Here is my yearly list of things I watched via various streaming platforms...and in one very rare time, at the movie theater.
Red denotes shows or movies I disliked.
Blue denotes shows I especially loved. Though sometimes I forget the love I felt if a lot of time has passed between watching the show and making the list. The love often fades. More recent watchings are more likely to be blue.
Never mind that. I'm ending that part of my tradition. It's too hard for me to decide whether or not I simply liked a show or whether I loved it.
I've divided the shows by location...in terms of where it was set rather than where it was filmed.
Some shows might be listed for multiple places.
If you're interested, here is my list for 2017, 2020, 2021, and 2022 list.
One big thing I almost forgot to mention is I completely changed the way I do my to-watch list.
My old way involved having a limited number of spaces for shows/movies on the list—idea being I needed to finish and cross off a movie or show before adding something new.
Now I'm using the same method I use for my author's list. There is no limit to the number of things on the list. And before adding to the list, I don't take time to make sure it's not already on the list.
I'm fine with things being on the list multiple times. Sometimes I actually purposely add things multiple time, so there will be more of a chance that Random.org will choose it for me.
I was going to list which seasons of a show I've watched, but I've decided that's going to make the list too clunky and complicated. I might do it sometimes.
Warning: I might have things wrong about the setting of the Marvel movies we watched. My memory is muddled. If any particular experts want to help by correcting me, I would feel appreciative and not offended.
AUSTRALIA
Neighbours-Having Neighbours return, and be available for me to easily watch, was one of the top best things that happened to me this year. I've been watching the current episodes and slowly making my way through the provided Classic Neighbours episodes.
All Saints-Every few years, Random.org gifts me with another season of this show. I feel emotionally attached.
Deadloch- This was one of the very rare times that Tim and I watched an Australian TV show together. I almost quit after the first episode, because I misunderstood what it was. I thought it was supposed to be a parody of shows like Broadchurch. I was picturing like a Naked Gun/Airplane kind of thing. So watching the first episode, it just felt really off. Like the show had failed at what it was trying to do. Then I realized it was more of a drama-comedy-mystery. Or a drama-mystery with comic relief characters. After accepting the show for what it was supposed to be, I loved it.
DENMARK
The Bear Only one episode. That particular episode gave me a lot of anxiety and dread, because we had plans to go on a trip to Copenhagen, and I was extremely anxious about traveling. But it all had a happy ending. I ended up having a wonderful time on the trip
GERMANY
All the Light We Cannot See-Wasn't interested in this when my parents highly recommended it but then became interested when I saw an actor from Dark was one of the stars.
Unorthodox-Inspired to watch this after watching Shira Haas in Bodies. And I had also read the book this year and liked that a lot.
I'm hoping Disney doesn't cave to pressure and that we'll be able to see Haas in the new Captain America movie.
ISRAEL
Fauda- Currently watching this. I've read reviews saying it's biased against Palestinians. From what I've seen so far, it seems much less biased than I would have expected from an Israeli TV show about the conflict.
I think it shows Palestinians in a very sympathetic way and sometimes shows Israelis in a quite negative way. Really...all in all, it seems fairly sympathetic towards both sides.
A pessimistic, judgmental side of me feels some reviewers would see this show as unbiased and fair only if all the the Israelis were shown as completely evil, heartless oppressive colonizers and the Palestinians as angelic, loving, innocent victims.
ITALY
Mrs. Davies
A Haunting in Venice- I liked the set design but besides that...didn't really love this one.
JAPAN
Invasion
NETHERLANDS
Ted Lasso-I loved that episode. Though like The Bear's travel episode, this one also gave me anxiety, because of our upcoming trip. Unlike some people I know, I don't continue to confuse the Danish with the Dutch. However, it still made me think of our upcoming trip, because of the canal, Europe in general, etc.
NORWAY-
Thor: Love and Thunder I forget where else it takes place. In the Metaverse? The Multiverse? Another Planet?
SOUTH KOREA
Uncanny Counter
Extraordinary Attorney Woo- I tried working on Korean by rewatching one of the episodes repeatedly. Then I got tired of it and stopped.
Burning-Critics and reviewer people seemed to like this one much more than Tim and I did.
Business Proposal-Fictional Australians seem to die tragically from being hit by a car while walking, standing, picking up someone else's bulk trash, etc. Koreans seem to be in danger of losing their parents as children and teens via a car accident. This is the case for this show, Uncanny Counter, and also Sweet Home. Are there others I've forgotten?
I should say that I've watched a teeny tiny fraction of the Korean dramas that are out there. There may be a more common way for fictional Koreans to die.
UNITED KINGDOM
Black Mirror
Ted Lasso-The ending gave me a lot of sadness in the same way The Good Place gave me a lot of sadness. I mean sadness for the same type of reason.
Invasion
Bodies-I liked this show a lot until I read about the massive differences to the comic book. I really need to stop trying to compare books with shows. It messes too much with my head when there are huge changes. Especially if the changes are enormous. With the TV series, time travel seemed very much to be the main point of the whole story. Then I learn that time travel didn't play a part at all in the original material.
Coronation Street-This...and now Neighbours...are my constants. I don't rely on Random.org to pick it for me. I try hard to watch it every day that an episode is available to me.
THE UNITED STATES
Lucifer-I love this show to the point that I sometimes feel stupid for allowing my viewing to be ruled so much by Random.org. It's sad to consider that it may be twenty years later before I watch season 5. On the other hand, I think I will feel a huge loss when I finish watching the show. So, it's kind of nice living my life knowing I still have two seasons left to watch
Nashville- Speaking of....This one took me a long time to get back to. There were some years between my watching season two and three. Again, though, it's nice knowing I have more seasons left to watch.
Mythic Quest
Crown Heights
Bosch
The Peripheral-I liked the idea of this more than the result.
Only Murders in the Building-I love this show. It brings me a very happy kind of nostalgia to see Steve Martin and Martin Short.
Parenthood- This was a hate-like show for me.
It was the most offensive show dealing with autism I have ever seen. It made my blood boil. It's as if someone took the infamous Autism Speaks promotional video and said, Hey, let's turn this into a TV show. But I liked the other aspects of the show and enjoyed seeing how it actually does connect to the movie.
Yellow Jackets- I'm not sure where the plane crashed, though.
This is Us- I love this show...and it's another one where I worry Random.org won't ever pick again for me but at the same time am glad I still have seasons left to watch.
The Good Doctor
The Last of Us
Law and Order- I watched just a couple of episodes while staying at my parent's house for a few nights.
The Wire-Rewatched a portion of the first episode when staying with my parents. They hadn't seen it before, and I had wondered if they might like it.
Chicago Med- Another show my parents shared with me.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend-Rewatched a couple of episodes with my parents. My staycation at their house was like a TV show Show and Tell kind of thing. They liked this show more than The Wire. To be fair, I loved The Wire, but it took me several episodes before I got into it.
Servent-I'm impressed that this show took a very dark and depressing subject and somehow turned it into a wild, fun, addictive roller coaster.
Spiderman: No Way Home
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: EndGame
Bodies Bodies Bodies
Beef-This was beautiful. I wanted...needed it to end a certain way. And it did. So I was very satisfied with that.
Werewolf by Night- I think? Or did it take place elsewhere? I can't remember. I Googled and couldn't easily find the answer.
The Magicians
From- I became somewhat obsessed with this show. I love it but at the same time I worry it borrows from the worst qualities of Lost (which I love, love, love while at the same time recognizing its flaws)
Mrs. Davies
13 Reasons Why
The Brady Bunch- I added a lot of nostalgic stuff to my list...and old stuff I haven't ever watched.
To really feel old school, I sometimes add these shows by individual seasons. Because in the past, we just watched things as they came along via syndication. We didn't start with episode 1. So with The Brady Bunch, I ended up with season 4. The one with the Hawaii adventure.
The Wilds-I'm not sure where the island is supposed to be. I forget. Though I Googled and saw it was filmed in New Zealand.
I watched this after watching the first season of Yellow Jackets and declared that I preferred it much more to Yellow Jackets. But then we watched season two of Yellow Jackets and...well now it's about even.
Mario Bros
The Bear
Black Mirror
Invasion
The Afterparty-Tim and I enjoyed this one a lot. The premise is a lot of fun and well-executed.
What We Do in the Shadows- I like the storyline about Guillermo's new development
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia- I liked this show but much less than Tim does. But I watched only the first season. Maybe if I watch more seasons, it will grow on me more.
Ratched-I liked this, but I I have problems with sympathetic character who we know are doomed to become villains. I had the same feelings about Bates Motel.
A Knock at the Cabin
Haunted Mansion- I liked this much more than I expected to.
Totally Killer
The Blackening
Renfield
Loki
American Horror Story: Hotel- Tim often rewatches shows that I haven't seen yet. This was one of the rare times that I rewatched a show that he hadn't seen yet.
Upload
Leave the World Behind
Unorthodox-
Barbie-We watched this a few nights ago, and I loved, loved, loved, loved, loved it.
The Fall of the House of Usher-This is what we're currently watching. So far, neither Tim nor I are loving it. But hopefully we will grow to like it as we get further in.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special-(eta) Tim and I watched this one Christmas Eve. We both loved the songs and are wanting to listen to more music from the heroic Kevin Bacon and Old 97's.
I had some confusion—some annoyed-confusion—over whether we were dealing with A) A Kevin Bacon from a universe in which The Avengers and other Marvel characters are real people known for saving the world B) A universe where The Avengers exist as fictional characters. C)A universe in which Marvel Characters exist but are unknown by regular people.
Kevin Bacon's initial reaction gave me the sense that it was the third option which didn't sit well with me. BUT...thinking about it...even if we lived in a world where people with super human abilities existed and are known of by the general public, it wouldn't mean these people would be commonplace. And if some unusual beings came to our door, we might assume they were people in costume.
Party Down (eta) The existence of this show scares me, because it has quite a few well-known actors and seems fairly well-liked. Yet I've never heard of it.
And I'm someone who spends a lot of time on IMDb.
No, I don't think something supernatural is going on. It's just...for me...evidence...that there's way too much content out there. It's impossible to keep up. That would be okay...except I have major FOMO when it comes to TV shows.
The Other Two (eta)
LOCATION UNKNOWN
The Menu-I found aspects of this offensive but also found it somewhat interesting and entertaining.
From
NOT EARTH
The 100 - Watched season 2. It had been a long time since I watched season 2, so it took me awhile to get into it and to care about the characters again. But once I did, I enjoyed it.
Avengers: Endgame
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Foundation-Tim offered to rewatch with me, because he liked it a lot. I was unable to get into it, I dropped out.
Black Mirror-
The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
MULTIVERSE
(I struggled labeling this, because technically speaking all fiction happens in not-our-universe
Spiderman: No Way Home
Avengers: Infinity War (I think? I kind of forget, actually)
Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse-I would have probably liked this more if I had seen the first movie, before going to the theater to watch this. Speaking of, I think this was actually the one time that Tim and I saw a movie at an actual theater this year. Jack had invited us to go. I think movie-going has become something we do only when it offers us a chance to go on a field trip with our child.
Loki
MYSTICAL PLACE
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever- I liked the ending with the song much more than I liked the rest of the movie.
House of Dragon-Tim and I had to really struggle to get ourselves to like this. We managed to sort of like it by the end but not enough to want to watch any future seasons of it.
I can imagine that for huge fans of the Westeros universe, the show might have been satisfying. But for me, it didn't ease my longing for Game of Thrones. It just made me feel confused and frustrated. The characters are just too distant from the GOT characters.
It's like...would a show about the great-great-great-great-great grandparents of Monica and Ross satisfy people who miss watching Friends?
Thor Raganok
The Magicians
Mario Bros
Dungeons and Dragons-This movie does a good job of being accessible to those of us who never played the game.
Lost-I totally forgot I watched this (season 3) until looking at my records. Which is strange, because I'm actually playing around with writing a novel about a fan of Lost.
By playing around I mean I'm doing research, taking notes, creating character and family bios, etc. with no huge desire to actually write the novel.
I'm having fun with the journey, though. If I think about it as a waste of time, I tell myself it's similar to playing Minecraft or Sims. It's just about having fun with my imagination and my love of researching.
Yes, I'd rather have a finished product, and I'd want that finished product to be read and liked by others. But if it's not read and if I don't even write it...that's all okay too.
Thor: Love and Thunder-I'm struggling here, trying to remember if it would also fit into the multiverse. Maybe all The Avengers movies do?
The Santa Clauses- See? Tim Allen was not fired from Disney for not being Woke enough or too white. I've never actually seen the movies. But I liked the show. A little bit. It was corny but enjoyable.
ONLINE
The Peripheral
Upload
MULTIPLE LOCATIONS
How to be a Tyrant-One of the few documentaries I watched
Lost-
Invasion
Behind the Attraction-Another documentary. We watched only...I think two episodes? I liked it at first but then I felt it got old after awhile. It was probably less about the subject matter and more about the format?
Well....
That's it for now. I will probably add shows/movies that I watch in the last few weeks.
Read my novel: The Dead are Online