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I’m usually one for complicated, twisted, dark shows, but my cousin kept telling me I needed to watch Jane the Virgin and she was right. This is perfect chick fare for those looking for something a little lighter during these depressing times. The story is about a girl named Jane who has been saving herself for marriage, but her gynaecologist accidentally artificially inseminates her. You guessed it, the virgin gets pregnant and a romance with the baby’s daddy blossoms. The plot has lots of twists and turns, including a murder. This tongue-incheek telenovela will leave you binge-watching all five seasons.
OMy husband and I have always loved watching Cirque du Soleil shows and we wanted to start taking our boys to experience the fun. I was so excited when I heard O was being released online and chose this for our weekend movie. The kids had no idea what the show was about and I wanted to keep it a surprise. They were amazed by the acrobatics, high dives and – of course – the stage being a pool. My younger son kept asking, “How did they do that?” It was such a different experience watching this on TV. We were able to watch close up and see the details that we missed watching the show live. I loved sharing this experience with them at home. It gave us a chance to talk about the show and rewind parts they wanted to see again. I highly recommend catching this show while its online!
If you enjoy a bit of Bear Grylls-style adventure (and a funny attempt at a Bear Grylls accent), this five-part YouTube series could be just your thing. The premise is simple: a Brit called Tom Davies (username “Geowizard”) sets out to walk across an entire country – Wales, in this case. The catch? He has to walk in a perfectly straight line – so, not deviating even a metre or more from the route, if possible. He uses a GPS device to stick to his task, forging ahead whether he’s being confronted by an angry farmer on private property, a dense forest of brambles or a treacherous mountain pass. It’s a low-budget affair, and won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I was hooked from the first few seconds.
Every Friday night during the UK lockdown, Andrew Lloyd Webber is making one of his West End or Broadway shows available for 48 hours on his YouTube channel, The Shows Must Go On. So far, they’ve included the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies, which was outstanding!
My 15-year-old daughter and I started to watch the Hulu mini-series Mrs America together recently. Uniquely structured over nine episodes with an amazing soundtrack, it showed us how the ratification of America’s Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was eventually defeated by one woman, Phyllis Schlafly, played by the brilliant Cate Blanchett. At first, Schlafly was dismissed by the big names of the women’s rights movement as a lightweight housewife and mother. Yet she was no ordinary housewife, but rather an ambitious and politically savvy working woman who built a national network that argued the best place for women was in the home. That she was a hypocrite was not lost on viewers as she was seen spending more time on the “STOP ERA” campaign than in the home looking after her husband and six children. The creator and producers of the show were able to show a direct line of resentment politics that she was able to tap into in the 1970s and drew that line directly to contemporary American politics. Four episodes to go and, even though we know how it ended for the ERA, we can’t stop watching!