Binge This, Sucka!

Okay, fine. time to put away from aversion to binge watching TV series since most of the frickin' world is sequestered indoors like the OJ jury while the pandemic continues. I used to say there wasn't enough time in the day to catch on everything that's being offered. Now there's all the time n the world, isn't there? That is, of course, as long there is still a world after all this...

Sorry. getting bleak again. Promised myself that I'd only make some suggestions for y'all to watch, some obvious, others I hope you'll take a gander at because they are certifiably Cherney Approved.

Netflix has a bunch of new shows I consider worth your while, particularly a couple in the reality category.

TIGER KING is a true crime limited series that is absolutely bat-shit crazy, revolving around private zoo owners who are breeding lions and tigers and bears in captivity for fun and profit with murder, polygamy, big kitties and totally gonzo whackjobs. This show was so nuts, with more layers than a Blooming Onion of lunacy, it was a welcome diversion from the real-time craziness we're dealing with right now. Two big furry thumbs up.

UGLY DELICIOUS, now in its second, but way too short season, is chef David Chang's non-fiction series is part travelogue, part history lesson and part social commentary revolving around food around the world. This is the best show of its kind since Anthony Bourdain passed into the Great Beyond.

Speaking of Bourdain, one of his producers is working on another travel show, AMC's RIDE WITH NORMAN REEDUS festiring the star of THE WALKING DEAD as he travels the length and breadth of the planet on a motorcycle, occasionally accompanied by a celeb biker. Norman has a goofy, near adolescent sense of wonder that is totally infectious.

HBO has had a few Winners lately, most notably THE OUTSIDER, not only the best TV adaptation of a Stephen King book, but one of the best in any medium. It plays like TWIN PEAKS by way of THE WIRE. A brilliant cast, most notably with Ben Mendelsohn and the brilliant Cynthia Erivo, anchor this show with a gravitas most shows only wish they had.

USA has a new season THE SINNER, which is quite good in a sometimes awkward way, but I prefer BRIARPATCH, a crime meller that makes no sense but is so much fun, you won't even care. Starring Rosario Dawson (finally!), this cray-cray tale of corruption in a Texan town based on the Ross Thomas novel has more twists and turns than a Rube Goldberg contraption.

Give them a look. You don't like an episode, move on to the next show. Obviously, there's more out there: THE CROWN, BETTER CALL SAUL has a new season, DISPATCHES FROM ELSEWHERE, another weird and wonderful AMC show if you find yourself missing the late, lamented LODGE 49, BABYLON BERLIN, the great German show I dearly is back on Netflix and Pamela Adlon's sensational BETTER THINGS on FX. Oh, God! There's so much! What a cornucopia!

Or, if you're ODing on screen time, consider the words of Roald Dahl's Oompa Loompas:

Happy Quarantine!