recommended watching
bout time for another one of these, eh?
Lather, rinse, watch TV, repeat. It’s time for another round-up of recommendations, because by gosh and by golly, "industry contraction” be dashed, stuff is still coming out, some of it good.
The following recs of new-ish shows and movies are organized by the streaming platform where you can find it, for your convenience.
Netflix
Nobody Wants This: It’s the feel-good rom-sitcom of the year! It’s a tiny bit antisemitic! A lot of the humor comes from the characters being mean to one another and the story keeps resolving due to helpful coincidences, but you know what? Damn if the leads don’t have chemistry and damn if I wasn’t charmed af.
The Menendez Brothers: NOT the Ryan Murphy show where they’re incestuous, which looked icky even before I found out he made them incestuous.
This is a documentary. I’ve written before about using Netflix true crime docs as a substitute for learning 20th century history, and this one was no different. I didn’t really know the particulars of the case and I found the series interesting, not just because of the inherently sordid story but also the strangeness of the legal system. Like, you can have a murder trial where you make such a compelling case that you were mentally incapacitated (or whatever the term is) at the time of the killing that it’s actually manslaughter that half the jury believes you and then there’s a mistrial and at the re-do trial they present different evidence, different testimony and don’t even give the jury the option of finding you compromised by your trauma (again, in legal speak) and then you just go to prison….forever!
That’s crazy, bro!
Hulu/Disney Plus
English Teacher: You might recognize series lead Brian Jordan Alvarez from his YouTube web series or TikTok characters, but you don’t need to know him to love this clever comedy about a high school teacher trying to Keep Austin Weird. Abbott Elementary meets Schitt’s Creek. If it doesn’t get renewed for a second season, we riot.
Yes, that blonde is Romy Mars.
High Potential: It’s a murder procedural about a quirky single mom with a genius IQ, and it’s fun! Starring Kaitlin Olson and that handsome guy who is a 9/11 truther.
Peacock
Anatomy of Lies: TV writer pretends to have cancer so she can get hired onto Grey’s Anatomy, then steals everyone else’s trauma and lies for attention. If you don’t think this is worth watching I’m honestly not sure why you’re a subscriber to my Substack, this is so incredibly my shit.
HBO Max
Hacks: It ain’t too late to catch up on Hacks. I have it on good authority the next season is coming sooner rather than later.
Paramount Plus
Frasier: Okay, admittedly I do not have Paramount Plus, but I was able to watch the first couple episodes of the Frasier reboot on YouTube and I liked it? If you have Paramount Plus and have watched the Frasier reboot, let me know your thoughts.
Or you can watch 30 Rock again, that’s always allowed,
Lizzie