Will it surprise any of you to hear that the shows I binge watch run to costume dramas and British made? Beloved and I came to streaming video—and therefore binge watching—somewhat late, but we embraced it utterly.
Our first Big Binge was Foyle’s War. It still rates very high on our all time favorite list and we’ve watched parts of it several times. It combined historical atmosphere with cerebral mysteries, two of the things we like best. We’ve also binged on Poldark, Grantchester, Garrow’s Law, North and South, Call the Midwife, Death Comes to Pemberly, and Mercy Street.
We did not binge on Downton Abbey because we avidly caught them as broadcast, but felt no need to repeat any of it. Neither of us was able to get into Doctor Thorne or Indian Summer for some reason. We dropped out after an episode of each. I must be the only historical romance addict on the planet that found the Outlander series painful to watch. Too much violence.
We also watch documentaries and go on binges of Secrets of the Dead or some of the Frontline material, and of course anything Ken Burns every produced. We particularly liked Prohibition and The Civil War some of which we watch repeatedly. His Baseball seems to come up for viewing every October.
We do watch some contemporary material. Tuesday is must watch NCIS night, but we don’t binge on back to back episodes. We binge watched 4-5 seasons of Justified and the much of Longmire. We find the initial premise gets lost along the way when they go on for a while. And then there is Sherlock. I’ve seen every episode up to the current season at least three times.
That is a lot of television! It speaks of The Writer’s brain being so tired of an evening it is up for nothing but passive entertainment!
You’re not alone. I’ve never been keen to watch Outlander so I haven’t. 🙂 I do watch period drama on and off but its been a while since anything new has really appealed to me.
Hopping around this blog hop, I’m finding many of us romance authors focus on British TV (me included and proud to hold my card). Foyle’s War is great. I had seen it years ago, before binging was a thing.
I did watch some episodes of Poldark because Aidan Turner was in it! 🙂
I write science fiction and fantasy as well as romance, so it’s with a hung head I admit I’ve never watched Outlanders. I agree about some of the PBS programs. Like you, I especially like Secrets of the Dead, and Ken Burns, the Civil War series.
What an interesting blog. When it comes to TV, I also love costume dramas and documentaries. But I’m no binge watcher. I watched VICTORIA on PBS the other night, and even though it was on about the time I usually start dozing in my recliner, I managed to stay awake for the whole thing (smile).
And in the winter I also watch a lot of comedy. They are mostly things that I’ve seen many times but they still make me laugh. On cold, gloomy days I want something to make me laugh. Laughing makes me feel better.
We have similar tastes, Caroline! I watch Outlander, but I’m not a huge fan. The violence at the end of Season one almost made me cancel my Starz subscription.
One new show this season that might interest you is Taboo, with Tom Hardy. It’s on FX on Tuesday nights. The year is 1814, involving a very villainous British East India Company. Tom Hardy is an extremely dark hero, who’s returned from Africa after being presumed dead. My husband wonders aloud about why he never seems to wash or change his shirt, LOL! The period details are great, though.
I watch Outlander on my recumbent indoor bike. You’ve given me some other ideas to keep me motivated to exercise.
You like a lot of the same shows I do: Foyle’s War, Poldark, Mercy Street, etc. I did manage to watch Outlander, but I skipped the last episode of Season 1 where Jamie gets tortured. I read the book years ago and knew how it ended. Shudder. Season 2 wasn’t as violent, at least the first half and I found it easier to watch. The show is very violent, but so well done and well-acted.
We watch documentaries as well. I loved Longmire and Justified ( hubby bought me the boxed set of Justified and the books they were from as well.) great post!
I haven’t done too much binge-watching yet. For the first two seasons of Reign, I caught up on a bunch of episodes on my iPhone (via the CW app), and when I’ve missed a couple of episodes of Vikings, I’ll catch up on thehistorychannel.com. But that’s it. There are way too many shows I must watch now!