What we’re watching

Since we’ve been in Georgia, Mac has had a reasonably normal work schedule. Living on post also means that he’s home before 6 pm. We were talking about it, and this is the longest amount of time we’ve spent together in our whole relationship. So we’ve been blowing through our Netflix and Hulu queues because we now have time to catch up on shows together. Here are some of the things we’re watching.

Outlander

We came across Outlander last year and quickly watched all of the episodes. While some of the plot lines (umm, let’s stop raping people) and episodes (again with the rape) have been unnecessary or not in my taste, the show is well done. It checks lots of the blocks in things I like in sweeping, historical dramas. Outlander is also a good counterbalance to Game of Thrones schedule-wise (the fourth season is currently on). We plan to renew our Starz subscription in a few weeks when more episodes are available.

Parks and Recreation

If you know me, you know that I rarely watch popular TV shows when they start. We watched Parks and Recreation recently, and I kind of loved it. It definitely fits into my taste of goofy comedies. I enjoyed the cast and how episodic the show is. Mac normally turns on the TV in the morning before he leaves, and Parks and Rec is a good show to watch an episode or two at a time.

Outlaw King

I was really excited when I heard that Netflix was releasing a movie about Robert the Bruce. Then I was surprised when they cast Chris Pine to play a Scot. It had a lot of potential, but I thought it was kind of herky jerky. IMDB tells me that the original cut was about four hours long, so I’m pretty sure the chopiness came from editing. Solid, but not great.

Chuck

Another goofy comedy. Mac and his brother watched Chuck when we lived in Fayetteville, so I had already caught a few episodes here and there. We decided to watch the whole show in order. The plot is just totally ridiculous, but it’s a laugh-out-loud funny show. The shameless Subway product placement plugs are only one of the things I love. I’m kind of bummed that I didn’t get into it earlier.

Alias Grace

This show had a lot of hype because it’s adapted from a novel by Margaret Atwood (of The Handmaid’s Tale fame). I read the Wikipedia article about the true story, so the premise of the show intrigued me. But this show was boring as hell. I think it could’ve been condensed into fewer episodes. I wanted to like it; it was too slow for my taste. Mac and I started it, and he only lasted one episode. I stuck it out and was generally underwhelmed.

American Housewife

I started this last year, loved it, and was really sad when Hulu pulled it before I finished the first season last year. So I was super excited to find the two previous seasons and the third current season when we upgraded to Hulu+. Mac watched an episode or two one day when I turned it on, and he also likes it.

What TV shows and movies are you watching? Do you have any recommendations?