Streaming Alive and Well with New Shows!

Remember when I said I was back? Well, I’m back and I’m here to talk about the wonderful world of streaming. This week, I’m turning my attention to two shows, one on Showtime and the other on Amazon Prime. No, this has nothing to do with the November 21 Netflix outage that you might have heard about. I was here at the office when that allegedly happened so I had no idea it happened until I read about it. (I’ll touch on that later, though.) I’m focusing on Showtime and Amazon content simply because these two original series are good. So, with that out of the way, let’s get streaming…

Ray Donovan, Season 7

I have to review this one because Stuart Sweet refuses to. Seriously. He says that Liev Schreiber who plays Ray Donovan “looks like a badger.” That’s absolutely ridiculous of course. Schreiber looks like a chipmunk with its cheeks stuffed with seeds. The series picks up with Ray doing the same kind of rough and dirty business he’s always done with a twist: he’s seeing Dr. Amiot (Alan Alda), the psychiatrist we met in season six. Showtime releases these episodes in a weekly format so I’ll have to see what the future holds for Ray and his family.

Man in the High Castle, Season 4

This is the last season for Amazon Prime’s hit alternative history series. For those who aren’t watching, this series is set in an alternate universe where Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan won World War II and have joint control over America. The show follows characters on all sides as they discover portals to other dimensions including our timeline, where Germany and Japan lost the war. Everything will come to some type of conclusion in these last 10 episodes. I only hope that the good guys win.

The Irishman

Okay. You got me. This isn’t an original series, it’s a Netflix original movie. I still look forward to watching it, though. It’s directed and produced by the great Martin Scorsese and I’m part Irish. What’s not to like? While I wait for my shot at that Netflix original, Mrs. Buckler is back to indulging in the latest seasons of all her favorite British shows, like The Crown and Peaky Blinders. If you’ve been paying attention to this column over the past three years, you already know that Mrs. Buckler LOVES British TV shows.

Speaking of Netflix…

…Let’s talk about that Thursday morning (November 21, 2019) outage. Yes, I know this is “old news” now. (It’s funny how two days is considered an eternity in today’s fast-paced digital world.) Anyway, Netflix went down for a few hours that day. I wouldn’t have even known about if I hadn’t seen a tweet from Netflix about the short-lived debacle. When I read that, I thought Netflix released a new season of Luke Cage. You might remember that the superhero show was blamed for crashing the streaming service in October 2018. (Again, that was an eternity ago.) I then remembered that Netflix probably won’t be making any Marvel series now that Disney+ is available. (Yes, Stuart. I know. That’s more old news.)

That’s It for Now…

…But I’ll be back next week with more streaming news. Again, I apologize for my absence the past couple of weeks. I applaud all of you for having the patience to suffer through two weeks of Stuart Sweet’s maniacal ramblings. You’ll be glad to know that I’ll be back again next week with more news and opinions about the wonderful world of streaming.

About the Author

Jake Buckler
Jake Buckler is a cord-cutter, consumer electronics geek, and Celtic folk music fan. Those qualities, and his writing experience, helped him land a copywriting gig at Signal Group, LLC. He also contributes to The Solid Signal Blog.