Streaming Entertainment: What We Love to Watch

As we wind down the year of COVID-19, we thought it would be a nice gesture to share with our readers some ideas for what to stream while we’re all locked down for the holiday season and the months ahead. Here’s what some of our readers are streaming or are about to stream. We hope this gives you some nice ideas for your viewing pleasure!

Kacee Johnson, Founder, Blue Ocean Principles:

• Billions on Showtime
• The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix
• Schitt’s Creek

Samantha Mansfield, Founder, Samantha Mansfield LLC

• The Queen’s Gambit: It is an interesting story based on a novel by Walter Tevis.
• The Morning Show: engaging and fabulous acting

Samantha Bowling, CPA, CGMA, Owner, Garbelman Winslow CPAs

• The Crown – It is eye opening and explains the sacrifices made by the royal family and what it means to truly live a life of personal service. Very inspiring story of Queen Elizabeth II and her journey.

Ron Baker, CPA, Founder, VeraSage Institute

• Mad Men: I was underwhelmed, though it had some brilliant business moments
• Breaking Bad – about to binge
• The Wire – about to binge

Randy Johnston, Executive vice president and owner, K2 Enterprises, picked Broadway shows. Both are from Lin-Manuel Miranda, and both show what a brilliant writer he is. Both are on streaming services.

• Hamilton – Created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton gives a clear picture of the dynamics of the revolution. The lyrics provide insights that will create ear-worms and make you repeatedly think about the politics of the day, the impact on our country then, and what our country looks like today.
• Love Free Style Supreme – This show was the first one created by Lin-Manuel Miranda. You can see how other shows evolved out of the free style technique and how the show led to In the Heights, Hamilton, and other songs created and performed over the last decade or so.

John Higgins, CPA.CITP, Strategic technology advisor, CPA Crossings, LLC

• The Queen’s Gambit

Rosalind Sutch, CPA, Shareholder, Drucker & Scaccetti, P.C.

• Dark – on Neflix; I’d describe it as time travel gone wrong.  Lots of stories woven together from various timelines.  Keep your remote handy, you’ll need to pause and discuss with someone as you’re watching.  Reddit is a great resource too!
• Rain – on Netflix; This show is a play on a different type of pandemic situation.  Life changes at a moment’s notice due to rain infected with a virus.

Stacy Kildal, Founder, Kildal Services LLC

• Netflix: Derry Girls  and every season of The Great British Baking Show (but especially the latest one 😍)
• Bravo Gold Rush (PLEASE JUST SHOW ME THE P&L AND BALANCE SHEET?)
• FX:  What We Do in the Shadows (Will Guillermo ever be made into a vampire?)
• Disney+: The Mandolorian (I won’t even put a comment because anything would be a spoiler!) 
• Prime: Old Episodes of News Radio (I just miss Phil Hartman so much!) and Making the Cut
• Pluto: Classic episodes of The Price is Right
• YouTube: The 11.5 hour video of the MS Victoria sailing through Telemark Canal and any of NileRed’s videos
• HBO Max: Class Action Park Just watch it, trust me.

Movie recommendations:

• The Wave. Not sure where it’s streaming
• Chef. Just really cute and LOTS of food porn.
• Breaking Away. I just love this movie.
• Knives Out. Even our 11 yr old and 18 yr olds love this one enough to have watched it multiple times.

Angie Grissom, Owner, The Rainmaker Companies

• Suits is an all-time favorite. Well written, fast-paced and very creative.
• Blacklist is another favorite with James Spader. Unbelievable writing, thought-provoking and never a dull moment.
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is incredible-witty and incredibly entertaining.
• Ozark – It will have you on the edge of your chair or couch.

Roman Kepcyzk, Director of firm technology strategy, Right Networks

• The Crown and The Queen’s Gambit were wonderful. 
• Getting ready for the 2^nd season of The Mandalorian during Christmas break with the boys
• Mulan is on the list when the entire family is together

Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, Managing director, Intraprise TechKnowlogies LLC

• Ted Lasso: Loved the humor, but the show also has some great messages about teamwork and positivity.
• Morning Show: released before the pandemic, but draws some very real questions about the role of the main stream media and how they “control the message”—very thought provoking in relation to the pandemic and this past elections.

Geni Whitehouse, CPA.CITP, CSPM, Countess of communication, Brotemarkle, David & Co. LLP

• Schitt’s Creek – My favorite all time – really sad when it ended
• Looking to start The Queen’s Gambit
• Haven’t seen Yellowstone but others seem to be enjoying it

Chris Frederiksen, CPA, Co-founder, Frederiksen-Crawford CPAs Inc.

• The Crown: Diana comes across as more sympathetic than she really was and Charles comes off as a major jerk. The Queen is about spot on.

Rick Richardson, CPA.CITP, CGMA, Managing Partner, Richardson Media & Technologies, LLC

• Ozark – Netflix – There are currently 3 seasons available. Netflix has confirmed that season 4 will be the last of Ozark, with the caveat that it will be split into two halves. Fourteen episodes will make up season four in total, with each half being seven episodes. The story – a financial adviser drags his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he must launder $500 million in five years to appease a drug boss. It stars Jason Bateman and Laura Linney. It is one of the most watched series to stream on any channel and has earned 23 Emmy nominations.
• Bosch – Amazon Prime – The are 6 seasons available and the final season (7) is supposed to be release 1st quarter 2021. Title character, Titus Welliver, plays a current-day LA detective with a chip on his shoulder and a very different work ethic from most cops. It took 17 books from author Michael Connelly before hard-boiled Harry Bosch finally made his way from the page to the screen. Obviously, the best-selling author was in no hurry to find the embodiment of his literary hero, who implacably solves cases while rarely giving those around him glimpses into the horrific childhood that left him scarred.
• Billions – SHOWTIME – There are 4 complete seasons and Season 5 has released 7 episodes of the 12-episode season. Emmy and Golden Globe winners Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis star in a complex drama about power politics in the world of New York high finance. Shrewd, savvy U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Giamatti) and the brilliant, ambitious hedge fund king Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Lewis) are on an explosive collision course, with each using all of his considerable smarts, power and influence to outmaneuver the other. The stakes are in the billions in this timely, provocative series.

Clayton Oates, Founder, Chief Solutions Officer, QA Business Pty Ltd

• The Umbrella Academy
• The Queen’s Gambit – The Queens Gambit was so intriguing particularly with the possibility that it could be a work of Non-Fiction that it left me wanting to know more about how this story originated. I then stumbled across this piece https://www.theringer.com/tv/2020/11/9/21555790/the-queens-gambit-netflix-book-walter-tevis which provided some fascinating backstory of the author (Walter Tevis) who also penned “The Color of Money,” “The Hustler,” and “The Man Who Fell From Earth.”

Scott Hoppe, CPA, Principal, Why Blu

• The Mandalorian – the baby Yoda is the best 🙂
• David Cieslak, EVP, Chief Cloud Officer, RKL eSolutions

Yellowstone

• The Queen’s Gambit – just finished watching. Loved it!
• The Mandalorian – totally fun

Lauren Kovar, CPA.CITP, CGMA, Senior director professional services, Thomson Reuters

• The Mandalorian
• Star Trek Discovery

Richard Roppa-Roberts, Owner, Quasar Cowboy

• I’ve been watching the Marvel Cinematic Universe in chronological order (reference: https://www.radiotimes.com/news/film/2020-11-06/marvel-movies-order/) as well as The X-Men series in Chronological order. Watching the movies unfold as a serial, rather than connected stand-alone movies, you can see details in the fabric of the MCU you don’t normally catch. It is brainless mind-candy that keeps me engaged and I love it.
• I recently enjoyed 11-23-63 on Netflix. It combines some of my favorite things – Steven King, time travel, historical politics, and butterfly effect. Other than that, I mostly binge for background noise while I work on home projects, so I have been rewatching a lot of old favorites – Dark Shadows (once Barnabus joined the show – before that it was dismal), Get Smart, Dallas, and My Favorite Martian. I’ve been having a pretty nostalgic time while staying at home.

Jean Caragher, President, Capstone Marketing

• The Crown – A sneak peek into the monarchy. It isn’t easy being a royal!
• Schitt’s Creek – Belly laugh funny! Thoughtful final episode.

Joshua Lance, CPA, CGMA, Managing director, Lance CPA Group

• The Office— This is my go-to show to stream. I am probably on my 10th or 11th watch through on this show, and I still enjoy it a lot.
• The Crown— I just started in on this show, but it is really good. Really enjoy the historical aspect and storytelling the show does.

Doug Sleeter, Technology Advisor

• The Crown – A new season just came out and it’s one of the best-written series ever.
• Ancient Aliens – My guilty pleasure 😉 I binge watch it frequently.

Kelly Welter, CPA, Partner, Serl Keefer Welter CPAs

• So many things but really love The Crown and The Queen’s Gambit.
• I also just watched the Lucifer series.

Melissa Hooley, CPA, CGMA, Audit partner, BDO

• The Crown. I love all the history!

Blake Oliver, CPA, Director of marketing, Jirav

• I’ve been introducing my 5 year old son to the Peanuts holiday specials on Apple TV this year. So far we’ve watched The Great Pumpkin and Thanksgiving, and I’m looking forward to the Christmas episode with the sad little tree. I was worried that he wouldn’t like Peanuts since he’s got infinite entertainment on YouTube, but he does! I guess love of Snoopy crosses all generations.

Roslyn Banks, EA, Founder, Adelaide Rose, LLC

• I am enjoying the Grey’s Anatomy new season about living and working in the pandemic. It is providing me with a better perspective of what our front line heroes are experiencing personally and professionally. 
• I am also enjoying the Bookmarks series on Netflix, it is a great way for me and my children to discover new books and understand the author’s perspective. They do a wonderful job of having the author or another celebrity read and bring the pages to life!

Tom Hood, CPA.CITP, CGMA, CEO Maryland Association of CPAs

• Would have to say The Queen’s Gambit was one of my favorites and now on the second round of watching Schitt’s Creek just for fun and laughs.

Sandra Wiley, Shareholder and President, Boomer Consulting, Inc.

• Virgin River 
• The Queen’s Gambit
• And one more… just for fun: Big Little Lies

Jacquelyn Tracy, CPA, Partner, Mandell & Tracy LLC

• Since it is the holiday season, I have to confess that I do watch the Hallmark Channels whenever I can. I love their holiday movies – the cute little towns all beautifully decorated, the actors who star in them and the happy endings. I will also confess that I do clap at the end when the long awaited kiss occurs! Sappy yes, but a great escape.
• My husband and I have been binging The West Wing. The writing and acting is great and has held up all these years. Hopping across the pond, my husband and I have also been watching The Crown. We usually end up googling the historic events that occur in each episode to get more information.

Mark Brooks, Investment manager, Syngenta Corporate Ventures

• The Queen’s Gambit – Evocative, draws out that each of us has gifts and struggles.
• The Great British Baking Show – good humor, amazing artistry and resilience shown by the contestants. Delight to watch. Inspires me to try new baking recipes.
• Travels by Narrowboat (Amazon) – guy quits his job, buys a narrow boat, and films himself touring the canals of the UK. On his journey through quaint towns, he becomes very philosophical about life. Relaxing, inspiring, and contemplative. Proof that happiness does not depend on having stuff.