I watch a lot of TV and movies. Probably more than the average person but I can’t get enough. Maybe I missed my calling as a critic of some sort but I also have a hard time finding anything really bad in most that I watch. I once penned myself “The Kind Critic” in another short-lived blog of mine. I just love to be entertained and who am I to judge someone’s work and pick it apart anyway. So yeah, couldn’t have been a critic. So this is as close as I get to sharing my thoughts about what I dig from a Hollywood perspective and hope it will help you become a TV and movie junkie like yours truly.

Last night I got a couple of free passes from Entertainment Weekly (the only magazine I still subscribe to) to see a sneak peak of Big Little Lies, the new HBO show that debuts Sunday, February 19. It’s based on Liane Moriarty’s awesome book, which I proudly finished a couple weeks ago, just in time for the show! That was a feat in itself – I’ve been so bad about reading and actually finishing books for too many years to count now. My Kindle is a virtual unfinished graveyard where half-read books go to die, plus I have stacks and stacks of paperbacks that I need to read too. Maybe it has something to do with all the TV and movies I watch….nah. 🙂 Anyway, I digress.

I was super-excited to get to see the first episode early and take my bestie with me. It’s always fun to see TV shows on the big movie screen and free makes it even better. David E. Kelley, the genius behind Ally McBeal, is the producer.  If anyone can come up with a hit TV show, and having HBO backing it, it’s this man. And it was exactly as I had hoped and painted a great picture of the book. It’s got comedy, drama, romance, murder – all the elements of another hit show for HBO.

The all-star cast is great too with some of my favorites including Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley. It’s a limited series with only seven episodes. But at least it will really be seven weeks versus what I typically do with any new Netflix series and binge watch it all over one weekend. I’ll be able to savor this show a little bit more. I can’t wait to re-watch the first episode on Sunday AND introduce my hubby to it. Check it out and let me know what you think in the comments.

Being laid off stinks. There are no pros, not really. I just have the constant stress of needing to find a job and my weeks and days feel endless. I’ve been keeping my chin up and all the usual cliches that my friends and family have tried to cheer me up with but I’ve hit the wall of sadness now.

Aside from that daily pity party I throw for me, myself and I, I have grown accustomed to my daily dose of Dawson. That’s right – Pop TV plays not one, not two, BUT THREE episodes daily of Dawson’s Creek. So while I’m combing career sites, looking for my next big break, I leave Dawson and crew on the TV to keep me company. Then, if that’s not enough, 90210 reruns come on right after, for another three, count ’em three, episodes! Pop TV really does know how to appeal to us nearly-40 crowd. So every day I hum along to that annoying Paula Cole theme song, which then turned into another equally annoying theme song in later seasons. And then, I do the Jason Priestley fist bump during the opening credits of 90210. It’s all super-nostalgic and the older I get, the more crazy nostalgic I have become.

Dawson originally was on TV during college and a bit after. I remember getting my hubby hooked on its silliness. We still laugh how not-realistic their dialog is, for kids in high school and then college. It’s part of the fun though to laugh along at their clever dialog. You’d think Shonda Rhimes studied every episode since her shows now have similar scripting but the difference is that the ages of her peeps can really be saying the lines they utter, regardless of how not-true-to-life they are. Still funny and highly-entertaining.

90210 was junior high and high school for me. I used to run to my rotary, yes, rotary, phone to call my best friend during the commercials. There was no “pausing” as DVRs allow so we could talk as long as we wanted – we had to be strategic and talk quickly, get the high points out, and then run back to the TV to watch the next sequence. We’d then have a longer call after the show, breaking it down scene by scene and giggling all the way. Man, those were the days. Homework seemed like a drag at the time but it beats looking for a job, let me tell you. Nevertheless, I do hope my days of watching Dawson’s Creek and 90210 mini-marathons are almost over. As much as I love reliving those episodes, I do also have them all on DVD. It’s time for the job gods to shine down on me. Sorry, Pop TV. I know you appreciated my ratings but Mama needs a new pair of shoes.