A week ago, my posting was:       NOSTALGIA TUESDAY:  My First  Huffington Post  Article I talked about the beginning of the  Huffington Post  and my first contribution on 29May2008 to, in those early days, still a fledging web newspaper:       Well, Barack, We have a Problem ...  The problem, I thought, was the horrendous size of our national defense budget, but the opportunity Barrack Obama had to combat peak oil and remediate global warming by transferring funds into these programs.  Better to save humanity by taking care of these problems instead of escalating the potential of war and a nuclear winter. But he first had to beat Hillary for the Democratic nomination, then, as it later turned out, Republican John McCain for the presidency. Three months later on 10August2008, with the presidential election still about three months away, I followed up with: Why Do We Spend So Much On National Security? Let me see now,...

I yesterday focused on streaming films and Rotten Tomatoes.  In Part 2 today, I will bring series with episodes into the discussion, beginning with the  best 50 series from Rotten Tomatoes . #1     Fleabag  (2016-2019) 2 seasons,  Rotten Tomatoes  100/93 (Amazon Prime Video), watched a couple of episodes before the pandemic, and never returned.  So I now will. #2     Master of None  (2015-present) 3 seasons,   94/71  (Netflix) #3     Catastrophe  (2015-present) 4 seasons,  98/92  (Prime), watched one episode from season 1 and never returned.  Guess I'll now take a re-look. #4     Happy Valley   (2014-2023 3 seasons) ,   98/94  (started on Netflix, but switched to AMC+) #5     Dear White People  (2017 to present) 4 seasons,  88/39  (Netflix).  Careful, there is also a film with the same title, with the same act...

In the  early days of television , shows like I Love Lucy, Gunsmoke ( 18 seasons ), Happy Days, Dallas, Big Bang Theory ( 10 seasons ) and 60 minutes ( 43 seasons ) dominated.   They all appeared at the same time weekly, except during the summer when there were re-runs.  More recently, say in 2024, Sunday Night football has dominated, with a 5.31 Nielsen rating, Monday Night Football 2.57, and Saturday Night Football 0.92.  Survivor is at 1.06, and the typical series below 1.0.   In 1953, I Love Lucy had a 67.3 rating, but dropped to 43.7 in 1957, but was still ranked #1.  It ran only for 6 seasons. Streaming has changed all that.   Those weekly shows on your CBS/ABC/NBC and other channels are not all-consuming anymore.  For one, there are too many of them.  If you lived in Los Angeles, you can have access to up to 245 different over-the-air and free channels. Mind you, I still regularly watch certain major broadcast networks p...

New on Netflix in July....which begins tomorrow. For the 50th anniversary, you can binge on Jaws 1, 2, 3 and 4, from July 1.  I already did this last year.  Yes, it got worse and worse.  Saw them during Shark Week on the Discovery channel. Title                              Domestic Gros s      Rotten Tomatoes      Year Jaws                               $260,000,000                  97                   1975 Jaws 2                             $81,000,000                      52            ...