What We’re Watching Wednesday: (Mostly) The Brits

We haven’t done this in a while, since 2019, actually, but I thought I’d restart it this year.

Each Wednesday either my wife and/or I share what we are watching (either together or separately) in terms of movies and TV each week in a feature called “What We’re Watching Wednesday.”

So since last Wednesday, we’ve watched a few movies and a few TV shows, with most of them being British. Here’s what we watched in the last week, with links going to trailers for each:

We had been wanting to watch Stan & Ollie for a while, and this week he had a 3-month trial of Starz (that ended today) so we decided to watch it finally. Both Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel and John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy were very good, but for me, the movie was so-so. Kim, what did you think? I thought it was very good. Also thanks to Starz, we watched David Crosby: Remember My Name, which wasn’t planned, but when we found out he had passed away, I remembering seeing something about the movie a few years ago and sought it out. Lo and behold, it was on Starz. We both enjoyed it and learned a little more than we already know about him. It definitely didn’t hide the flaws, though, and the ending was bittersweet with both he and his wife referring to his impending death.

I thought we might have a themed night on Sunday night of emergency services, but decided to start early with a trial of the British comedy Bloods (available on Hulu in the U.S.) about two ambulance workers. We liked it enough that we decided to watch more on Sunday with the ludicrous, but fun, Ambulance, directed by none other than Michael Bay. Monday, we tested out a couple of shows on Acorn TV: Balthazar, a French crime drama about an arrogant but loveable forensic pathologist and a new police commander, and The Other One, a British comedy about two sisters who discover each other after the death of their father, who was married to one of their mothers and who also had an affair with the other’s mother. We enjoyed both, but decided to continue with binge-watching the rest of Series 1 of The Other One on Tuesday. It was only six episodes in total and one of the things we love about most British series, but also dislike because they sometimes are so good, we don’t want to waste them in one sitting.

On Friday, we took a turn to England once again, where Stan & Ollie was set, as we finished the series, Friday Night Dinner that was on Channel 4 in the UK from 2011 to 2020 and which we watched for free on The Roku Channel. The show ended in 2020 after the actor Paul Ritter, who played the father, died in April 2021 of heart failure, with complications from brain cancer. In addition to Ritter, the rest of the cast included Tamsin Greig, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal, and Mark Heap, each hilarious in his or her own way.

So, what have you been watching lately? Anything good to recommend? Anything to avoid?

My Favorite Reads of 2022

To start this year, I shared my favorite moments in photos from last year. Two weekends ago, I shared the 20 songs I had on repeat last year. Last weekend, I shared our favorite TV shows and movies that my wife Kim and I watched last year.

This weekend, I’m sharing my favorite reads of last year. I read a total of 24 books:

I split evenly between fiction and nonfiction, 12 each, but my four favorites from the year were all nonfiction:

  • Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman, which I heard about first from fellow blogger Melissa Firman, and then on various podcasts so I had to read it.
  • Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld, a collection of his favorite material through the years that made my way slowly through for several months.
  • Riverman: An American Odyssey by Ben McGrath, the true story of a man who, over the course of more than twenty years, canoed solo thousands of miles of American rivers–and then disappeared near the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
  • Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story by Bono, to which I listened on audiobook, which for me as a U2 fan was the only way to experience it.

Next weekend, I’m thinking about adding the books, TV shows, movies and music I’m looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to this year. We’ll see.

So, what were your favorite books read in 2022? Feel free to link to blog posts.

Our Favorite TV Shows & Movies We Watched in 2022

To start this year, I shared my favorite moments in photos from last year. Then last weekend, I shared the 20 songs I had on repeat last year. This weekend, I’m sharing our favorite TV shows and movies that my wife Kim and I watched last year.

My favorite TV shows watched this year

  • Peacemaker, Season 1 (HBO Mas)
  • Reservation Dogs, Season 2 (Hulu)
  • Only Murder in The Building, Season 2 (Hulu)
  • Somebody Somewhere, Season 1 (HBO Max)
  • Archer, Season 13 (Hulu)

Kim’s favorite TV shows watched this year

  • Ted Lasso, Season 2 (Apple TV+)
  • Reservation Dogs, Season 2 (Hulu)
  • Somebody Somewhere, Season 1 (HBO Max)
  • White Lotus, Seasons 1 and 2 (HBO Max)
  • The Bear, Season 1 (Hulu)

My favorite movies watched this year

  • Everything Everywhere All at Once
  • Drive My Car
  • Top Gun: Maverick
  • The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
  • Elvis
  • The Batman

Kim’s favorite movies watched this year

  • Top Gun: Maverick
  • The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
  • 100 Foot Journey

Obviously, the ones we think are must-sees are the overlaps: Top Gun: Maverick, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Reservation Dogs, and Somebody Somewhere. The others we probably would agree on as must-sees are Ted Lasso (both seasons) and Drive My Car. Kim also enjoyed the miniseries Chernobyl and Succession, both on HBO Max and I have been enjoying microdoses of Doom Patrol. The latter is just so weird but still intriguing.

Next weekend, I’ll be sharing my favorite reads from last year, and then the following week I’m thinking about adding the books, TV shows, movies and music I’m looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to this year.

So how about you? What were your favorite TV shows and/or movies watched in 2022?

The 20 Songs in 2022 I Had On Repeat

Last week I shared my favorite moments of 2022 in photos; this week, I’m sharing the 20 songs in 2022 I had on repeat, and in the next few weeks, I’ll share my favorite movies, TV series, and, of course, books, as ostensibly, I started as a book blogger. The reasons I’m behind are myriad, but my wife, I, and our families are all okay (now/briefly, my mother had a gallbladder removed this past week, but is home today). For now, here is a playlist of 20 songs last year I couldn’t get enough of:

What were some of the songs or albums that you had on repeat last year? They don’t have to be from last year either.