I stumbled around a bit in my December TV watching. I went on a Mad Men binge, but may have worn myself out on the exploits of Don Draper at this point. I didn’t watch any through the 11 day Christmas break. I saw one yesterday and was a little ‘meh’ on the whole thing. Maybe I just need to get back into it again.

My wife and I continue to enjoy watching The West Wing. She even bought me the complete series on DVD for Christmas, only to find out that NetFlix added it to instant watch the very same day. But Netflix doesn’t show the bonus disk materials, and those are very interesting.

Best movie of the month award goes to Snow White and the Huntsman. My wife got a little tired of Kristen Stewart’s ‘breathy’ acting, but I didn’t think it was that bad. Charlize Theron was amazing. The story was well written and I really enjoyed it.

Also, I finally sat down and watched Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan. No, I’d never seen it before; I could never get past the scene with the bugs in the ears. I’m not a super-trekkie, though I know most of the characters names from most of the series. This one did fill in some gaps for me though—gaps which are constantly alluded to in popular mythology. Now I know what people are talking about when they refer to the Kobayashi Maru.

I started watching Once Upon A Time as well, because my wife really likes it, and a high school classmate of mine, Keegan Connor Tracy (as the Blue Fairy) is in it. It’s not a bad show. I just need to get caught up so my wife and I can watch it at the same time.

It does feel like I’m losing interest in watching TV right now… probably because I’ve seen so much over the past two years. I wish I could do something else with that time, but watching TV is about the only truly recuperative thing I can do these days that doesn’t involve sleep. But I am definitely watching less than I did a few months ago, so I guess that means I must be feeling a bit better.

Listed below are the movies and TV series I’ve been watching since Part VIII of this series:

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

TV Series (watching as aired)

• Gold Rush
• Castle
• Glee
• Chicago Fire
• Big Bang Theory

DVD

• The Dark Knight Rises (4)
• Premium Rush (2)
• The West Wing: Season 3: [2] (4)
• Snow White and the Huntsman (4.5)
• Gerrymandering (4)
• Battlestar Galactica: The Plan (2)
• Battlestar Galactica: Caprica (4)

Instant Watch

• Battlestar Galactica: Ssn 1: [2] (5)
• Cosmos: [5] (4)
• Food Fight (4)
• Ken Burns: The West:[4] (4)
• Mad Men: Ssn 2: [4] (4)
• Mad Men: Ssn 3: [13] (4)
• Mad Men: Ssn 4: [4] (3)
• Once Upon a Time: Ssn 1: [6] (3.5)
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (3.5)