I had to laugh a little bit when I received my Netflix Stream Team bulletin this month. This month Netflix is putting the focus on how moms can (and should) recharge, because parenting is a 24/7 gig. Of course, the monthly topic wasn’t the funny part. It’s an awesome topic. What made me laugh is that, with my kids being grown and out, I have no shortage of recharge time. That’s one of the many rewards that comes around when your kids grow up and leave the house.
THAT SAID, although I’m not kicking back and relaxing so I can recharge from cooking for/chasing/disciplining/chauffeuring young kids, I AM doing it as an escape from work. Whew. One of my favorite recharge activities is hanging out in our family room, streaming tv shows on Netflix. (And that was one of my favorite activities even before I became a member of the Stream Team, just sayin.)
Here are six shows that Netflix recommends you relax and recharge with, this month:
1. Orange Is the New Black (A Netflix original series; Season 2 just started!)
2. Scandal
3. Pretty Little Liars
4. Sherlock
5. Breaking Bad
6. Parenthood
Those are all great shows. Okay wait, I can only completely vouch for numbers 1, 2, 5, and 6, and partially vouch for numbers 3 and 4 because…
–my nineteen-year-old son J watches “Pretty Little Liars” with his girlfriend
–my friend Momo’s fifteen-year-old daughter was doing her best to convince me to watch “Sherlock” on my last visit to their house: she adores Benedict Cumberbatch
So yes, those are six wonderful choices. MY choices for kicking back, though? Aren’t on that list.
Jim and I have been alternating between watching episodes of Netflix’s original series, “House of Cards”, and “Mad Men”.
Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright make the perfect, oh-so-evil-together Washington D.C. power couple on “House of Cards” and although we usually don’t watch political drama shows, this one has us hooked. Completely. In the first episode of season two when you-know-who did that thing to you-know-who, in the you-know-where? OH MY GOSH. I literally screamed, “WHAT JUST HAPPENED????” (I don’t want to spoil it for you! WATCH IT.)
I am even more in love with “Mad Men”. We watched the first three seasons a long time ago and after a long hiatus tried to go back to it, unsuccessfully. (We felt lost and just…gave up.) We recommitted to the series a few weeks ago and we’re nearly at the point where the episodes will be new to us. Although so many of the characters are tragic, the show is just incredible. I love the realistic portrayal of the sixties (Pregnant women smoking! Alcohol in the workplace! Genteel dialogue! Manners! White gloves! That all really happened!), which leaves me laughing at its “ridiculousness” and also a little awestruck at how much times have changed. (And admittedly, wishing for a minute or two here or there that I could go back and experience parts of that decade as an adult myself, wearing Betty Draper’s beautiful nightgowns and dresses with petticoats.)
Laying around on the couch and watching these shows is such a great way for us to relax and escape responsibility for a little while. Luckily, there’s more where those came from. When we finish watching the adventures of Frank Underwood and Don Draper, we’re moving on to “Royal Pains”, among others. I have a list. (Surprised?)
More Stream Team fun next month…I’ve got to go. Don Draper won’t be kept waiting, you know!