I’m a pop culture nerd. I love television and movies and while podcasts have begun to fill my time with more regularity, I still probably spend more time watching television than I should. Since becoming a departure doula, however, I’m beginning to view television and movies and most popular culture from a new perspective. There are shows I have seen recently, such as Wanda Vision, shows I have not seen, but have bookmarked to do so, and shows I enjoyed in the past that I believe I would enjoy re-watching with a new perspective. I’d love to watch along with some of you and have a sort of television viewing club to discuss the things we watched, a sort of book club but with death/grief television.

With that in mind, I thought the best way to find a show to watch would be to create a poll my readers/subscribers could vote on. This week, we’ll decide on a show, and a method for group discussion.

The downside of having a discussion group for these shows is most are only available on subscription streaming services: the current season of This is Us is on NBC, but I’d want to start at the beginning which would require Hulu; Sorry for Your Loss is on Facebook, so that requires a Facebook account, which is free, but could be problematic for many. Keep this in mind when voting.

Next decision is on which platform you would prefer we have discussions. I can currently do Facebook Live video and live You Tube videos, which would consist of my face and talking and your typed comments. I could post a Zoom meeting link, which would allow others in the group to be seen and heard, if they wish, although everyone can also mute and hide themselves whenever and for however long they wish. If preferred, I could create a simple forum on the Shoji Bridge Facebook page and on this website to which people could post whenever they have comments to add to the discussion. Likewise, I could just do an audio podcast with my solo review and discussion or possible interviews from time to time. Or I could just blog about my thoughts here as usual. The only group participation with these options would be through comments here after the fact.

Lastly, let me know what day and time would be best for group discussions. Participants, of course, can watch the week’s episode any time during the week. Whatever day or time we decide, I will post my thoughts, summarize comments or post the video of the discussions to this site and social media sites on Mondays.

I truly hope some of you will be interested in exploring how mass media entertainment and popular culture depict death and grief with me. If you have other television shows you’d like to view, let me know.