Band Of Brothers - General Discussion

[OriginalCyn]

The most famous of these is probably Damian Lewis (Major Dick Winters), currently starring as Nicholas Brody in Showtime's series Homeland, as well as Soames Forsyte in The Forsyte Saga and Charlie Crews in the NBC series Life.

A few others include:

- Scott Grimes (Tech. Sgt. Donald Malarkey) portrayed Dr. Archie Smith on ER..

- Jamie Bamber (2nd Lt. Jack Foley) went on to play Lee Adama (Apollo) on Battlestar Galactica

- Frank John Hughes (S. Sgt. William "Wild Bill" Guarnere) had roles in The Sopranos as Walden Belfiore and on 24 as Tim Woods.

 

 

[OriginalCyn]

In 1942, enlisted men arrive at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, to go through the most challenging Basic Training in the Army to become members of the 101st Airborne Division.  Captain Sobel, in charge of Easy Company, is a petty tyrant of a leader, yet his often obnoxious and cruel methods of training prove fruitful in that the Men who survive it to become paratroopers in Easy Co. are arguably the best-trained unit in the 101st.   

[OriginalCyn]

Easy Company, along with all the other paratroopers in the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions, jump into Normandy in the early morning hours of D-Day, and are in the thick of shit as the beginning of the liberation of France begins.  Lt. Winter's mettle as a leader is put to the test (successfully) in the first of many battles to come.

[OriginalCyn]

Fighting continues in Carentan, during which several members of Easy Company are injured or killed; one member experiences shell-shock resulting in psychologically-induced blindness; Recently-promoted Captain Winters has curative powers of healing in the form of 2-minute conversations; the bromance of Winters and Nixon continues to grow.

[OriginalCyn]

Replacement members join Easy Company and are met with wariness, disdain, and in some cases, outright resentment; Easy participates in the ill-fated Operation Market Garden and parachute into Holland; progress is one step forward, two steps back; lots of shit gets blown up, and Lt. Buck Compton gets shot in his rather prominent ass.

[OriginalCyn]

Told primarily from the perspective of Medic Eugene "Doc" Roe, his daily dealing with blood, pain, and death (and a lack of morphine to treat the wounded) nearly get the best of him; he befriends a nurse in the church-turned-hospital who tries to keep him sane with "chocolat pour vous," only to be killed when the church is bombed; Easy Company is completely surrounded by Germans, freezing their collective asses off in the coldest winter in the region in decades and no cold-weather gear, are low on Ammo and K-Rations, Winters is now XO of Easy Company and has to deal with the Idiot In Charge of the men, Foxhole Norman Dike, and the Germans shell the shillelagh out of the American troops.  Can things possibly get any worse? (spoiler alert: Oh fuck yes, as we will soon find out) 

Edited March 31, 2014 by OriginalCyn

[Danny Franks]

My favourite episode of the series.

First of all, the story of the 101st Airborne at the Battle of the Bulge is powerful enough, without being dramatised. I'm a sucker for that sort of defiant, never-say-die heroism, whatever the setting. But that frigid, wintery forest was a powerful location for what was a surprisingly intimate episode.

I really liked seeing the conflict through Eugene Roe's eyes, given that he was the one man in the company who didn't fight. Who wasn't supposed to fight. He was there to look after the other men, to patch them up if they were hurt, to dispense rudimentary medical advice, and generally make himself useful however he could. And he had to do this under heavy fire, exposing himself to more danger than most of his comrades, who were allowed to find cover and fight back from places of relative safety. For Roe, if a guy got shot out in the open, well he had to go out there and help him.

The breakdown he suffered was inevitable, I guess (in the show. I don't believe there was a suggestion of this crisis of confidence in the book or, for that matter, in real life), due to that pressure never letting up. I thought the show did a great job of demonstrating how he was always on the move, always checking up on guys, and trying to scrounge supplies, and he never asked for anything in return. There are probably only so many times you can strap a bandage onto a shredded limb or torn torso before it gets to you in ways you can't fight.

The stuff with the nurse was a nice respite from the grind of the frontline, for Roe and for me as a viewer. She was very pretty, in an earthy, natural sort of way, and I liked the chaste little romance they had going, forged through their shared language and calling.

I thought Shane Taylor did a fine job in his spotlight episode, too. A nicely restrained but powerful performance, as a man who was naturally low key and reserved, yet made himself even more so, to maintain a distance from the men he was tasked with looking after.

The action was really just a precursor to The Breaking Point, but I always thought that this episode wasn't about the fighting of a war, so much as it was about the impact that the fighting can have on people, both physical and mental.

[OriginalCyn]

Narrated by Sgt. Carwood Lipton (aka The Other Wahlberg Brother), the Hell that was experienced in the previous episode, Bastogne, was apparently just a warm-up as the Shit-Hitting-The-Fan O-Meter gets dialed up to Eleven; Easy Company now hunkers down in the forest near the town of Foy, where the Germans are snug as bugs in shelters and buildings and seemingly hurl every bit of ammo they have at the forest and the foxholes occupied by the Men of Easy; the shelling is random but frequent, forcing everyone to scramble for cover in scene after scene for which HBO had to have spent a good chunk of the budget on the kickass FX of trees exploding at every turn; Easy experiences their most costly loss of men during their time in Europe -- Luz struggles to take refuge in a foxhole with Muck and Penkala, getting within a few yards from it when it takes a direct hit from a shell and his two friends are blown to pieces right in front of him, Joe Toye's leg gets blown off from a near-hit of another shell, and when Wild Bill goes to get him, another shell blows his leg off; and Foxhole Norman proves he's a fucking moron and a loser of massive proportion when Easy assaults the town of Foy, but Lt. Spiers saves the both the day and the lives of several men.  Oh, and another Easy Company man joins the Shot-In-The-Ass-Club.   

Edited April 1, 2014 by OriginalCyn

[Danny Franks]

Ross McCall (Liebgott) popped up in White Collar a few times, as an old rival and enemy of Neal Caffrey. He was suitably menacing, if a little more paunchy, than he was in Band of Brothers. And Rick Gomez (Luz) appeared in a few episodes of Justified, in its first season. Neal McDonough (Compton) also appeared in Justified (amongst many, many other things)

I remember Rick Warden (Welsh) playing Pompey's son in Rome, and coming off every bit the conniving, ruthless weasel.

And, of course, there's Pfc. Janovec, who went on to make something of a name for himself as Bane and other similarly meatheaded characters. Not a fan.

Oh yeah, Michael Fassbender's in it too. Not that he has more than a couple of lines, as Sgt. Christensen

Edited March 31, 2014 by Danny Franks

[Danny Franks]

I have to agree with the old TWoP recap on this one. Sobel just seemed like Ross on a bad day. Poor David Schwimmer, I doubt he'll ever get away from that character, much like most of the other Friends.

I enjoy the episode though, because army boot camp movies are usually fun, even if the clichés abound at every turn. In this one, the highlight is Damian Lewis exuding decency and stoicism as the thoroughly unimpressed observer of Sobel's methods. The difference between leading by example and trying to lead through bluster and intimidation, I guess.

And I do think that the book states that the men of Easy Company did credit Sobel with making them what they were. I wish the writing of the show had allowed for him to be a little less cartoonish in his villainy, because he may have been the jerk he's portrayed as, but he did his job well.

I think Curahee is an episode that grows on you more as you rewatch the series, because once you know the characters, it's so much more enjoyable to watch their journey from the raw recruits to the men they are (or were) by the time the war ends.

[dargosmydaddy]

 

And Rick Gomez (Luz) appeared in a few episodes of Justified, in its first season.

Gomez is a (somewhat) reoccurring character on Justified, not just the first season. He was in the episode last week.

[OriginalCyn]

As the war winds down, Easy Company is now in Germany.  Cue Beethoven's String Quartet in C# Minor, played by a group of mournful German Civilians in the street.  After starting out with a few Easy Men hanging out in a shelled building watching civilians salvage items from the rubble that's everywhere, we flash back to the past month; Pvt. Janovec gets some side action with a busty German lass, only to have Spiers walk in on them -- he doesn't give a shit about Janovec's deshabille, but instead is looking for booty to send home; Nixon finds out that his wife is leaving him, and taking his dog -- he's just done another jump, in which he barely got out before the plane was shot down and the remaining men inside were all killed, and after searching for a bottle of Vat69 that isn't empty to dull the pain, Winters informs him that due to his boozing, he's been demoted; Perconte and a new replacement, O'Keefe, are on guard duty, and the new guy's enthusiasm to go into battle irritates the snot out of Perconte, who was a Toccoa Man that has seen way too much, and deliberately refers to O'Keefe as "O'Brien" in some sort of passive-aggressive outlet; "Bull" Randelman, Perconte, Luz, and O'Keefe are out on a patrol in the woods and stumble onto.....something, which sends Perconte hauling ass back to town to find Winters; upon return to where the patrol was, that something turns out to be one of the many concentration camps spread throughout Germany and Eastern Europe; the Easy Men are shocked and bewildered by the corpses scattered about, the stench of death, and the skeletal men, most more dead than alive, that hobble forward to greet their liberators;  Liebgott translates for Winter as they try to figure out what the fuck this hellhole is and why these men have been starved and murdered en masse, and upon learning that their only crime was that they were Jews, Gypsies, and other "sub-humans, they are rightfully horrified, especially Liebgott, who is Jewish (at least according to HBO -- the real Men of Easy claim that they never heard him discuss his religion); flash-forward to the present again, and Nixon shows up and announces that Hitler is dead, having committed suicide, to which Webster snarks that Hitler should have done it sooner and "saved us a lot of trouble."  "Yeah, he should've...But he didn't." is the weary response from Nixon; the Beethoven ends, and the screen fades to black, with a haunting graphic of the statistics of the genocide of the Nazis.  

[OriginalCyn]

Now that Hitler is taking the dirt nap in what is hopefully a special room in Hell, time flashes forward to Zell Am See, Austria, where we're treated to the apex of the Winters-Nixon Bromance, swimming in a lake, and a file folder full of photographs of Easy Company going all the way back to 1942 at Camp Toccoa; In flashback, Easy Company is in Bavaria, Germany, and Easy Company is antsy to head to Berchtesgaden, the resident town of high-ranking SS; after being told to stand down with regard to heading there and, ultimately to Hitler's mountain residence so that French forces can have that honor, Colonel Sink orders Winters to "outflank that French son-of-a-bitch" and take the Eagles Nest; upon arrival to Berchtesgaden, they find the town deserted, save for an elderly waiter at the local Nazi SS Country Club, who bolts from the place as Easy Company enters the building.  Harry Welsh finds the ultimate wedding present for his bride-to-be, Kitty, in the form of a full set of Nazi sterling silver flatware, which Spiers tries to get in on and is told to back the fuck off; Easy Company then heads to the Eagles Nest, a grim, grey, granite monument in desperate need of an interior decorator; Alton Moore winds up with the weirdest, most fucked-up spoil of war in the way of Hitler's personal photo album; the Men of Easy kick back with champagne and enjoy the view on the balcony, when Winters shows up, announces that the Germans have surrendered, and then takes Nixon to the best/worst thing possible for him -- namely the largest stash of high-end liquor and wine, the sight of which causes Nixon's eyes nearly bug out of his head; following the official surrender, Easy Company (and the other Allied armies) become an occupational force; due to having to earn enough "points" to earn a trip home to the US, many of them are stuck in Germany and then Austria, but even though the fighting is technically over, men are still getting injured or killled, often due to too many soldiers having too much adrenaline, too much time on their hands, and too much booze; one such soldier -- strike that -- one such drunken shitbag kills a British officer over petrol for his jeep and then shoots Sgt. Grant in the head when he tries to talk the guy back from psycho-land; Spiers commandeers a German surgeon at gunpoint to save Grant, and after finding the douchenozzle that shot him, proceeds to graphically pistol-whip him during a group beat-down; one by one, Easy Company Men leave, some from having enough points, some by being promoted and re-assigned elsewhere, and one by an Army reward with a rigged lottery; flash foward to Easy Company playing baseball in their PTs, and a Winters voice-over gives a recap of post-war life of various Easy Company Men; lastly, the actual Veterans of Easy Company, with graphics identifying them, offer a short insight of their experience more than 50 years later, ending with the real Carwood Lipton delivering the now-famous quote to BoB fans from Henry V: "From this day to the ending of the world, we in it shall be remembered. We lucky few, we band of brothers, for he who today sheds his blood with me shall be my brother."; the real Major Dick Winters closes things out by discussing a letter he received from Mike Ranney in which his grandson asked him, "Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?" to which Ranney replied, "No, but I served in a company of heroes."  

[OriginalCyn]

It's now been 13 years since BoB originally aired on HBO (and even longer since Stephen Ambrose's book that inspired the miniseries).  Since then, several documentaries have been done about them (as well as other Airborne units), several books have been written about them, and many of the men have written books sharing their perspectives and experiences.

Also, during that time since the original airing, several members of Easy Company have passed on; most recently Bill Guarnere died on March 8th, Babe Heffron on December 1, 2013, and Frank Perconte on October 21, 2013.  Donald Malarkey, now 92 years old, is the last surviving member of the men featured in Band of Brothers, and only eighteen men of Easy Company (both Toccoa men and Replacements) remain.

Rather than typing up a brief recap for it, I figure this speaks for itself:

 

[Danny Franks]

This was actually the first episode of the show that I watched, after missing the whole thing, the first time it aired. And while I had no clue who was who, I found that I was actually able to place the events of the episode, thanks to having watched documentaries on D-Day over the years. One of which featured Dick Winters heavily, and specifically mentioned those maps he found in the German dugouts.

So that was a pretty cool introduction to the show, and on the strength of it, I went out and bought the boxed set.

It's an episode that puts me strongly in mind of The Longest Day, and I feel that was entirely deliberate, given that the movie is a classic. It's a little chaotic and crazy, but I think that probably reflects that night perfectly. And the set piece at the end, with the Easy Company guys storming the German guns, is really well done. I love that they had faith in the writing and Damian Lewis, to show how good a commander Winters was, instead of having guys spell it out during and after the attack.

[ChlcGirl]

Depending on the day, either this episode or the next, "The Breaking Point," is my favorite of the miniseries. 

[TheGongOfDoom]

The scene where the army doctor tells Spiers that he can't do anything for Grant kills me because of Spiers holding Grant's hand. Keep in mind this is the same guy who shot an killed a dozen German soldiers in cold blood because...well no one really knows why.

The scene where the German general is allowed to address his men and gives the speech that applies not just to them, but to all soldiers. You can tell Winters and Nixon appreciate it.

[Lisin]

This gets me EVERY time.

What are some more lines or scenes that always get you?

[Danny Franks]

Yeah, that clip chokes me up as well, and I love the sentiment. I feel like, if you asked any man from Easy Company, he'd give a similar answer. As confirmed when the real Wild Bill said, "I was just a small part of the war".

Definitely Bill Guarnere losing his leg because he wouldn't abandon Joe Toye, and Buck Compton's horrified, dead eyed reaction to it. Amazingly powerful scene. So much of The Breaking Point is powerful. And I found myself really affected by Roe's increasingly withdrawn, troubled state in Bastogne, as he seemed to be contemplating mortality and the fragility of life. I was sure, all the way through that episode, that we'd see him finally felled by one of the bullets that flew all around him as he tended the wounded.

And for different reasons, the final scene of the guys all playing baseball gets me as well. Seeing those who made it through laughing and happy and learning that the war was finally over? They earned that.

[Lisin]

And for different reasons, the final scene of the guys all playing baseball gets me as well. Seeing those who made it through laughing and happy and learning that the war was finally over? They earned that.

Yup. Just thinking about it now makes me a bit weepy. I'm a sap apparently! 

[Texastwostepper]

I believe Edward Shames (the screaming lieutenant) is still alive.

[Wilowy]

The music was as much a part of this show as the writers, the director, the actors. Here's where we discuss the music that added such depth, such emotion, to an already timeless story of heroes called to action. 

 

Let's begin with the elegant, somber, and always hopeful opening theme.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GonzHGwLTOw

 

 

[Wilowy]

The ending wrap up, courtesy of Dick Winters. I love this. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm84rKoo2Q8

[Wilowy]

Carentan: When Malarkey goes in and collects his laundry... and the washer girl has no idea (or possibly does) why the others haven't come to collect theirs. She asks him to help, then slowly hands it over to Malarkey as he pays her for all of his dead friend's clothes. It's fucking horrible and beautiful at the same time. Such a simple gesture, so deeply felt. The very real cost of human life telegraphed in the most minimal of gestures, the kindest of courtesy.

 

Bastogne: Medic Roe and Renee. "Chocolat?" When she's completely unaware that her hands are covered in dried blood.  She admits to him how much she hates it. He tells her she 'calms people', trying to comfort. She rejects it, pragmatically, as more wounded arrive. 

 

It's not so much a tearjerker for me as a touching scene between two people who know exactly what they face. They have no illusions, not any more. Here's the strangely affecting clip:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqzYjR7lRi4

[Wilowy]

I posted the scene with Doc and Renee before I saw this. Hear 'tis:

 

http://forums.previously.tv/topic/4571-tearjerker-lines-no-but-i-served-in-the-company-of-heroes/#entry61788

[OriginalCyn]

I'm in total agreement with you regarding the scene between Doc and the Nurse -- it's one of the moist poignant moments in the miniseries as it does a hauntingly beautiful job of portraying a myriad of emotions, characteristics, and expressions --  their ability to provide aid and care to the wounded, to comfort and give solace to the dying, to face the blood and guts of battle wounds, to endure the moans, cries, and screams of those in agonizing pain -- all of that, in and of itself is incredible, but to do it while seemingly in the very center of the hell, surrounded by explosions and ammunition, shrapnel, and god knows what else flying in every direction, borders on the insane.

 

To do this day and and day out, not knowing how many will be wounded, who those soldiers or civilians will be, the severity of the wounds, not knowing when it's going to end and, yet, repeatedly be able to look futility in the eye and tell it to piss off, is nothing short of miraculous and is a shining example of the unbelievably strong inner core that medics and nurses each possess. 

[OriginalCyn]

I believe Edward Shames (the screaming lieutenant) is still alive.

 

Yup -- just checked, and Ed Shames, now 91 years old, is alive and well in Virginia Beach.  I just read the Wikipedia entry ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Shames ) for him, and from what's written there about him, he remained in the Army as a Reservist and retired with the rank of Colonel.

 

*****

 

Wikipedia also has an entry for the List of Easy Company (506 PIR) veterans, which makes for a quick go-to link to find out the current status of the surviving Men of Easy:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Easy_Company_(506_PIR)_veterans

Edited May 7, 2014 by OriginalCyn

[OriginalCyn]

Michael Kamen knocked it out of the park when he composed the score for BoB - he captured the essence of The Greatest Generation in the primary melody used in just about every piece and then customized it to go perfectly with each scene.  His ability to convey the emotions of the actors in each episode, be it bravado, exhaustion, joy, fear, relief, sadness, rage (and so on and so forth), was absolutely stellar.

[Wilowy]

Are you me, OriginalCyn?  Because I'm a head-nodding ninny when reading your posts! :D Nicely put! 

[OriginalCyn]

PML!!  I've been thinking the same thing reading your posts.

 

When it comes to BoB, I can discuss the miniseries, the book, and the Men of Easy all day long, provided the person I'm talking with is as into it as much as I am.  I'm just glad that y'all appreciate it just as much.  For me, this is Spielberg's and Hanks' Magnum Opus -- nothing either of them did before comes close both in quality and magnitude, and I doubt either of them will have another project that can match or surpass it.

[OriginalCyn]

If we can get a little bit more traffic in the BoB forum (or even if not), would anyone here be interested in doing a group (re)watch and discussion?  With V-E Day on Friday and Memorial Day coming up in a few weeks, this would be the ideal time to do one (JMO).  Thoughts? 

[Wilowy]

No doubt, everything they did for this series was FIRST rate, and the music was no small part of that, undeniably.

 

I almost broke my ankle running from one room to the other when I heard a promo playing for the show one time, years ago. The ability to engender deep emotion (and panic that you might miss it!) just from a few bars of a television show score is real power, indeed. The music here IS a Magnum Opus. I four-square agree with you. 

[Lisin]

I was thinking the same thing @OriginalCyn! It's perfect timing for a rewatch, lets do it, we can post it in the Rewatch thread over in Everything Else TV and maybe gain some more participants. 

[OriginalCyn]

Lisin, that would be a FAB idea -- we just need to figure out a good date to start watching it and create a schedule for each episode's re-watch.  We already have a thread for each episode, so that's taken care of - I just wish I could go back and edit/fix the brief recaps I wrote for them as they're riddled with atrocious grammar and spelling errors *slinks away*

 

Am I a Super-Nerd for getting that excited, tingly feeling in my gut at the thought of doing this?

[Lisin]

You can report them and I can go in and fix it if you'd like, or just PM me what you want changed and I'll take care of it. 

 

Also no, I get super excited for a rewatch too! 

[OriginalCyn]

Thanks, Lisin!  I'll go back through them to do some edits/revisions and PM them to you.

 

Also, I went on and made a post about doing a BoB re-watch/discussion in the Everything Else TV subforum in the Re-Watch thread.  Hopefully we can get some more people to join in. 

[Wilowy]

I started watching Currahee last night and I was just mesmerized. I've never watched it on computer before and the amazing quality of everything about this show just POPS. Music, lighting, staging, writing... and the acting, my god, the acting. THIS is how this show is meant to be seen. Utterly beautiful.

[halgia]

I've never seen the show, but a rewatch would be the perfect way to remedy that. I'll do it. :)

[Wilowy]

Also it might be cool if we signify the kickoff of the rewatch by changing our icons to one of the Easy Company men for that day. 

 

What do you all think? Kinda fun.

 

Winters is my bb but I'd like to take Nixon or Malarkey, I think. I'm Easy. (ha!)

[Lisin]

I just made an announcement over in Everything Else TV that we're doing this as a Marathon Rewatch mainly because I've literally never known anyone to just watch one episode and put it away, there are only 10 episodes and everyone I've talked to tends to watch them in gigantic chunks over a weekend (usually next weekend actually) HBO will probably air them, so will the History Channel or some other channel so a marathon rewatch just made sense to me. 

[Guest]

I'm excited about this one.  I have not seen it and have not been spoiled.

[Wilowy]

WOW, CP! Happy to have you on-board! Be prepared to LOVE everything about the very brave, very human Easy Company. 

 

They were true heroes. 

[OriginalCyn]

Does anyone know for certain that BoB will be airing on TV this weekend?  The last few times I've caught it while channel surfing, it's been on SpikeTV rather than the History Channel, but to the best of my knowledge, I haven't found it listed anywhere on my cable guide.  Granted, I have the DVD, so it's not an issue for me if it's not airing, but I definitely hope that BoB will be on at some point over the next few days.

 

Also, are we starting with Currahee today/tonight?  Is there a set time for the re-watch and discussion?  I've never participated in one of these, so I'm pretty clueless as to how it works *slinks away* .....

[Lisin]

I can't actually find it anywhere which is strange... History channel is airing a Pawn Stars marathon... of course? For me it is on Demand on my cable provider, also it's on HBOGO and it's just been released on Amazon Prime streaming so people who don't have the DVDs should be ok. 

 

I'd say since this is a looser rewatch just watch when you have time and start commenting and everyone will join in :) 

[OriginalCyn]

Sounds good to me :).  My Saturday nights are devoted to watching Orphan Black and as such, I'll be wrapped up with that roller-coaster ride this evening, but since I'm an insomniac, I'll probably watch Currahee and possibly Day of Days when the barrage of infomercials start. 

[Wilowy]

I was planning on mainlining it all Monday. I do find it odd that nobody is showing it. Currahee at the very least! :/

[Wilowy]

We all do it. How do YOU rewatch? Mainline all at once or space it out over days or weeks? Personally I can't ever watch just one. What are some of the things you notice upon repeat viewings that you didn't notice before?

 

Here's the place to talk about any and all rewatches, organized or spontaneous.

[Wilowy]

Did anyone deserve a bigger kick in the ass than Sobel? Wanna talk about Malarkey's reckless motorcycle driving? Or Blythe's hysterical blindness? And what WAS chocolate a metaphor for, anyway? 

 

Here's your General Discussion thread. Talk about anything not covered on the front page topics here. 

[OriginalCyn]

Get out of my head, Willowy! :-P

 

For me, BoB is like a bag of potato chips - I'll open the bag with every intention of having a small handful, only to find that hand reaching in the bag again and again until the thing is empty.  Same thing with this - I'll plan on watching "just" one episode, and the next thing I know, they're playing baseball in their PT outfits.

 

When Spike/History has aired an all-day/night marathon, I've lucked out with it occurring on days that I've able to be a total slug and park my ass in front of the TV.  To feel less guilty about being a couch potato for 14+ hours, I proclaim it  Laundry Day and wash anything I can get my hands on.

Edited May 24, 2014 by OriginalCyn

[Wilowy]

Hee! Cashews are my potato chips, and yep I feel you!