size of a jump drive. This device, when inserted into your HDMI connection on your TV allows you stream a multitude of subscription services. Because Roku doesn’t have allegiance to Apple or Google you can pull most of the services through one device. Movie services like Fandango are also available and get many first run movies for inexpensive rental fees. You can also use Roku for HBO Now and Showtime services that you don’t run through your cable subscription. An easy menu screen and wireless remote move you from service to service on a super simple home screen. What you will need is wireless connection and your login for your subscription services. If you have those on hand and your smart phone, you’ll find Roku one of the easiest set ups on the market. The Roku stick is $49.00.

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