kadyellebee - knitting designs/patterns by kristine beeson

This has been an interesting year for TV watching because the streaming services have exploded and that means a lot of releases that aren't strictly related to the fall tv series timeslots.  Still, there are a few things on network tv or streamers that are launching this fall and I'm pulling together my ideas.

So I've been using a site to track the tv shows watch for a while now. Here's my Trakt 2021 year in review. I love that it keeps me a list of the things I've spent my time on this year.

One of my fav features is looking at what new shows I watched this year, in addition to the ones that I kept up on that already existed. This was another pandemic year, so there was a lot of tv watching in the evenings. We tried out a few extra streaming services too, so that helped me get to watch some things that are on the long watchlist I keep. These are in order by the number of episodes watched:

• All of the Chicago shows: Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, and Chicago Med. Fire is my favorite, but PD is close behind. Between those 3 shows, it's almost 500 episodes of entertainment! on Peacock and newest season on Hulu
• Rewatched all of Arrow because I'd not seen the final season again.on Netflix
• True Blood - I like vampire shows, and I'd rewatched the Twilight movies at some point this year, so I was curious to see how this one went. It was pretty interesting. on HBO Max
• Big Love - another I'd been curious about. I'm glad I watched it, it was a very different family structure than I'd seen before. It was especially fun to see Ginnifer Goodwin before Once Upon a Time. on HBO Max
• Falling Skies - we had watched the first season before, but I started this from the beginning and enjoyed it a lot. Definitely my kind of Sci Fi with actors I already liked.on HBO Max.
• West World - E had watched this and thought I'd like it. JJ Abrams does do some great stuff that I like! and I really liked it a lot. Figuring out the mysteries and characters was super. 3rd season was weaker, but I'm excited to see what they do for the 4th this year.on HBO Max
• Yellowstone - another show I'd been hearing about but it took watching Mayor of Kingstown before I tried it. This one straddled over the end of 2021 to the beginning of 2022 for me. The actors are great, and the story is really well done. Also love the soundtrack. on Peacock for 1-3 and purchased for 4
• Departure - I really like Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife, Blindspot) and the previews kinda had a Fringe feel to them. Good show, I'll definitely watch the next season too. on Peacock
• Mayor of Kingstown - while watching Hawkeye, I decided to try this other Jeremy Renner new show out. Definitely on the brutal side, but wow, these characters are really well done. Straddling between 2021 and 2022 to finish out the run. on Paramount Plus.
• Heels - while wrestling isn't my genre, watching Stephen Amell (Arrow) is a great thing. Liked the characters, however flawed they are, and I found myself really liking it by the end. on Starz, caught it during a free xfinity weekend.
• New #MCU streaming shows: WandaVision - such a solid story with a unique storytelling model - and using old and new marvel characters for the win #DarcyLewis, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - taking the characters we got to know but zooming way in on them for in-depth characterization, Loki - this was interesting, and I like Sylvie, but it wasn't my fav out of the shows. Hawkeye - the perfect introduction to a Matt Fraction themed version of the characters, with a caper feel for the holidays. What If...? - animated version of our familiar characters but with a twist like comics (or fanfic) tend to do. on Disney+
• New network shows: La Brea with a Lost-like feel and some good actors.
• caught up on Grey's Anatomy, The Resident
• Cooking shows - Spring and fall holiday baking challenges, Great Food Truck Race (including some rewatched seasons), Chopped Sweets (multiple seasons), Tournament of Champions, and Great British Bake Off. A few home design shows too, but not as many this year.

Movie-wise, I did watch a few more movies on my own than I had previous years. I paid attention to special weekends of Xfinity channels that I could get with my account, and that let me see some things I hadn't been able to. Things like Godzilla/Rampage/Kong Skull Island series. The Mummy/The Mummy Returns. All the Twilight and 50 shades movies. Both of the original Fantastic 4 movies. Hocus Pocus (first time watching) and The Nightmare Before Christmas. A variety of Christmas movies (10 must be a record for me!). Black Widow twice.and just some other random stuff :)

Between a wonky season last year due to 2020 pandemic and a lot of my favorite shows ending before that, I didn't pull together a post of tv shows last season.  I watched a lot of familiar things and then utilized some streaming services to watch things I hadn't had access to previously.  I watched things like True Blood, Big Love, Falling Skies, Westworld, and ALL of the seasons of Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, and Chicago Med.  You can always see what I'm watching on my Trakt profile, too. :)

These are a few of my favorite things... I really enjoy having a playlist that is great to shuffle and play for a long stretch.  I didn't do a formal bday45playlist this year, but I did take extra time to add to this playlist that I listen to often.

I often find songs that go along with these nicely by browsing Apple Music (worth every penny to me) and see the related artists. Sometimes it's songs on tv shows or commercials that seem to fit - in fact, that's how I first found Ruelle - Until We Go Down was the theme song on The Shannara Chronicles, and even though I didn't watch more than the first season, it was a great jumping-off point for me to start looking for others like this.

Music brings me joy, even when the times are hard, and I'm grateful for that!

The fall TV season is here, or just about! This year is interesting because we have several streaming services launching in November (Disney+ and Apple TV+ - by way of a new iPhone purchase - are the two I'll have an initial subscription to, as well as my current Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime - which is only a side effect of wanting better shipping!)

I'll be loosing a great number of shows in their final season this year, and that means I'm kinda looking for some new things to watch, so I have a few new things here. I put a note on the new ones at least what actor is making me want to watch.

I've also noted where episodes will be streaming, where I can find the info. This is important as I don't have a TiVo any more. Hulu fills most of those holes, but CBS is the one clunker I can't watch without a subscription to CBS All Access. So there were a few shows I had on my "new" list that I just had to delete because I don't have enough of a need for All Access to make it worth it. The CW episodes aren't on Hulu, but because we have the lowest tier of cable for the 10 basic channels, I have a cable log in that I can use to sign into their app on my Apple TV or iPad app for their channel. (this cable log in also lets me sign into the CNN app for debates and important news.)

Sunday
Batwoman The CW 10/6 Su 8pm (New!), streams on CW app
-- newest addition to the Arrowverse, of which I still watch Arrow for it's final season and Legends. I won't go back to Flash, but I might watch some more Supergirl leading up to the crossover.
Monday
Prodigal Son FOX 9/23 M 10pm (New!), streams on hulu
-- Belamy Young, Michael Sheen, creator Greg Berlanti
Tuesday
The Resident FOX 9/24 T 8pm s3
Arrow The CW 10/15 T 9pm s8, final season, streams on CW app
Wednesday
Almost Family FOX 10/2 W 9pm (New!), streams on hulu
-- Timothy Hutton
Stumptown ABC 9/25 W 10pm (New!), streams on hulu
-- set in Portland, although not filming here. Cobie Smulders
Thursday
Grey's Anatomy ABC 9/26 Th 8pm s16
Perfect Harmony NBC 9/26 Th 8:30pm (New!), streams on hulu
-- Bradley Whitford
The Good Place NBC 9/26 Th 9pm s4, final season
-- Began watching this over the summer!
Sunnyside NBC 9/26 9:30pm (New!), streams on hulu
-- Kal Penn, from Fremulon who did The Good Place


Midseason
The 100 The CW Midseason s7, final season
DC's Legends of Tomorrow The CW 1/14 T 9pm s5
Marvel's Agents of SHIELD ABC Midseason s7, final season
Blindspot NBC Midseason s5, final season
Manifest NBC Midseason s2
FBI: Most Wanted CBS Midseason (New!)
-- Julian McMahon
Council of Dads NBC Midseason (New!)
-- J. August Richards, Sarah Wayne Callies

Further in the future
Jack Ryan Amazon Prime 11/1
The Mandalorian Disney+ 11/12
Dollface Hulu 11/15
-- Kat Dennings
Little Fires Everywhere Hulu 2020
-- Kerry Washington, Joshua Jackson
Futureman Hulu 2020 s3, final season
Umbrella Academy Netflix s2 2020
The Falcon and Winter Soldier Disney+, first year

I very much enjoy good television. I've watched many shows and found favorite actors and actresses amongst the mix, people I follow from one show to another to continue to enjoy their work. This past year, I've had more opportunities to rest on the couch and enjoy tv shows while I'm here. We gave up TiVo and gained Hulu and that gave me a bunch of new options. I discovered network channel shows that I can watch on my Apple TV. And it's been great, and has me excited about the TV season to come.

This summer, I caught up on all of The CW's DC shows and that has made me glad for all the superhero fandom to be had, on both DC and Marvel MCU fronts. I shall be fully entertained by campy super hero dialog and darker gritty rescue stories with masks and weapons.

So sit back and enjoy my listing of what I want to watch! and comment with your plans!

8pm	9pm	10pm
Mondays
Supergirl (TheCW) season 3. October 9 DCTV: though it's my least favorite DCTV show, it's still worth checking out to be caught up for any crossovers. Adrian Pasdar (Heroes, Agents of SHIELD) and Carl Lumbly (Alias) are joining.[IMDb]	The Gifted (FOX) New! October 2. cast includes Amy Acker, and X-Men mutants. [IMDb]
Tuesdays
The Flash (TheCW) season 4. October 10 DCTV: This show has grown on me. I'm waiting to see which Wells we see next (is Harry staying? can Jessie come too?) [IMDb]	Legends of Tomorrow (TheCW) season 3. October 10 DCTV, I really enjoy this one. Looks like we'll get more Wentworth Miller this season! [IMDb]	Kevin (probably) Saves The World (ABC) New! October 3 I do love Jason Ritter. Is this a similar series to his Joan of Arcadia? :) [IMDb]
Wednesdays
Riverdale (TheCW) season 2. October 11 watched season 1 with Rina and zoomed through the rest on my own. what happens next?!! [IMDb]	Seal Team (CBS) New! September 27 checking out David Boreanaz's new show. [IMDb]	Designated Survivor (ABC) season 2. September 27 even though I got a little bored at the end of last season, I'm going to try a little more. [IMDb]
Thursdays
Grey's Anatomy (ABC) season 14. September 27 caught up sometime mid-last season, not many updates about what will happen during this season have come out. [IMDb]	Scandal (ABC) season 7. October 5 FINAL season, with 18 episodes. [IMDb]
	Arrow (TheCW) season 6. October 12 DCTV: So very in love with this show after a summer of Arrowverse catching up. Olicity, please?! Also, Michael Emerson (Lost, Person of Interest) is joining. [IMDb]
Fridays
Blindspot (FOX) season 3. October 27 really glad this will be back! I especially love Patterson.[IMBd]	Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) season 8. September 29 Need to watch s7 still on Netflix. The loss of Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim makes me sad and that makes me unsure about watching it. [IMDb]
Once Upon A Time (ABC) season 7. October 6 The giant reboot and loss of my favorite characters makes this less likely to be a favorite. [IMDb]	Inhumans (ABC) New! September 29 MCU: early reviews aren't too good, but I'm curious. 8 episode run. [IMDb]
Midseason
Currently airing: Nashville (CMT) season 5. I need to catch up from midseason point. The Last Ship (TNT) season 4. August 20, if I can find it streaming on Amazon or OnDemand. The Defenders (Netflix) August 18 New! MCU: streaming Friday 9pm: Agents of Shield Season 5. MCU: return date is presumably after the Inhumans' run. The 100 (TheCW) season 5. return date is usually in the spring. Timeless (FOX) Season 2. either late spring or summer, I believe. The Resident (FOX) New! With Matt Czuchry (Gilmore Girls, The Good Wife) Untitled Grey's Anatomy Spin-off (ABC) New! firehouse version of Grey's? Jessica Jones (Netflix) Season 2. MCU spring 2018.

Creating a birthday playlist is always a fun part of celebrating.  We turn it on during my birthday extravaganza, where we go out driving to various stores and restaurants. It's had the same two songs to start with for a while, amping me up as we leave, and it gets me excited and happy.

I pick songs that I love and new songs and songs that have captured my attention in the previous year. This year, Hamilton and Gilmore Girls and Nashville all were big influences to me, so they are represented. It was Buffy's 20th Anniversary just lately, so there's a few OMWF musical tracks.  I got some great geeky bands here at the end of the list.  I also try to make it not too heavy on songs that E doesn't like, so the less-country sounding songs from Nashville, and not too much of any one artist.

It was a good mix!

• Ready to Go (US Mix), Republica, 1996
• Are You Happy Now?, Michelle Branch, 2003
• Let Me Go, Avril Lavigne feat. Chad Kroeger, 2013
• Hopeless Romantic, Michelle Branch, 2017
• All of Me (feat. Clare Bowen & Sam Palladio), Nashville Cast, 2017
• Leave the Pieces, The Wreckers, 2006

The last six weeks, I've been posting about my home remodelarama, what I'm cheerfully tagging it when I make instagram posts. You can see Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, Phase 4, Phase 5, Phase 6, and Phase 7 for the before and progress photos and info.

The last six weeks, I've been posting about my home remodelarama, what I'm cheerfully tagging it when I make instagram posts. You can see Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, Phase 4, Phase 5, and Phase 6 for the before and progress photos and info.

PHASE 7: panorama of living room, dining room, and kitchen

The construction phase is complete!

The last four weeks, I've been posting about my home remodelarama, what I'm cheerfully tagging it when I make instagram posts. You can see Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, Phase 4, and Phase 5 for the before and progress photos and info.

Much of the work is complete, and everything is falling into place!