I really appreciate the opportunity Netflix gives me to use television shows to fill the lonely hours of sick-in-my-bed time. It has almost pushed out reading as a favorite pastime. Too sick to write or do housework or even draw, I can still live alternate lives in my head by fighting crime with Luke Cage and Sheriff Walt Longmire, or experience the miracles of magic and story-telling with the fairy-tale characters of Once Upon a Time.
Luke Cage from Marvel Studios brings to life a comic book hero that I have followed since the 70’s. It is a bullet-proof fantasy of how a super hero who is invulnerable handles a world full violent evil and fragile people he desires to protect. I have already watched all thirteen episodes, and may well watch it a second time. It is, in my uncritical opinion, just as wonderful as Daredevil. It provides catharsis and relief from a world full of troubles and pain.
Longmire is a cowboy sheriff show that presents both a murder-case per episode and a larger jigsaw puzzle of personal secrets and hard life events that have to be faced no matter how reluctantly. It brings back the flavor of the westerns like Gunsmoke that I watched weekly in the 60’s when I was a mere boy.
And finally, I also find myself hooked by the sappy Disney-princess show Once Upon a Time. Literally hooked. Hook is my favorite character. And the reason he is my favorite is the something different behind the storytelling in this show. No villain is unredeemable in this show. Hook is transformed from heartless villain into an unqualified selfless hero. The same thing happens with major villains Rumpelstiltskin and Regina the evil queen. It is sappy and cartoonish, I know. But the show makes me feel something, and look at things in a new way.
So, for now, that is basically my world. I have to recover and grow stronger, and binging on Netflix goes a long way towards helping me do that.
Catch a Falling Star 
I am hooked on Once too. It helped me get through my radiation treatments so I could veg. My favorite character is Henry and I have no idea why, I am too tired to figure it out 🙂
I love Henry too because he’s a story-teller and he is always bringing the protagonists together to solve the problems. He’s the character people like us are supposed to most identify with and root for. I was too tired to figure that out too before you asked it and inspired me to think about it. Thank you.
Well if we put our 2 tired brains together maybe it equals one functioning brain!
😀
Hi authormbeyer, All the best, and I hope you have a speedy recovery.
Thanks for the good wishes.
Having Netflix makes me feel like a kid in a candy store. I’ve not been sick since I got it but I watch Gilmore Girls on Friday nights to unwind from my work week, and West Wing, Mad Men, and Sherlock. I also love most any music documentary, and Netflix has several of those. – Best wishes to you and a speedy recovery!
Oh, yes! I have watched every single episode of West Wing and Sherlock. I would’ve done the same with Doctor Who… but they took the show off Netflix before I reached the halfway point. I have watched every episode I possibly could since the 1970’s.
My parents really like Longmire. We’ve got it on our list. And we’ve been watching Once since the beginning. I like it sometimes and don’t like it at other times. The writing can be a little convoluted.
I am fascinated by the flashback story-telling techniques in Once. The series comes from the same people who made Lost with even some of the same actors and actresses. I loved the way they used the technique on that old show too. But I have to admit, you are right when you say sometimes they turn a corner and run smack into a big wall of their own building… That must hurt to bruise your old brain that way.