There was a time, many moons ago, when the content of this column was largely influenced by my interactions with others.
Could be a funny thing I heard, or a topic my friends and I had pondered over a long, wine-soaked dinner.
Maybe I had a weird encounter with a stranger. Could be I a rode a bus to New York, brimming with passengers full story potential. Or perhaps I’d been part of a group text so juicy that it begged to be shared here afterward.
But, as anyone who reads this column lately can surely tell: These days, my life goes a little differently.
The long, wine-soaked dinners are a thing of the past. Encounters with strangers are mostly limited to my 16 daily trips to Kroger. The rare group message tends to be someone canceling plans.
And those frequent NYC trips were part of another existence, entirely.
In other words, the interactions with others have become pretty few and far between.
Now, weekend dinners tend to be eaten on a tray in front of a documentary, with two dogs begging beneath and maybe, if he’s not working, Dan sitting next to me.
And while it’s nice, it doesn’t make for very exciting oh-man-wait-’til-you-hear-this-story fodder. Not even a good, Carrie Bradshaw-esque, “I couldn’t help but wonder” riff.
Which is why, for better or for worse, you will frequently find me sharing movie, TV and documentary recommendations in the this space, instead.
If you’re tired of it, I apologize.
But hopefully there are few fellow happy hermits out there who are glad for the suggestions.
— “The Pharmacist,” four episodes, Netflix. Pharmacist Dan Schneider only found out his son, Danny, had a drug problem after Danny was murdered during a crack deal gone wrong in 1999. After the police investigation stalled, Schneider worked tirelessly to bring the killer to justice. Schneider put his detection skills to work again after he began noticing dozens of seemingly healthy young people coming in with Oxycontin prescriptions — all written by the same doctor. This series shows the ferocity of a father’s grief, and of the raging opioid crisis, both of which continue today.
— “McMillions,” two episodes released so far, new ones drop Mondays on HBO. Remember McDonald’s Monopoly game, where you could free food, cars, or even $1 million? Well, so does the FBI, because a bunch of it was rigged. Thanks to an HBO production budget and interviews with probably the hammiest government agent ever, this documentary is almost as addictive as the fast food giant’s fries.
— “Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer,” 5 episodes, Amazon Prime. After avoiding the spotlight for decades, longtime Bundy girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall finally talks about her relationship with one of America’s most infamous serial killers. If you haven’t quite sworn off meeting new people altogether yet, this show might just do it.
Katie McDowell is the enterprise editor and a lifestyles columnist for The Dominion Post. Email kmcdowell@dominionpost.com.
