What's Oliver Architecture Watching?
Ohio has been under a stay-at-home order due to COVID-19 and we’ve found ourselves watching a good amount of television. We asked everyone in the office what they’ve been watching - check out their answers if you’re looking for something new!
Jon’s been watching The Office and listening to Office Ladies.
If you’re anything like me you’ve watched The Office all the way through multiple times. Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, Pam and Angela on the show, recently started the Office Ladies podcast. On this podcast they re-watch each episode of the show and tell behind the scenes stories. I’ve been listening to an episode of the podcast then watching the show to notice all the details they talk about. The Office is streaming on Netflix and Office Ladies is from the Earwolf podcast network
Zoë’s been watching Little Fires Everywhere!
It’s based on the best-selling novel by Celeste Ng. It’s set in Shaker Heights (near Cleveland where our office is located), which is also where the author grew up. The show stars Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon and deals with themes of family/motherhood, racial dynamics, friendship, and order. Little Fires Everywhere is on Hulu and there’s a new episode every Wednesday night.
Mary Kate’s been watching Top Chef and Too Cute!
I watch a lot of reality competition shows, and Top Chef feels like the classiest of the bunch. I have never tried a ceviche in my life, but I feel qualified to judge one after watching 16 seasons of this show. Secondly, Too Cute follows a litter of puppies or kittens from when they are a few days old until they are adopted. It is great to put on in the background to lower my heart rate and blood pressure as I am doing something else. Plus, a narrator describes each little pup or kitten’s personality, very cute indeed! Both shows have multiple seasons available on Hulu.
Nathan’s been watching Kim’s Convenience!
Zoë turned me onto this show by picking it for her birthday Netflix Party. It’s an hilarious sitcom set in Toronto around a Korean-Canadian family who own and operate a small store in the city. It’s got everything you want from a solid sitcom: dramatic irony, family disagreements, and an infuriating “will-they-won’t they.” The amazing performances and character development bring it all together! You can binge 4 seasons of Kim’s Convenience on Netflix.
Nick’s been watching Jack Ryan.
John Krasinski plays the role of a CIA analyst working with multiple governments to apprehend the leader of one of the largest terrorist organizations in the world. This is a show that doesn't shy away from intimately showing the human side and moral dilemmas of a macro scale of countries to the micro scale of individuals. It's emotionally heavy and in tune with the horrific facets of the world in a contemporary light. I appreciate that no character or group is demonized and each has a compelling backstory to their actions. I was interested in seeing John Krasinski's other acting roles after watching him in The Office and the film 13 Hours. You can watch on Hulu or Amazon Prime Video.
Kevin’s been watching Formula 1: Drive To Survive.
This is a Netflix original program that follows the previous year’s Formula 1 racing teams as they move through the season. I can’t claim to have a great knowledge about the sport and/or the cars, but I can’t get enough of watching teams comprised of hundreds of people working towards making two cars run a race as fast as possible. Even with all of the custom technology, almost endless budgets, and cream-of-the crop drivers, it seems like catastrophic failure is constantly just around the corner. The majority of the teams do this knowing that they will never compete with Mercedes and Ferrari. For them, a 5th place finish in a race is a huge victory.
One criticism I have is that the voice-over during the show is meant to sound like an actual race announcer—I’m pretty certain that it’s not commentary from any actual race, but was recorded specifically for the show to, you know, advance the narrative a bit.