As usual, we’ve been very busy watching TV, as of late. And that has nothing to do with the pandemic. As a rule, we generally always spend much of our time hanging out around the home.

It being summertime, I always have plenty of chores to do in the yard but still find plenty of time to watch my favorite shows.

I’m always into news and current events and have my favorites there. However, as for my favorite talking-head shows, I’ll not bother to name my favorite network or shows. By doing that, I’d be breaking the same rule that states that when in a bar or pub, one should never bring up the subject of politics or religion…(“,)

The bad thing about this pandemic is what it’s done to professional sports. Right now we should be in the heart of baseball season. But it finally got underway Friday. The 162 game regular season has been truncated to a mere 60 games.

I finally got to see my Atlanta Braves play their first game game of the season Friday. Though they lost 1-0, a fabulous pitcher’s duel, they came back the next day with a thrilling come-from-behind victory with a two-out, two-strike home run in their last at bat to tie the game, then won it in the 10th inning. And then the bats finally exploded Sunday in a 14-1 win against the New York Mets, with four players hitting homers.

Still, it’ll not be the same. There have been some pretty lame rule changes. Would have been best to leave well enough alone and not even bothered to have a season, much less having playoffs and a World Series. And who knows? The season may eventually end up being cancelled due to the virus for just yesterday four Miami Marlin players tested positive for Covid-19 while two Atlanta players didn’t make the trip to New York due to symptoms.

But that’s just me. As a family, we have all our favorites that we share as well as the movies and other special things we enjoy. Ironically, our son Yogi, though a teenager, no longer even has a TV in his room. He’s more into his new gaming profession so he leaves the TV watching to me and his mom.

Stargirl on The CW

Recently, we began watching the new DC superhero series Stargirl. Though I read DC comics as a kid, such as Superman and Batman, and had a special love for the G.I. Combat issues which feature the “Haunted Tank” and the Our Army at War series featuring Sgt. Rock, I was more a follower of Stan Lee’s Marvel Comics.

I do believe that this Stargirl character is a recent creation who never actually had a comic book series that I’m aware of. Nonetheless, it’s a fantastic and fun thing to watch, though it is teen oriented.

The Alienist on TNT

Another series that just reappeared for another season is the The Alienist. This is definitely a show for the not weak at heart. The first season was definitely chilling and we’ve got the first four episodes of season two DVRed.

Ozark on Netflix

Another series that we’ve just began viewing is the Netflix original series Ozark. Though three seasons are in the book, we just now discovered it. It’s just now been renewed for its fourth and what will be final season. So we’ll definitely have something to watch for quite awhile.

Dead to Me on Netflix

Another Netflix series we fell in love with is Dead to Me, a rather freaky show that keeps you totally engaged. We’ve watched the first two seasons and anxiously await the arrival of the next one.

As for movies, we’ve both got our all-time favorites that we’ll watch anytime they’re on. One of Lynndee’s faves is Top Gun, which we watched again a few days ago. We also watched the remake of that Patrick Swayze patriotic movie Red Dawn. To the best of my recollection, it was a bit different than the original but still very exciting.

Yellowstone on Paramount Network

We just recently re-watched one of my all-time faves, Field of Dreams. But another series we’ve fell in love with is Yellowstone, starring the Field of Dreams actor, Kevin Costner, who portrays a hardcore ranch owner in his continuing battle with a world bent on changing his way of life, a bit of a difference from the character he played in Field of Dreams who attempted to make the world change their way of thinking about magic.

Mission Impossible on Antenna TV

And that leads me back to being the old-school TV man I am, having a love of those oldie goldies from my youth. I just rediscovered on Antenna TV that mid-60s series Mission Impossible. Like so many of those past classics, a movie series of this show has been created. I, however, haven’t seen a one of ’em and really have no desire to. But I loved the series. And just today I watched Episode 1 of Season Two which introduced Peter Graves as the leader of the Impossible Missions Force.

I so recall Graves from my childhood years when he starred in the TV series Fury, the first time I’d ever seen him act. And I certainly can’t help but recall his appearance in that classic comedy film Airplane. Graves was the younger brother of James Arness, the actor who for twenty years portrayed Marshal Dillon on the TV series Gunsmoke.

One of the greatest things about Mission Impossible was the theme song which actually became a hit on the Billboard Top 100 by selling 500,000 copies, becoming a gold record. And I can’t help but think that Mission Impossible was a precursor to that 80s series MacGyver which featured a character always using gadgets to get a mission accomplished as well as to get out of tricky and dangerous situations, the same as one of the Impossible Missions Force characters.

And that’s it, for now. Obviously, the TV has become many a folks best friend in this day and age of quarantines and stay-at-home orders. But, as for me, it’s always been one of my best friends. If only we could get rid of all those commercials! Well, at least with the DVR, you can zap through ’em…(“,)