I don’t usually explain the titles of the entries in The Artist’s Notebook, but I’m going to explain this one.
Last night as I was restlessly watching a DVRed copy of THE HUNT FOR THE ZODIAC KILLER and thinking about general events of the day, I played a snap from Alisa from her church’s youth group. The theme from their current sermon series is “Manger Things”.
A reference to the Netflix hit (and second best show on television) STRANGER THINGS.
I thought that was a clever idea and I’m curious how it is. Often times when Christians try to appropriate pop culture it comes off like this:
I’m hoping it is actually pretty cool, but I guess I’ll just never know.
On Sunday, following the soup supper my church (Boone First United Methodist Church represent!) did its own version of MANGER THINGS. Here are a few images:
Solid work from everybody involved! I think it was one of my favorite Christmas plays we’ve done to date!
We just finished ST2 this week – so freaking good. What’s your #1 show?
These were lovely! Alice’s pageant was this week – it was Star Wars-themed. It was what it was.
My #1 show is FARGO. There is a huge gap between FARGO and everything else on television.
The ending of ST2 was perfection though.
I loved season 1. Kept waiting to watch Season 2, but it never came out on Hulu (I think it went straight to FXX Now, which I didn’t realize was a thing at the time – but last I checked it was no longer on there). Jon watched Season 3, and I only watched pieces of it – there were parts that were a little much for me, but it was great what I saw.
There is so much good TV right now, and stuff I want to watch but I haven’t had time yet (like “Atlanta”).
Now you got me thinking about my favorite shows right now. There are a lot of them (and we really don’t watch that much TV). In no particular order:
Master of None
Stranger Things
Legion (if you haven’t watched this, you should – also on FX, it’s the same writer as Fargo. It’s insane.)
GoT? (It’s still fantastic, but I waver on it)
You’re the Worst
Better Things
Rick and Morty
We’ve also enjoyed Westworld, Silicon Valley, Another Period (a David Wain show featuring Michael Ian Black and a bunch of awesome), and the prequel to Wet Hot American Summer.
Mindhunter and Atlanta are on our “to-see” list. I need to catch up on most recent seasons of Bo-Jack Horseman and Archer. Sherlock is amazing, but I’m guessing it’s done. We’d like to see Twin Peaks, but we don’t have Starz, and I really, really didn’t like the ending of the original series or Fire: Walk With Me. I haven’t seen a single episode of “Better Call Saul” and really need to, as Breaking Bad may be near the best show I’ve ever seen from top to bottom.
Sorry, that was likely a bunch of “who cares,” but you got me thinking!
I do like MASTER OF NONE and GAME OF THRONES. Haven’t heard of your bottom 3.
I still watch THE WALKING DEAD, but the show is so terrible now that I hatewatch it.
I did love the first season of WESTWORLD.
I also really like THE CROWN, which astonished me because I can’t stand royalty.
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK is a favorite.
I watch MOZART IN THE JUNGLE, but I don’t know that I would recommend it to anybody.
I did watch MINDHUNTER. I like it okay, but didn’t like it anywhere near as much as I thought I would though. The parts where they are interviewing serial killers is fantastic, but the rest of the show fills like filler, until they are talking to the killers again.
My guilty pleasure is KEVIN (PROBABLY) SAVES THE WORLD. I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to ANYBODY and I highly doubt it gets a second season. But I like to pretend that it is a sequel to JOAN OF ARCADIA, even though the producers have went on the record multiple times saying that it isn’t. Then why is Jason Ritter’s character named Kevin in both shows?!?!?
I didn’t like BO-JACK HORSEMAN at all. ARCHER is okay, but I don’t pursue watching it.
I would highly recommend a new show on Amazon called THE MAGNIFICENT MRS. MAISEL.
Out of my bottom three, I think you’d most like Better Things. It’s on FX – Louis CK was a producer, but not a direct influence. It’s Pamela Adlon, who has appeared in several of his previous shows – very acerbic comedy. You sort of have to watch from the beginning. Reviewing my list, I think the vast bulk of ours are on FX.
I don’t really dig the zombies-and-vampires trend, so I’ve never tried on The Walking Dead. Jon’s family adores it, though, so I know a little about it.
That’s really disappointing about Mindhunter. David Fincher is a personal favorite, and I am always fascinated by serial killer stuff. It’s too bad the rest sounds like filler – maybe I’ll just rewatch Zodiac instead.
I’ve heard that Kevin (Probably) Saves The World is hilarious, but not in a highbrow way. I’ve never seen Joan of Arcadia, but also heard it was great. We enjoy Jason Ritter a lot – the cartoon Gravity Falls that was on Disney was actually phenomenal, sort of a send-up of The DaVinci Code and National Treasure – it had him and Kristin Schaal from Flight of the Conchords star, with TJ Miller, Linda Cardellini, and Emil Scoda (sp?) featured. He also is in that Another Period on The Comedy Channel – it’s sort of like a reality “Real Wives of Whatever” show set in post-Civil War era. Mostly it’s just silly. Anyway, he’s a big character in that, too.
I’ll have to hunt down The Magnificent Mrs. Maisel, especially since we just got a Fire Stick and it should be easier. I haven’t watched The Handmaid’s Tale at all – I had briefly tried to read the book, but it hadn’t caught my attention at the time. I might retry it later. Big Little Lies’ show was actually way better than the book, IMO.
It would also be pretty easy to make up a “worst shows on TV” list. Mine would have Big Bang Theory in places, like, 1 through 47.