New Deal

Not much time to post lately, so here's the last couple months' viewing:
*Good Wife is back on for the new season, along with the comfort of Sunday night television rituals.
*The Roosevelts - the annual fall cold hit me around the premiere, so I managed to watch all 14 hours. The progressive themes impressed me, as did learning about how the Roosevelts formed the basis of the federal government we know today, but after a while, all the intimate details got to be a bit repetitive. A shorter version of the highlights should be created, because I think more people would have watched that.
*Last Week Tonight - John Oliver's tirades are starting to feel a gap that I think may be left by The Colbert Report but Colbert also had some good classic fun with papa bear's mercenary plan.
*Project Runway - For some reason, this season's pulled me in again, even with it starting to feel like hour long commercials for dolls and diamonds.
*Masters of Sex - I had this on the DVD list for a while, and with the awards started to really look forward to it. While it starts out strong, halfway through the season, it begins to feel overly dramatic.
*Happy Valley - British crime dramas tend to disappoint me, but this one and Top of the Lake are both superb. Both feature strong female leads along with gripping gritty details that felt very true to their location. They will give you dark nightmares, so be sure to block off 3 hours of daylight to finish the last three episodes, which beg for binge-watching.
*Spies of Mississippi and The Invisible War were both PBS docs I missed while on the television, so good to get the chance to catch them streaming. Spies of Mississippi lays bear frightening details of institutional preservation of segregation and worse in the deep South. The Invisible War should be required viewing for anyone considering joining the army.
In Zanesville deftly delves into a 1970s adolescent coming-of-age that felt very true to life. The last third of The Fault in Our Stars is worthy of the hype, but the rest was not so amazing to me. S Street Rising catalogs the author's struggle with addiction to crack alongside Washington, DC's similar struggle. It leaves one with a strong impression of the importance of journalists and amazed at the city's and author's parallel rebirth and restoration. Women in Clothes I picked up and read occasional snippets from before bed. It feels like a conversation with a very smart, dear old friend. Definitely a thoughtful contribution to the stereo-typically vapid world of fashion.