Turn The Page

Posted on by Commish

Turn The Page. One of my favorite Bob Seger songs. And an apropos blog title this week, as I turn the page. On another election season. On another Cowboys season, … and on my Mt Rushmore of Binge Streaming Series…

One at a time — the election. You won’t get any political commentary here outside of maybe a meme or two, but I’m thankful it’s over and it was decisive, so we can focus on some other things in the world. I’m exhausted by it all.

So… the Cowboys … okay, yes, I did predict them to make the playoffs. But I think I also said somewhere before the season started that I thought they’d be a dumpster fire and a non-contender, too. I just didn’t know the flames would come so fast and be so high. What a mess. As a diehard Cowboys fan, who pays for a subscription to the Dallas Morning News and everything, I can attest, the Cowboys fandom is pretty disengaged and disinterested. Like I’ve never seen before. That should scare Jerry more than a losing season. I hope they lose every game from here on out, so maybe we can draft … Shedeur Sanders. LOL. As Dak was caught saying on camera Sunday, “We f’n suck.” For 2024, I’m thinking … Detroit Rock City!! Or maybe, forgive me, but it would be kinda cool … the Washington FC??? Who’s with me?

And finally, the Mt Rushmore of my Binge Streaming Series. It’s been a little over a year since I published my first list and let’s just say, there’s been some developments since then. Let’s recall my parameters:

Our parameters were: (a) it can’t be an active show that we are still watching or has more seasons to release (this eliminates shows like Yellowstone, What We Do In the Shadows, Ted Lasso, Cobra Kai); (b) it can’t be something we watched back in the day (like Seinfeld, Cheers, The Office, my ultimate warm blanket shows); (c) it can’t be a one season, limited series (like Band of Brothers — which would be atop my mountain any day otherwise, the Haunting of Hill House, or Mare of Easttown); and (d) this should go without saying, but … we have to have watched it! There are dozens of great shows we haven’t touched yet — Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian, Curb Your Enthusiasm, etc. Which means we are open to some suggestions, like Shane’s recent suggestion of The Terminal List.

Also, recall my “mountaintop” from last year:

  • Friday Night Lights: I am ashamed to say as an unabashed football fanatic and one who had heard how great this show was for years, we just finished it up last month. And we’ve still not stopped missing Coach and Tammy Taylor. And Tim Riggins (also on The Terminal List BTW!). And Matt Saracen. Dang, I loved this show. And it wasn’t the football, it was the actors and the characters. And the Taylors’ marriage was so … chef’s kiss. Can’t recommend it enough.
  • Longmire: We turned to this after finishing Justified. Scenery is amazing, but it’s the gravelly lead actor and his merry band of slight misfits that had Mrs. Commish and I clamoring to finish dinner every night and settle in for a few episodes of “Walt”.
  • Ozark: Another show that’s out there, unbelievable, but oh so, wonderful. First of all, I love Jason Bateman to the uttermost and just love watching him on screen, but Laura Linney and Julia Garner, holy cow. An awful bunch of people that I would do anything to help, LOL! This one is pretty secure on the mountain.
  • The Americans: I don’t expect to live to see this one toppled. Maybe it’s because I’m a 1980s kid. Maybe it’s the killer soundtrack. But this one is the king. Outstanding acting, writing and the garage scene at the end of the series is just indescribably wonderful. We often talk about what the Jennings’ are doing right now, as if they’re real people. This one is just begging for a follow up movie (not a series, don’t mess with perfection!).

So … what’s changed? Well, Mrs. Commish and I watched a few contenders. Some by league recommendations, so thank you for the feedback, even if it didn’t make the big mountain. Some contenders since last year:

  • Eastbound and Down. Gracious me, I felt like I needed to repent and drink some Holy Water after each episode, but good lord, what a character Kenny Powers was. Good belly laughs throughout. Thanks, Michael!
  • Ted Lasso. Finished up, great show, lifts my spirit when I think of it. And for me to enjoy a soccer series??? Gotta be special.
  • Wednesday. It took some convincing to get me to try it, but once I did, we’ve watched it twice. Only one season so far, though, so it doesn’t qualify, per se.
  • The Diplomat. The awesome Keri Russell. One season, still active, non qualifying, but on the radar.
  • Jury Duty. Doesn’t fit the qualifications either, but dang, what a concept. Fascinating and funny and uplifting.
  • Succession. Okay, this one almost had me pulling out the chisel. Simply amazing, characters and acting. Loved it. Bryan Cox makes the f word sound like great American literature.
  • Righteous Gemstones. See, Eastbound and Down, above. Thanks, Michael!
  • All the Light We Cannot See. Limited series. Great WWII drama.
  • Bass Reeves. Still active, too, I think/hope. One season. Good stuff. I’m a sucker for westerns.
  • Barry. Weird concept, but great show and characters. I’ll never look at Bill Hader the same. Kudos to him.
  • We Were The Lucky Ones: Again, limited series, great WWII drama. Makes you appreciate life in a new way.
  • Gentleman in Moscow. Interesting. Mrs. Commish read the book and recommended we watch it. Well done, I was entertained.
  • Mad Men. Okay, I’ve gotta be honest. This was not a contender. For us. I commend the acting, the historic attention to detail, the bourbon. Never enjoyed sipping a bourbon more than while watching this. I get it. I just didn’t love it. I didn’t really like anybody. I didn’t feel like anything was happening. We finished two seasons and decided, life’s too short and we love binging too much to keep this up. Not criticizing those of you who love it but as I’ve said, I’m not very sophisticated in my entertainment choices, so … my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt.
  • Your Honor. We started watching this, but had some temporary houseguests move in (and still do) which has brought our binge watching to a temporary halt. But we started watching it because of Bryan Cranston, who we had watched in …
  • Breaking Bad. Holy cow, what a show. So, so, so good. Okay, didn’t really “like” anyone in this show either, but man, were we invested. Just outstanding. Definitely a contender… which led to, of course, …
  • Better Call Saul. Saul Goodman. “It’s alllll good, man.” Great show. Great character. Michael McKean’s character was an anchor that held it back IMHO. I’ll take Breaking Bad first, but it was darn good.
  • And finally, … The Sopranos. I’d avoided this for years. It almost felt like it was too trendy as great television for me to lower myself to such pedestrian standards. Big mistake on my part. Big. Yuge. I now know what Stugotz means. Pasta sauce is now called gravy in the SPFL home offices . James Gandolfini was Tony Soprano. What a loss. And Steven Van Zandt? Who knew? I still miss them all. Horrible people that became our family. “I woke up this morning, and got myself a gun…”
So, is there any movement on the mountain? Yes. Yes, there is. (Also, do I really watch that much television???)
Friday Night Lights. Come on down. “Clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose.” Two out of three ain’t bad. Will always be in my Hall of Fame, but not on my mountain.
Likewise, you  gravelly voiced maestro, Walt Longmire. Eternally awesome, but no longer enshrined on my mountain.
Enter in: Walter White and Anthony Soprano.

The Americans. Ozark. Breaking Bad. The Sopranos. The Commish’s Binge Streaming Mt. Rushmore, 2024.

So here we are nine weeks into a 14-week season and we have two clear division front runners, both boasting two game leads. The Bitter Midgets a 8-1 lead the Tommy Boy Division and the Bright 1s, at 7-2, lead the Matt Foley Division and look darn near invincible. Should the playoffs start today, the Auto Picks and the Beauty and the Beasts would be 3 and 4 seeds, while the Moops and … the Thunder Monkeys would be 5 and 6 on total points. Keep piling up those points and W’s, people, you never know!

Heroes 130 – Moops 127: The Heroes did juuuuust enough on Monday night to eek out their fourth straight victory, led by Josh Allen (25) and Kareem Hunt’s OT touchdown (21) while the Moops were led by Rico Dowdle and Geno Smith’s 22 point outings.

Beasts 149 — Lightning 127: Beauty’s beasts piled up the points, led by Joe Burrow (29) and Mr. Taylor Swift (23), while the Lightning fell for the fourth straight loss, despite Zay Flowers (31) and that Rams D (26). 

Midgets 133 – Corn 108: The Midgets cruised to their sixth straight win, led by Jalen Hurts (31) Ade Cotton (21), while the Corn were waylaid by Amari Cooper’s late scratch (0) and relied on Chuba Hubbard (22) and Deandre Swift (15).

Auto Picks 162 — Megatron 147: Megatron had a great week but it wasn’t enough against the powerhouse Auto Picks, who were led by Saquon Barkley (36) and Chase Brown (29). Megatron had a legit zero in their lineup when Cole Kmet got a goose egg, hurting the efforts of JSN (37) and JK Dobbins (25).
Was anyone else watching this live? I was literally like, “Oh my. Good lord. Go ahead pour me another shot of whiskey…”

Brothers 147 — Turtles 88: Ugh. The Brothers are still fighting for life, led by two 23 points scorers, Rhamondre Stevenson and Courtland Sutton, while the Turtles had Derrick Henry (28), James Conner (16) and not much else.

Bright 1s 189 — Monkeys 160: The Monkeys would have beaten almost anyone this week … except this year’s bullies, one of which was their opponent this week. Devon Achane (33) and Alvin Kamara (30) led a well rounded Bright lineup, while the Monkeys flashed back to 2019 and were led by Deandre Hopkins (28) and Austin Ekeler (21).

Next Week
        • Moops @ Corn
        • Beasts @ Brothers
        • Midgets @ Bright 1s
        • Megatron @ Monkeys
        • Lightning @ Heroes
        • Auto Picks @ Turtles

That’ll do it for now, hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for indulging my nonsense this week. Good luck and enjoy!

The Commish