The House Of Cards (Season 3) Has Fallen. What Now?

March 6, 2015March 6, 2015 | mattkarr

So you sat down at midnight on Friday evening and power watched the new season of House Of Cards until Saturday afternoon. Now you’re done. No more to watch until it comes back in an unknown amount of time. What will you possibly do to pass the time?

Winter seems to be holding on for dear life and still making it miserable to enjoy any outdoor activities (unless you are a big fan of half frozen rain that burns as it slices open your face). My suggestion is that you get the most out of your Netflix membership, squeeze every penny of worth out of the 8 bucks you spend each month and dive into another show. Whether its drama, comedy, or suspense that keeps you glued to the tube, here are some series worth checking out.

Dramady Series

They make you think, they make you cry, they make you laugh, someone will die.

Weeds

Take a trip down hemp hawking lane with Nancy Botwin, the pot pushing mom from Cali who takes to selling and growing weed to support her family after the sudden death of her husband. Nancy almost makes it look easy breezy to get rid of that greeny, but if you want to follow in her footsteps, be prepared to kill a few people and screw (sometimes over) the rest.

Friday Night Lights

Coach Eric Taylor and his wife Tami had as perfect a marriage as a couple can have. She supported him through his highs and lows of coaching high school football in the town of Dillon, TX, where their lives aren’t the only ones put through the ringer. No one is safe from cheating, poverty, even the possibility of becoming paralyzed in this series set in a world that revolves around the football game each Friday Night. You don’t have to love football to get into this show, but if you do, it’ll be a touchdown.

Doctor Who

I myself have never watched this show, but I feel I would be remiss not to include as it is one of my Tommy’s (and the UK’s) favorites. This British Science-Fition series has been running since 1963 and depicts the adventures of the Doctor (Time Lord) who explores the universe in his TARDIS, a time-travelling space ship that looks like a phone booth. Every few seasons the actor who plays the Doctor changes, seemingly getting younger and hotter each time. Not only a huge part of British pop-culture, the show has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of whom grew up watching the series. After all, it’s been on for 52 years!

White Collar

Neal Caffrey isn’t out of prison for 24 hours and he finds himself living on the top floor of a famous mansion in NYC and wearing suits straight from Savile Row. It isn’t all luxury for him though, as he is a (reformed?) criminal being tracked by the FBI via ankle monitor. Scoring a deal with the feds that he will assist with white collar (I said it!) crimes in return of not being thrown in prison for the rest of eternity, Neal works along side Agent Burke, who’s marriage with Elizabeth (Tiffani Thiessen) rivals that of the Taylor’s from Friday Night Lights. As case after case is solved with the help of Caffrey, he also has his own motivations and mysteries to solve. My only gripe with this show is that in every single episode they threaten Neal with going back to jail if he betrays them. When you are 4 seasons in and he’s helped you retrieve millions of dollars and stopped dozens of thieves, you can stop with the threats. We get it. He’s a criminal. But he looks so damn good in a suit, you’ll hardly remember that part. Which is exactly what he is counting on.

Netflix Loyal

These shows are exclusively on Netflix, and trust, that company knows what they are doing. Hell, they made this entire list available to you! Bow Down.

Arrested Development

Three seasons of this show were not enough, which is why when Netflix announced they would be creating a fourth, loyal fans rejoiced. This series has that unique problem where you can’t tell who is more genius, the writers or the actors. Filled with brilliant comedy actors (Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter) you cannot watch each season just once. In fact, I found the series even funnier when I went back to watch the seasons for a second, third, or even fourth time. That fact is really a testament to the writing that has sprinkled jokes throughout the entire series, some only landing when you already know what will happen in future episodes, even future seasons. The newest season created by Netflix does not disappoint. Each episode focuses on a different character and where their journey has led them. Creator Mitchell Hurwitz said that you could watch them in any order you wanted, but not trusting myself enough to make such important decisions, I just watched them straight through as they played via the Netflix player.

Orange Is The New Black

What is is about women in prison that makes us sit up, take notice, and make us want to watch? Is it because prison is a place that those who know about it, know everything about it, and those who don’t, are completely clueless? Orange is the New Black take us behind the barbed wire fences for a look at inmate life we haven’t since the day of OZ, just as scary but a little less Rape-y. Egos clash, pregnancies happen, and life moves forward, day by day. The first season put most of the focus on Piper Chapman, a woman paying for a crime she committed years before with her then international drug-dealing girlfriend (Donna from That 70’s Show!), whom also wrote a book which the series is inspired by. In the second season, we get to learn a little more about the other woman around her and what paths their lives took that led them to lockup. It’s also filmed right here in NYC, down the hall from Sesame Street at Kaufman Astoria Studios. Talk about a diverse lunchroom!

Drama Series

The edge of your seat has literally worn away from you sitting on it

Alias

Traveling all over the world by way of a green screen, this powerhouse female-led action drama starring Jennifer Garner had more action sequences than Gladiator. Garner play Sydney Bristow, a super duper secret double agent while going to college and trying to get revenge for the death of her fiance. Also starring a young(er) Bradley Cooper, Sydney begins working for a secret government agency called SD-6 only to discover that she is actually working for the enemy. Now in cahoots with the real FBI, she continues missions for SD-6 while sometimes purposefully sabotaging or hindering her own efforts for the good of the FBI. Honestly, watching her dress up as a range of character and kick butt make this show worth a watch. She is like the female American James Bond, but much better at going undercover.

Doll House

The plot for this thriller drama was very unique and starred the kick-ass Eliza Dushku (Bring it On). For one reason or another (usually crime related), individuals were offered the option to sign away years of their life to erase their transgressions from public record. During those years, their minds were kept in childlike states and their bodies are rented out to wealthy clients for a variety of reasons, ranging from romantic to more high risk endeavors. One important thing to note (so as to make it slightly less creepy) is that they were not rented out with their childlike personalities, but were programmed with new memories and personalities, many times from people who had been alive before. Has a child been kidnapped? Echo (Dushku) could be programmed to think like a master negotiator in order to set up the trade for ransom. Need a woman who can ride a motorcycle to allow a man to celebrate an anniversary each year with a race off against his dead wife, she was your girl. Ok, so a couple were out there. With a whole Dollhouse full of “actives” both male and female, the shows has many plot lines, including an escaped active who threatened to bring down the entire organization. Only lasting two seasons, this show was cancelled far too soon.

Damages

This legal thriller revolves around the powerhouse attorney Patty Hewes played by the equal powerhouse Glenn Close and her new hire, Ellen (Rose Byrne pre Bridesmaids). Each season covers a large case that Patty’s firm is covering and she will go to any lengths to be victorious. Not always sitting well with Ellen, she begins to question her loyalty, her morality, and sometimes her safety. Set in NYC, the cases that they cover are not that unfamiliar to real life, such as an Energy corporation corruption cover up or a wall street Ponzi Scheme costing innocent people their fortunes. Giving you previews of the end of the season through “flash forwards” (confusing enough?), you will be sitting in suspense to figure out “what the hell happened to her?!”

Breaking Bad

What more can I say about this show that hasn’t already been said? If you don’t know about Breaking Bad already, I can’t help you. Nobody can.

American Horror Story

Just wrapping up its 4th season (not yet available on Netflix but the first 3 seasons are) each stand alone season offers different story lines that are more screwed up (in a good way) than the one before. From a house of horrors to a witches school to a Catholic Chu….I mean Asylum, the creator of Glee, Ryan Murphy, has shown he isn’t just about musical numbers and teeny-bopper audiences. The two brightest starts of a stellar bunch are Jessica Lange and Sarah Paulson, who season after season pour themselves into new characters, some you cheer for and some you hope will meet their fate sooner rather than later.

The Walking Dead

Still pumping out new season after new season, catch up with the gang (or whats left of them) as they try and survive the coming of the Zombie apocalypse. When the show first started I thought to myself, “how are they going to make a TV series out an event that can barely fill up a 2 hour movie?” but they have gone above and beyond expectations. Some characters you will love and some you’ll hate, but in a world where everything is out to eat you, your only chance is to stick close with those you trust.

Comedy Series

If you don’t like laughing, you’ll hate these shows. Not judging. OK, maybe a little.

Drop Dead Diva

Rising from the ashes of cancellation to last two more seasons, this unique series tells the story of Deb, a slim, beautiful, and slightly narcissistic model who upon death, has her soul put into the body of a smart and fuller figured lawyer name Jane. Now living Jane’s life, Deb gets to keep her personality but also inherits the intelligence from her body’s predecessor. Now, I will admit that there are parts of this plot that are a little wonky, and surprisingly it isn’t the part about the reincarnation. The fact that the only people that can know her “secret” are her guardian angel (yea, exactly) and her best friend, but has to leave her parents and her fiance in the dark to think that she has died, is a little gut wrenching. Oh, and did I mention that her “ex”-fiance is also a lawyer at the same firm she now works at as Jane? Awkaaaaaard. What keeps this show fun is that each episodes comes with a new lawsuit to pursue or defend and each needs the special balance of brains and thinking outside the box that only Jane can provide. Brooke Elliott as Jane is simply superb handing the challenging multi-personality role and its great to see Margaret Cho back on television as her assistant. We need more Margaret Cho!!!

30 Rock

Is there anything that Tina Fey can’t do? This show is sort of like the comedy equivalent to Breaking Bad. If you haven’t heard of it or have not seen it, I can’t really help you. All you need for motivation are 4 words: Tina, Baldwin, Fey, and Alec. If you’ve seen them all, it doesn’t hurt to revisit and the best part is you can literally russian roulette pick which one you want to watch.

My Name is Earl

If toilet humor wrapped in a good message is what you are looking for, My Name Is Earl is right up your alley! Earl is a man that has spent most of his life screwing people over and being pretty much a downright d-bag. When he wins the lottery, his celebration is cut short when he is hit by a car and loses the winning ticket. Convinced that his bad luck is karma kicking him when he’s down, he sets out to right all the wrongs that he has committed and each episode covers a person that he hopes to make amends with. With a colorful cast of characters around him including the side-splitting hilarious Jaime Pressly, this show mixes together two of my favorite topics: Karma and Jerry Springer.

Parks and Recreation

After a slightly slow first season, I gave up on this show for a brief period. Years later, after encouragement from my better half, I gave the folks in Pawnee another try and man am I glad I did. Set in a fake (!!) town in Indiana, the antics coming out of this show are plentiful and aggressively hilarious. Along the same comedy (and genius) as Tina Fey and 30 rock, you can’t help but look past this completely random band of misfits and see that deep down, they are just like you and me.

Give it a try and you will be FLUUUUSH WITH LAAAAUUUUGHS!

American Dad

Here it is. The mother load. If you only watch one series on this list it has to be American Dad. FBI agent Stan Smith and his ex-partying still wild-child wife Francine run a household the includes 2 teenagers (relatively), an alien, and a talking fish. While they each have provide their own story-line and comedic relief, Roger is the star of this show. This alcoholic alien crashed down onto earth and at some point saved Stan’s life, making Stan for ever in debt to him (Life-Debt). He lives in the attack, dresses in costumes, and delivers one zinger after another that will literally make you wet your pants. Most people are familiar with the brother series Family Guy, but I think this far surpasses it on the funny and outrageous scale. Lets just put it this way, I introduced this show to my fiancé when we first started dating and I’m pretty sure it’s the only reason he asked me to marry him. It wasn’t for my looks that’s for sure!

Archer

If has Jessica Walter (Arrested Development) in it, watch it. Actually a lot of the characters from Arrested Development are in this adult cartoon about secret agents and the organization they work for (Ex-nay on the ISIS ay). Archer is sort of like Alias, except the characters are total disasters. From nymphomaniac Carol to the horribly gossipy Pam to the main character, a womanizing and completely self involved Archer himself, the only person that they are not making fun of is….um……no one. They make fun of everyone, including themselves! They fact that the are successful at any mission is usually by sheer luck alone. The comedy really comes from the writers, who aren’t afraid to get controversial and remain anti-PC, all for the sake of a joke and to the benefit of the viewer.

Dont Trust the B– in Apt 23

Like Dollhouse, this show was given the ax far too soon. Sure it was a little cheeky, but when ABC pulled the plug they did it fast and viciously, not even airing the final episodes of the season. Thank goodness Netflix is giving it a little life after death…all of it. What it lacked in editing skills (some new episodes were played out of order, tisk tisk), it more than made up for in comedic ones. Krysten Ritter was at the top of her game as the bad bitch Chloe. Her comedic timing is so good, its scary. In one scene she had an argument with herself at the bar and it’s one of the best 5 seconds in television. James Van Der Beek plays a fictional (?) version of himself and falls into every trap that aging stars fall into as they try and hold on to their fame. His general dis-concern with the world around him make him and Chloe perfect partners in crime. Poor Jane, she should have known not all dreams come true in NYC.

Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia

IASIP follows “The Gang”, a group of five nitwits that run a bar called Paddy’s Pub in, you guessed it, Philadelphia, which stays in business but never seems to have any customers except themselves. Danny DeVito plays the father to two of the characters, but is probably just as, if not more irresponsible than the rest of them. Greedy, self involved, ignorant and lazy are just some of the nicest things you can say about them, but that is what makes this comedy gold. While it may seem like there are alliances forming within the group at times, one would easily backstab the other for say, access to the private country club pool, or a ham. They often choose the worst possible solution to an existing problem, like the time they decided to start smoking crack cocaine in order to qualify for welfare. Luckily, that is only the beginning!

So there you have it! The list of all lists to help you pass the time until the next season of House of Cards and avoid the last of this winter weather. Don’t say I never gave you anything!

Live for Fun, Spread Joy!

The Countdown Begins!

February 27, 2015February 27, 2015 | mattkarr

It’s come to my attention that my world is full of countdowns, but this is hardly new. Events were anticipated by the number of years, months, weeks, minutes, milliseconds until they would happen. I would even use singular events as a way of counting down time. For example, at the end of the school year I would think to myself “the next time I have to step foot in this school I will have gone on vacation, competed in nationals (more to come on that in later posts I’m sure), enjoyed the neighbors pool, and built that fort in my backyard”. The thing about being a kid is that our years are divided into two parts: the school year and summer vacation, which seemed to make the entire year feel longer. To me, “New Years” was in September, and not something to celebrate. As an adult, my years have slowly started to become a 365 day cycle that begins with and ends with the calendar year. Each year after graduating, it got easier and easier to think outside the school calendar year. Now, six years later, the only hint of the education season comes via social media, when a flurry of graduation photos and announcements cover the entire month of May, or in the Fall, when dozens of “Sally’s first day of school” photos once again clog up my feed.

My year, and life, has become one giant countdown to an unknown end (and one that is hopefully not anytime soon). It’s only now, that I can truly appreciate and therefor take for granted how quickly time passes. It is only with the changing of seasons that trigger me to look back and think “Where in the hell did time go?” Seriously, I don’t know how my friends in Los Angeles do it. Do they think they are still living in 2008 because the weather never indicates the passing of time?

So here I sit, considering what countdowns I currently have ticking down in my head…..

Countdown to Summer

More specifically summer Fridays. That phenomenon in adult life where companies allow their employees to leave early each Friday between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Nothing is more liberating than that feeling of stealing your freedom back even if it’s only an hour. Since I no longer receive the gift of having 3 months off for summer vacation, I’ve got to take these victories as they come, no matter how small.

I’m ready for the warm weather that summer will bring. This winter has been a bear. I know that people complained last year about the amount of snow we received here in NYC, but at least with snow (which admittedly I love because I don’t have to drive in it), the chances of my office being closed dramatically increased. This winter, the snow seemed to have been rerouted and dumped right onto Boston, only delivering us New Yorkers with winds rivaling Chicago and no cancelled office days. I grew up in Michigan. I know lake effect all too well, so when anyone in NY complained about the cold, I always responded “It’s worse in Chicago!” This year, we were the new Chicago with the windchill regularly at or below zero, making treks to and from work have been nothing short of painful.

89 Days

Lent

This year I made the conscience decision to use the set dates of Lent to remove a few things from my life temporarily. Not things I don’t like, but things I do. As a kid, I saw my father gave up one of his favorite things each year during Lent. First it started off with Ice Cream, something he enjoyed on a regular basis. Then he gave up watching television so he could read more. He then expanded out to giving things up for a full year. I was always so fascinated and confused why someone would give up something that they actually liked.

So that was my challenge this year, but what would I decide to give up and what else would I focus on instead? First out of the gate, I was going to be sober. Now, being a Michigan State kid, my drinking habits have not only been perfected, but have changed casually since I graduated. Long gone was the cheap burnetts vodka (mostly because it’s not available in NYC) and I had moved on to the socially acceptable wine and whiskey affection. Drinking socially is part of the lifestyle of NYC and part of the lifestyle of Matthew S. Karr. Killing time before a show, at the beach (shhhh), after a long day of work, and while attending BBQs were just the tip of the iceberg for reasons to drink, and drink I did. A few glasses of wine here, a couple cocktails there, and suddenly its 5:30 and time to leave the office (I kid I kid), but could I go without it? I knew (or convinced myself) that I did not have a drinking problem, but it wasn’t because of my consumption that I wanted to ditch Grandpas cough medicine. I wanted to test my will power and see if I could, say, go out with a friend for their birthday at a bar and not drink. I also wanted to see what effect it would have on my body. When I realized I the majority of my soda consumption was fast food and beverage mixers, I threw it onto the list of “give ups” as well.

Also with my sobriety, I have given up any sort of body/mind altering substances from Motrin to meth. One of those may be harder for me to give up than the other. Hint: IT’S NOT METH (I watched breaking bad and value my teeth and skin far too much)

Next I decided to take a lesson from my Pops and decided to give up television (good thing I finished Breaking Bad). Now, I love television, so its no surprise that only a week into this challenge it’s killing me to not know whats happened on Scandal or to be able to dive into the new season of House Of Cards, but I noticed that I was following a similar daily pattern: Come home from work, cook dinner and catch up with Tom, eat the prepared dinner, and watch TV. Hours later, besides eating, I had accomplished very little, watched hours of television, and then headed to be later than I should. What could I do with that time instead if I were to use it differently? Perhaps I could clean up my apartment. Maybe start that t-shirt quilt project I had stacked in my closet for the last 6-mos. Even ramp up the start of this blog! The options are endless and with one book done and already into the next, I feel like I’m off to a great start.

34 Days

Wedding

I’m getting Married y’all!! There are few events in our lives that are as monumental as one’s wedding. For a long time in my life, I believed that marriage would not be in the cards for me. First, most if not all of my adolescence was spent scared and ashamed at the idea of being gay. I was always a lover of love, growing up with parents who were still together, and watching my siblings, one after the other, marry their amazing companions. When I finally came out of the closet, I still doubted that I would ever be married. Everywhere I turned I saw states like my own voting to keep marriage between one man and one woman, subsequently making me a second class citizen. At the time I didn’t understand the gravity of it, because, after all, I had no marriage prospects on the horizon. I had had only one boyfriend and when that relationship ended as our lives drifted further and further apart (geographically), I saw no one else who I could tolerate for more than a month, let alone a lifetime. Not to mention, you should probably have more than a tolerance for the person you choose to marry, so I continued in my personal journey alone, which led me next to New York City.

New York was the land of opportunity in more ways than one. The state honored marriage equality and legitimized me and those who had been ostracized from their home states. The true melting pot of America, NY was full of opportunity, hope, and a whole lot of homosexuals looking for happiness! I figured it would be only a short amount of time before I found my Mr. Right. Tick tock, the countdown had begun!

Well, it turns out that I was actually Mr. Wrong. Love did not come easily and I was finding it difficult to find guys that even had a sliver of the qualities I knew I was looking for in a partner. Was I too picky? Were my expectations too high? *TICK* *TOCK* On thing I did have on my side was patience. Countdowns to me were not about the time crunch, but more about the anticipation. I wasn’t desperate to find a boyfriend. I took my time and enjoyed each person that I met but had no romantic connection with. My guy was out there, and I just had to have faith that we would find each other…….eventually.

And then I did. As if almost effortlessly, Tommy came into my life. What started as a casual date, quickly grew into something more, and before I knew it, I was in love. Now after 2.5 years together, we are in the final stages of planning our wedding. Our legal, state recognized wedding that will be attended by our friends and family from a variety of era’s of our lives. Here, in the neighborhood in Brooklyn that we call home with our Brady Bunch style family that includes our cats Pinter and Zoey, and our dog Trixie, we will become government recognized partners in life. Husbands.

85 Days

It will be difficult to stop compartmentalizing my life into various countdowns, but what I need to do is make sure I’m taking the time to enjoy every single moment and not take a single one for granted, recognizing that every 24hrs is a countdown to the end of a day that we will not be able to relive again.

We should stop counting down, but instead, continually add up the moments that we love, live, and laugh together.

Live for Fun, and Spread Joy!