1) "Hello My Name Is Doris"--Netflix--movie--1 hour& 30 minutes--Doris (Sally Field) is a 60 year old spinster who develops a romantic obsession on a much younger co-worker John (Max Greenfield) but is too timid to do anything about it. Her mother has recently died and her home would easily qualify for the "Hoarders" program.
After attending a lecture by a motivational speaker (played by Peter Gallagher) she decides as he suggests, to take a big risk and pursue John. Roz (Tyne Daly--excellent) is Doris's best friend and is instrumental in setting up an 'accidental' meeting with John. The film hovers between comedy and drama--the latter a forceful scene as Doris explains to her brother, and his wife, what she has sacrificed taking care of their mother, and shows why Sally Field is an award winning actress! This is a winning film from beginning to end worth seeing if only for her scenes with Tyne Daly but offers so much more--it is funny, serious, crazy and real.


2) "Night Sky"--Prime Amazon--season 1--8 episodes--6 hours & 13 minutes--up until episode 8 it is a compelling story of a long married couple, who lost a son, are still very much in love, with a secret chamber in their basement--we meet their granddaughter, their friends, strangers, next door neighbors with a sc-fi and religious strain going through the whole series dealing with the chamber and religion but don't ask me what! Mainly due to the acting of Sissy Spacek and J. K. Simmons it is obvious that the rest of the cast is bringing their A game to the series making the first episodes compelling and keeping the 8th episode interesting, even if incomprehensible only to me.


3) "Along For The Ride"--Netflix--1 hour & 47 minutes--Auden (Emma Pasarow) is a straight and narrow star student with divorced parents and instead of taking a summer job as her mother's research assistant she chooses to stay with her father, his much younger wife and their new child at their Colby Beach, North Carolina, beach house working for her stepmother, keeping the books of her book shoppe. She eventually meets Eli (Belmont Cameli) who seems to be a little out of it---hey, this is a boy meets girl story-can't all run smoothly! I liked it up to the HDP (sorry, if you want to know what that is see the movie) and then I loved it which surprised the hell out of me!


4) "Stay Close"--Netflix--limited British crime series--8 episodes---6 hours & 12 minutes--after 16 years and 3 daughters Megan (Cush Jumbo) and Dave (Daniel Francis) decide to get married--before Megan was Megan she was Cassie, a dancer/stripper and/or ???? at the Vixens Club--no one, including Dave, know about her past but now, suddenly, someone is going to expose her. At the same time Detective Michael Broome (James Nesbitt) and he ex-wife, also a detective, Erin Cartwright (Jo Joyner) are investigating the disappearance of a young man which may involve Megan/Cassie's daughter. The 4 adults and the rest of the cast give top performances with the many twists and turns. There are very vivid violent scenes and the real villain surprised me as it really wasn't the best solution but, if nothing else, Megan/Cassie's story holds everything together and makes this a better than average crime story!


5) "New Heights"--Netflix--Swiss series--season 1--8 episodes--6 hours & 20 minutes--the crazier a family is the better the drama is and this Swiss family is a mess! The grandmother/mother-in-law to the mother and the three kids was the mother to the husband/father who committed suicide and that's just the beginning! All 3 kids were born on the father's farm--the oldest son is a Zurich business consultant coke head--another son is a farmer's farmer while their sister wants the farm sold for her share of the money and the new age athletic business she runs--the various stories are about the farm and what to do with it and the 3 adult children while the mother wants to keep it and have the younger son run it. By the way the older son is gay and involved with 2 different guys--one from his past who is married and one at his business who can help him become a partner and that's all just in the first episode!! It's just a good old fashioned soap opera--the Swiss version!