The GCM newsletters you receive on Fridays are always my favorites to write, because it’s a chance to intentionally be all over the place. Instead of a deep dive on one topic, like I do on Tuesdays, on Fridays I try to skim the surface of several topics. For someone with an occasionally frantic brain, like myself, this lets me talk about more variety than I’d get to otherwise.
That is, until we reach August. Right now we’re about to hit the Major League Baseball trade deadline, we are in the midst of the WNBA season, and… that’s about it? College and pro football are in training camp. NBA folks finally get to take a vacation. The European soccer leagues are just starting to brush off the cobwebs, as we all recover from the World Cup.
Which means that for the next week or two, sports take a backseat in my life. I still watch the Braves every night, but when their games end before 8:30 pm, there’s still an entire evening of possibilities at your fingertips. This is when I get to watch all the shows and movies everyone else has time to watch all year long. So, here are five shows I’ve really gotten into in the last few weeks, to help you get through the dog days of summer.
Widow’s Bay (Apple TV)
Not sure if you’d call this a comedy or a thriller or sci-fi or horror, but it seems like it’s a bit of all of them. This show is definitely creepy and scary, and oftentimes it’s laugh-out-loud funny. It’s about a New England island looking to increase tourism while dealing with a very weird history. It’s the best show I’ve watched this year.
WWE: Unreal (Netflix)
This is a wrestling show for people who don’t watch wrestling. While the actual wrestling is part of the show, WWE: Unreal focuses more on the behind-the-scenes action, introducing the wrestlers as people and showing how all the storylines are developed. It’s also pretty cool to see the wrestlers working out choreography hours before their actual matches. Season three just dropped, in time to get you ready for Summer Slam.
Legends (Netflix)
This British show stars the great Steve Coogan as the head of a group of British customs officers who go undercover to stop drug smugglers. The fun twist is that the customs officers have no training as undercover operatives. (Disclaimer: I’m halfway through the first season, so things might yet become terrible. But so far, it’s great.)
The Boroughs (Netflix)
The bad thing about recommending this show is that season two has already been canceled. But the first season is a lot of fun, following a group of senior citizens who band together in their weird retirement village to solve a mystery. A great cast is involved, as Alfred Molina and Alfre Woodard star.
Silo (AppleTV)
I stumbled into this show while browsing Apple TV looking for something, anything, to watch. Dystopian future…sci fi…people living in a silo…it’s got a lot going for it. I’m still working through season one but there are multiple seasons available, which I’m looking forward to watching. Rebecca Ferguson is awesome as the star.
Odds and Ends…
- If you’ve ever been on a really long flight, this is exactly what it feels like…
- Someone redesigned airplanes for those long flights, by the way…
- This is pretty interesting: Find out how much weirder you are than you think you might be…
- Can you be an NBA GM? Find out here…
- I’m all-in on this new BBC documentary series about space exploration…
- The DoorDash drone delivery program has started…
- Whatever you cook this weekend, make some crispy roasted potatoes on the side…Â
