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Connection Corner: Binge Watch Recommendations

As a way to help build connections while our community is living with Stay-at-Home restrictions, Campus Connections will feature faculty/staff recommendations. This week’s question: What show or films are you binge watching or which shows do you recommend for others to try?

While there were some anonymous admissions of watching Tiger King, here are other recommendations of binge worthy series.

Associate Professor of Political Science Whitney Ross Manzo recommends Devs, which is on Hulu. “I recommend it to anyone who likes mind-bending sci fi mystery type shows. It also asks some interesting ethical questions about advancements in technology.”

Dean of Students Ann Gleason also recommends Devs, one of the shows she’s been watching for some armchair traveling. “I  am traveling all over the world in different eras. To give you a taste of what I viewed last week:  Wolf Hall, which features Thomas Cromwell and King Henry the VIII (England), then on to Parks and Recreation reruns (Indiana), and then to Devs, which is an intriguing, suspenseful series on Hulu about a young woman software developer (California).”

Meredith Events Coordinator Natalie Herrmann has been watching Designated Survivor, which features Keifer Sutherland as a cabinet member who unexpectedly become president, on Netflix.

Admissions Counselor Brittany McCray recommends The Stranger on Netflix. “It is wonderfully suspenseful.”

Another Netflix limited series, Unorthodox, gets a vote from Assistant Director of Visual Communication-Multimedia Charlotte McKinney.  “I thought it was a really interesting, well-done mini-series that explores a subculture that I knew very little about, the ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jews of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. The juxtaposition of seeing such an old-world and insular group in the midst of the modernity of New York City was really interesting.  The acting was fantastic, especially the lead character of Esty.”

Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities Sarah Roth has been watching Little Fires Everywhere on Hulu, but laments that it is only eight episodes.

Sallie Hedrick Bowman, ’03,  department administrator for several departments in the School of Arts and Humanities, recommends a comedy and a drama. “I love Schitt’s Creek. It’s a Canadian production on POP TV, but the first few seasons are on Netflix. The first few episodes take a little getting used to, but once the story takes off this show is pure joy. I also love Outlander! It’s on the Starz channel, but it’s streaming on Netflix. Outlander is addictive.”

Professor of Theatre Cathy Rodgers offers another vote for Schitt’s Creek. “We are binge watching a hilarious series that Dean Ann Gleason recommended to me called Schitt’s Creek.  It is such a smart comedy and allows us a welcome escape from the pandemic!”

Senior Vice President and Provost Matthew Poslusny is watching a 1990s comedy classic. “I’m watching Frasier, every night after work is completed.”

Tina Romanelli, director of the Learning Center, has a reality show to recommend. “My sixteen-year-old daughter and I have been binge watching The Masked Singer on Hulu/FoxNow.”

Associate Professor of I/O Psychology Joe Mazzola and his wife are focused on movies rather than TV. “We are doing a full Star Wars rewatch in chronological order, Episode 1-9 with the two standalone movies.”

Vice President for Marketing & Communication Kristi Eaves-McLennan shared that her family has been watching movies as well, along with a few TV shows.  “We have been binge-watching a lot of movies at our house. We’ve picked a few films from AFI’s Top 100 Movies list to watch each weekend. We’re late to the party on this one, but we also just finished the Hunger Games series. As for TV shows, our family is enjoying White Collar and The Good Doctor.

For next week’s Connection Corner: What online opportunities are you enjoying (virtual events, performances being made available on YouTube, or other special content) during this Stay-At-Home period? (Or what have you heard about that you think you would enjoy if you had time?) Send your recommendations to Melyssa Allen, Campus Connections editor, at allenme@meredith.edu.

Melyssa Allen

News Director
316 Johnson Hall
(919) 760-8087
Fax: (919) 760-8330

allenme@meredith.edu