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Waiting for the Next Ep

Kathy Werner
Posted 10/29/21

Remember the good old days, when you had to wait a week to see what happened on your favorite TV shows?

With the advent of Netflix and other streaming channels, those days seemed to be over. …

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Lifelines

Waiting for the Next Ep

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Remember the good old days, when you had to wait a week to see what happened on your favorite TV shows?

With the advent of Netflix and other streaming channels, those days seemed to be over. They would put up entire seasons of shows which you could immediately watch in their entirety. Thus entered the age of Binge TV. Folks watching all the episodes of a hot show would spend entire days in front of the screen, forgoing personal hygiene and subsisting on takeout food in their quest to “find out what happens”.

Well, now some of these channels have figured out how to keep us hanging on, using the old playbook of releasing one episode per week. And I find myself transported back to the days of waiting an entire summer to find out who shot J.R.

The shows that kept me hanging on this year were Ted Lasso, Only Murders in the Building, and now, Succession.

Ted Lasso, winner of multiple well-deserved Emmys, is the story of an American football coach hired to coach an English soccer team by the ex-wife who got the team in a nasty divorce. Her idea is to run the team into the ground to spite her former husband. Enter Ted Lasso, an almost impossibly optimistic man who changes everyone around him. Jason Sudeikis is perfect as Ted, and every supporting actor is equally compelling.

I came to Ted late, so I did binge the first season, but I dutifully waited each Friday for this season’s latest episode and was not disappointed. If the first season was Ted making everyone happier, the second season took a deeper look at the darker events that made Ted who he is, and we got to know all the characters better. I’m eager for season 3.

Then there was the absolutely thoroughly delightful Only Murders in the Building, with Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez. Guest stars included Sting, Tina Fey, and Nathan Lane. Steve Martin co-wrote the series, which takes place in a Manhattan apartment building where people keep dying. Think Murder, She Wrote, but instead of Cabot Cove, everyone in one apartment house keeps dying. Yikes! This was my Tuesday delight, and I faithfully watched each episode. The show ended with yet another murder and a promise of a second season, so I remain patient.

A few years ago, my sisters, spouses and I saw Martin and Short at Bethel Woods in An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life. It was hilarious. I’d watch those two read an iPhone update agreement. Or solve murders. Oh, by the way, Martin and Short are touring again, with a new show entitled The Funniest Show in Town at the Moment in 2022.

Finally, we have Succession, a show about an aging media mogul (think Murdoch), whose adult children are vying for his crown. It’s on Season 3 and it is riveting. New episodes drop on Sunday night.

Of course, all three of these shows are on different streaming services. Lasso is on Apple TV, Only Murders is on Hulu, and Succession is on HBO. That’s how they get ya.

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