Summer Binge TV Shows-Escape-Midnight Walk-Podcast 722

Suddenly summer in the Upper Midwest. When the news keeps talking about the same stuff time for escape. These days that means binge watching. In Summer Binge TV Shows-Escape-Midnight Walk-Podcast 722.

Lots Of Great New Shows Means Peak TV

Hundreds of drama and comedy shows will be produced for networks like HBO, ShowTime, Hulu, AMC, Netflix and others in 2018. They call it ‘Peak TV‘. I love nothing more than sitting up all night, drinking coffee and binge watching my favorite shows. Every now and then I like to talk about the shows I am watching.

What’s more, I actually consider it part of my job!

The shows we binge watch say a lot about the national mood.

A Window Into America’s Subconscious

Especially relevant to this podcast is the idea I have that the content and tone of these shows has begun to change. Does this reflect a change in the national mood? Are these shows a window into America’s subconscious? We’ll talk about it on a midnight walk in Summer Binge TV Shows-Escape-Midnight Walk-Podcast 722.

New Shows

While the major networks are focused on adding remakes like Roseanne, Will and Grace and Murphy Brown, Netflix, HBO and others are cranking out great new dramas, comedies and documentaries. I can hardly keep up with Stranger Things, Black Mirror and more!

What Are You Binging On?

I’ve been binging on WestWorld, Homeland, Billions, and especially a new show on ShowTime called I’m Dying Up Here. Who hasn’t watched all the Breaking Bad shows again, or the more current Narcos? Plus documentaries like Evil Genius, and the new Elvis doc on HBO, Elvis The Searcher. Don’t even get me started on Game of Thrones!

Changing Mood

With the addition of new shows like The Deuce and I’m Dying Up Here, there’s a nostalgia for the American urban experience in the 1970’s. While older shows like The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking dead have started to seem stale, new shows strike a different tone. What’s more, I get the feeling the mood is changing. Maybe we just want to laugh.

Broadcast Fades To Black

As the ratings for cable channels and news shows that focus on the constant drone of the political back and forth these days, when the weather changes, who doesn’t want to escape?

Shows like WestWorld focus on anxiety about robotics and artificial intelligence, in Billions, it seems like they’re all villains. If you think some of these plots are farfetched, consider the fact that House of Cards pales in contrast to the actual craziness in today’s Washington DC.

Delicious!

What are you binging on and what do you think about it. Let me know at thebobdavispodcasts@gmail.com, after you check out Summer Binge TV Shows-Escape-Midnight Walk-Podcast 722.

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing Of Saint Paul and Reliafund Payment Processors

Summer Binge TV Shows-Escape-Midnight Walk-Podcast 722

The American Dream Is Killing Us? Really? Podcast 618

Deaths of Despair” is what some researchers call them. Death due to suicide, drug overdose and the consequences of heavy drinking. Alarm bells are ringing. Over the last twenty seven years deaths among middle aged white people with a high school diploma or less have doubled. So many deaths it has caused a fall in overall US life expectancy. Let’s talk about it in The American Dream Is Killing Us? Really? Podcast 618.

Failure Isn’t Your Fault Anymore?

This is a lurid headline. Lurid headlines get attention. Writers are writing. Talkers are talking. Princeton researchers blame ‘Cumulative Deprivation’. We’re suddenly wondering if The American Dream Is Killing Us? Really? Podcast 618.

American Dream Grows Up

What is The American Dream? James Truslow Adams tied it to the Declaration of Independence. All men are created equal. We have an unalienable right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Who Says You’ll Be Happy

When did it become The American Dream? Do we expect our government to help us be happy? Are we supposed to be guaranteed success in our pursuit of happiness. A house in the suburbs? Two cars? A great job? Happy children? Retirement? Health Insurance?

Economic Inequality

Robert Samuelson thinks economic inequality is the cause. Inequality causes slow active social forces accumulating and destroying the hopes and dreams of white people with a high school education or less. It drives them to despair. Drink. Drugs. Death. Writers like JD Vance add to the ‘White Trash‘ ethos with stories of poor, dumb white people living in Appalachia.

We All Have Tough Times In Our Family Histories

In The American Dream Is Killing Us? Really? Podcast 618 I tell some stories of my own family’s history in the coal mines. I wonder what people think we’re responsible for these days. All of us have some kind of despair but we fight it. We get knocked down and get back up. Live to fight another day. Never give up.

Get Up And Fight

Life is a challenge. It does not come with a guarantee. How we define winning and success changes with age and time. Happiness doesn’t require a house in the suburbs and two cars. Happiness requires a warrior mentality to some degree. Sometimes you just have to reach down and get it.

The American Dream Is Killing Us? Really? Podcast 618

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul.