What A Punch!!

So if you've been living under a rock the last couple of days you have no idea the baseball greatness you've missed!!

On Sunday evening, in the 8th inning of a ballgame between my Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers, a little bit of hell broke loose.  Even if you were intently watching the Toronto Raptors annihilate the Miami Heat to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals in the NBA, you still know what happened on that Arlington baseball field.  Twitter went nuts; Facebook went nuts; texts were flying!  Jose Bautista, hero of Game 5 of the American League Division Series from 2015 when he blasted in a 3-run home run in what was possibly the greatest inning of baseball EVER, got rocked with probably the best right hook you will ever see if not watching a professional boxing match.  The punch thrower, Roughned Odor, was, and will forever be, hated around these parts (Toronto, that is).  He hit .278 during that 2015 series, but always seemed to be on base, causing trouble and starting rallies.  He is a good player, a typical lead-off hitter that continuously makes things happen for his team.  But why the animosity??  Why throw that punch in the first place?  I've decided to try and break this down for those who seemingly know very little about the game of baseball.  I have read so many comments regarding "the play", "the punch" and "the reason".  I agree with some, but disagree with many, and those I disagree with seem to me to be part of the bandwagoners from last year's successful season.  It is my dear wish that some of these people stop espousing their uniformed opinions and listen to those that have watched and studied the game for decades.... like me!!

The Back-Story
On that wonderful October afternoon (the 14th to be precise), the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers were battling in the fifth game of a five game series.  The winner would go on to play the Kansas City Royals for the American League Pennant.  It all came down to this.  And I WAS THERE!!!!!  I feel so fortunate to be present during the most exciting baseball game ever played in Toronto.  (This may be debated, but it was certainly the most exciting baseball game I ever witnessed live!).  The Jays fell behind early but clawed back by the sixth inning to tie the game 2-2.  Then, the seventh!  The Rangers went ahead 3-2 on a play that I have never seen before in my 43 years.  Roughed Odor (yes, THAT Roughned Odor), was on third base when our catcher, Russell Martin was about to throw the ball back to the pitcher while Shin-Soo Choo stood in the batters' box.  Choo was adjusting his sleeve, arm out, and the ball ricocheted off of his arm and on to the field.  Immediately, Odor recognized this as an opportunity to run home.  As he was running, the home plate umpire jumped out of his position and waved his arms in the air, indicating it was a "dead ball".  That would mean there should be no play that needed to be made and Odor would have to return to third base.  That's not what happened.  After reviewing the play for twenty-odd minutes, the umpiring crew deemed the ricocheted ball as "live" and that Odor's run counted.  Well, let me tell you, the fans did not agree!  Drunken jackasses started to throw beer cans down on the field, hitting people below.  The crowd booed so loudly it was like a horrific hum from a Sci/Fi Horror film.  Everybody in that stadium was pissed off, except for the Texas Rangers.  The run stood, and the Blue Jays looked as though they may lose their shot at the Pennant because of it.  But there was the bottom of the seventh still ahead.
Russell Martin lead off and reached on an error.  Kevin Pillar was next, and HE reached on an error!  Dalton Pompey was inserted to pinch run for Martin.  Ryan Goins comes up, AND REACHES ON AN ERROR!!!  Three errors in a row!!!  Bases loaded, none out, one run down in a do-or-die game!  The Rogers Centre was going crazy!!  Ben Revere hits a soft grounder to first, play at the plate...force out.  One gone, bases still juiced.  Josh Donaldson comes up, hits a looper that drops in, force out at second, Pompey scores!  It's a tie game and the place goes nuts again!  Up comes Jose Bautista, two out, men on the corners.  On a 1-1 count Jose hits a ball deep to left field.  A NO-DOUBTER!!!  This ball is not coming back!  I have never heard a noise like that, anywhere, anytime.  It scared me.  I thought the stadium would collapse under my feet.  The Jays were ahead 6-3 and would win the series.  Now, if you attended the game, and were anywhere but on the field, you did not see the "bat flip".  If you claim you did, you're a liar!  Everybody in that stadium was watching the flight of that ball....EVERYBODY!  The bat flip was only conveyed, as to many, by friends watching at home through text messages and tweets.  We had no idea it happened...but the Texas Rangers did!  And that is what we need to remember, because every one of those Rangers players saw it and filed it away!

Ok, I know what you may be thinking.  It's just a bat flip, why would the Rangers file that away?  Because that's how rivalries are born.  Bautista showed them up, whether he meant to or not.  Yes, it was a very exciting moment.  Yes, Bautista was pumped with adrenaline.  But I tell you, as a guy who played organized hockey for fifteen or so years, guys remember shit like that!  If I was slashed by someone, I remembered.  If a goalie showed me up by flamboyantly making a save, I remembered.  As an athlete (and I was on the lowest part of the athleticism scale) we remember when we're shown up!  We want to get the better of that instance.  We WANT retribution!  On a level like Major League Baseball, I can only imagine the plans for retaliation for the next time those two teams played each other.  It's a real thing, people.  Those who don't know just don't know!  Whether you think it's right or wrong has absolutely no bearing on the issue.  And by the way, I don't necessarily think it was the bat flip that pissed off the Rangers.  That pose by Jose, standing at home plate with a little "fuck you" to the pitcher Sam Dyson, in my mind, was far worse than any throw of the bat.

The Current Story
Ok, so now it's 2016.  The Texas Rangers were scheduled to play Toronto, in Toronto, at the beginning of May, the 2nd to the 5th.  Tons of media speculated about retribution during this series.  Would Bautista get plunked his first time up to bat?  Would the Rangers take the high road and not go after him?  The "unwritten rules of baseball" definitely pointed to the former.  (A little tangent here: there are ABSOLUTELY unwritten rules, in every sport, and they have gotten us through over 130 years of professional baseball so shut the fuck up about it being silly and read a little history on the game!!!!).  (Oh my, I felt angry there).  Anyway, nothing happened.  Four game series, no apparent intentional craziness.  Ok, maybe nothing will come of it, we can all lower our guard now.
May 13-15 is another series against the Rangers, this time in Texas.  Nothing of note for the first two games.  The third game is a back and forth affair (thank you Jesse Chavez!!) when the 8th inning starts.
Out comes Matt Bush, a player who was drafted by the San Diego Padres as the first pick overall way back in 2004.  Twelve years ago!  Bush had a whole lot of personal troubles, never playing in the Majors, and landing in jail in 2012 for a drunk driving conviction.  This would be his second appearance in the Majors.  Due up first, Jose Bautista.  Nobody would ever think that Bush would go after Bautista; Texas had just gone ahead by one run and you don't put the tying run on base late in a close game intentionally, right??  On the very first pitch Bush plants the ball in Bautista's back.  Glances were exchanged, yapping from the benches occurred as Jose made his way down to first base.  The umpire came out and warned both benches, meaning if another pitch hit a player, by accident or intentional, that pitcher would be thrown out of the game.  This, by the way, is an important point!  The next batter, Edwin Encarnacion hits a fly ball, one out.  Justin Smoak comes up and hits a ground ball to third base.  Looks like a routine double play, but it became anything but routine.  Bautista goes hard into second base, being covered by Odor.  He starts his slide late and slides past the bag as Odor leaps out of the way to avoid being hit.  Last year, and for a hundred years before it, the slide by Bautista was totally legal.  Because of a freak accident from last year when Chase Utley tried to break up a double play and ended up breaking the infielder's leg in the process, this slide is now considered illegal, and the defending team is awarded an automatic double play.  Bautista knows about this rule all too well.  He was called for it twice earlier in the season.  He knew, full well, that going in hard would cost his team the chance to rally in that inning.  But he did it anyway.  Why??  Payback....and a whole lot of adrenaline!  He just got plunked by a pitch, and it was intentional.  (There is absolutely nobody that can ever convince me that Bush's pitch "got away from him").  Bush wanted to ingratiate himself to his new team.  He had the opportunity by laying down his team's payback on Bautista for showing them up the previous year, and he took it!  The call didn't come from the bench, it was Bush's idea, 100%!!  So Bautista was mad and took it out on Odor, simply because he was there.

The Punch
As a result of the hard slide into second base, Rougned Odor became very angry.  He got up and faced Bautista.  Jose doesn't say a word, but edged closer to Odor.  He shoves Bautista away, a hard shove that you could feel in your chest through the TV set.  Bautista comes back at him and Odor clocks him!  I mean, a better punch I have rarely seen!  A right roundhouse that knocks Bautista's sunglasses AND batting helmet flying off his head.  Adrian Beltre, the Rangers' third baseman, gets between Odor and Bautista very quickly and holds Jose back while both benches empty.  Beltre pulls Bautista away and a lot of pushing and shoving and name calling ensue between the players of both teams.

Now, let's answer a few questions:

1. Was Matt Bush's pitch that hit Bautista in the first place intentionally thrown?
     ABSOLUTELY!!  It was the first pitch thrown to him and it went right at him, no curve, no slide, no knuckle.  It was completely stupid, as Bush's team was holding a precarious lead.  It was also completely cowardly, as it was during the last game of the series where the two teams would not play each other again for the rest of the season.  And, more importantly, the home plate umpire warned both benches after the pitch, meaning he knew full well it was an intentional hit.  Warnings don't come to benches on pitches that "get away from" the pitcher!

2. Was Jose Bautista wrong for sliding into Odor the way he did?
     ABSOLUTELY!  He damn well knew it was an illegal play but he didn't care.  He took his own rage and revenge over the good of the team.  Bautista fully expected to get hit by a pitch at some point during the games between his team and the Rangers.  When it finally happened, he got angry.  And for those who think Bautista tried to injure Odor, you're all insane!  If he wanted to hurt Odor, HE WOULD HAVE HURT ODOR!!  It is very easy to go hard INTO a player.  Bautista went hard INTO the bag, huge difference!!

3. Did Odor sucker punch Bautista?
     ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!  A sucker punch is when you have no idea the punch is coming.  Bautista got up after the slide and non-verbally challenged Odor to do something about it.  Odor shoved Bautista.  Bautista then came back at Odor, arm cocking back, fingers in the process of making a fist. Odor probably didn't see the intentions of Bautista's fingers, but reacted quickly and punched Jose square on the left jaw.  Now I don't think Bautista was necessarily going to punch Odor in the face, but he was CERTAINLY getting ready to punch him.  Odor was just quicker.

4. Did any of this need to happen?
     Well, in the real world, of course not.  It's childish.  It's thuggish.  But you know what??  It's also BASEBALL!!  Whether you agree with it or not, this stuff happens in baseball all the time.  As I mentioned before, so angrily, there are unwritten rules to this glorious game, and the number one unwritten rule is: You stand up for your team and teammates AT ALL TIMES!!  This fight had nothing to do with how Bautista felt about Odor or vice versa.  It had everything to do with how the Rangers felt after that stare down and bat flip from the ALDS from last year.  It is why, on his first pitch in the next inning, Jesse Chavez hit Prince Fielder in the leg, getting an automatic ejection (because of the previous warnings) and getting the benches all riled up again.  That's how baseball works!  If you don't understand it, or don't like it, then don't watch it.  These kind of things happen dozens of times throughout a baseball season...maybe not to the extent as we saw Sunday night, but they happen.

Nobody was "right" throughout this whole scenario.  Bush wasn't right to plunk Bautista.  Bautista wasn't right to slide hard into Odor.  Odor wasn't right to punch Bautista in the face.  Chavez wasn't right to throw at Fielder.  None of that is right...but it was some of the best Goddamn baseball I've seen in a very long time!!!  Just ask Ty Cobb or BillyMartin or Pete Rose or Reggie Jackson or Bob Gibson or any other former player that played this game hard and mean at all times!

And, my God, what a punch!!!!!

TV Shows

So I've been thinking about TV lately.  I've watched A BUNCH of TV in my lifetime.  I never liked to read when I was a kid, so when I wasn't outside getting into trouble, I'd plop myself down in front of the Boob Tube and waste my time away.  Some people would find this a great waste of time, but I think I turned out OK.  Once upon a time there were only three stations to watch (American stations, that is); ABC, NBC and CBS.  I'd watch the CBC, the main Canadian station, on Saturday nights...if you're Canadian, you know why.  But other than that, all my favourite shows were on "The Big Three"; Happy Days, Mork And Mindy, WKRP In Cincinnati.  As I grew, so did viewing options.  A fourth big station came to be, FOX, right around the time I was in Junior High School.  This station seemed to play towards the youth of the time, giving us classics like Married...With Children, 21 Jump Street, Beverley Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place.  It was just a little bit edgier, a little bit ruder, exactly what a growing mind needed.  The Simpsons debuted on Fox in 1989 and hasn't stopped.  The Arsenio Hall Show was a major competitor in the late night talk show wars.  It was great to have more options.  Then, in the early 1990's, everything changed again, and the growth of Cable Network original programming will seemingly never end!  HBO, (Home Box Office), known for bringing movies to our TV sets, began airing original shows; Arliss, Dream On, Tracy Takes On, and the incredible The Larry Sanders Show.  The "new" station started to garner a pretty big following.  You had to pay extra for it, but the characters would swear....ON TV!!...and sometimes take off articles of clothing!  This was incredible!  In 1997, HBO aired a one-hour drama that, to this day, remains one of my favourite television experiences of all time; Oz.  This was gripping TV to say the very least.  Beautifully filmed, smartly written, phenomenal acting, this was what TV was always meant to be.  Building on the success of Oz, HBO came out with a little show called The Sopranos in 1999.  With the incredible success of The Sopranos, other stations that were known mostly for bringing us movies, began making their own shows...and they turned out to be great!  AMC, Showtime, F/X and now even Netflix produce original programming that have far outweighed the Big Four Networks in quality for many years now.  What follows are some of my favourite shows that I'm following right now on these "alternate" networks.  You will not find Game Of Thrones on this list....sorry....just not interested in dragons.  But hopefully you'll see something that you may not have heard too much about and it will pique your interest enough to binge watch the series on the weekend.  Oh, I guess I should mention,

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!!

To start, a list of shows that are no longer on the air that, if you can, find somewhere and watch the heck out of them!

HBO
The Larry Sanders Show (1992-1998) - The precursor to all those "behind-the-scenes" shows we've come to love (The Office, Parks & Rec, etc.).  Brilliant comedy with just about every star of the time coming out to play.

Oz (1997-2003) - So good!!  Hard to watch most of the time because of the brutally honest violence that one would see in a maximum security prison.  But beyond the shock of some of those scenes was a glorious study of many different characters, inmates, guards, administrators.  And you will recognize just about every one of the actors, as most of them went on to star in many shows and movies over the years.

Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000-2011) - If you watched, and liked, Seinfeld in the 1990's, there is absolutely no reason you shouldn't watch Curb Your Enthusiasm.  Larry David plays, essentially, himself, a totally neurotic man that was the basis of the George Constanza character.  For another comedy about "nothing" there is always something going on!

The Wire (2002-2008) - Oh, man, was this show great!  You really never knew what would happen minute to minute.  Watching how the Baltimore Police and the drug dealers they're chasing down were really so similar was just the start of this brilliant show.  Just like Oz, it is brutally honest in it's depictions of violence, but never gratuitously.  And, like Oz, you'll recognize just about every actor in the show because of their successes after.

Entourage (2004-2011) - Ok, I've been told this is a Sex And The City for guys.  I guess I could see that, but, for this guy, one who dreamt about going to Hollywood as a kid and making it big as an actor, Entourage brought those dreams to almost reality.  I lived vicariously through each of the main characters.  It wasn't about the parties and the girls, it was about the friendship and always sticking together.

Other big HBO series: Sex And The City (1998-2004) - never watched
                                     The Sopranos (1999-2007) - never watched
                                     Six Feet Under (2001-2005) - partly watched
                                     Deadwood (2004-2006) - never watched
                                     Rome (2005-2007) - never watched
                                     True Blood (2008-2014) - never watched
                                     Boardwalk Empire (2010-2014) - never watched

Currently Watching on HBO
Veep (2012- ) - Hilarious!!!  Brought to us from the brilliant comic minds that gave us one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, "In The Loop", the show follows Selina Meyer, the first female Vice President of the USA, and her incredibly loopy, sometimes horribly inept team.  Julia Louis-Dreyfus is perfect as the VP, but she is supported so well by a bunch of great comedic actors, including Anna Chlumsky, Matt Walsh, Kevin Dunn, Gary Cole and Timothy Simons.  I laugh out loud while watching this show!

Silicon Valley (2014- ) - Following the adventures of a group of "friends" that created a great compression program that could change their lives, and the world.  But when big business gets involved, things start to go sideways, fast.  It seems like every episode has a solution to a prior problem only to give way to an even bigger problem.  I constantly wonder how our hero, played by comedian Thomas Middleditch, is going to free himself from all his new pressures.  Very funny characters, especially Gilfoyle and Ginesh, will keep you involved.

True Detective (2014- ) - The first instalment of this show, starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, was this short of brilliant!  I loved it...it was moody, gripping, violent, beautifully filmed, a definite must see.  The second season, totally different from season one, left much to be desired.  I think part of the problem was the introduction of too many lead characters.  By giving us so much to follow, the viewer becomes overwhelmed.  The story wasn't as interesting, but it was still acted very well by Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn and especially Rachel McAdams.  I'm gonna give this show one more try when it returns next year, if it returns...

Vinyl (2016- ) - The first season of this blast-from-the-past has ended, and I have mixed feelings about it.  It stars Bobby Cannavale as Richie Finestra, the brilliant owner of a record company in the 1970's.  All is good in his world, until one coke-filled, scotch-soaked night when he beat a man to death.  Never a good thing.  The great thing about this show is it's attention to detail, much like Mad Men before it.  The fashion, the excesses, the sounds, the freakin' music, it's all there and and it's all amazing!  But there is nobody, not one character, that you're pulling for.  They're all terrible people!  I enjoyed the ride of the first season, and I'm eager to see how the second season turns out.


Ok, let's have a look at some great AMC shows that have run their course.

AMC
Mad Men (2007-2015) - Brilliant story-telling!  Brilliant costuming!  Brilliant sets!  Brilliantly acted! I never thought I'd miss a show so much after Mad Men ended.  The characters brought to life on this show will live forever, especially Don Draper, the best and worst of any man alive or dead.  Nobody but Jon Hamm could have brought this character to life.  Heart-wrenching at times and drop dead hilarious at others, Mad Men could really run the gamut, and it's so worth spending 920 hours watching it!

Breaking Bad (2008-2013) - All the accolades I just bestowed on Mad Men, double them for Breaking Bad.  I think I can say that this is the single best TV Drama in the history of the medium.  I know that's lofty praise, but I became so anxious waiting for the next episode that it started to become ALL I thought about.  There are few shows that completely wrap up everything that had been going on so brilliantly.  How can anybody feel for a drug dealer??  Not only did we want Walter White to succeed, we felt like we might die when he didn't.  When Hank finally realizes who Walter really was is probably the single greatest scene EVER, TV, movies, plays, books, any of them!  I get chills just thinking about it now.  When Breaking Bad ended, I felt both sad for never again visiting with my friends from Albuquerque, and incredibly happy for witnessing the greatest show ever filmed!

Currently Watching on AMC
The Walking Dead (2010- ) - I know a lot of people that just won't give The Walking Dead a chance.  (Much the same way I won't watch Game Of Thrones).  It's a bunch of zombies eating people or getting their heads chopped off.  Yeah, that's a big part of it.  But there's so much happening beyond that.  This group of people, thrown together by circumstance, have become a family.  They fight, they love, they watch each other's backs.  Their main goal is not to just survive in this near apocalypse, it's to live again.  To find reasons for living.  To find the strength to continue and thrive.  Yeah, it gets a little slow sometimes, but I can't remember being brought to tears so much when someone suddenly dies.  I become so involved with these characters that I actually sob when they leave.  If you didn't bawl like a pregnant woman when Beth died, you have no heart!!

Better Call Saul (2014- ) - I didn't think it was possible to love a show as much as I loved Breaking Bad, but Better Call Saul is making an argument!  It's a prequel to Walter White's escapades, following his slimy lawyer, Saul Goodman (actually Jimmy McGill...you gotta watch) as he maneuvers his way through his career.  Bob Odenkirk as Saul/Jimmy is absolutely great, but what's even greater is the introduction of one of the best written characters ever, Mike Ehrmantraut, played by the incomparable Jonathan Banks.  Mike met his demise in Breaking Bad, so we know he'll survive everything in this show, but he takes us on a ride every episode.  Just a fabulous show!

Fear The Walking Dead (2015- ) - The second season of this quasi-prequel to The Walking Dead is currently playing on AMC.  I gotta say, the first season grabbed me.  I thought it was put together brilliantly as the main family tries to understand and then deal with a strange virus that brings the dead back to "life".  I thought it asked a lot of questions that most people would be asking if this were to happen in real life.  It felt real.  Now, into it's second season, it's starting to lose me a bit.  We're only four episodes in, but we've been on a boat for most of it, and that's just not all that interesting.  Although, the last episode did introduce some new problems, so there is hope for the rest of the season.

Alrighty, how about FX?  It hasn't been in Canada all that long, but there are ways to see some of these past gems:

FX & FXX
The Shield (2002-2008) - Following another police department, this time in Los Angeles, that did whatever needed to be done to get their criminal.  Michael Chiklis was perfect as Vic Mackey and Glenn Close, in her one season in 2005, was fabulous.  It's a show that we've seen before on regular TV (NYPD Blue for instance), but the gritty nature and the unapologetic story telling kept you coming back for more.

Rescue Me (2004-2011) - I tell ya, I became a HUGE fan of Denis Leary's after watching this show.  Hilarious and highly dramatic all at once, Leary helped create a world post-9/11 through the eyes of a firefighter that was at Ground Zero.  Although a lot of the scripts contained some silly humour, the episodes almost always came around to something much deeper.  Well worth a watch even if you've never thought too much about Denis Leary.

Sons Of Anarchy (2008-2014) - I enjoyed this show much more than I thought I would...to a point.  The story bobbed and weaved a lot, bringing our hero, Jax Teller, much pain and joy.  There were some good twists and turns, unexpected deaths, more unexpected actions by some tough characters, but it all fell apart for me by the last season.  That's the big shame for this series.  It held my interest for a long time, I was enjoying it, but that last season was, in a word, terrible.  One of the worst series denouements I can recall.  I can't recommend this series just based on that.

Currently Watching on FX & FXX
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (2005- ) - This show started on FX and moved to FXX in 2013.  Because it's on, like, 15 times a day, I believe I've caught up on many of the episodes I missed before FX came to Canada.  It's not for everyone, I know this, but for some reason, the adventures of Charlie, Dennis, Mac, Dee and Frank bring a smile to face more often than not.  It's slapstick-y, it's loud, it's gross, but it's funny, too.  Just watching Danny DeVito getting into the crazy crap he gets into every week is enough for me to keep watching regularly.

Louie (2010- ) - I find that it's rare for a stand-up comic to make me laugh.  It seems like it's all been done before and there is very little new material that can be brought to stand-up.  I grew up in the time of Eddie Murphy, listened to old Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor and George Carlin, saw the emergence of Jerry Seinfeld and Rosanne Barr and Chris Rock.  Louis C.K. is one of the few that still bring a smile to face consistently.  This series that follows his adventures as a divorced father of two is, at times, brilliantly funny.  Sometimes it misses the mark, getting a little too serious for it's own good, but it's good far more than it's not.

Fargo (2014- ) - There are things to love about each of the first two instalments of Fargo.  The first season was fabulous with some wonderful performances from Martin Freeman, Billy Bob Thornton, Colin Hanks and Allison Tolman.  It completely kept the feel of the Coen brothers' film from 1996.  I had high hopes for the second season, and, although I didn't completely agree with the alien storyline, I still loved it!  Again, great performances from all involved, especially Patrick Wilson, Ted Danson, Kirsten Dunst and my favourite character, Mike Milligan, played by Bokeem Woodbine.  Can't wait for season 3!

Let's take a look at Showtime.  Some of their shows no longer on:

Showtime
It's Garry Shandling's Show (1986-1990) - Before The Larry Sanders Show was It's Garry Shandling, and it was great.  Maybe not as ground-breaking, maybe not as bitingly satirical, but funny as hell and certainly worth a watch.

Dexter (2006-2013) - I was a big fan of this serial killer, but I hated the last episode.  I eagerly anticipated this show every week and made sure I was home to watch it live so I didn't hear what may have happened the next day at work.  We all lived a little vicariously through Dexter, played chillingly well by Michael C. Hall.  There were some great arch enemies such as Colin Hanks in Season 6 or Christian Camargo as The Ice Truck Killer from Season 1.  But nobody, NOBODY, could top John Lithgow's turn as The Trinity Killer from Season 4!!  A really great ride, until the final episode where the writers seemed to try to wrap everything up in a tight little ball in less than an hour...and, unfortunately, failed.

Californication (2007-2014) - I absolutely LOVED this show, and I can't even tell you why.  Maybe it was because of the unapologetic script, making our hero, Hank Moody, seem larger than life and the most deeply flawed human on Earth.  Maybe it was the secondary players; the gorgeous Natascha McElhone as Hank's often emotionally abused wife Karen; Evan Handler as the almost equally horrible best friend Charlie; Madeleine Martin as the older-than and wiser-than offspring Becca.  Maybe it was the smartly written scripts that made you laugh and think, until it was time to look away because of the stupidity of Hank, played perfectly by David Duchovny.  I don't know, it's hard to explain, but I enjoyed every minute.

Other big Showtime series: Queer As Folk (2000-2005) - never watched
                                             The L Word (2004-2009) - never watched
                                             Huff (2004-2006) - watched a couple of episodes
                                             Weeds (2005-2012) - watched first two seasons
                                             United States Of Tara (2012-2014) - never watched
                                             Nurse Jackie (2009-2015) - never watched
                                             The Big C (2010-2013) - never watched

Currently Watching on Showtime
Homeland (2011- ) - Well, kind of.  I actually gave up on Homeland after the third season, although I'm told it has got better again.  But the first season was soooooooooooo good!  Claire Danes is super as Carrie Mathison, a sometimes employee of the CIA and Homeland Security trying to gain intelligence from the Middle East.  Mandy Patinkin is Saul, her sometimes boss and mentor, and he is watchable at all times!  Damian Lewis, a current day Steve McQueen in my opinion, is fantastic as well.  I think I need to pick this one up again and see how it goes...

Episodes (2011- ) - Matt LeBlanc was...ok on Friends.  He shines bright on Episodes.  Even though his character isn't necessarily central in this comedic series, he fills the gaps with some hilarious scene-stealing appearances.  The greatness of this show lies in it's writing and the under-played performances from it's two British stars, Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan.  Although there are some slapstick kind of moments, most of the episodes are filled with smart, hilarious writing.

Ray Donovan (2013- ) - Liev Schreiber IS Ray Donovan.  He envelopes the character perfectly and there is no doubt you're dealing with Ray in every episode.  He helps the rich fix their problems, but he has a whole lot of trouble fixing his own.  Dealing with his ever-conniving father, played brilliantly by Jon Voight, his down-and-out brothers and his failing marriage, Ray Donovan tries desperately to do the right thing...often falling short.  A really good, moody drama.

The Affair (2014- ) - A fabulous premise introduced in Season 1 fell to the wayside in Season 2, but there's still hope.  It starts off with Dominic West (he of The Wire) falling for and having an affair with Ruth Wilson.  We see how each character recalls certain moments in their relationship as things become more and more complicated.  The side stories are important, like the family of Josua Jackson's and Maura Tierney's, the ones being cheated on, but the reason to watch are the two central characters and how they try to deal with what they've done.  Season 2 jumps ahead in time, introducing more complications and more side stories that sometimes work and sometimes don't.  But the first season is definitely worth a viewing!

I have one more show to talk about, put out by Cinemax but can be viewed on The Movie Channel  here in Canada:

The Knick (2014- ) - The series is directed by Steven Soderbergh, one of my favourite film directors.  It stars Clive Owen, one of the best actors going today.  It deals with hospitals and medicine during the turn of the century, the early 1900's.  It is unbelievably interesting, realizing the "advances" in medicine from that time and how people regarded them.  Our hero doctor played by Owen, Dr. John Thackery, has a great many personal demons to work through.  He is fantastic, and his story leading to the final scene of Season 1 is incredible!  All the secondary actors are great, but it's really the stories and the look of the show that draw you in.  Can't wait for Season 3!

Well, that's that.  If you have any shows you think I should binge watch, let me know in the comments section.  And, no, I won't binge watch Game Of Thrones.  Not yet, anyway.