FIELD OF STREAMS goes back in time…barely
Welcome to Field of Streams, Cinapse’s weekly guide of what’s playing on your favorite streaming services. What’s new on Netflix and Amazon Prime? What do we recommend on Kanopy, Fandor, and Shudder? We’ve got it all. From monthly roundups, to curated top 5 lists, to reviews of our favorites available now… it’s here. We built it for you, so come and join us in the Field of Streams.
The first years of the new millennium were a simpler time: George W. Bush was in the white house, the country was at war, and the Golden Age of Television held sway! Visit these five selections for a binge or two to get your year ended right.
CORNER GAS (Prime)
Starting off with a bit of a wildcard. There’s every chance in the world the average American has never heard of Corner Gas. It came on my radar as “Canada’s Seinfeld.” To me, that’s high praise and pretty darn accurate. Starring creator Brent Butt, Corner Gas is most definitely a quirky ensemble piece that’s worth getting immersed in for all six seasons. Set in rural Saskatchewan, the show features Butt as a gas station attendant with an angry dad, a quirky friend, an odd co-worker, and loads of other townspeople that keep things interesting. This is very non-serious tv in the absolute best sense. You don’t have to be a frostback to enjoy this tail from the Great White North.
SIX FEET UNDER (Prime)
If you can stick with Six Feet Under through all of its five seasons, you will be treated to one of the greatest endings of a show in television history. Now, that’s not a reason to to start watching, but it’s a carrot that will be dangling as the entire story of the Fisher family plays out. Created by Alan Ball coming off of his stunning success with American Beauty, the endeavor kicks off when the family patriarch passes away leaving two brothers to struggle with how (and if) to run the funeral parlor that occupies their home. There are so many amazing performances from a slew of amazing actors. Six Feet Under is aged, binge-worthy goodness.
[Side note: Ben Foster has a medium-sized role as the art-school attending boyfriend, and his character was so off-putting (in the way he was supposed to be) that it has taken me years to get over it. Foster is a terrific actor that might just be in his prime right now with Hell or High Water, Galveston, and Leave No Trace.]
MONK (Prime)
The number of shows that are based on the Sherlock Holmes paradigm are legion. A detective with peculiar personality traits is able to take simple things and blow them up into mind-blowing conclusions. Monk is another one of these, but a good one. Tony Shalhoub plays Adrian Monk, a man with OCD that both keeps him off the force but also gives him the ability to notice details others miss. The trick is the performance of Shalhoub and his co-stars, including Ted “Buffalo Bill” Levine as his police contact. He also has a minder, always a woman that keeps him in check. Not that different from normal guys, to be honest. Monk can be enjoyed with an episode here or there, but it can also be a nice bath to soak in as the hours go by.
LOST (Hulu)
It’s now passé to dunk on Lost, but the show earned its pop culture status, as well as its criticism throughout the years. The pilot itself is a tremendous achievement, probably still the most expensive one of its kind ever made. Back when I was an English teacher, I would use that first episode as a perfect way to explore the elements of a traditional plot structure: introduction, inciting incident, rising action, climax, and resolution. It’s all there. The first 20 minute alone are worth everyone’s time, even if that was the extent of it. But it won’t be. Lost sucks you in and keeps placing morsels just out of reach in the most frustratingly pleasurable way possible. It’s worth a watch, or even a re-watch.
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (Netflix)
Some works of art make their way into the cultural zeitgeist and become part and parcel of the culture from which they came. Arrested Development is one such work. The long, often-convoluted story of the Bluth family isn’t so much a narrative achievement as it is one of perfectly constructed and enacted characters with scenes that push every dial to the max. Jason Bateman is sublime as the family do-gooder, but he’s far from alone in warranting praise. Even narrator Ron Howard is so good he’ll never be topped.
[Narrator: He’ll definitely be topped.]
Netflix kept the show alive after Fox canned it following Season 2, and now five seasons in all are available for viewing and reviewing. Get on it!
There are countless services to explore and great things to watch on all of them. Which ones did we miss that you would suggest to us? And, as always, if you’ve got thoughts on titles we’re missing out on or new services to check out, leave a comment below or email us.
Till next week, stream on, stream away.
