Fondling The Boob Tube

Not so long ago, there was a consensus that no matter how channels you had at your disposal, there would be some days or nights when there is absolutely nothing to watch on TV. Streaming has changed all of that. 

Now we are in the midst of a glut of options because, for one thing, the world is at your greasy little fingertips and for another, the competition for eyeballs is at a fever pitch, making this finest era of television in history. Now there is so much to see that you will never be able to take it all in and there is something new all the time.It's a constant flow. And if this bubble bursts as all do, there will still be enough for everyone.

Naturally this comes at a cost, much like everything these days when soon, we'll be charged the air we breathe.(Sound far-fetched? Look what has happened to water.) The world has been turned away from film, an industry that doesn't do itself any favors and is suffering as a result. This is causing exhibitors to scramble about and beg an increasingly fickle public to fill their dwindling coffers with sheckels now spent on home entertainment.

And with the plethora of product to feast upon, we the unwashed are encouraged  to binge as much as possible, making everything disposable, ourselves included. It's just what we the world needs-another addiction. It's all misdirection, life controlled by a up-close magician as the world crumbles around us at an alarming rate. Murder...poverty...war? What else is on my queue?

Sermon over. I'm as guilty as anyone else. I watch WAY too much TV and now, I'm about to support your habit like a pusher offering the very best visual crack money can buy. Yup. Here are some recommendations for your edification.

This last spring has been a brilliant season, especially for new series.

AMC presented the superb gothic thriller THE TERROR about a disastrous attempt to discover the Northwest Passage with the explorers not only stuck fast in the ice for several years, but also preyed upon by a mythical creature that may or not be a bear. So great to see Jared Harris in a starring role that he runs with like the champion thespian he is.

BBC America's KILLING EVE is a blast in the pants, an excellent example of what women can do before and behind the camera with Sandra Oh going against my new fave rave Jamie Comer as a hitwoman par excellence with wackadoodle tendencies.

I haven't seen Ridley Scott's ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD about the Getty boy kidnapping, but I have been following the FX series TRUST, a different take on the same subject. I can imagine Christopher Plummer's performance as J. Paul Getty must be noteworthy since it earned him an Oscar nod, but I find it difficult for it to top Donald Sutherland in the same role. This is a career defining moment for this veteran. Every moment he is on screen is an acting lesson that could and should be studied for all time. And here are four words I though I'd never write: Welcome back, Brendan Fraser. I hope this leads to a new chapter of your career.

On the NETFLIX side, here are a couple of international shows that blew my socks off.

From Belgium comes TABULA RASA, a title that infuriates me because I can't seem to remember it as soon as I say it. Since the show involves an artist who, after an automobile accident, suffers from short term memory loss, it seems appropriate. This amazing show combines elements from MEMENTO, THE SHINING, DON'T LOOK NOW and THE SIXTH SENSE into a bountiful stew of its very own.

BABYLON BERLIN from Germany also mixes very different flavors in this espionage thriller set during the end of the Weimar era and the advent of the Third Reich. Think CABARET mixed with THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI and Fritz Lang's DR. MABUSE films and you've got yourself a virtual Obtoberfest of wunderbar viewing. Liv Lisa Fries is a sensational heroine while series star Volker Bruch carries the show. (Bruch could very well portray the young Buster Keaton if the offer ever presents itself.)

So there's five from me. Despite what I said before, I have now added to the problem. Woe is me.