{"id":82669,"date":"2019-07-08T12:11:36","date_gmt":"2019-07-08T12:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"\/rcntv\/?p=82669"},"modified":"2023-04-14T14:50:08","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T14:50:08","slug":"viewing-stranger-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/viewing-stranger-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Viewing \u201cStranger Things\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>The views expressed in this blog are<\/em> <em>those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Hopefully, by looking at the title, you\u2019ve already realized that I am not going to be talking about \u201c<a title=\"RCN Sports Talk\" href=\"\/atvn\/sports-talk\/\">SportsTalk<\/a>\u201d this week.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, for this Independence holiday, I wanted to share some thoughts on one of the most popular television series (some refer to it as an extended movie) that is available for RCN internet customers through Netflix (for details on how to view it, go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rcn.com\/netflix\">www.rcn.com\/netflix<\/a> to learn more.)<\/p>\n<p>The series is called \u201c<a title=\"Stranger Things\" href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/title\/80057281\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stranger Things.<\/a>\u201d\u00a0 With two seasons already in the books, the entire third season launched on July 4th.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to drama, I consider myself a pretty tough critic and am hard-pressed to highly recommend television series to video viewers.\u00a0 But after binge watching this show (several times, I must admit), I think it would be a great idea for you to check it once it becomes available this week.<\/p>\n<p>This program is not your normal, everyday-type of mystery. It deals with supernatural forces, has an alternate dimension and features a few gory scenes from time to time.\u00a0 It\u2019s also inundated with 1980s pop songs, trends and \u201cfar out\u201d references, both with a nod of respect and an air of sarcasm mixed in for some lighter moments.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Before proceeding, here\u2019s a brief rundown on the story and where we are approaching the beginning of season three (I won\u2019t give too much away, just a few \u201cbasics\u201d about the premise in case you\u2019re planning on jumping right in on the series without viewing the first two seasons.)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The main storyline is set in the early-to-mid 1980s and has focused on four pre-teens (which has spawned several \u201cfriends\u201d joining the group over the series\u2019 run) as they advance to their adolescent years while uncovering an alternate dimension (the \u201cupside-down\u201d) in the otherwise sleepy town of Hawkins.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Winona Rider stars as the mom of one of the boys (Will) who was \u201cabducted\u201d into this parallel world in season one (and then inhabited by a monster in season two).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>David Harbour (from \u201cHellboy\u201d fame) co-stars as the town\u2019s skeptical police chief (\u201cJim Hopper\u201d) who also has been in the \u201cupside down\u201d while helping to rescue Will in season one.\u00a0 In season two, he has adopted a young girl (\u201cEleven\u201d) who has special telekinesis powers, which she has used on several occasions to save her friends\u2019 lives from the \u201cother-world\u201d creatures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Season two ends with the kids attending their first \u201cSnow Ball\u201d dance with several members of the kids\u2019 group partnering up in an apparently normal school setting, only to have the camera pull back to reveal much more sinister happenings, which paves the way for the new season.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Publicity for the new season (set on and around, appropriately enough, July 4th) has included everything from character action figures, to a book focusing on Chief Hopper\u2019s backstory, to a \u201cnew\u201d release of 1980s songs (on vinyl, no less) that captures many of the hits used in the series.<\/p>\n<p>There is even a \u201cfake\u201d commercial posted on YouTube for Hawkins\u2019 new, \u201cstate of the art\u201d Starcourt Mall that will be opening in time for season three (1980s teenagers at a mall&#8211;what a shocker!!!)<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s plenty of rumors out there as to what <em>might <\/em>happen for the new series (are the Russians really involved in this?), but I don\u2019t want to spoil any of the additional elements of the show for you.<\/p>\n<p>Would I consider \u201cStranger Things\u201d the greatest mystery event of all time&#8230;or even the very best show on TV over the last decade?<\/p>\n<p>No.<\/p>\n<p>But I would certainly recommend this series for anyone who likes horror, clever writing, atypical mysteries with appropriate twists-and-turns and some tongue-in-cheek laughs about an era gone by (word was the show\u2019s creators, the Duffer Brothers, were incredibly intimidated by Rider when they approached her about the role because they grew up watching and admiring her iconic roles in 1980s films).<\/p>\n<p>Be sure to check out \u201cStranger Things\u201d and other streaming programs by using your RCN interview and visiting: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rcn.com\/netflix\">www.rcn.com\/netflix<\/a><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.\u00a0 Hopefully, by looking at the title, you\u2019ve already realized that I am not going to be talking about \u201cSportsTalk\u201d this week. Instead, for this&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-sportstalk-shop"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Viewing \u201cStranger Things\u201d - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Viewing \u201cStranger Things\u201d - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.\u00a0 Hopefully, by looking at the title, you\u2019ve already realized that I am not going to be talking about \u201cSportsTalk\u201d this week. 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