Is there anything worse than sitting down to watch some good TV or a new flick and you end up spending an hour just looking through the options?! No worries, Dudes! Order some Hott Wings to go, pop open a bottle of wine from Water’s Edge Winery, pop some popcorn, and sit back and enjoy!  Here’s 10 watches that made my 2021 better, plus the favorites from our Yay Dude Team…

  1. Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)

I have a soft spot in my heart for Steve Martin (Three Amigos) and Martin Short (Inner Space), separately. So put them together in a New York City apartment building murder mystery with a podcast angle and you’re right in my wheelhouse. It’s not the best thing I’ve watched in the last 10 years, but it’s hands down my favorite.

  1. Dune

I have memories of going to the Litchfield Theater in Lawton while David Lynch’s 1984 Dune was in theaters. I didn’t see Dune, but I found it odd that it was necessary to hand out an actual Dune Glossary so patrons could enjoy the movie. Over the years, I unsuccessfully tried to watch Lynch’s Dune several times with no success.   2021’s version of Dune is visually stunning and far more accessible than it’s predecessor.   Dune has an amazing cast including Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By My Name), Oscar Isaac (Ex-Machina), and Jason Momoa (Aquaman). I can’t wait for the sequel.

  1. Bosch – Season 7/ Final Season (Amazon)

For seven seasons, Titus Welliver (The Town) has quietly brought author Micheal Connelly’s Harry Bosch to life. (“Quietly” because I don’t know anybody else that watches this show, but it’s been given seven seasons, so someone is watching it.) Bosch is a gruff former marine turned Hollywood homicide detective who lives in a picturesque Hollywood Hills home purchased with money from a short –lived sweet technical advisor gig. Each season has it’s own case pulled straight from the books and, if you ask me, Welliver was born to play Bosch.

  1. Succession – Season 3 (HBOMax)

It’s a credit to the writers of Succession that I’ve watched three seasons of a TV Show where every character seemingly works hard to be completely unlikeable.   Maybe the unlikeability is countered by what feels like a peek into the world of the mega-wealthy and powerful. Private jets, groups of black Denalis, and lots of backstabbing. Succession is filled with a amazing cast lead by Brian Cox (Trick or Treat) and award-winning performances abound.

  1. Spider-Man: No Way Home

After Avengers: Endgame – I was done. I had enjoyed the 20+ Marvel movie ride, but I was ready for the ride to end…at least for a while. Then this Christmas, my son came home from college and said “Dad, let’s go to see the new Spider Man”. I never turn down movies with my kids. I watched no previews and went it cold. I was really blown away. If the secrets of No Way Home were revealed to me prior to seeing it, I would have turned up my nose, but now – I’m going through all the Marvel content on Disney Plus. I’m back on the ride. This was also the pick by our Marketing Assistant Audrey Lott.

  1. Outer Banks – Season 2 (Netflix)

If there’s a guilty pleasure on this list – Outer Banks is it. I would describe it (and I can’t be the first to do this) as the love child between The Goonies and an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog. You follow a group of five good-looking young people born and raised in the Outer Banks of North Carolina when handsome John B’s treasure hunter father disappears. Filled with chases and suspense, an unexpected surprise this year.

  1. Resident Alien – Season 1 (SyFy)

Sometimes new life is brought to an old concept.   Alan Tudyk (Firefly) plays an Alien on a secret mission who crash lands on earth. “Seen it, amiright guys?” Not so fast – Alan Tudyk’s fish-out-of-water performance is one of my favorite in recent memory. It’s filled with laughs and awkwardness. I was so happy when it was renewed for Season 2.

  1. Ghosts (CBS)

As I mentioned with Resident Alien – sometimes new life is brought to an old concept. “You mean I can see these ghosts and you can’t? This is chaos!” In Ghosts on CBS, an ambitious young couple buys an old manor to turn it into a bed and breakfast. A chain of events allow the wife to be able to see the ghosts of people who have died on the manor grounds and hilarity ensues. The cleverly written comedy consists of a Viking, a boy scout leader, a hippie chick, a stuffy Victorian, a pants-less 80’s party boy among others.

  1. Dopesick (Hulu)

By far, the hardest watch I had all year. Dopesick boasts a huge cast including Michael Keaton who plays a town doctor from coal country who ends up on the front lines of the Oxycontin epidemic in America. Will Poulter (We’re The Millers) plays the Purdue Pharma Drug Rep and Peter Sarsgaard (Garden State) plays the Assistant US District Attorney on the case.

  1. The Alpinist (Netflix)

2018’s Free Solo is the Oscar winning documentary about Alex Honnold’s record setting free climb in Yosemite National Park. Marc-Andre Leclerc is the eccentric free climber that destroyed some of Honnold’s speed climbing records and he is the subject The Alpinist. With plenty of breathtaking views (in both beauty and danger), it’s one documentary I will definitely be rewatching this year.

 

I’m not the only who’s got recommendations.  What about our Yay Dude Staff?

>>>PR Rep Sarah McLain

Dynasty (The CW)

Selling Sunset (Netflix)

>>>Social Community + Communications Manager Patty Toms

Mandalorian (Disney+)

Broad City (Comedy Central – Available on Hulu)

The French Dispatch

>>>Account Executive Peyton Stone

You (Netflix)

>>>Founder and Chief Storyteller & Strategist Malena Putnam

Yellowstone (Paramount)

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

 

Cheers to ’22 from our Yay Dude Team OKC Date Planners, Urbach Law Firm, Commonplace Books Edmond. (sometimes the book IS better than the movie!).