Television Series

This list is a work in progress. I’m doing it exclusively for my own gratification and to help me keep track of what I’ve watched.

  • Balthazar (2018)
    French crime drama. Title character is a forensic pathologist who speaks with the dead, including his wife who was horrifically murdered years earlier. This technique – having the dead characters appear – reminded me of Six Feet Under. Each episode involves a murder investigation – stand alone episodes. Balthazar works with a French police commander Helene Bach – they each have their personal issues and are drawn to each other even when she has little tolerance for his humor and over explaining – there’s a definite sexual tension that does add to the story line.
    Balthazar is a character – charming, witty, good looking, and prone to reckless behavior which we are told is the outcome of his inability to accept the death of his wife.
  • Julia (2022)
    If it were a film it would categorized as a bio-pic. Not sure what the television equivalent is?
    Based loosely on the life of Julia Child in the 1960’s when she launched her cooking show, The French Chef. This sort of historical fiction always leaves me asking questions about its veracity, how accurate is the series? Did Betty Friedan and Child really meet; did that conversation really happen? Did Julia really use the f-bomb so freely? especially while working on set.

    The show charmed me, once I could let go of my need to know more about its accuracy. The various female characters seem to have their own individual struggles with life in the ’60s – from Julia to her editor Judith Jones (real editor from Knopf) to her producer Alice (who I read did not exist in real life) to her friend Avis and more.

    The omelet she makes in episode one, I have mastered. She was right, it is the best possible omelet you can make.