Monday, June 30, 2014

Summer Fare and Second-Hand Smoke

Netflix is great. Not only can we catch up on series-gone-by that we missed, but for one small monthly fee we can share the account with the kids' families. Not bad! Gone are the days when I buy discs, watch and then sell on eBay at a loss.

We've left physical violence behind. Thankfully, "Thrones" has ended. My neck was aching from all the head-jerking necessary to avoid watching beheadings. Sure, I'll tune in to see Tyrion's fate, next season. But till then, a good, old-fashioned soap opera, complete with mental brutality, shall do… bringing me to "Mad Men" and its steady stream of jealousy and love affairs. Oh, and cigarette smoke.

Ya know, I went to school and worked in Manhattan for a couple years during the sixties. I have to tell you that the LIRR had smoking cars. No smoke for me. And my office at Twentieth Century-Fox (it was hyphenated back then) was not smoky. Maybe this was exclusive to Madison Avenue and the advertising agencies? I don't know. But we're dying from the second-hand smoke that we're letting into the living room, for an hour each evening…

That's right. One episode a night. TV time rolls around late during summer months. And besides, the men (and women) of Madison Avenue are interesting, but not quite as compelling as those of "Breaking Bad". For that, we'd be up till midnight watching at least two shows per night, or more. Gonna take a while to catch up to seventy-something episodes of this new-to-us show.
But hey, we're in those lazy, hazy days. Right?