Month: May 2023

It happens quite often that I end up loving a show that I won’t recommend to everyone.  Because it is particularly gory, explicit, or just plain weird, or really heavy in one genre (esp sci-fi or fantasy) that some people just don’t like. But then again, these shows are also often incredibly original, fascinating, creative, and entertaining.  And so I offer this list of shows that I highly recommend, with the caveat that they may not be for you. But maybe, try them anyway, give them a shot, and try to appreciate them for what they are uniquely trying to do.  Or….don’t. 🙂 

10 Shows That Aren’t For Everyone but Might Be For You

1. Pen15 (Hulu, 2 Seasons, 10-15 episodes/season, 25-35 mins) This Hulu gem is nonstop cringy comedy.  Mostly because the (adult) actors – Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle – are all in for a real and hard telling of middle school life in the late 90s/early 2000s, which is incredibly cringe-worthy. Just look at the title of the series as one example – middle school cringe! And still, Erskine is so fearless in her acting I can’t look away. This is one of the best stories of tween/teen best friends and how so much can be survived if you just have someone who will be there for you, no matter what. I should also mention that all the other actors who are not Erskine and Konkle are age appropriate (i.e. mostly actual middle schoolers), which only underscores what a strange, awkward, and often painful time middle school is for all of us.
2. Jessica Jones (Netflix, 3 Seasons, 13 episodes/seasons, 45-55 mins) This show is on this list because its entire premise needs a trigger warning. While it is a show about (baddie) superhero Jessica Jones, it is also a show about a woman who has been forced to do thing against her will by a truly horrendous villain. With that said, I had been waiting for Krysten Ritter to get a successful show of her own for a long time after admiring her work in Breaking Bad and The B in Apartment 23, and so I was immediately taken in by this series about a superhero who doesn’t want to be a superhero – and it does not disappoint. The storyline is (as I said) dark, dark, dark, but the ride is fast and surprising and often gloriously entertaining.  Special bonus to see Mike Colter out of his drug-kingpin-role from The Good Wife and show up as the super-hottie Luke Cage. The series, on the whole, probably went a little long (funny to say for just three seasons), but ultimately became an incredible exploration of what it means to be a hero, the quest (and problems) of power, and the desire to control. It is a story of trauma, and healing, and the possibility of doing better.  
3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Hulu, 7 Seasons, 22 episodes/season, 44 mins) and 4. Angel (Hulu, 5 Seasons, 22 episodes/season, 44 mins) I put these together because if you haven’t watched them, then you probably batch them together in your mind as shows you won’t watch because vampires….which is legitimate. Buffy, and its spinoff Angel, are both set in worlds where vampires exist, as do vampire slayers. And so, if that’s a deal breaker for you….let me see if I can convince you to give it a shot anyway. Twenty-five years after it first premiered, Buffy remains a funny, tragic, brilliant tv show exploring the idea that high school is literally hell. Buffy (despite what you might think given her name…and that’s part of the show’s feminist commentary where the young blonde is not killed by the monster as per usual horror tropes, but is instead the enduring heroine) is a powerful, strong, complex hero, and friend, who is actually just trying to grow up, despite being the hope for humanity’s salvation. Buffy is helped by her friends Willow, Xander, Oz, Anya, and her lover/vampire-with-a-soul Angel (he of the spinoff). Over the course of seven seasons, the core friendships grow and shift; there is love, there is loss, and there is grief, and occasionally there is glory, as the world is saved by Buffy and her friends, over and over. As the characters grow up, the storyline becomes progressively darker, and more ambitious, and more complex – just like adulthood often feels as you try to find your way. A number of its episodes are singularly brilliant – including one where everyone in town loses their voices, so the entire episode is silent, and another where a spell forces everyone to sing their feelings, resulting in an entirely musical episode. Angel, the LA-based spinoff centered on Buffy’s doomed vampire lover, is even more oriented towards friendship, as Angel finds his own circle of vampire-fighting outcasts, including Buffy’s once-nemesis, Cordelia. While this show starts as a pretty straightforward crime-solving detective agency show, each of the seasons shakes things up so thoroughly that by the last season, it feels like a workplace drama set in a law firm.  Along the way, Angel and his friends end up getting co-opted by the very system they originally intended to undo and upend. This arc makes Angel a pretty compelling critique of capitalism, in addition to its central strength as an ensemble show of friendship, loyalty, and self-sacrifice. I don’t know if I convinced you to check out these shows if you haven’t before, but for everyone who has already seen them, maybe it’s time to watch them again?!
5. Firefly (Hulu, 1 Season, 14 episodes, 42 mins) Speaking of Joss Whedon….this (unfortunately) short-run show has been billed as a western set in space…which is why it is on this list.  Starring a pre-Castle (and much cooler IMHO) Nathan Fillion as Malcom Reynolds, Firefly is set 500 years in the future and follows the crew of the Serenity, which includes a preacher, a mechanic, a doctor, and a sex worker (they say “courtesan”), as they travel from planet to planet. They are bandits, mostly, but with a heart (again, mostly), as they seek to resist the corrupt and authoritarian government ruling the skies. Firefly is a relatively easy watch – it has a pretty easy-to-follow storyline, and the banter is typical Whedon wit and comedy. Although Fillion is clearly the lead, the female characters on this show are what really sell me – Zoe, the first mate, is a complete badass (Gina Torres), and Morena Baccarin’s strong and also vulnerable portrayal of sex worker Inara had me regularly watching for when her eventual breakout part would be – although I’m not sure it ever really happened. (Maybe her part in Homeland for which she was nominated for an Emmy?) Some parts of the show haven’t aged well – the mis- appropriation of the Chinese language, for example, or the way Mal repeatedly and often cruelly refers to Inara as a whore. But if you add in the movie Serenity, which was created as a way to thread together the storylines after it was shockingly canceled mid-season, Firefly continues to be a deeply satisfying, and highly imaginative, and entertaining show set in the future, but with plenty of resonance for our world today.  
6. Dollhouse (Hulu, 2 Seasons, 12-13 episodes/season, 60 mins)  Rounding out the Joss Whedon batch in this list is Dollhouse, definitely the weirdest of the group and maybe the most problematic. Starring Eliza Dushku (who also starred on Buffy off and on, but as a different character) as Echo, Dollhouse takes the idea of prostitution to an entirely new level, wherein the person you are paying to “date” can literally become any person you want them to be, by way of super powerful mind wiping/re-programming devices (of course). Each “doll” consents to being a part of the dollhouse before undergoing the mind-wiping, or at least that is what we are told, and so you are left with questions of consent, not unlike the ones posed by the 2022 Apple TV series Severance. This is where this show definitely becomes not for everyone. The various “engagements” that the “actives” (both men and women, by the way) are assigned to often go wrong, which over time ends up connecting to Echo’s slow rediscovery of her past self. One of the biggest original criticisms of the show was that the lack of a central character to connect with made it hard to get into (because all of the characters are “wiped” clean every week). I wonder if we are used enough to unusual narratives now (almost 15 years later) that this would be less of an obstacle. Personally, I found that if you stuck with the show long enough, Echo’s story begins to emerge, and it is completely worth it. To me, it always felt like the show knew and was actively exploring its own moral ambiguity, and it is attempting to comment on our willingness to justify anything by way of “someone paid for it” and/or “it was their choice.” Like a number of other shows on this list, Dollhouse is dark and strange and not nearly as quippy and witty as Whideon’s other shows, but it is also bolder, more experimental, and still with some incredible supporting actors. Amy Acker (previously of Angel) and Enver Gjokaj (why won’t anyone give him a great part?!) are particular standouts, mixing tragic and funny, and subtle commentary. Ultimately this show asks some big, difficult questions about the human soul and what makes a person a person. It’s weird and sometimes really hard to watch (and sometimes slow), but I really recommend you give Dollhouse a chance. And let me know what you think.  
7. Orphan Black (Amazon Prime, 5 Seasons, 10 episodes/season, 43 mins) I put Orphan Black next on this list because there are some interesting connection points in its storyline. Except that instead of mind-wiping and personality replacement, Orphan Black brings us cloning – but in both cases, there remains a real question about consent and an ongoing critique of power and control. The background in Orphan Black begins with a genetics company, Neolution, which secretly perfected human cloning, made two projects (male and female), and then funneled the men into the military and the women into the world without any knowledge about any of this. The plot centers around one of the female clones, Sarah, who discovers to her own shock, that she is a clone, which starts her on a process of finding her “sisters” and uncovering the truth of their origin, as well as the bigger why behind Neoloution, including religious organizations and profit-seeking capitalists. I have now certainly revealed why this show isn’t for everyone, but let me tell you why it might be for you. Tatiana Maslany, the star of the show, is revolutionary. Watching her at work is constantly breathtaking and mind-bending. Equally worthwhile is the writing, which is nuanced and complex in its characterizations so that each clone is truly her own story that you feel compelled by and connected to. One of the sub-themes of the show is around motherhood, as Sarah and her brother Felix (the fabulous Jordan Gavaris) are foster/adopted siblings of the more-to-her-than-you-think Mrs. S (badass Maria Doyle Kennedy), and the fertility of the clones and their potential to be mothers is always in the background of the series, as is the ongoing question of nurture and nature, especially given how completely different each of these “clones” truly is. This show is also incredibly nerdy (more than just everything I’ve said so far) with references to Greek mythology, Charles Darwin, Francis Bacon, Margaret Thatcher’s government, feminist and scientist Donna Haraway, and George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, to name just a few! Don’t let this nerdiness make you think this show is slow or not fun – it moves quickly and imaginatively across its whole run – it’s a brilliant, highly original powerhouse of a show, maybe a show just perfect for you.  Or…not.
8. Euphoria (HBO/Max, 2 Seasons, 10 episodes/season, 45-60 mins) I started watching this show because my teenage daughter was watching this show, and I wanted to make sure we could talk about it together. It is theoretically a show about teenagers and being in high school, but it is also an incredibly adult show exploring addiction, grief, sexuality, and identity. One NPR article I read called it “a parent’s nightmare,” and in a lot of ways, that is true. Especially for the relationship between Rue (glorious, vulnerable, grief-stricken, drugged-out Zendaya) and her mom, Leslie (Nika King). And also for the dangerous, self-destructive, downright dumb choices that these teenagers make over and over when it comes to relationships, alcohol and drug use, sex, and their very casual relationship with the truth. Other than the drugs, most of these risky choices are made by characters other than Rue – her friends and classmates that make up the world of Euphoria that would make any of us wonder why we’d ever want to parent teenagers.  And also, in most of these cases, the lack of parenting is often a major factor, as the adults are caught up in their own drama, and ego, and their own poor choices. Except for Rue, whose story is mostly one of grief, of losing her father to cancer when she was too young. And except for Jules (the luminous Hunter Shaffer), the (trans) girl who Rue loves and who is simply trying to find her way to self-confidence and self-actualization after her own mother’s addiction and poor choices. With all that said, the second season veers (for my taste) too often into self-indulgent soap opera tropes (i.e. predictable love triangles) and not enough into character development for Jules and Rue. Ultimately, in its portrayal of drug addiction and its impact on real lives, this show is often too painful, scary, and vulnerable – and not for everyone. And, in its brave and raw characters, yearning for joy and connection (even if by way of explicit/illicit attempts at getting high) it is also a show of singular creativity, bold imagination, and audacious beauty, and maybe for you.  
9. True Blood (HBO, 7 Seasons, 10-12 episodes/season, 52 mins) Here’s another show that may not be for you because vampires. But in this case, it’s more adult/drama vampires than witty teenage vampires, and may also not be for you because of lots of blood and, in some cases, pretty explicit sex. In this world, vampires live alongside the living due to the invention of a synthetic blood that allows them to “come out,” and yes, they do regularly work with the gay parallel/metaphor that this implies. This series centers around telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and vampire Bill (Stephen Moyer, Paquin’s then real-life love). The first season of True Blood is genuinely great, mixing intentional camp with real romance with erotic thriller and mystery. A few seasons in, it isn’t quite as steady, but still mostly enjoyable for a while, especially given the presence of the beautiful Alexander Skarsgard as the deplorable and gorgeous vampire Eric. 
10. Bridgerton (Netflix, 2 Seasons, 8 episodes/season, 57-72 mins) Looking over this list, I realized I was a little too sci fi/fantasy/dark plots heavy. When really, just as many people will tell me how much they don’t like cheesy romance as will resist weird vampires. Which is what led me to include this pleasure romp as my number 10. Produced by tv mastermind Shonda Rhimes, Bridgerton is like Jane Austen meets Scandal in that it is both playing on the edges of what is acceptable and what is forbidden and also filled with formal dances, corsets, curtsies in front of Queens, as well as the potential of whole lives being destroyed if a man and a woman are seen kissing in public. Season two is slower and less explicit than season one, but still pretty good. Season one is delectable and also I’m going to just say now that no Bridgerton character will ever be as hot as Hot Duke Simon (Regé-Jean Page). While there is a little bit of commentary going on in this show, given that it offers an interracial monarchy (and aristocracy), it is mostly a show centered on pleasure for pleasure’s sake and downright escapism. Not for everyone, but a complete joy for the most devoted readers. IYKYK.

Whether you missed it when it first came out, or it’s just been a while, some shows are worth returning to, even after they’ve concluded their run. Sometimes it feels oddly revolutionary to watch a show long after “everyone” is talking about it – but a great show is a great show, regardless of when you watch it. So I’m thrilled to share this list of shows that are done and yet always great – and if it is your first time watching this show, I am so jealous! I’ve tried to include a mix of genres and feels, so even if the dark anti-hero of Breaking Bad (for example) isn’t for you. You can instead turn to something like the feel-good Friday Night Lights! Or…vice versa. 

15 Shows Worth (Re)Discovering

1. Friday Night Lights (Netflix, 5 Seasons, 13-22 episodes/season, 2006): Sometimes, I think of this as the show that prepared me to be a good mom to my son. Friday Night Lights refers to the lights on the football field and the small town often-high stakes dramas that play out there every Friday night. Except that the real game isn’t about touchdowns. It is about poverty, racism, school funding, and abortion. It is about trying to help kids in rural Texas find a future and what it takes to have a real marriage (as seen in the still-enviable couple, Eric and Tami Taylor). 
2. The Wire (HBO/Max, 5 Seasons, 10-13 episodes/season, 2002): One of the best shows exploring both the strengths of community policing and the real and lasting pitfalls, and one of the best shows ever, period. The Wire is set in Baltimore and explores with real complexity and humanity narratives about police, drug dealers, teachers, dockworkers, politicians, and journalists. It humanizes and complexifies whatever stereotypes you might have about these characters and systems. It repeatedly reveals how these systems may have good intentions and yet fail to solve the issues they mean to address – whether due to corruption, ineptitude, or a lack of money, or pure bad luck. The actors and the characters they portrayed have stayed with me over the years – I’ll never forget the terrifying and yet tender Omar, played with fierce authenticity by Michael K. Williams. Even though this show is now 20 years old, it remains incredibly relevant and real. 
3. Breaking Bad (Netflix, 5 Seasons, 7-13 episodes/season, 2008): Usually, when people tell me they haven’t watched this show, it’s with an acknowledgment that they just found the premise too difficult to watch, which makes sense. This is a show about a high school math teacher who gets a terminal cancer diagnosis, and so to provide for his family after he is gone, he starts cooking meth. As a result, there are plenty of scenes showing the horrific impact of drugs on families and whole communities, and there is violence and there is the very real impact on his own family in his continued and increasing lies. So I get it if it isn’t for you. However….embedded in this difficult and sometimes all-too-real material is a story about human nature, our will to power, and what becomes acceptable to us after we cross that first moral line. I haven’t watched Breaking Bad since it ended in 2013, but having just finished its (brilliant) spin-off Better Call Saul, I’m getting ready to start it again. 
4. Six Feet Under (HBO/Max, 5 Seasons, 13 episodes/season, 2001): More than 20 years later, this show based around a family that runs a funeral home and that begins every episode with a death, remains groundbreaking. First, because we still don’t talk about grief and death as a society and the show offers an unflinching account of some of the practicalities, the laughter, the fear, the loss, and the very real decisions that must be made through it all.  And second, because of the issues they tackled throughout the series in many cases remain underexplored all these years later. For example, even though we’ve had a lot of gay characters since then, the character David’s coming out still remains one of the most nuanced portrayals of later in-life coming out that I’ve seen on tv.
5. The Americans (Hulu, 6 Seasons, 13 episodes/season, 2013): I’m surprised more people don’t talk about this fascinating show about two undercover Russian KGB agents who have made a family in the US, set in the early 80s / Cold War prime time. Keri Russell is brilliant and emotionally available even while playing an often emotionally inaccessible character. Matthew Rhys portrays a complex loyalty between country and family in every scene. It’s a spy show, but it’s really about marriage, trust, and how much truth we ever tell the people we love. Bonus fun: the series leads are married in real life.  
6. The Newsroom (HBO/Max, 3 Seasons, 6-10 episodes/season, 2012): Made by Aaron Sorkin (who also made The West Wing), the Newsroom is a smart, fast-talking inside look at cable tv news in the 21st century. Although, in some ways, it is limited by the fact that it lives in a world that is both pre-Trump and pre-pandemic, it also serves as a good reminder that even though everything has changed, there are some core threads that we can follow through and that Sorkin attempts to critique and engage through this series.  Fair warning, this show has a way-too-short run, and, basically, as soon as it really starts to find its rhythm, it got canceled. Boo.  
7. Arrested Development (Netflix, 5 Seasons, 13-22 episodes/season, 2003): Here’s another “it’s not for everyone” show. But in this case, it’s a matter of just how bizarre you like your dysfunctional family comedies. The Bluths are maximum bizarre and completely dysfunctional. And also, this show is brilliantly hilarious and weirdly endearing. Every member of the Bluth family is self-involved and inept, yet their loyalty to one another allows them to muddle their way through their father’s fraud case and the loss of the wealth they have come to rely on. The show had a too-short run from 2003-2006 (because it was just too out there to get much traction), and so a revival was attempted on Netflix by Netflix in 2015. Personally, I’d skip the later two seasons and just rewatch (on repeat) the first three….they are not horrible. They just aren’t nearly as amazing as the first three original series, now all available on Netflix. 
8. Transparent (Amazon Prime, 4 Seasons (plus a musical finale), 10 episodes/season, 2014): This show about a parent who comes out as trans late in life, still feels incredibly ahead of its time nearly 10 years later. While later seasons were not quite as cohesive, the first two seasons of this show remain some of the best television I’ve ever seen, which is not really about the trans parent storyline. It’s actually more about the complex family dynamics, the strange and singular characters that are the children and ex-wife, and most of all, the Jewishness of the storyline, which I feel like we so rarely see portrayed on tv. As this show was ending, allegations were made about its star Jeffrey Tambor, which adds some complexity to watching it back, and I do appreciate the apologies he has made since. Nothing is simple, which is a lot of what this show explores.
9. Mad Men (Amazon Prime, 7 Seasons, 13 episodes/season, 2007): Sometimes, when I hear the MAGA slogan, I flash on episodes of this series and wonder if this is what they are talking about. Because, at least from appearances, life for a certain class of white men in the 1960s seemed to be pretty great. Power, money, and a wife to cook you dinner sort of great. All this and absolutely zero emails to answer. Except that, even for these privileged few, behind the fancy clothes and long business lunches, there is also loneliness, alcoholism, insecurity, and emptiness. That’s the moral tale of Mad Men, which explores the world of a 1960s Manhattan-based advertising firm. What helps make this world actually a place you want to spend time in, though, are the characters, who are complex, funny, and entirely unique. You want to spend time with Peggy, the one woman who is trying to make a go at being an “ad man,” and you want to spend time with Joan, the powerhouse female secretary who comes into her own voice and her own place throughout the series. And despite all of his flaws, you want to spend time with Don Draper, the main protagonist, whose story you’re never sure is actually the truth, or just a really great pitch for a product you can’t wait to buy.  
10. The X-Files (Amazon Prime, 11 Seasons, 20-25 episodes/season, 1993): For those of you who heard my sermon to kick off our Time Well Wasted series, you know I have a special place in my heart for The X-Files. In case you don’t know, this show is set in a special division of the FBI that investigates paranormal activity. There’s a whole complex (aka often convoluted) conspiracy theory embedded in the show about aliens and UFOs, but my favorite part of the series was always the stand-alone episodes, especially those written by Vince Gilligan, who went on to write and produce Breaking Bad. The heart of this show for me, will always be the dynamic between Scully (Gillian Anderson in her breakthrough role) and Mulder (David Duchovny) so that when Duchovny left at the end of season 7, the show just never made much sense for me after that. There was also an attempt to revive the show in 2016, but they relied too heavily on nostalgia for the original series, which by then had been outdone by a number of shows who had built on its original ideas and taken the technology and concepts even further. So….stick to those original, glorious seven seasons, caught in the 90s though they might be – and revel in the chemistry between the leads, laugh at the limited tech we all had access to, and appreciate what was and remains a singular original voice of science fiction and social commentary. 
11. Girls (HBO/Max, 6 Seasons, 10-12 episodes/season, 2012): The most important thing you can know about this show going in is that it is mostly commentary. It is funny, raw, brave, and sometimes uneven and occasionally not great, and then, often, it is singularly brilliant. There are at least three episodes in its run I think everyone should watch multiple times. Hannah, the main character (played by creator/writer/director Lena Dunham) is often unlikable, clueless, and selfish and is also trying (or not trying) to grow up. Despite friendship being the show’s central organizing device, the main arc is a deterioration of the girls’ relationships. Many of the scenes are funny and original, and portray millennial young adulthood with such clarity you start to believe creator Lena Dunham, like the character she portrays, claims about herself, might be the voice of her generation after all. “Or at least, a voice of a generation…” Rewatching it a decade later, I am struck by how many scenes are played for awkward and honest as their main intent. Not beautiful or brilliant. Definitely not flattering to Dunham herself. Honest.  Awkward. Complicated. Messy. Human. 
12. Big Love (HBO/Max, 5 Seasons, 9-12 episodes/season, 2006): While there is plenty to criticize in the LDS church, especially the fundamentalist version, this show attempts to humanize at least one expression of the faith: the polygamist family.  Big Love centers on the Henricksons, including patriarch Bill and his three wives, Barb, Nicki, and Margene. In this family, you can see the benefits of having more adults to tend to the inevitable complexities of parenthood and tending a household. You can see how many more complexities arrive when you add in two other relationships. This show offers a sincere exploration of what it means to be faithful – to your spouse, family, and religious beliefs- and how these things change over your life. Because they must keep their family secret (polygamy being illegal) there are also a lot of interesting parallels to gay families and the overall question about what right the state has to say who you have decided to call family.  
13. United States of Tara (Hulu, 3 Seasons, 12 episodes/season, 2009): I’m pretty sure this is the first show where I really got a sense of Toni Collette, and I was immediately sold. Today I’ll basically watch anything she’s in. In United States of Tara, Collette plays Tara Gregson, a wife and mother with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). This means that Tara’s other personalities (she calls them alters) – distinctive personalities like the sassy T, the meticulous Alice, or the impulsive Buck – each take over her life at various points as she/they navigate the challenges of her condition. This is all a pretty serious topic, but most of the time, the show is funny and plays like a regular sitcom/dramedy.  All while exploring the complexities of mental health and the impact of Tara’s disorder on her relationships. This show deals with family, identity, boundaries, and resilience. It asks where the line is between acceptance and being overly accommodating. It’s a too-short run of episodes, but it is still worth investing in these brave and unique characters.  Besides, if you’re a Captain Marvel fan, this show is where Brie Larson got her start as Tara’s funny, smart, creative daughter.  
14. Dead Like Me (Amazon Prime, 2 Seasons, 15 episodes/season, 2003): For such a short run, this show has had a really long-lasting impression on me. The premise itself isn’t what does it – even though it is clever and interesting. The main character, 18-year-old George, experiences a tragic accident in the first episode, and she dies. She is immediately recruited into being a Grim Reaper, a select group of those who help people who have died transition into the afterlife. More, it is the presence of a profoundly talented supporting cast – including Mandy Patinkin as George’s mentor and Cynthia Stevenson as George’s mom. There’s a kind of Our Town feel to this show, as George wakes up to her life’s meaning and the relationships that matter, but only after she is able to look back at them from her death. Two decades after it began its short run, I still find this show funny, insightful, and definitely worth returning to. 
15. 24 (Hulu, 9 Seasons, 24 episodes/season, 2001): When this show came out, Carri and I were so obsessed with it we named our dog after one of its characters. You should watch it and try to guess which one. Every episode in a season of this series represents one hour, so the whole show represents 9 whole days spread out over the course of multiple years. Each episode displayed a clock, counting down the hour in real-time.  This was just one way that this show kept the adrenalin pumping and, at least in the age of streaming, have you continued to press Next Episode. Main character Jack Bauer works out of the counter-terrorism unit, which in 2001, was a very high-profile storyline to explore. The stakes at that time were not a distant fantasy, they felt very real, as did the decisions he and others had to make about what was ethical when it came to getting to the information we’d need to stop attacks. Personally, I’d suggest watching the first five seasons and then jump ship. The later seasons feel a little unnecessary like they are trying to recreate the magic of those first few years. But…those first few years were truly glorious high-energy television, even if it made you question what we should, or should not do, in order to stop potential problems in the future, and the reality that we really cannot make the world entirely safe for everyone, no matter what we do, or even if you have Jack Bauer on your side. And this is something we understand now even better than we did 22 years ago. 

For the first batch of TV recommendations, we’re starting with the opposite of serious. All of these shows are accessible, easy to get into, with a general feel-good ethos. Here are 19 Feel-Good Shows I highly recommend you check out: 

1. The Good Place (4 Seasons, 22-30 mins, Netflix): An extremely Unitarian Universalist take on the afterlife. The truth of this won’t become clear until a few seasons in, so you’ll have to trust me. It’s funny, smart, and surprisingly wholesome. The best series finale in my memory. 
2. Fleabag (2 Seasons, 30 minutes, Amazon Prime): Fleabag a show about grief, friendship, family, and regret. It’s witty, tragic (though, like the main character, it hides it well), funny, and smart. And it’s a great length for such a powerful show. The second season is a world unto itself, probably even better than the first. Especially fun (and again, tragic) to watch as a clergyperson who has spent a lot of time thinking about boundaries, intimacy, and power in the church. You’ll know what I mean after you watch. Also, just try not to become obsessed with (star and creator) Phoebe Waller-Bridge after watching this show.
3. Hacks (2 Seasons, 26-35 minutes, HBO): The formidable Jean Smart plays Deborah Vance, a groundbreaking female comic nearing the end of her career, though she doesn’t think so. When it looks like her Vegas contract will be pulled, her manager sends one of his other clients, a 25-year-old career-troubled comedian, Ava (Hannah Einbeinder), to help freshen up her act as a last-ditch effort. There are so many reasons I love this show. Most of all, I love that it takes an older woman seriously and gives her a full, complex history that fills out so much of who she has become, but not in a way that ever fully excuses her faults. I love that it does the same for a younger woman. I love that they both get to change through their relationship, or at least they try to. I love that both lead characters are trying to figure out just how brave they are willing to be and how much risk is worth it – both in their relationship and careers. I love that it is honest about what it takes for a woman to succeed at a big level in a career like comedy and how much it costs them.  
4. Ted Lasso (3 Seasons, 30 minutes, Apple TV): It’s hard for me to imagine that someone out there hasn’t heard of Ted Lasso by now, but just in case, the quick summary is that a British soccer (football) team owner, Rebecca (played by the stunning Hannah Waddingham), hires an American football (not soccer) coach – Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) – to coach her team. She does it as a way to humiliate and punish her cheating ex-husband. It’s a joke – except no one told Ted. This show is funny, original, smart, and unapologetically earnest. It explores and celebrates non-toxic masculinity and positive female friendship and believes in a world where people try to be better through community, loyalty, and play. As Ted Lasso’s motto goes, by the end, you can’t help but Believe!
5. Schitt’s Creek (6 seasons, 22-30 minutes, Hulu): A bratty, superficial rich family loses all their money and ends up in a dead-end town living in a motel. Yes, it starts with some old tropes and some extremely unlikable characters, but this is a redemption tale wrapped in a love story held together by dry humor and bananas costume design. (In other words, if you aren’t sure through the first five or so episodes, keep going.) Second best series finale I can remember.
6. Kim’s Convenience (5 seasons, 30 minutes, Netflix): This sweet, smart, very funny, and heartwarming show centers on Korean immigrants to Canada, Mr. and Mrs. Kim (Paul Sung Hyung Lee and Jean Yoon), and their two now-adult children Janet (Andrea Bang) and Jung (Simu Liu). The Kims own a convenience store, where much of the episodes unfold and where they have grounded their own story of independence and making a life for themselves and their children in Canada. Kim’s Convenience explores the cultural tensions and expectations present in an immigrant family in original and often hilarious ways that also feel authentic and specific.  
7. Grace and Frankie (7 Seasons, 30 minutes, Netflix): I was a little skeptical of this show when it first started because I don’t buy the connection between Sol and Robert, but I was hooked by the end of the second season. I’m so glad I stuck with it because it ended up being a singular portrayal of female friendship, older adult sexuality, and older adulthood, period. Not to mention Jane Fonda is stunning and vulnerable, and I Grace more than maybe any other character ever. It almost makes me forget how unbelievable I still find the chemistry between Sol and Robert….almost… 
8. Heartstopper (Netflix, 8 episodes, 30 minutes, 1 season): After all of the struggles of the last few years, Heartstopper came bursting through in 2022 with a refreshing, unapologetic, adorable joy. Set in high school, it is the story of 14-year-old Charlie (Joe Locke) and his friend Nick (Kit Connor). Nick has the audacity to treat Charlie like a human, even though Nick is a popular rugby player and Charlie is relentlessly teased and bullied for being gay and out. Adapted from her graphic novel series by writer Alice Oseman and using on-screen graphics along with animated text messages as a part of the visuals, everything about this show brings you back into that scary, vulnerable, invigorating time of self-discovery that is the best part of high school. Because even though Heartstopper does address the more painful and angsty parts of being a teenager, most of all, this is a show that makes you feel good. It is instead funny, sweet, heartwarming, and even wholesome – without sacrificing depth or specificity, or diversity in the characters and their stories. It’s the story I wish I would’ve had to watch growing up (I cannot even imagine how my life would’ve been impacted…) and also that I am so grateful we can watch with our kids (and parents) now.
9. The Great (2 Seasons, 30 minutes, Hulu): My friend, who actually knows a lot about Catherine the Great, has a lot of problems watching this show because it’s so historically inaccurate. Luckily, I have no such problems, so I just got to thoroughly enjoy it in all my ignorance. Elle Fanning fearlessly plays Catherine, the smart and ambitious young German woman who heads to Russia to marry the Emperor, Peter III, the marvelously doltish Nicholas Hoult. The Great’s capacity to be both hilarious and absurd but also emotionally honest and tender is surprising and so much fun. There is a good amount of violence along the way – Peter’s constant disregard for anyone’s life except his own (and suddenly, Catherine’s) is offered by Catherine repeatedly as to why she’ll never love him. But mostly, it’s played more like a Shakespearean comedy than a tragedy – moving quickly, focusing on the main characters. Even though they are upfront about how much they’ve made up, the challenges of leading and being a woman with ambition and being a man who might prefer not to lead – all offer plenty of truth.  
10. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (4 Seasons, 30 minutes, Netflix): A musical comedy exploring mental health, loneliness, and the search for meaning and purpose in life today…. Did I lose you already? This show is strange, brilliant, and completely worth getting to know, even if you don’t usually trend toward musicals, comedies, or shows whose titles reference a “crazy ex-girlfriend.” Star and producer Rachel Bloom is brilliant, creative, and bold in her vision, and the musical numbers are singularly hilarious and on-point.  
11. Sex Education (3 Seasons, 30 minutes, Netflix): This has been one of my very favorite shows in each of the last three years. It is a comedy and, at times, very lighthearted, but it is also a deeply touching and sometimes heart-wrenching portrayal of the complex world of teenage sexuality. The show shies away from nothing, and fair warning, the first episode’s first few minutes almost made me stop watching because it was just a little too explicit.  But that’s part of the beauty of the show…sex is portrayed as messy and awkward, as it often is in real life. The show revolves around the teenage Otis (Asa Butterfield) and his sex therapist mother (Gillian Anderson) until Otis takes all he’s learned into an advice business at school in partnership with his friend/crush Maeve (Emma Mackey). At its heart, this show is incredibly Unitarian Universalist in its message and is a lot of fun along the way. 
12. Parks and Recreation (7 Seasons, 30 minutes, Netflix): Set in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana, this show centers on the employees of the Parks and Recreation Department, led by the optimistic and singularly determined Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler). Over their seven seasons, Leslie and her team navigate the challenges of local government bureaucracy while attempting to make their town a better place (or at least, that’s Leslie Knope’s mission…).  If you haven’t ever taken the time to check out Parks and Rec, I’m so jealous because that means that this funny, smart, and authentically heart-warming show is still something for you to discover and then join the rest of us when we wonder if – whenever we are feeling especially earnest and enthusiastic – if we are being a little too much like Leslie Knope….
13. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (4 Seasons, 30 minutes, Netflix): Funny and smart with also a twinge of tragic – if you like Tina Fey’s sense of humor, you’ll probably love this show about a 29-year-old who was rescued from a kidnapper/cult leader after 15 years believing the world had ended. Supposedly it’s a story of Kimmy’s growth and self-discovery, but ultimately it’s a story of how it’s never too late for us to find and claim our own path of joy and meaning. All that sounds pretty serious – really, it’s mostly just a fun, silly, enjoyable show.
14. Derry Girls (4 Seasons, 25 minutes, Netflix): Set in a small town in occupied Northern Ireland in the 1990s, Derry Girls is a story of friendship and growing up. Centering on a group of five teenagers growing up amid The Troubles (the Northern Ireland conflict), Derry Girls reminds us of the persistence and consistency of human life regardless of what is happening around us. Don’t be afraid to turn on the subtitles if the Irish accents make it hard for you to follow, and don’t be shy about re-watching past episodes to remember the sweet and hilarious trouble the girls find themselves in as they attempt to grow up.   
15. Ghosts (BBC version, 3 Seasons, 30 minutes, HBO): Shortly after a young couple inherits a mansion in the British countryside, the wife discovers that she can see and hear the entire cast of ghosts who reside there. The ghosts have died on the property over the centuries, representing a range of residents from an early Viking to a witch burned at the stake, a lovelorn Edwardian poet, and a sketchy Thatcher-era politician who died with his pants off (and thus appears in the afterlife…  with no pants). What would the dead do with their time, given endless amounts of it? And how would they each engage with new technology and entertainment invented long after their death? And how should we think about their “rights” and quality of “life”? There is an American remake of the show that has gotten strong reviews, but I haven’t had a chance to check that out yet, so for now, I am focusing my recommendation on the BBC version, which is available on HBO.  
16. We Are Lady Parts (1 Season, 30 minutes, Peacock): I get why you have likely not watched this show – it is very rare to find someone who is a Peacock subscriber. But I have to say that this show (in addition to a few others I’ll mention later in the month) is completely worth a 1-month subscription, after which you cancel the service (until the next season drops). We Are Lady Parts is an awesome, original comedy centered on an all-female, all-Muslim punk band. Led by the formidable Saira (Sarah Kameela Impey), the band is made up of a diverse and dynamic group who are each uniquely and unapologetically themselves – which makes the punk rock genre an especially perfect fit.  The first season follows the character Amina (Anjana Vasan), who struggles to reconcile her cultural values with her love for (punk rock) music. Not to mention a wicked case of stage fright. My only critique of this show is that it is way too short – which hopefully will be fixed before too long with a second season.  
17. The Other Two (3 Seasons, 30 minutes, HBO): We all likely have a sense of Justin Beiber’s story – but no one ever asks about the young star’s siblings. That’s the subject of this funny and heartfelt comedy series, which focuses on two struggling siblings, Brooke (Helen Yorke) and Cary (Drew Tarver), as they navigate the ups and downs of their careers and personal lives after their 13-year-old brother Chase (Case Walker) suddenly becomes a viral sensation. Although early episodes trend towards a satirical feeling, it doesn’t take long before you really feel for Brooke and Cary and their attempts to find themselves and what matters to them, regardless of their brother’s fame.  
18. Extraordinary (1 Season, 30 minutes, Hulu): In the world of Extraordinary, everyone gets a superpower as a part of becoming an adult, which is why our main character Jen (Emma Moran, also the creator and writer), a 25-year-old who has yet to received her power, is both extra compelling and also really struggling. This British series combines the conventions of the superhero genre with a sentimental buddy comedy to give us a compelling underdog tale, complicated by the fact that Jen is often a selfish, short-sighted individual who continually asks too much of her closest friends, especially her best friend, Carrie. Like most of these shows, this last sentence makes it sound like it’s less heartwarming than it is complicated, but ultimately the otherworldly premise controls the tone of this show and keeps us squarely in a story of creativity and possibility – and the hope while watching it is that the main character will do the same.    
19. Shrinking (1 Season, 30 minutes, Apple TV): Anyone in a therapeutic-related profession will likely relate with and struggle with the show, Shrinking. In many ways, it asks you to suspend your ethical disbelief to accept the premise that therapy might be even more effective if therapists abandon their professional training and just say whatever they believe their clients should do. Or at least, that’s how the show starts. Starring Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, and Jessica Williams and created by the folks who also brought us Ted Lasso, Shrinking is a show about boundaries and their usefulness – and the consequences for failing to respect boundaries. It is a show about friendship, grief, and the lostness we all feel these days. It is still also steadfastly a comedy, which mostly works because of the brilliance of the actors, who commit to finding the line between the intensity of what their characters are dealing with and the joy of playing out the scenes together.