Summertime Series

Every summer the boys and I pick out an older television series to watch over the summer. We have a lot of fun with this and have discovered that it's more interesting than watching reruns or the summer shows that usually don't interest us. We've had a variety over the years, and as I was preparing to write this post I saw that we seem to have a lot of westerns and mystery shows.

One summer we watched Gunsmoke, and Kevin (who was about 10 at the time) fell in love with the character of Festus. In fact, he went dressed as Festus for Halloween!

We've watched The Avengers, Have Gun Will Travel, The Wild Wild West, Cagney and Lacey, Midsomer Murders and Foyle's War.

I have to admit that I look forward to our selection when school ends. In the evenings when we're relaxing and watching these "new" shows we have fun talking about the characters and what we like about the plotlines and settings.

This year we've chosen two British mysteries. The first one is Murder in Suburbia, a sort of Cagney and Lacey from England. The show is about two female homicide detectives Kate “Ash” Ashland and Emma “Scribbs” Scribbins and their hunky boss, whom they spend a fair amount of time oggling.

The second show we've selected is Johathan Creek, which is a little different. It's mostly a show you have to think about. Not really a detective show, more a "how was it done?" show. Jonathan Creek works as a creative consultant to a magician while also solving seemingly supernatural mysteries through his talent for logical deduction and knowledge of illusionism. He has a female side-kick who adds a little flirtatious interest to the show. It's also really quite funny in spots and so not only are we trying to see how the murders are done, we're also laughing out loud.

I think we're going to have a fun summer!