Here's What I've Watched in Quarantine: Vol. I

I haven't watched a lot of TV over the past few years. In fact, it took my husband Josh and I more than two years to finish the epic Downton Abbey series. We started it when we had just gotten engaged (I remember sobbing over Sybil's death in our apartment in Virginia) and by the time we'd finished the series (and seen Mr. Bates and Anna FINALLY get their happy ending), we'd gotten married ourselves and moved to California.

California is awesome and everything, but the weather is just too good all the time that I feel bad about staying in to watch TV. Yea, yeaaaaa I know, poor me. But, why watch TV when I could walk to the beach? Take a yoga class! Go for a hike! See a local magic show! Volunteer at church! Drive to Hollywood and see a weird variety show! Or really any number of other "LA things" that make my sister Christine roll her eyes into the back of her head.

Here's my sister Christine and I when she found out I was taking her to Mil Grus, an incredible grotesque French clowning show in Hollywood (July 2019)

But COVID-19 put a big fat stop to all of that and our couch is now my permanent residence. I'm obviously not traveling anywhere right now, so quarantine has provided an ample opportunity to catch up on TV and movies. Ever since California's shutdown began in March, Josh and I have enjoyed the nightly ritual of video calls with our brother Luke and sister Anna. I say "our", because although they grew up with Josh, they mean far more to me than the traditional terms "sister-in-law" and "brother-in-law" would suggest.

Here's Luke and Anna ready to hang out on one of our nightly calls (March 2020)

Anyways, the four of us have watched TV together every single night for the entirety of quarantine. That's almost 200 DAYS of television! We call Luke and Anna via Skype every night around 8 o'clock Pacific Time and after chatting about our days and whatnot, we watch a TV series or movie that we've all agreed on. I'm the countdown girl so when we're ready to start watching I yell, "Three, Two, One...Go!!" and we all click play from our respective time zones.

No matter how I'm feeling when we get on the call, I treasure this nightly ritual. We just show up as we are, which has brought comfort and constancy into a particularly dark time. We even do a special "Family Movie Night" on Sunday afternoons featuring a G or PG rated movie so Josh's parents will join us :) All of the hardcore action films are reserved for Saturday nights. That said, I thought it would be fun to share everything we've watched together!

Here's the master list of all the movies and TV shows I've watched in quarantine, along with a 5 word review/thought about each:

TV Shows

• Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness (Netflix | MA, 1 season) - Craziest thing you'll ever watch.

• Episodes (Netflix | MA, 5 seasons) - Funny insights into entertainment industry.

• The Tudors (Netflix | MA, 4 seasons) - Depressing show about depressing times.

• Schitt’s Creek (Netflix | MA, 6 seasons) - Highlarious and "ew, david" comedy.

• Night on Earth (Netflix | PG, 1 season) - Gorgeous cinematography of our planet.

• Sex Education (Netflix | MA, 2 seasons) - Sometimes awkward/always sexual dramedy.

• When Calls the Heart (Netflix | PG, 5 seasons) - Wholesome and sweet Canadian pioneers.

• Self Made: Inspired by the life of Madam CJ Walker (Netflix | TVMA, 1 season) - Insanely inspiring entrepreneur in 1900s.

• The Good Place (Netflix | TV14, 4 seasons) - Clever imagining of the afterlife.

• The Last Dance (Netflix, | TV14, 1 season) - Sports documentary that's actually interesting.

• The Good Witch (Netflix | PG, 5 season) - Small town life in New York.

• Unorthodox (Netflix | MA, 1 season) - Secret window into Orthodox lifestyle.

• Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Hulu | TV14, 7 seasons) - Cracks me up every time.

• What We Do in the Shadows (Hulu | MA, 2 seasons) - These writers are damn geniuses.

• The Great (Hulu | MA, 1 season) - Opulent dramedy in Mother Russia.

• Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu | MA, 1 season) - Eh. A lot of hype.

• Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2 (Disney+ | PG, 1 season) - Geek out on Disney animation.

• Prop Culture (Disney+ | PG, 1 season) - Fascinating peek into Disney's archives.

• Outlander (Starz | MA, 5 seasons) - Experience the legendary James Fraser.

• Broke (CBS | PG, 1 season) - Episode 7 is super touching.

Movies

• The Old Guard (Netflix | R, 2h 5m) - Can I train with Charlize?

• Love Birds (Netflix | R, 1h 27m) - Damn funny romantic comedy duo.

• Extraction (Netflix | R, 1h 57m) - Damn, Chris Hemsworth, you fine.

• Love, Guaranteed (Netflix | PG, 1h 31m) - Bad. Not really sure why?

• The Shadow of the Moon (Netflix | MA, 1h 55m) - Wildly creative modern science fiction.

• The African Queen (Netflix | NR, 1h 45m) - Charlie & Rose are super weird.

• Da Five Bloods (Netflix | R, 2h 35m) - Extremely graphic, but deeply poignant.

• 13th (Netflix | R, 1h 40m) - Jarring film about racial injustice.

• How Do You Know (Netflix | PG-13, 2h) - Worst movie seen in quarantine!

• Always Be My Maybe (Netflix | PG-13, 1h 42m) - Believe? I punched Keanu Reeves.

• Clueless (Netflix | PG-13, 1h 37m) - As if I'd not watch!

• Code 8 (Netflix | TVMA, 1h 38m) - Action movies aren't my fav.

• Eurovision Song Contest: The Legend of Fire Saga (Netflix | PG-13, 2h 3m) - Obsessed with this highlarious soundtrack.

• Murder Mystery (Netflix | PG-13, 1h 37m) - Sandler as a framed murderer.

• Sandy Wexler (Netflix | PG-13, 2h 11m) - Sandler as a Hollywood manager.

• Uncut Gems (Netflix | R, 2h 14m) - Sandler as a philandering gangster.

• Mr. Deeds (Netflix | PG-13, 1h 36m) - Sandler as a kindhearted billionaire.

• The Week Of (Netflix | TV14, 1h 56m) - Sandler as father o' the bride.

• The Wandering Earth (Netflix | MA, 2h 5m) - Very scary apocalyptic Chinese thriller.

• Dangerous Lies (Netflix | TV14, 1hr 37m) - Thrilling mystery set in Chicago.

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Netflix | PG, 1h 32m) - Had to see this classic.

• The Willoughby’s (Netflix | PG, 1h 32m) - Not my favorite animation film.

• The Wrong Missy (Netflix | MA, 1h 30m) - We've all dated a Missy.

• Wine Country (Netflix | R, 1h 43m ) - Eh. Glad I don't drink.

• Desperados (Netflix | MA, 1h 46m) - Highlarious comedy caper in Mexican.

• Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (Netflix | PG-13, 1h 25m) - Ace was my childhood crush.

• We Are Freestyle Love Supreme (Hulu | PG-13, 1h 30m) - Bromance + Rap = Lin-Manuel Miranda

• Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Hulu | R, 1h 59m) - Breathtaking romance of two women.

• Palm Springs (Hulu | R, 1h 30m) - Mindbending take on Groundhog Day.

• National Treasure: Book of Secrets (Disney+ | PG, 2h 5m) - I've seen this 1,000 times.

• Lady and the Tramp (Disney+ | PG, 1h 51m) - Pretty cute puppies in NOLA.

• Hamilton (Disney+ | PG-13, 2h 55m) - Cultural phenom. Had to watch.

• Cats (Amazon | PG, 1h 49m) - Nothing prepared me for this.

• Camp Rock (Disney+ | G, 1h 36m) - Why did I watch this?

• Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (Disney+, G, 1h 55m) - Shonda Rimes shockingly wrote this.

• Blank Check (Disney+, PG, 1h 35m) - Epic 90s kid throwback movie.

• Magic Camp (Disney+, PG, 1h 40m) - Adorable camp for magician kids.

• Hannah Montana The Movie (Disney+, G, 1h 45m) - Now I'm just embarrassing myself.

So instead of the live magic, comedy and theatre I'm usually out in the world enjoying, I've been at home. And that means I've watched 38 movies and hundreds of episodes of 20 shows. I'm confident there will be many more dramedies, comedies and other 'omedies in our future, so please let me know your recommendations! What have you been watching these days?