Netflix

Since last February we've subscribed to the Canadian branch of Netflix downloads.  It's convenient for watching TV series and only costs the same as a few DVD rentals per month.  Yet I feel jealous because the Canadian selection is a lot smaller than the American version.

One series my sister Moira and I have been watching on Netflix is BREAKING BAD.  It's a real classic about a high school chemistry teacher opening a meth lab.  My parents and I have seen all four seasons of the late-'70s spoof sitcom SOAP, which was often broad but had a good cast. (Billy Crystal is the most famous today, but Katherine Helmond and Richard Mulligan were particularly notable.)  I've also been watching PRISON BREAK, which is something of a guilty pleasure for me.  The first season, in particular, has great narrative drive.

Lately, I've started watching HELL ON WHEELS, a western about building the Union Pacific railway just after the Civil War.  It's produced by AMC, which has been making a lot of interesting shows:  others are MAD MEN and the aforementioned BREAKING BAD.  This is a very violent show, and not just in the conventional "A shoots B" way; there's a great deal of hate and vengefulness.  The main character is a Confederate veteran hunting down and murdering the Union veterans directly responsible for his wife's murder.  Another character, the robber baron building the line, is played by that Irish actor Colm Meany. (I loved his line in THE VAN when he was learning to fry chips and was asked for an example of a simile: "Me chips are burnt as fuck!" The Irish have a great way of twisting the English language around.)

Netflix also has a lot of interesting documentaries.  I've also started watching a biographical series about Churchill.