Looking Back: Watching TV in 2021

Escapism and Distraction

Tested Swag: photo by Cliff Hutson

Television took on a new importance for me as the pandemic has dragged on and on. Since “occupied time” moves more quickly than “unoccupied time” I sometimes seek to fill my time with something that does not require the thought that reading does, the two to three hour commitment of a movie, nor the commitment of many hours doing my own "one day builds". Thus, I turned to TV.

Tested T-shirt: photo by Cliff Hutson

My thinking was that I could kick back with my cat and watch one or two episodes of something and then move on to more constructive things or basic chores. However, this seems to have morphed into a great deal of vegging out on my part and even binge-watching.

I have not gone to the trouble of figuring out the exact number of hours, but they must number in the hundreds. Not all of that was a waste of time. There is some very stuff being streamed as television shows,  and on YouTube, along with the mediocre.

What I Watched:

1. Midsomer Murders (Season 5, Episode 2)
2. America's Test Kitchen - A Taste of Mexico (Season 21, Episode 1) 
3. America's Test Kitchen - Pork and Greens (Season 20, Episode 26)
4. Lovejoy (Season 1, Episodes 1-2)
5. NFL Wild Card Weekend (Bears @ Saints)
6. Firefly (Episodes 1-14) (DVD)
7. Quarantine Quitchen (YouTube)
8. Inauguration Ceremony and Celebration
9. A Late Show
10. Late Night with Seth Meyers
11. Marble League Winter Special (You Tube)
12. Columbo (Season 4, Episode s 1-2)
13. The Norse
14. Matlock (Season 1, Episode 1)
15. Super Bowl LV
16. The Equalizer (2021) (Season 1)
17. NCIS (Seasons 1-4, 17-18)
18. Midsomer Murders (Season 21)
19. Bones (Season 1)
20. The Guardian  (Season 1)
21. Masters Golf Tournament (Final round)
22. Columbo (Seasons 5-7 )
23. Midsomer Murders (Season 22)
24. The Brokenwood Mysteries (Seasons 1-7)
25. Hawaii Five-O (reboot) (Season 1 -10)
26. MacGyver (reboot) (Season 1, Episodes 1-4)
27. Bosch (Season 7)
28. Ted Lasso (Season 2)
29. NCIS: New Orleans  (Season 1 - 7)
30. Thursday Night Football (LA Rams @ Seattle)
31. MythBusters (Pilots, Season 1)
32. Adam Savage's Tested (You Tube)
33. Invasion (Episodes 1 -  2)
34. Native America (Season 1)
35. Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 3-4)
36. Thursday Night Football (KC Chiefs @ LA Chargers)
37. 1883
38. MacGyver (original) (Season 1)
    
    

Swiss Army Knife: photo by Cliff Hutson

The Best:

• Bosch 
• Ted Lasso
• 1883
• The Brokenwood Mysteries 

Not Actually Worth My Time:

• Matlock
• Invasion