What’s This Girl to do when

  • It’s too cold to do yardwork
  • The kitchen’s too clean to bake
  • Friends have their own family plans
  • The movies are too expensive
  • It’s a Lazy Saturday Afternoon

Any or all of the above is enough to make ya’ want to crawl into a good book with a cozy blanket. But sometimes reading is a little too much effort.

And in my desperation for cheap entertainment, I finally took the advice of many friends (and Dot’s repeated pleading) and subscribed to Netflix.

So as Dot’s cat competes for her attention against college-level government studies, I’m happily engrossed (finally) in the greatness that is Jack Bauer. Yes, it’s true. I’m late to this party, but now I get “24”. I mean, I get it. And, I get it. I’m able to watch it, and I see why it was so attractive.

Of course, when it first aired, Dot was all of 7 years old and so we watched shows like “Lizzie McGuire” and “Unwrapped”. After she went to sleep I was invariably too tired to focus on much more than the insides of my own eyelids.

But now I have the freedom to watch more adult-themed content. Dot loves watching crime dramas with me. We still have our cooking and Disney Channel shows. We love our baseball and football games. But with Netflix, our viewing world has opened up in ways I never thought possible.

I can pick my shows and movies and watch what I want, when I want. No more do we have to wait to buy the next season on DVD, or a rerun to show on television.

There are a few drawbacks: some of my favorite 80s shows aren’t on the list. I could pay another $7.99/month for the DVD service, but that’s like renting a movie through the mail. I don’t want that. I have plenty to keep my attentions with the streaming selection.

Right now we’re using an ethernet cable plugged between the modem and the blu ray player. At some point in the near future, I’ll afford the $100 to buy a wireless adapter. But at least for this weekend, the blue cord across the floor is far less repelling than the endless supply of Bradley Cooper, Keifer Sutherland, and many other wonderful programming.

For less than the price of one adult movie ticket, Dot and I can now get caught up on shows we’ve been missing. In the next few weeks, I expect we’ll have more than our fill of any of the following:

  • Frasier
  • Cheers
  • Friends
  • Grey’s Anatomy
  • Sherlock Holmes
  • 24
  • Liam Neeson
  • Sandra Bullock
  • Cats
  • Nature Stories
  • All this and more…

I am, however disappointed at the lack of Kurt Russell flicks. I was rather hoping for BACKDRAFT. I have a digital copy that I’ve been watching on Babycakes (my laptop) each night as I drift off to sleep. It took me four viewings to pick up on the fact that Kurt Russell wasn’t really drunk. He was just playing a character. He’s that good. So why wouldn’t I want more? Alas, Netflix, you do me wrong.

I would love a better supply of Poseidon movies, Bruce Willis (Moonlighting!), and perhaps some Riptide.

Even so, for less than $8 a month, I can’t really complain. Especially because, and let’s get down to the nitty gritty here, what really matters is four full seasons of FLASHPOINT. That alone makes This Girl, well, jitterbug happy.

And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!

TGIF: February 22, 2013
Dear Michigan... Again.
Sweeten my tea and share: