Down by the Old Mill Stream

Sorry, some of you might hate me for this.  But you’ll hate me more if I didn’t pass this along.
 
L.A. Times TV critic Robert Lloyd wrote an article on 30 international streaming series – and unfortunately, about 80% of them sound great.  (Being flexible, maybe closer to 100% -- really.)  And at least worth checking it.  The only reason I might be off the hook with you is that it’s almost Summer, school’s out, and you’ll have more time to binge.  But you still might disappear from society, and go into Ultimate Binge Mode on overload

He notes that the series he includes "offer an inside, not a tourist, view, and so take you places tourists don’t go. This isn’t a 'best' list — Borgen is not on it — just a collection of things I like, shows I found fun, funny, surprising, enlightening, exciting or beautiful, or that opened a window onto a new world."
 
I won’t list ones that sound most interesting, but a few are noteworthy.  There’s one from Spain on Amazon Prime, A Private Affair that’s a fun-sounding mystery about the sister of the police commissioner that actually has the great Jean Reno in a supporting role as a sort of "reluctant Watson".  And another from Spain, I Don’t Like to Drive, on Max that he says might be his favorite.  And as for favorites, he includes one of my own absolutely-favorite series, Extraordinary Attorney Woo from South Korea (which if you haven't seen it is a total, charming joy, a big hit on Netflix, though for some it might take two or three episodes to get sucked in. It's about a young woman on the functioning autism spectrum who is hired at a high-end law firm, and the stories eventually go in several unexpected directions) -- and another good-sounding legal one also from South Korea, One Dollar Lawyer on Hulu.  

And there are 26 more series on the list…
 
Sorry.
 
I'm not a binger, so this list scares me it's so good.  It might get even me to start at least mini-bingeing, because otherwise I’ll never get through a third of this plus all the other series and movies already on my list.

You can find the article here.

[UPDATE:  I've been told that the article is behind a pay wall.  Sorry about that.  I don't want to copy/paste the whole article here, but I'll try to post some of the most intriguing titles Ack, Sorry about that.  I don't want to copy/paste the whole article here, but I'll try to post some of the most intriguing titles and what streaming services have them in an upcoming piece.  But -- I believe you can get five free articles a month if you download the free Los Angeles Times mobile app.  So, if you want to read the full article, and don't have the app, just download it for your mobile phone and perhaps you can browse to the article that way.  Though this article was for a special section and might not be available without a subscription.] 
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And just for the heck of it, this is the trailer for Extraordinary Attorney Woo.  It's enjoyable and shows the series' charm, though perhaps over-emphasizes the whimsy a bit and doesn't even begin to come close to doing the program justice -- not touching on some of the fascinating law cases, its serious conflicts, or any of the show's twists.  But it gives a somewhat reasonable sense of things and you do get to see the tremendous lead actress, Park Eun Bin.

Earlier in the year, I recommended the series to a friend I was sure would love it.  He watched the first episode, but said it wasn't for him and stopped.  I tried to explain that, much as I liked it from the start, I didn't love it at first either, but kept watching, and I was sure he would be bowled over, as well.  But no, he'd seen enough.  I decided not to push, even though I knew he'd love it.  So be it, that's life.  Three months passed.  Last week, I got an email from him.  For some reason, he thought he'd give it another try.  And became hooked.  He said he adored it, couldn't imagine why he'd stopped, and was bingeing and already up to episode five.  And then two days later, he wrote back to say he was up to #10.  He was going to hold off, though, because he loved it so much he wanted to have more to look forward to later.
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