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What are you watching? Readers recommend 'The West Wing,' 'I Know Where I’m Going!'

Monitor TV and movie fans share what they've been watching lately.

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NBC
'The West Wing'
  • By Missy Williams Monitor reader
  • Jay Steinke Monitor reader
  • Lenna Darbin Monitor reader
  • Annette Kesterson Monitor reader
  • Andrew Graves Monitor reader
  • Mary Jane Nirenberg Monitor reader
  • Faith Roberts Monitor reader

When the news from Washington gets too intense, I chill out by watching an episode (or two or three) of The West Wing from my box set of DVDs. The fine acting and intelligent writing of this Emmy, Golden Globe, and Peabody Award-winning series, which aired on NBC, always reminds me about the possibilities of good government.

– Missy Williams, Jerseyville, Ill.

A movie I watch over and over again is The Hunted. It was the first DVD I ever bought. Tommy Lee Jones stars as a deep-woods tracker who is hunted by a veteran he trained years ago who now has post-traumatic stress disorder and has committed several murders. It’s a really heartbreaking story about the mentor/father figure becoming the one who is mentored, in a sense.

– Jay Steinke, St. Louis

I loved the TV show Perfect Strangers, which aired on ABC. It’s pure silliness, but the slapstick was perfectly timed.

– Lenna Darbin, Chester, N.Y.

I have watched over and over again the movies Hair, Harold and Maude, and Dazed and Confused. They all emphasize the relationships between people and how that intertwining is what makes life work.

– Annette Kesterson, San Francisco

I enjoy Terry Gilliam’s movie Brazil. It captivated me when I was a teenager, with its odd humor set in a fantastical dystopian bureaucracy and retro futuristic style. I still get something out of it when I rewatch it today, and it has been interesting seeing how my feelings toward the protagonist have changed over the 30-odd years I have been revisiting it.

– Andrew Graves, Downers Grove, Ill.

The Dick Van Dyke Show, which aired on CBS, is my all-time favorite. It’s still good and funny after all this time.

– Mary Jane Nirenberg, Bend, Ore.

A movie I have watched over and over again is I Know Where I’m Going!, starring a young Dame Wendy Hiller. It’s the most romantic World War II movie set in the Scottish Isles.

– Faith Roberts, Vienna, Va.

What are you watching? Write and tell us at whatareyouwatching@csmonitor.com.

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