A Few Must Streams For You

I mentioned “Episodes” last time. Yesterday I finally finished Season 5 and continued to laugh all the way. It really is a very funny series and although a decade old, doesn’t seem dated in the least! When I wasn’t watching that I got pulled into The Diplomat, a Netflix series just released, produced by and starring Keri Russell of The Americans. She hasn’t lost her ability to both charm and bewilder. And likewise I would say the same of the series. Once again there is foreign intrigue that confuses me, but I think it’s supposed to. By the last episode of Season 1 you will understand most of it. Strong acting and intriguing plot supersede some necessary suspension of disbelief and occasional eye rolling. If you want real life, then check out The Man Nobody Knew (Kanopy), a documentary about William Colby, head of the CIA in some of the Nixon years. The filmmaker is his son who does a terrific job of painting the portrait of a complex and necessarily secretive man. Incredible footage of Rome during the American occupation and of Vietnam. More nostalgia trips via documentaries for old fogies like me: The Martha Mitchell Effect (Netflix)Watergate!! Nixon holds her responsible. Watch the movie–it’s short and fascinating (as apparently was she). And final recommendation for screening: Personality Crisis (Netflix maybe Showtime?) More nostalgia: remember the Punk Scene? the New York Dolls? Martin Scorsese’s documentary featuring iconoclastic singer/musician Davis Johansen is compelling on so many levels. Great music and isn’t it always fascinating to see someone who has managed to evade the fate that so many of that druggie rebel culture succumbed to? Johansen is actually an intellectual who has reinvented himself over the past six decades. emerging each time with a showman’s charisma.