What We're Streaming Tonight
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"TV tonics for the soul need to be short and funny with the required happy ending. My escape this year was the Emmy Award-winning Schitt’s Creek (yes, I was late to the party on this Netflix series) about the zany, super-wealthy family that loses all its money and ends up in a rundown motel in a backwater town. The eccentric, over-the-top costumes, and hilarious, pop culture diction are worth every second of the 20-minute episodes. And if you’ve already watched the series, psychologists say re-watching old favorites in these uncertain times will be soothing. You’ll know the ending." —Susan Burns
"When it’s safe to come out from under my bed later this week (I hope), I think I’ll watch Dave, that wonderful 1993 film about the U.S. presidency starring Kevin Kline as a good-hearted, everyday guy who finds himself as the most powerful person in the world." —Ilene Denton, senior editor
"I recommend watching the stupidest movie you can possibly get your eyes on. If you like to watch things explode, consider Commando, the 1985 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle in which Schwarzenegger, as former Delta Force soldier John Matrix (yes, that is his character's name), drops a villain off a cliff and then quips to another character, 'I let him go.' And that's not even the film's best one-liner! I don't want to spoil the plot for you, but rest assured you'll never again hear the phrase, 'Let off some steam,' without doubling over laughing. Not into action movies? Go for the slapstick joke-a-minute comedies of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, between them responsible for masterpieces such as Airplane!, Hot Shots!, Hot Shots! Part Deux and, of course, the Naked Gun films. Surely, there are more profound movies out there, but your goal today is to think as little as possible. (And don't call me Shirley.)" —Cooper Levey-Baker, senior editor/food editor
“On Halloween night I turned to Netflix for some scares and ended up watching three episodes of The Haunting of Bly Manor, a modern-day take on Henry James’ classic story The Turn of the Screw, about a governess/au pair trying to cope with her own ghosts as well as those that haunt the lonel manor, especially through the two precocious but very troubled children who are her charges. Now I’m about halfway through the nine-episode series, after which I’ll need to visit last season’s The Haunting of Hill House, based on Shirley Jackson’s original tale and featuring some of the same cast and creative team. Time for some fall chills!” —Kay Kipling, executive editor
"The Booksellers on Amazon is a fascinating look into the world of rare books. It opens on the Park Avenue Antiquarian Book Fair in New York City, where first-editions sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and also highlights the famed Strand and Argosy bookstores, which are still standing despite the sea changes in the industry and the rise of the Internet. Gay Talese, Fran Leibowitz and Susan Orlean all make appearances, and the film is produced by Parker Posey. My favorite part, though, is the peek into book-loving New Yorkers' stuffed apartments." —Megan McDonald, digital editor
