Carole Nelson Brown
It’s the bitter end of January, covid has not ended and we are still binge-watching a ton of tv. Check out what Sonya and I were loving in December for more shows to add to the old “stuck in the house” list. So, without further ado, what we are loving this month:
Carole’s Picks:
Yellowjackets (Showtime):
I have avoided this show because I assumed it was some YA teen angsty Survivor meets 90210, or something. I could not have been more wrong. This show is batshit crazy and perfectly delicious. It has it all. A plane full of champion high school female soccer players crashes in the wilderness and CRAZYPANTS ensues.
The narrative flashes back and forth between the 19 months the soccer team is alone in the forest and today, 20something years later. The ones that made it out alive have kept their deep, dark secrets about what really happened out there, all those years ago… until now. Blackmail, paranoia, drugs, sex, snacking on friends, trauma or supernatural shenanigans? This show has it all. I started yesterday and I am just about to watch the final episode at this very moment. Don’t be like me and underestimate this delightful ditty and get on it asap.
How can a simple side gig of money laundering for the cartel go so wrong?
Ozark Season 4/Part 1
We have been waiting, with bated breath, for this final season of Ozark and it’s finally happening. The saga of mild-mannered accountant cum Cartel money man, Marty Byrde, and family will meet its end, at last. Justin Bateman’s Marty is everything I love about Bateman’s role choices. On the surface, all vanilla, boring white guy who is, in reality, a genius criminal mastermind with a heart of ice. Wife Wendy (the brilliant Laura Linney) went from someone I felt sorry for to someone who might be even more terrifying than Marty. The family business happens to be money laundering and the kids – well, let’s just say they haven’t fallen far from that particular tree.
Add in a juicy group of low rent drug dealers, rounders, crooked cops and savage Cartel members and the show just never lets up for a minute. Come for Marty, stay for Ruth.
Worst Cooks in America (Food Network)
What started with binge-watching Nailed US, Germany and Mexico, segued into The Great Canadian Baking Show has culminated into my current obsession. Worst Cooks In America. My 22-year-old son and I try to watch a few episodes every night (Nailed it kicked off our pandemic viewing in 2020). Finally, with this show, we have even roped my husband into watching with us.
Skip the seasons that feature a crew of “celebrities”, trust me. Stick to the seasons that bring together a cast of characters that are so inept in the kitchen that it’s hard to believe, at times. Unlike those smackdown competition shows, that I don’t care for, everyone here is lovely. They support each other, the chef coaches truly seem to want to help these people and take joy in their improvement.
It will also leave you feeling pretty smug about your skills in the kitchen after you watch someone try to dice an onion with a fish!
Libby’s Picks:
Below Deck (HAYU)
The sweeping landscapes will captivate you, but the hardcore parade of abs will keep you locked in. Captain Lee escorts you around the islands, with each episode charting a new gaggle of misbehaving guests to lock heads with the disgruntled coed crew.
Days off detail day-drinking and sexy beach frolics with the sexy stewards, each season offering a rag-tag team of old and new, dumb and dumber and hot and hotter. Also don’t miss the Mediterranean version of this yachtie favourite too.
90 Day Fiance: The Other Way (Discovery+)
I need an around the way girl, and so does Johnny from China who has been waiting in the wings for his buxom beauty Ella from Idaho. Meeting online, during a pandemic, what could go wrong? Turns out everything when a bunch of cameras follow the lovers in flight, meeting in usual countries that welcome COVID weary travellers, this franchise is a fan favourite for drama, judgement and let’s face it, a little wanderlusty gazing for your next vacation. Hello Turkey!
The two-hour show airs Sunday nights if you can catch it live, join online on socials for very meow-worthy takes and memes on your fave car-wreck-can’t-turn-away moments.
Us waiting for Gino to leave Jasmine #90DayFiance pic.twitter.com/cOuY0dh3eJ
— Kurt Sparks (@imkurtsparks) January 24, 2022
Too Hot to Handle (Netflix)
Another great show to watch while you’re doing anything else, THTH follows a group of stupid-good looking individuals as they find and throw away love, their dignity, and maybe a little bit of their future too. An Alexa style cock-block instructs this dirty-almost dozen while they flirt, trade and then start over, all in the hopes of learning about actual love, instead of whatever it is that they’re used to doing.
Himbos are hot, girls are too and the clothing options mean there’s not a lot left up to the imagination! A series of Survivor-style games influence and engage the unwitty and witless, it’s fun to watch the characters develop and grow with each episode.
Inbetweeners (Amazon Prime)
This British comedy follows a gangly group of blemished teens as they navigate their way through the upper grades and even venture out on an adventure vacation post-grad (friends!). It’s super awkward, quite relatable and distinctly British. Catch up on all the seasons, and then tuck in for the two movies as an encore.
Si, you don’t look well mate, what happened?#TheInbetweeners pic.twitter.com/ekOeUcKFEt
— The Inbetweeners (@InbetweenerVidz) January 26, 2022
Sonya’s Picks:
The World’s Most Amazing Vacation Rentals (Netflix)
Since we aren’t going anywhere I’m living vicariously through this series that takes a look at vacation rentals around the world. In each episode, the hosts of the show offer up three vacation properties suitable for every budget. Not only that, they give their reasons why they chose the locales – from things to do to design elements they adore. Honestly, at first I thought pffft…what do these young hosts know, but just give them a chance. Even if it’s scripted and they have a team of people behind them doing most of the research, it’s a refreshing and a fun series to discover places.
Invisible House at Joshua Tree was featured in the show. Rental of this stunning property can be found on Airbnb
Architectural Digest Open Door Series (YouTube)
This series takes you inside the homes of celebrities as they give us a personal tour of their living spaces. Go inside Alicia Keyes and Swizz Beatz oceanside estate, check out Cara Delevingne fantastical home in LA, Liv Tyler’s NYC brownstone family home, and others as they discuss their design aesthetics and processes. I can easily get cozy on my couch a spend a full afternoon in this series.
Alicia Keyes and Swizz Beatz AD Open Door
7 Days Out (Netflix)
This documentary series gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at some of the world’s biggest events. From the Westminster Dog Show to the Chanel Couture Show during Paris Fashion Week to the NASA’s Cassini Mission. The series also had an episode on the renovation of Eleven Madison Park, a 3 Michelin-starred restaurant in Manhattan that has ranked in the third in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2016 and topped the list in 2017. Interestingly, during Covid, the restaurant turned into a commissary kitchen and produced meals for the food-insecure in New York. Then, once the city began opening up the restaurant offered takeout service but with every dinner purchased by patrons, they provided 10 meals to New Yorkers who continued to experience food insecurity.– not that this was in the series as the series was released in 2018, I just found that interesting.
7 Days Out at the Chanel Couture Show Paris Fashion Week
Stay tuned next month for more juicy, terrible, tuck under the covers shows we can’t get enough of.