After walking away from cable my household has been trying different streaming entertainment options. We have walked away from long-time customer relationships because a platform removed shows we loved in order to flood their catalog with an overwhelming number of self-produced shows for most of which we had no interest. We’ve tried some free with commercial streaming services until we were hounded away by a small repeating group of egregious commercials.

We try desperately to avoid replacing the old cable bill with multiple subscriptions to streaming channels, so we are limited to three or four more affordable channels. We watch creators on YouTube a lot, but that also comes with commercials. Except when it doesn’t.

“Remember I’m pullin’ for ya; we’re all in this together.” – Red Green

For reasons completely unknown to me, the Red Green Show has not monetized a large portion of their online offerings. I LOVE the Red Green Show. It’s like following the cooky side characters from Newhart when they leave the inn and go off to their social club. It also perhaps has whiffs of a Canadian style Tool Time, the show within the show Home Improvement (which I do not care for). It is also completely incomparable to any thing else. And if you fall in love the show, there is a Red Green Show shop where you can spend your money like a fan, as I have done.

PBS also is mostly not monetized. For documentary lovers like me, this is a wonderful thing. Of course, if you are looking for tutorials to upgrade your skills in many different ways, the Khan Academy also translates its non-profit status to non-monetized You Tube videos.

Fyi, monetization and ads on YouTube is an incredibly complex topic that can mean non-monetized channels have ads they cannot turn off.

We gave up traditional cable a little while ago and currently have only a slim selection of streaming channels, most of them very specialized. For the most part a lot of our non-movie watching is on YouTube, and this I love so much I had to share:

Okay, okay, so you did used to watch it religiously on Fox in 1994 like I did, but what have you done for the Adventures of Brisco County Jr. lately?   While you think about it, have some auditory nostalgia:

Do you ever catch yourself doing the same thing over and over again and realize that this thing is a weird ass thing you are doing?  I mean, out of character?  I noticed just such a thing last weekend.  Whenever I am left alone with no preplanned entertainment programming I do what most American couch potatoes do and surf the cable guide for something to watch.  I found that I cannot pass a program on extreme RVs without stopping.  Unlike other shows, even the beloved bath/kitchen/yard/room crashers, Golden Girls and NCIS, there is never anything that encourages me to change the channel away from an extreme RV special.  There is even a good chance that I will pick an extreme RV show over another TV favorite.

I never want an RV.  I cannot picture any lifestyle change that might happen to me to change my mind about wanting an RV.  I find most RV designs on these shows overly extravagant and wrought with wasted space.  Can I pass the shows up?  No.

All right, after my first ruminations on Murder She Wrote,  Brad challenged me to pick my top 5 episodes.  It was hard, and maybe not completely accurate because I’ve only finished 7.5 of 12 seasons, but here we go!

1. “If It’s Thursday, It Must Be Beverly:”  wherein the Sheriff’s deputy services a different Cabot Cove female everyday of the week, and records it in the log book.
2. “Sticks & Stones:”  including the talents of John Astin (as in Gomez Addams) as the new town Sheriff, and a bunch of gossipy letters.
3. “Who Killed J.B. Fletcher:”  wherein a bunch of looney Fletcher Fan’s goad and gaggle Jessica through solving a case.
4. “The Sins of Castle Cove:” which is also awesome because it exposes the Cabot Cove residents as oversexed and underhanded yet somehow adorable persons.  (see “If It’s Thursday….”)
5. “Mr. Penroy’s Vacation:” which I liked immediately because of the plot and character references to Arsenic and Old Lace.

Another episode I liked for it’s familiar plot line was “Jessica Behind Bars” in which she has to solve a murder in a locked-down women’s prison before riot and police enforcement collided.  Though it didn’t so much harken back to something else I’d seen so much as establish that Jessica did it first.

Also a runner up was “Trouble in Eden” because of the shock and hilarity of sending Jessica as the hereditary replacement of the madame of a brothel.   See, if I have runners up, I still only picked a top five!

A couple worst of the worst:

1. “Sing a Song of Murder:”  because no, no Jessica!  a red headed identical twin Irish cousin!?!
2. “No Laughing Matter:”  aptly named.  Oh, Buddy Hackett…why?

Another from the GReader starred list.  Usavich is a Russian cartoon about rabbits and?  I really don’t know.  But it’s hilarious and not focused on language, so completely understandable.

Usavich [Season 1] – YouTube.