Paulina Longoria | THE RIDER
During the winter break, the UTRGV community took advantage of not having schoolwork to binge-watch TV shows. The Rider conducted a poll on the UTRGV Students Facebook group to gauge the most popular shows.
The poll received 43 responses:
–“The Mandalorian” with 17 votes
–“The Queen’s Gambit” with 10 votes
–“Cobra Kai” with nine votes
–“Bridgerton” with three votes
–“Naruto Shippuden” with two votes
–“The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” with two votes.
Arianna Lopez, a mathematics senior, binged-watched “Bridgerton” and “The Queen’s Gambit” on Netflix, “The Mandalorian” on Disney+ and “PEN15” on Hulu.
Lopez said she enjoyed “Bridgerton” a period drama series based on Julian Quinn’s novels in which the eight Bridgerton siblings attempt to find love, because it was different from other shows.
“Most of the shows, I think, are kind of the same nowadays, but this was based … [on another] era,” she said.
Lopez said the opposite of “Bridgerton” is “PEN15,” an adult comedy available on Hulu, in which 33-year-old actresses Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle play themselves as middle schoolers in 2000.
She also watched the drama miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit” because Anya Taylor-Joy portrays Beth Harmon, a strong female lead character who enters a chess tournament.
“The main character was a female,” Lopez said. “It was very cool to see her succeed and be better than all the men.”
She believes people do not need to be a fan of the “Star Wars” movies to enjoy watching “The Mandalorian,” a sci-fi show about the adventures of a lone bounty hunter operating in the Outer Rim.
Just like Lopez, Hortencia Montemayor, a graphic design senior who works for Student Life, has been watching the show despite not liking the “Star Wars” movies.
Montemayor prefers watching Korean dramas such as “Start-Up” and “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” on Netflix.
Asked if she would recommend Korean dramas, Montemayor replied, “It isn’t for everyone. It’s from a different country, I get it. … And they are cheesy, actually, but they’re cute.”
She enjoys watching lighthearted and romantic movies and TV shows.
Literatures and Cultural Studies professors Linds Belau and Ed Cameron have not watched any of the shows that the UTRGV students did during the winter break.
Cameron said he added “Cobra Kai” to his Netflix list, but has not watched it yet.
Belau said she is interested in watching “Bridgerton” for two reasons.
“It is sort of a period piece in England, and I love that kind of stuff,” she said. “It’s also produced by Shonda Rhimes, and we just love her work; she’s fantastic. That show is really transformative and interesting, particularly with their casting decisions.”
Belau and Cameron shared the TV shows they binge-watched during the break:
–“Reprisal,” “The Great,” “Normal People,” “Chance” and “Little Fires Everywhere” on Hulu
–“Mrs. America” on FX on Hulu
–“Ray Donovan” on Showtime
–“Big Little Lies, “The Outsider” and “Sharp Objects” on HBO.
Belau and Cameron believe television has become the new independent Hollywood.
“TV, these days, they consider it the new Hollywood ’cause all the really good stuff is coming out on TV networks as opposed to streaming channels as opposed to the movie theaters,” Cameron said.
