Happy belated Thanksgiving to any American readers! While Turkey Day is obviously the official kickoff to the holiday season, I also like to think of it as the perfect time for binge-watching. After all, how many household tasks do you have during the Christmas season that could use some background entertainment? In recent weeks, I’ve gravitated toward watching half-hour sitcoms in my free time. These kind of shows are what I can play and easily follow along with while working out, blogging, or answering emails.
Back in September, I shared a list of the new fall TV shows I was planning to check out. While I never ended up watching Manifest, I’m really enjoying Single Parents and The Kids Are Alright. I also cover A Million Little Things for work, and while I’m usually frustrated with it as a whole, I do like the actors and their chemistry with each other. While the broadcast shows I’ve fit into my schedule are weekly watches, below are the streaming shows that I either recently finished or am currently watching. All but one of them are short-lived series that are incredibly easy to get through in a small amount of time. Happy binge-watching!
Great News
Tracey Wigfield, who was essentially Tina Fey’s writing protégé on 30 Rock, created this sitcom about a mother interning at her daughter’s job in cable news production. NBC cancelled it after two seasons earlier this year, but the entire series is now on Netflix. Having studied broadcast journalism in college, I loved Great News‘ fun, very Fey-esque take on the field, and Andrea Martin is just delightful as a meddling intern mother. The show became my go-to entertainment for at-home workouts, and although the last episode was sweet as an on-the-fly series finale, I’m definitely bummed that there’s no more to watch.
Sex and the City
I’ve actually seen the majority of Sex and the City‘s first two seasons through TV reruns. Now that the whole series is on Amazon Prime, I can easily finish two half-hour episodes in one sitting and just finally mark the show as one I’ve watched completely. While it obviously has its problematic and unrealistic moments, I still love Sex and the City‘s critique of love in New York and find a lot of its perspectives still very relevant. While I’m nowhere near the glamorous lifestyle the characters lead, I feel like I can relate to some of their concerns now more than ever before. In the end, it’s just romantic, escapist fare, but we all need that sometimes.
Z: The Beginning of Everything
Although it’s technically a drama, Z: The Beginning of Everything is a half-hour Amazon Prime show, making it another series I can just breeze through. Based on the book Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, the series explores the early relationship and marriage of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Although it was originally renewed for a second season, Z came at an odd time before Amazon’s TV productions were reputable, and the company eventually cancelled the plans for another season. I’m still at a very early point in this, but I already feel like I’ll be super disappointed at the end when there isn’t more. It’s gorgeously filmed, and we need more focus on the women behind famous men, right?
Miranda
I think I was vaguely aware of Miranda Hart’s comedy before I started watching Call the Midwife, on which she plays an absolutely heartwarming character named Chummy. Chummy has since disappeared from the show (fingers crossed for her return someday), but during her time on Call the Midwife, Hart was also starring on her semi-autobiographical BBC sitcom Miranda. I rarely laugh out loud while watching sitcoms, but certain episodes of this during my Hulu watch had me in stitches. It relies mainly on physical humor and wordplay, and something about that just made me giggle. Focusing on Miranda’s social awkwardness, the show frequently breaks the fourth wall, which Hart parodied during a hilarious Call the Midwife Comic Relief skit. The very last Miranda episode took a sentimental route, and it really made me think about how enjoyably simple the series was.
Bookworms and Fangirls 