Saturday Night at Market Chess Cinemas

As with most aspects of life, the art of timing matters and is often rather significant. And when it comes to cinema and television series, that philosophy holds true to a greater degree.

Case in point: When an actor completes a role in a prominent film or series which is rather serious (a thriller/dramatic epic, etc.), it is often suggested that the actor then pursue a comedy for a so-called "comedy cleanse," to keep the actor's body of work balanced and avoid perpetual typecast. 

Regarding the viewer, we also want to understand the dynamics of timing--Think about those times you have seen a film or television series which proved to be rather well done, but you were simply not in the mood for it or your mind was simply not there. 

The reason why I raise this point on a Saturday evening is because I am going to suggest two series tonight which I suggest you watch in a specific order to derive the greatest enjoyment and knowledge. 

First, I suggest you watch The Civil War (1990), a PBS documentary miniseries created by Ken Burns about the American Civil War. Needless to say, this documentary put Burns on the map as an incredible talent in the historical documentary genre.

Simply put, all nine episodes (with a total running time of eleven hours and thirty minutes) are riveting and will likely convert even the most ardent anti-history buffs into at least somewhat of an interested viewer. 

After you watch that, I suggest you then watch AMC's Hell on Wheels, which ran from 2011 to 2016. This series successfully avoided trying to simply copy Deadwood's massive success on HBO last decade (about the gold rush era in the wild west) through excellent writing, acting, and original plot development.

But, mostly, Hell on Wheels tells the fascinating story of the post-Civil War years on the great plains, as the Union Pacific Railroad was built and plenty of Americans sought a new life, in a highly entertaining manner. 

Both series are easily available to stream on Netflix.