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21st Oct 2020

Eight feel-good binge-watches that aren’t Friends, The Office, or The Simpsons

Rory Cashin

Because we all need the TV equivalent of a hug right now.

We’ve all watched all of Friends, The Simpsons, Father Ted, The Office, Community, Gilmore Girls, 30 Rock, Parks & Rec, Queer Eye, Modern Family, Schitt’s Creek, New Girl, Arrested Development, Gavin & Stacy, Malcolm in the Middle, and Brooklyn 99.

We’ve rewatched most of them, to be honest.

If you’re looking for a new show to binge watch but is guaranteed to leave you in a better mood than when you started it, then we can’t recommend these eight shows enough…

THE GOOD PLACE

53 episodes across four seasons, all available on Netflix.

Four complete strangers find out that they’ve died and are in their own version of heaven, but one of them (the outstandingly funny Kristen Bell) was not a nice person back on Earth and thinks she may be in heaven by accident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfBgT5djaQw

BROAD CITY

50 episodes across five seasons, all available on Prime Video.

Two best friends are trying to “make it” in New York, but their co-dependent relationship often gets in the way more than anything else. If you’re wondering why everyone suddenly started saying “Yaaaaasss queen!”, it is because of this show.

UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT

52 episodes across four seasons, plus one special interactive episode, all available on Netflix.

Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper) is released from an underground bunker after years believing that the world had ended, and moves in with New York’s most fabulous man (Tituss Burgess), and uses her unending optimism to head back out into the big scary world.

EMILY IN PARIS

10 episodes from one season (so far), available on Netflix.

Emily moves to Paris, wears amazing outfits, eats amazing food, goes to amazing parties, and falls in love with handsome men. The biggest hurdle she faces is potentially having to delete her too-popular Instagram account. Everything about this show shouldn’t work, and yet we watched the entire thing over one weekend.

TED LASSO

10 episodes from one season (so far), available on Apple TV+.

A successful American football coach (Jason Sudekis) is hired by an unsuccessful British soccer team to turn their year around. The new show from the creators behind Scrubs is practically overflowing with optimism and can-do energy.

THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE-OFF

Tuesdays at 8pm on Channel 4 (this season), with previous episodes and seasons available on All4.

It is just a group of people baking cakes and breads and stuff, it shouldn’t be THIS addictive. At yet it is, thanks to the delicious end products, the perfect chemistry of the hosts, and the lovely warm feeling you get when you see two people in a competition go out of their way to help each other out.

THE MINDY PROJECT

117 episodes across six seasons, all available on Now TV.

Mindy Kaling stars a doctor trying to balance her work life with her unsuccessful love life, all while surrounded by her quirky New York friends. A perfect addition to the Friends / The Office / Parks & Rec roster of friendly sit-coms.

I LIKE TO WATCH

19 episodes (so far), all available on YouTube.

Drag Race royalty Trixie and Katya sit down and watch Netflix movies and TV shows, and react to what they’re watching. It is essentially Gogglebox with drag queens, but two of the funniest, most insightful drag queens in the world.

READ NEXT: These are the seven best mental health documentaries you can watch right now

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TV