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Saturday, March 1, 2014

10 Shows to Binge Watch on Netflix




Bingeing television shows on Netflix has become sort of a national pastime.  It's rare now to find someone who doesn't have or at least use a Netflix account for the instant streaming.  It's also rare to find someone who still gets DVDs sent to them through Netflix.  Ain't nobody got time for dat.

I've seen a very solid amount of tv shows, and this is mainly thanks to the large collection of shows that are available on Netflix.  With this post I'm gonna help narrow down your list of selections, and single out some of my favorites.  So get ready to continue failing classes and telling your friends that "you are sick" and "can't hang out" so you can watch 10 more episodes of your new favorite show.  Here are 10 shows that will actually ruin every aspect of your life with how addictive they are.

In All Seriousness:


Breaking Bad (5 Seasons)


Well I'm going to start with the obvious.  If you haven't seen Breaking Bad yet, stop reading now, and watch it.  When you inevitably finish the 60 episodes of this show in a few days, come back to this post and read the rest of it.  Now get out of here, or I'll send you on a trip to Belize. (You have a looooong time before you know what that means.)


House of Cards (2 Seasons)


House of Cards, Netflix's most popular original series, is hard to not watch in large chunks.  Each episode has an ending that makes you NEED to see what happens next, and before you know it you're on your 6th episode in a row and it's 4 am on a school night.  Kevin Spacey leads a cast of great actors who play really great characters.  And it's these characters that you get so attached to and curious about, that keeps you coming back for more with this show.


Parks and Recreation (5 Seasons)


The worst part of watching Parks and Rec is trying to pick which character is your favorite.  It's nearly impossible, you'll have to keep it to like a Top 5.  But anyway the employees of the Pawnee Parks and Recreation department will have you laughing non-stop.  If you're having a bad day, watch an episode or 12 and just enjoy life for a little while.


Twin Peaks (2 Seasons)


If you are a fan of weird, quirky, stylized shows that are filled with donuts, cherry pie, and coffee, and could only come from the mind of someone like David Lynch, then this is literally the perfect show for you.  Because that's exactly what this is, a unique mystery show revolving around the murder of a high school senior, and is created by David Lynch.  The citizens of Twin Peaks are an interesting group, and they along with the great writers make you want to finish the show in one sitting.  And if the episodes weren't 45 minutes long you just might be able to.


How I Met Your Mother (8 Seasons)


8 Seasons (season 9, the last season, is airing right now) seems like a lot for a story about a guy trying to meet his wife.  But it's more than just that, it's about this group of friends and everything they have been through leading up to the main character finally meeting his true love.  There are jokes and episodes that will have you crying from laughter, and there are moments that will have you crying.  Because HIMYM isn't shy about bringing the feels, especially when you become so attached to these characters.


Lost (6 Seasons)


Lost was a huge hit during it's run on ABC.  I have to say though, it's so much more fun to binge this show than it was to wait for the next new episode.  Because with each episode this show answers some of your questions, and then gives you twice as many.  So not having to wait a week between episodes, or months between season finales and premieres is great.  Because this show will take over your mind, and not let you stop thinking about it. The ending got mixed reactions, but it my opinion it ended the way that it should have.  But that's just me, form your own opinion when you watch the show.


Arrested Development (4 Seasons)


One of, if not the most cleverly written shows in the history of television.  Every single character has their own unique personality and would be the funniest character on any other show.  But on AD it's hard to pick a funniest character.  You kind of just love everyone, including the tons of side characters and celebrity cameos.  This show is also better with multiple viewings, you'll catch jokes you might have missed the first time, and change your favorite character each time.  So I recommend you binge watch this show several times.


The Office [US] (9 Seasons)


Steve Carell's Michael Scott is one of the funniest characters you'll see on a TV show.  Each episode is filled with endless quotes, and like HIMYM, some episodes are not afraid to bring the feels as well.  If you get through the first season and don't want to watch this entire show immediately, then I guess you just don't enjoy humor or know what jokes are.  But that's what we have dramas for, so it's totally fine.


Mad Men (5 Seasons)


One of the most critically rewarded television shows ever, Mad Men makes a story about a bunch of advertisers from the 50's really interesting.  Mixing actual events of the time with the fictional drama of the show is interesting.  This show does the opposite of what shows like Arrested Development and Parks and Rec does, in that you don't love all of the characters.  Actually you'll find very few characters that you'll love.  But you do care about what happens to all of them.  If you haven't seen Mad Men yet, maybe it's time for you to check out what all of the fuss is about.  And by 'maybe' I mean it absolutely is time for you to check out what all of the fuss is about.


Cheers (11 Seasons)


A lot of these shows are very serialized, the good thing about Cheers is that for the most part you can pretty much come in at any time, and not be too lost.  I wanted to give one suggestion of a show where you can watch it in order, or you can pick out episodes that look good and watch those.  But obviously I recommend you watch them in order from start to finish.  Cheers is one of the most enduring comedies, in that some of today's generation will enjoy it.  And so will the generation that grew up with this show.


There you go, 10 shows for you all to binge watch.  Keep in mind that there are plenty of shows that I left off for reasons such as not having many episodes even though I really enjoy it (Louie, Bob's Burgers), there are some shows that I have been meaning to watch that I haven't gotten around to yet (Friday Night Lights, The West Wing, Freaks and Geeks, etc.) and some shows that I loved the first 4 seasons of, but the last 4 seasons tasted like rotten dough (Dexter, Dexter, Dexter).  So if you think I should have had different show on my list, let me know in the comments.

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