Before Niko was born in 2016, television was my best friend. I got my first television in 1990, a classic Sony tube television. Up until 2010 when I got married, I always had one in the bedroom.
I watched a lot of great stuff. After Niko arrived, though, TV got flushed down the toilet—rarely watched, barely missed (along with sports). If I did want to catch something, it had to be in the evening after Niko was asleep. By then, I didn’t have the attention span to sit through anything for more than five minutes. It would take me days just to finish a single movie.
From 2019 to 2021, my evenings were spent earning my MBA from WGU. After that, I shifted into a new rhythm of writing and reading books instead of watching shows.
But a few weeks ago—after Niko was tucked in bed—I plopped down on the sofa and rediscovered the old habit. I watched Pee-Wee as Himself (both parts). I watched The Accountant and The Accountant 2 (loved the cast: Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, John Lithgow, and J.K. Simmons). I watched Heads of State (don’t ask me why), with John Cena as the U.S. President and Idris Elba as the U.K. Prime Minister. I watched Deep Cover (another solid cast: Orlando Bloom, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Nick Mohammed). I watched Billy Joel: And So It Goes (both parts). Last Tuesday, and after a few nights of watching it, I finished Happy Gilmore 2 (another awesome cast with way too many to mention). And, on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, it was War of the Worlds (with a cast of Ice Cube, Eva Longoria, Clark Gregg, and Andrea Savage). No regrets… except Heads of State and War of the Worlds.
I also like watching movies based on books I’ve read. Years ago, I did that with the Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin. More recently, I read Certain Prey and Mind Prey by John Sandford and watched both screen adaptations. One had Eriq LaSalle as Lucas Davenport, the other had Mark Harmon. I think Mark nailed the character better.
Sometimes, I spend more time scrolling through Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime than I do actually watching something. By the time I find something interesting, I’m ready to go to bed.
What is next?
Well, I saw a Marc Maron comedy special on HBO (whatever it’s called now). When I had to drive to work, I would often throw on his WTF podcast. I would like to start that tonight.
