It’s that time again to recap what I’ve been watching on the tube (flat screen?) these days. The list continues to shrink as I exchange the time I was spending watching movies with time for writing and reading. That’s a good thing. Still, I do need some down time now and then, so TV / NetFlix still helps me when I need to rest.

I’ve added a  new section for TV this month, as the new fall lineup has begun. I’ve listed those in my “must see order”. Castle holds the coveted top spot for the second year in a row, but my surprise hit of the year is Chicago Fire, probably because it seems to be an homage to one of my favorite shows as a child, Emergency. We started watching Elementary, but my wife couldn’t get past the pilot, and I stopped after episode three. We’re way behind on Revolution and Glee.

I like watching Gold Rush, but it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure. It’s one of those where I appreciate how hard those guys are working, and the show is very well done, but the environmental impact of what they are doing is not lost on me. I really don’t want to encourage this kind of planetary destruction.

We’ve also been working back through the first couple of seasons of The West Wing, which, in my humble opinion, is probably the best written television show ever made. I watched all of it when it originally aired, and I’ve seen most of the episodes at least one other time in reruns. Still, it’s my go-to show when I’m in a political mood.

So anyway, listed below are the movies and TV series I’ve been watching since Part VI of this series:

• [x] = Number of Episodes watched if TV show
• ( y ) = Rating out of 5.
• Items in bold = ones I highly recommend

Television

• Castle
• Chicago Fire
• The Big Bang Theory
• Gold Rush
• Arrow
• Revolution
• Glee
• Elementary

Instant Watch

• Battle of Britain (3)
• Cosmos: [1] (3)
• Freedom Writers (3)
• Friday Night Lights: Ssn 1: [3] (4)
• Hell on Wheels: Ssn 1: [3] (4)
• Mad Men: Ssn 1: [6] (3)
• Rob Roy (4)
• School Ties (3)
• Surviving Progress (2)
• The Planets:[3] (3)
• The Walking Dead: Ssn 2: [6] (5)

DVDs

• Connections 1: [2] (5)
• Connections 2: [1] (4)

• Eureka: Season 5: [3] (4) 

• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (3)

• Fight Club (4)

• Hatfields & McCoys: [1] (4)

• Hawaii Five-O: Season 2: [3] (2)
• Hide Away (4)

• Hugo (2)

• Inspector Morse [1] (2)

• The Adventures of Tintin (3)

• The Avengers (4)

• The Walking Dead: Season 2: [1] (5)

• The West Wing: Season 1: [1] (5)

• The West Wing: Season 2: [6] (5)

• Wallander: Series 1: [2] (4)