If there is anyone that manages to have a fully equipped social and work life whilst still managing to binge a ridiculous amount of Television it’s me. I watch everything from comedy to sci-fi to romance to drama and I am here to help you out in your post-that-show-was-amazing-what-do-I-do-with-my-life-now depression.
If you are anything like me you appreciate great characters, storylines so good you NEED to watch the next episode even though it’s 3am and quality production that doesn’t feel overly-produced and fake enough it removes you from the story.
Over the last year I have ticked many of the greats off my list with only a few to go, but I wanted to make a list of the shows that I trialled to fill those empty Office voids. These are the shows I had heard a few good things about but either overlooked them or judged way too harshly. These are the shows I gave one episode to impress and ended up bingeing every season.
Yes, this list may seem primarily targeted at women, but trust me - I know many guys that have recommended most of these to me initially!
In no particular order, here are my top 10 most unexpectedly binge-able shows:
10. UnREAL
Take a look into the behind the scenes world of reality TV and the ruthlessness that comes along with it. Ever thought about applying to the Bachelor? Think again! Unless of course lies, manipulation, substance abuse, questionable promiscuity and selling your soul to the devil are your thing!
The show follows Rachel, a Producer on the Bachelor-style show ‘Everlasting’ who is constantly battling between the good within her and her manipulative talents. Think you know how Reality works? Think again - there is just as much drama to make you yell at your TV behind the scenes and believe me you will be breeze through season one if you love the drama!
9. Sex Education
If you are a fan of that intelligent, second-to-none British humour and anything that takes you into the teenage psyche, this one’s for you. It’s comedy, drama and coming-of-age love mixed with some actual sex education.
I love anything set during high school - The Breakfast Club, Heathers, Mean Girls, Skins and the list goes on. But what makes the greatest high-school pieces are the ones that feel real. The ones where you cringe, cry and laugh out loud because you have been there before and know it all too well. Sex education is one of those shows, except the twist here is we are experiencing it through the eyes of Otis - the son of Sex Therapist and single mum, Jean (X-Files’ Gillian Anderson!). Bad-girl on the outside with a big heart on the inside Maeve, discovers Otis’ intuitive ability to identify the solutions to his fellow students’ sexual problems and decides to start a sex therapy business within the school.
The actors are not only fantastic but impeccably cast and you’ll grow attached pretty instantly. Super witty and super relatable, this one is hard not to love!
8. Pen15
Pen15 is the Broad City of going through puberty. Maya and Anna are two teenagers starting high school and boy, do they they go through it all. There’s no shortage of situations that’ll have you cringing because they’re honestly just flashbacks to your own experiences through that hella-awkward time.
Laugh-out-loud funny but at the same time very raw, what makes Pen15 different is the fact that the lead actors play their teenage selves, although they are clearly fully grown adults. All other cast members are an age that corresponds with their characters which adds this extra awkwardness to the leads and I love it!
7. TRINKETS
Yes, this list may be filled with female-heavy casts so far, but this one is for everyone. Three teenagers from the same high school but different social circles, interact for the first time at a Shoplifters Anonymous meeting. Outside of the confines of high-school social rhetoric, they form a genuine friendship and take on life’s trials and tribulations one fuck-up at a time.
What I like about Trinkets is the high school experience is not far-fetched or formed on a foundation of the typical stereotypes or tropes. You’ll laugh, you might even cry - but you’ll watch and certainly wish there were moments you could jump right in and be apart of it.
6. Nashville
Despite the fact that it’s generally cool to hate on country music, Nashville provides the goods on so many levels. It’s drama and romance fuelled but from the POV of the country music business. If you have any interest in music at all, you should give this a go - it’s quite clear the writers are bringing what really goes down behind closed doors to the table and it’ll make you question how glamorous being a famous musician really is. Don’t knock it ‘til you try it - it might just be the extra kind of drama you’ve been looking for!
Also the music is actually great and all the actors actually sing! But I am a country fan, so each to their own!
5. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
If you want a show that’s not afraid to get dark as hell this is the show for you! I am all about fantasy and witchcraft and all the sinister things that come along with it. Pair the latter together with an incredible cast and some phenomenal character development and you have yourself one incredible show.
Each season has superseded the last so far, so get onto it ASAP. I will honestly be gobsmacked if you don’t end up bingeing this one!
4. The Vampire Diaries
Probably the most attractive cast any TV show has had, ever, The Vampire Diaries was a show I was incredible skeptical of for YEARS. After the whole Twilight glitter fiasco there was no way I was giving this teen-drama a chance. But last year I thought, eight seasons? No show gets to eight seasons if it’s total rubbish - and so I gave it a go. Three months later my family is bingeing it with me every night we can, often staying up until 2am because we just HAD to watch the next episode.
Do not be fooled - this is the real vampire shit right here. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is one of my all-time favourite books because of how chilling it is - its iconic and the original vampire novel, so take it from me if you love authentic vampirism you will love TVD.
There is so much blood, death, seduction, love and mystery that like a good book, you’ll find it hard to peel your eyes away. With plot line seeds planted in the first season that tie into the very final eighth season, the writing is quite unbelievable and consistent. Every episode has some kind of cliffhanger and I have no idea how they pulled it off for almost a decade.
If I still haven’t sold you on it, Ian Somerholder plays the bad-boy blood-sucking troublemaker vampire brother - isn’t that enough?
3. The BOLD TYPE
When The Bold Type popped up on the top menu on Stan I watched the trailer and thought here we go, another home-brand SATC. I judged too fast and too harshly because it is so, so, so good! Albeit two of the main characters (I’ll let you figure them out) can be a little over-dramatic, it is just an all-round great show. Even when things are going wrong, it still leaves you feeling good somehow - kind of like you’ve just had a d-n-m with your best friend after each episode.
2. Broad City
I’m only gonna say this once - if you haven’t seen Broad City yet, I feel for you - I really do. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to pause this show because I was laughing so hard. If you love the comedic styles of Seth Rogen and James Franco, enjoyed Workaholics and are all about crazy, awkward, sarcastic and dirty humour Abbi and Ilana will take you to a whole new world. Also Hannibal Buress is a regular, so do I really need to say more??
1. Younger
Look, I will forgive you this time and this time only if you haven’t jumped onto this super-addictive NYC comedy-drama-romance . The sixth season has just been confirmed so you’d better get onto it now because it is the definition of binge-worthy. Very sex-and the city but with a more interesting plot, the show follows Liza, a 40 year old mother who is looking to get back into the publishing industry, but is faced with serious ageism in a world where she must compete with millennials. She decides to lie about her age to get what she wants, but naturally the lie spirals out of control and into every facet of her life - work, love, friends, the whole shebang!
The episodes and seasons are super short, so this one is a breeze to binge. I will personally congratulate you if you don’t smash out the first three seasons within a week!
