I took some grief earlier this year when I wrote that I opposed the death penalty, a position that began with a “hang ’em, high” sentiment and gradually evolved over the years.

The other night I watched the movie “Just Mercy” and was, once again, so thankful for my change of heart.

The movie stars Jamie Foxx as Alabama Death Row inmate Walter McMillian, who was convicted for the 1986 killing of a white woman. Actor Michael B. Jordan portrays attorney Bryan Stevenson, a young, black Harvard-educated attorney who moved to the South and tried to find justice for the wrongly convicted. McMillian was freed from prison in 2003.

The tactics of the sheriff and the prosecutor, as well as the comments from McMillian’s family and friends about being black in Alabama, were shocking. They’re what you’d expect in maybe the 1920s or ‘30s but not in recent history.

And that serves as another reminder of why the recent shootings of unarmed Black Americans by the police galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement.

I wrote about the death penalty in March as Gov. Jared Polis was poised to sign into law a bill abolishing that form of punishment. One of the bill sponsors was Republican Sen. Jack Tate of Centennial. When I reread my column, I was stunned by my interview with Tate.

“He had been on the fence about repealing the death penalty during the 2019 session,” I wrote.

“Afterward, while visiting his mother in Nashville, he read the book ‘Just Mercy’ by Bryan Stevenson … . Tate read of the problems with zealous prosecutors, inept defense attorneys and how race is a factor in deciding whether to put someone to death.”

I had forgotten he even said that.

When Polis signed the bill he commuted the sentences for three Death Row inmates to life in prison without parole. One of those inmates is Nathan Dunlap, who had been granted a “temporary reprieve” by Gov. John Hickenlooper in 2013.

Hickenlooper took heat from both sides of the death penalty issue, and was accused of being indecisive for not being able to choose between execution or clemency.

By chance, I followed up “Just Mercy” with “The Staircase,” a 13-episode documentary about a murder trial in North Carolina with a series of twists. The bottom line is Michael Peterson was convicted of killing his wife and served eight years in prison before being granted a new trial.

The state’s so-called blood expert lied through his teeth and other shady prosecutorial practices came up.

But I also love a great cop show. The latest ones to mesmerize me were “The Valhalla Murders” and “The Midnight Sun.”

In other words, my longtime addiction to the boob tube has not tempered. But I’m not the only one turning to the screen to get through coronavirus. I quoted “The New Yorker” in May when I wrote about my alarming TV habit:

“Theatres, concert venues, and cinemas have closed. Restaurants in New York are open only for takeout and delivery. What else is there to do but watch TV?”

Two months later, I got hooked on “Outlander” after a Fourth of July party where the host mentioned she liked the show. Actually, hooked is too mild a word for what happened. In just one week I watched all five seasons — the first one contained 17 episodes! I then rewatched the whole thing.

I’m no prude, but the wedding of Jamie and Claire (Season One, Episode Seven) was a shocker. My sister Jeanne laughed at me. Didn’t I realize “Outlander” was equal parts soft porn, historical fiction, romance novel and sci-fi? It turns out I was the only person in the world who hadn’t read Diana Gabaldon’s novels.

My latest binge is “The Office,” which everyone begged me to watch when it aired. “It’s so you,” they all said.

I have a very distinctive laugh and you could hear it rolling down the hall at my condo complex when I began watching the amazing Steve Carell, who plays Michael Scott. But it’s not just Michael. It’s everyone, from Dwight to Pam to Creed.

I called Julia Sunny, who worked with me at the Secretary of State’s office and always raved about the show. I could barely talk as I described scenes with Phyllis and Oscar and Jim.

The inappropriate sexual comments, the juvenile humor, the scatalogical scenes, all set in an office environment. The show is nirvana.

“That’s why everyone told you to watch it,” Julia replied.

But then I saw the episode where Michael comes to work, sees Pam wearing glasses and tells her how ugly she looks. I’ve got a bad habit of blurting out exactly what I think, often to the shock of the recipient and those around us. Is that why people told me to watch it?

As episodes of The Office rolled on, I continued to laugh but now there were twinges of melancholy. An office, oh, an office. Many Coloradans began working from home in March because of COVID-19, but I had been working from home for a year before that.

I miss the office. I miss complaining about co-workers who dare to microwave fish, the hunt for a stolen tape dispenser, the e-mail messages about someone bringing in doughnuts, and the whispered phone calls to “Get in here and look at so-and-so’s outfit/hairdo/shoes.”

For the last two months, I’ve added another element to my TV schedule: political debates.

I’ve watched the presidential battle between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden, and the Colorado U.S. Senate race between the incumbent, Republican Cory Gardner, and his Democratic challenger, former Gov. John Hickenlooper.

After Hickenlooper was term limited in 2018, he ran for president but his campaign never took off.

“I’m of the opinion,” I wrote last year, “that the guy who jumped out of a plane to help pass a tax timeout, who danced in a blue bear suit to benefit the convention center, who invited hip bands to various events over the years, will be just fine.

“He is still Hick, after all.”

And it looks like it will be just fine for Hickenlooper, who dropped out of the presidential race and entered the Senate contest, although he had assured nearly everyone — including Gardner — he wasn’t interested.

Gardner’s reelection was always going to be tough; he defeated incumbent Mark Udall in 2014 by less than 2 percentage points in a great year for Republicans. A blue wave is expected this year, but Gardner keeps plugging away.

I recently attended an event for Gardner and laughed when I overheard the senator and his wife, Jaime, talking about their daughter, Alyson. One day when Alyson was attending school remotely, her mother discovered the 16-year-old had three computers going. Two involved her schooling and the third was tuned to “The Office.”