Greetings and Salutations Otterites!
So old Martin here isn’t much of a TV watcher anymore. I think the last couple of shows I followed for several seasons were The Big Bang Theory and Archer. The wife and I followed Gilmore Girls for a couple of seasons too. Have watched Mom off and on, mostly for Allison Janney, who is a tremendous comedic actress. Caught a few episodes of Shameless here and there when Showtime was having free previews. Top Gear was a big favorite for awhile. I’ve posted about some of the other car restoration shows already, so you know about those. So yes, you’ve read that right Otterites. I’ve pretty much given a pass to all the big shows of the last 2 decades or thereabouts. Walking Dead, Mad Men, Dexter, Game of Thrones, The Wire, The Sopranos, Sons of Anarchy, Stranger Things, This is Us, Breaking Bad, pretty much all the shows that generated huge water cooler talk and were phenomena I have missed. I know some of the general outlines, a few characters, pretty much by osmosis, but didn’t watch all that much.
There’s a couple reasons why. First, hey, I got things to do. Second, I just got out of the habit of watching long term series television. See, back before binging and streaming and rewinding, I did watch stuff. We were dedicated Law & Order, Frasier, Friends and Wings fans. But inevitably, about 50 minutes in to some great mystery show someone would walk into the room and TALK OVER THE BIG REVEAL! Like I said, in the days before binging and streaming, that meant waiting until summer reruns to know what happened. So I just got out of the habit. Long term series just don’t interest me much. I just have that fear of the big reveal getting tromped on. I also find most shows run out of steam after about 3 seasons for me. The premise just usually goes stale pretty quickly.
I am starting to get back toward maybe a little binging these days as I’ve found a guilty pleasure in Bob’s Burgers. Whimsical and oddball, I’m really starting to enjoy the tales of Bob, Linda, Tina, Gene and Louise Belcher. It reminds me of the screwball comedies of the 70’s and 80’s that I enjoyed on cable back in the day. In particular it has the quippy and wordy sensibility of Airplane. I’m streaming like crazy, and guess what, I get to rewind when someone talks over the dialog!
The Belchers own a burger joint (and live above it) in a sleepy seaside town in New England. Tina is the boy crazy oldest tween, Gene is the goofy, musical middle child, and Louise is the devious yet lovable youngest. Gene’s my favorite, he reminds me of the “Johnny” character in Airplane, just tossing out random weirdness and inappropriate quips into the conversations. The show is full of puns, and I freaking love puns. I know “he who would pun would pick a pocket” as Dr. Maturin would say, but I don’t care.
I have to run Otterites, lots to do this fine and frosty Monday evening, but perhaps I will bring you more on Bob and his family in future posts.
