Recently, I received an email from K, who asked, “I was wondering if you could do a TV show or Movie recommendation list. I have a few shows I’d like to share and I’m looking for new ones to try.”
This blew my mind because I’d already tentatively scheduled some open threads about tv, films, and streaming shows you love. We love to know what you’re reading but I’m also curious about what you’re watching!
K offered the following four recs to get us started:
- Acapulco on Apple+ is fantastic. It makes me happy. The characters are so likeable.
- Extraordinary Attorney Woo on Netflix is one we binge watched. Our daughter lives in Seoul and recommended it.
- The Peripheral on Amazon has Westworld vibes.
- House of the Dragon is our new favorite. Love it even more than Game of Thrones.
That is some solid hours of television right there.
From my world, I’m between tv shows right now. We tune in on Friday nights to watch The Great British Bake Off on Netflix each week, and we just finished watching the most recent season of Junior Bake Off that’s available on Netflix – specifically the season hosted by Liam Charles and Ravneet Gil. They’re so, so fantastic as hosts.
I’m also curious about New Scandinavian Cooking, which appears to combine regional cuisine and hefty portions of travel p0rn, starting in Norway, which I understand is like the most unattractive, uninteresting, extremely most boring place to look at, nature-wise (Kidding!).
What about you? Whatcha watching and loving lately?
Oh yes, I watched Extraordinary Attorney Woo recently and it is just delightful! Great characters and the sweetest romance ever.
Other than that, I would always encourage more people to watch Severance on Apple+. Funny and creepy, a wonderful cast, lovely queer romance and a season finale that will knock your socks off.
The show is a few years old, but I just discovered Ghosts on HBO Max – original British comedy, not the American remake. It’s making me so happy! It’s feel good and very silly and one of few shows that makes me actually laugh out loud.
I hate the “family friendly” moniker for content in general because it’s too often coded to the religious right’s version of what is appropriate for children, but Ghosts is actually a great family show. It has a good mix of slapstick visual humor, jokes and an underlying found family vibe.
What We do in the Shadows on Disney + is bloody funny(awful pun).
Only Murders in the building on Disney + as well is sweet and funny.I’ve always loved Steve Martin and Martin Short. And now I’m a Selena Gomez fan as well. The chemistry between the 3 actors is perfect.
I don’t love what I’ve seen so far on season 5 of the Crown. Different writers maybe?
K has outstanding taste! After several years of avoiding watching anything on screen (audiobooks are much more mobile and deliberate than tv), I recently tried again with Netflix. I ran across Extraordinary Attorney Woo, which *is* extraordinary, binge watched it, and tentatively began to explore more. I sampled several more K-dramas, but found nothing was as good as Extraordinary Attorney Woo, although Tomorrow and The Sound of Magic kept my interest for at least six episodes each. [The biggest problem with non-English language vids is that one has to *watch* them rather than listen and do other things.] Also recommended: Shadow Bone, Enola Holmes 1 and 2, GBBO, and Junior Bake Off.
Derry Girls on Netflix – I’m saving the last episode because I don’t want it to be over.
Bad Sisters on Apple+ – what a fantastic ensemble of actors! The storyline is fantastic (John Paul really is a twat) and I haven’t guessed how it all went down yet. Again, I’m saving the last episode because I don’t want it to be over.
@kim….Derry Girls is an exceptional show. Every character is memorable. The scenes with Uncle Colm are cringeworthy and funny because haven’t we all known an Uncle Colm.
@Qualasign….you might like Crash Landing on you. It’s another k drama/comedy and was hugely popular in South Korea.
If anyone is in Canada, CBC Gem is pretty great. They have all the pre-ITV/Netflix seasons of the GBBO, and other international shows like Ghosts UK. It’s also free with ads.
Netflix
– The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell from a few years ago is a seasonal rewatch for me. I will warn that despite having Jim Henson company puppets it is an adult show both in terms of sexual jokes and jokes about violence. I also don’t know if she’s problematic or not outside this series.
– Dash and Lily, based on the YA novel series, is set entirely during Christmas so it’s probably still too early for a lot of people, but it’s cute and has a pretty good soundtrack.
I love this idea since I watch sooo many shows. 🙂
— MISS SCARLET AND THE DUKE on PBS: If you like Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, you should check out this show about a female private detective in London. Although, sadly, the Duke is just a nickname and not an actual duke, but he does smolder quite nicely. LOL.
— RESIDENT ALIEN: I’ve only watched the first season so far, but this is such a funny show. I don’t see how the actors keep straight faces through their scenes.
— WALKER: INDEPENDENCE: I love westerns, and I’m enjoying this one. I kind of want them to put Abby and the sheriff together (depending on something the sheriff might/might not have done), although I doubt it will happen. But the sheriff is shaping up to be a complicated villain, which I love.
— Holiday rom-coms: I watch a lot (all?) of them. If anyone needs a recommendation, let me know. So far this year, I have really liked GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS ALWAYS and NOEL NEXT DOOR on the Hallmark Channel.
One that I love, but can only recommend to very specific people is MINX on HBOMax. A young woman starts a magazine in the 1970s that is a mix of Ms. and Playgirl. There is a LOT of male nudity; also female friendships and sex positivity (the lead character is on a bit of journey with that, that seems appropriate to the time and place and is well handled). I also liked JULIA, THE GILDED AGE, and HACKS on the same network.
On Peacock, RUTHERFORD FALLS is excellent–sadly only two seasons, but those are great.
On Disney, SHE-HULK was a lot of fun and very funny.
On Amazon Prime, UPLOAD was a lighter favorite.
One that is a bit harder to find but worth it is AMERICAN PRINCESS. A young woman runs away from her very fancy wedding and joins up with a Renaissance Faire troupe. It’s on Hoopla for free if your library offers that or you can get it from the various streaming services for a fee.
We went through a phase of watching all the Star Wars stuff on Disney+ which IMO is a lot of same-o but when we got to ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ I was like FINALLY here’s one with actual CHARACTERS.
We watch all of the Marvel stuff. (DH watches the violent/dark stuff by himself.) I enjoyed She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel; ‘Shang-chi’ is my favorite Marvel movie to date. Also fyi Simu Liu’s memoir ‘We Were Dreamers’ is really quite good.
Personal on-my-own watching is very gay. I’m up to season 10 of RuPaul’s Drag Race; recently re-watched ‘Fire Island’ and ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie;’ and also finally got to ‘Love, Simon’ and an ensemble short feature called ‘Shared Rooms.’
Plus, now and forever, ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ which has had a likable cast this season. Even the one from ‘Jersey Shore’ seemed like a nice guy. 🙂
I’m pretty obsessed with Hallmark movies. Some of them are terrible, but there are quite a few that are really a lot of fun. And some of them are so bad they are good. I agree with Jennifer about Ghosts of Christmas Always which was terrific. I also had a lot of fun with A Kismet Christmas. Hallmark will have their first ever Kwanzaa movie later on this year which I’m looking forward to, and they’ve had a few good Hanukkah movies the last couple years as well so I’m looking forward to that movie as well. They have been doing better on their representation and for me it’s the most reliable source of romance genre films (although occasionally they break the rules in a way that I don’t enjoy) that I’ve been able to find.
We are half way through Reboot on Disney – great concept, funny and surprising depth in places.
Highly recommend the Great Canadian Baking Show. I feel it has more of the light-hearted charm and sense of humor that GBBO is missing nowadays. Bonus points for being incredibly diverse across the board, especially this recent season.
I don’t generally watch TV (I don’t have TIME) but I make an exception for the new “sequel” to Quantum Leap. I loved the old series but the new version has an overarching mystery (which we slowly piece together along with the MC as his erased memory slowly fills in), a broader, complex and inclusive cast, and the same mix of humor and heart, science and intuition. Apparently a lot of people agreed with me because it has already been renewed for the spring season. Full first season currently available to stream on Peacock.
Currently enjoying Magpie Murders on PBS (based on Anthony Horowitz’s book, which I loved). Also, The Rescue on Disney+ is a NatGeo documentary on the Thai cave rescue that’s really good.
As a family, we watch a lot of competition TV. We watched all of BattleBots on Tubi/Discovery+, which sparked a lot of conversations about best robot design. I even made a small 1-lb robot (antweight) that we are going to fight soon. My family (husband and tween/teen boys) have been slightly shocked that after doing all the work of researching kits/components and planning it out, and I’m insisting that I’m the chief builder, team captain and final decision maker. But I know if I don’t, they’ll take over and push me out of the process entirely. I will let one of them drive- all those years of video game playing should be worth something. My fantasy is to get a team of all menopausal women to build as actual BattleBot.
We also got really into Blown Away- the glassmaking competition on Netflix. It sparked some good conversations about gender in the workplace and technical expertise vs overall artistic vision.
LegoMasters is another fun one. Even if you are not into Lego, the recent episode (streaming on Foxnow) where they build different dog breeds based on live models is adorable fun.
I make no apologies (!), but I am obsessed with RuPaul’s Drag Race. Its latest series is in the UK and showing on the BBC. A glorious celebration of creativity, body-positivity and inclusivity. I laugh, I cry and am completely won over. (And possibly secretly wish that I too could become a magical creature through the power of drag!). There was a lovely article by the author Alice O’Keefe, published a few years ago, about how a woman, it gives her so much joy too. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/21/rupaul-drag-race-queens-masks-contestants
Aargh, that should read “as a woman” . . .
I’ve been having trouble concentrating on TV shows lately, so I’ve basically been mainlining the Antiques Roadtrip on PBS Passport. Hits all the right buttons for me and I don’t have to focus too intently.
I am also enjoying Magpie Murders.
I’m slowly getting through the live action adaptation of the manga/anime Erased on Netflix. Its one of the few live actions I can think of that seems as good as the anime did, but it is definitely not for everyone (cw: child abuse, sexual assault, murder.)
Finished up Only Murders in the Building a while back and second (third?) the rec: it’s very clever and funny. On Hulu I also really love Abbot Elementary.
For those fans of Extraordinary Attorney Woo (I loved it!), if you liked Park Eun Bin I recommend checking her out in The King’s Affection (Netflix). It’s a very different style kdrama (historical) and it’s one of my all-time faves. She plays a woman who for Reasons has to live as her twin brother, the crown prince. It’s super queer (I maintain that the hero is canonically bi and I will die on that hill) and Park Eun Bin is amazing in it.
I recently started watching WEDDING SEASON on Hulu. It is billed as an action comedy romance thriller, and it is ticking all the boxes. We meet the main characters when Stefan steps up to object at Katie’s wedding. It then moves back and forth through time telling the story of how they met, why he thinks his objection would be welcome and what happens afterward when the groom and his entire family… No, you should just watch it.
I finally got all caught up on THE WALKING DEAD. Two more episodes and our merry band of survivors go their separate ways.
Working my way through the Star Wars franchise in chronological order. Currently in the middle of Clone Wars animated series, which doesn’t seem to have a strong narrative thread, but I’m only halfway through the first season.
Saturday mornings are reserved for THE WINE SHOW on AMC+. Matthew Goode (Downtown Abbey, The Crown, A Discovery of Witches) and Matthew Rhys (Burnt, The Americans, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) travel around Europe learning about wine. And drinking it. I now have a wish list for bottles that are beyond my usual price range, but I’ll spend the money on if I come across them.
My perennial recommend that is amazing and not enough people seem to know about is We Are Lady Parts – should be on demand if you have TV, or I stream it through Peacock. LOVE IT – diversity, fantastic songs and covers, and an adorable romance. And there should be a season 2 coming at some point. And more YA with no season 2, but Netflix’s Julie and the Phantoms also had fantastic music and a couple cute romance plots.
I also love female-lead mystery series and my library has all the Acorn stuff through Hoopla and on DVD, so I have been binging:
My Life is Murder
Madame Blanc
Sister Boniface
Whitstable Pearl
Harry Wild
Signora Volpe
And the new Enola Holmes that just came out was fantastic too…
HOLIDAY WARS on the Food Network. I have a free preview of FN this month, thank goodness, because my friend’s wife is one of the contestants (cake artist Kim!).
When I need a soft landing at the end of a rough week, I find myself turning to THE REPAIR SHOP on Makeful (Canada), orginally a BBC production. From Wikipedia: “Each episode follows professional craftspeople from around the country who restore family heirlooms that have sentimental value for their owners.” I love to see the reaction when someone gets back a beautifully restored bear/clock/vase/painting/chair/uniform/ship’s radio/whatever that used to belong to mom/great-grandpa/crazy uncle Bob/whoever. Warm fuzzies every time.
MISMATCHED!! The adaptation of When Dimple Met Rishi on Netflix is SO GOOD!!
In addition to many excellent suggestions above (We Are Lady Parts, Severance, Only Murders in the Building, What We Do In the Shadows, Abbott Elementary), I just watched The Afterparty on Apple+. It’s a humorous whodunnit, with each episode being the version of events from another character’s distinctive point of view. A lot of fun.
another BAD SISTERS recommendation! Twisty Irish Earl Had To Die with Sharon Horgan!
Bad Sisters on AppleTV. Four Irish sisters plot to do away with sister no. 5’s rotten husband. Much amusement and only a little suspense ensues
Indian Matchmaking on NF. The Bachelor/ette with Bangra! Like watching a train wreck that is far enough away to be not quite so disturbing.
@Kris, What We Do in the Shadows, etc. are on Hulu in the US, not Disney+. Just in case anyone who doesn’t have the bundle is getting excited, lol.
@chacha1, all the SW stuff on Disney+ has been fantastic, Book of Boba included! Definitely lots of great characters, ACTUAL ones, even, in all of them :)))
I really had fun with Vampire Academy, though I have to say that terrible thing: “it takes a couple episodes to get going”. Pains me. But it was fun and I liked all the romances, and whatever Plec’s history in TV I like that she’s interested in not making the same mistakes twice. So while it is a slightly bonkers show, I am going to likely watch more.
Sandman and Rings of Power were both even better than I’d hoped/expected. News that Sandman will get “more stories adapted” is the one thing keeping me from being %100 spitting mad at Netflix for not going with Henry for season four of The Witcher (assuming, not unreasonably, that if they’d made time for him and hired better writers/creatives he’d have stuck around.)
I also really liked the first episode of Interview with the Vampire, though I’m not sure if it’s what I’m in the mood for right now. I am not a huge fan of the books, but from what I can see of the changes they’re making it’s all good calls. Esp making the romantic subtext text. There’s a beautiful meta conversation in the first episode that’s basically justifying a new adaptation that really rings true…
Oh, and for the nature-minded: Super/Natural and Secrets of the Whales on Disney+ and Earth at Night on AppleTV+ have both been very nice. Going to watch Frozen Planet II soon as well.
New season isn’t for awhile, but I really enjoy EVIL on paramount plus. I think season 1 is still available on Netflix. Season 1 is much more reserved and ambiguous. Seasons 2 & 3 really lean into the freedom afforded by streaming and are a bit more explicit, and also the paranormal elements are now more concrete.
Not exactly light holiday viewing buuuut… I like it!
No doubt this is a “huh” or “duh”, but it goes to “if you haven’t read it, it’s new” as I am watching Bones, on season 4 currently. Talk about slow burn. I am thoroughly enjoying it. I am able to watch all the gory parts except one episode, bc of the light touch.
I couple it with Abbot Elementary and The Extraordinary Attorney Woo(love). Also enjoyed Mo, The Bear and Shrill. Not a super hero in the bunch unless it Bones and Booth. Okay okay, the teachers are def heroes!
If anyone likes horror, I recently subscribed to Shudder. I am trying to narrow down choices for a weekend marathon. I think I may start with the movie, Glorious!
I am not a watcher so have no recommendations, but I wanted to say hello to K as I also have a daughter who lives in Seoul.
If you enjoy Acapulco, the show creator also did Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, which is fantastic! It’s on Roku, only 2 seasons (sadly), but they did get a Christmas movie last year, Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas!
I’m still riding the high of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. My caveats are that it’s best to either not know anything beyond the movies/main books (or be able to let go of all the specific details of the Silmarillion), and to be willing to spend time in that world, even if it’s not plot movement all the time. It’s so beautiful, and the characters/actors all have great chemistry with each other.
For something completely different, I think Girls5Eva is just absolutely delightful. A ridiculously high density of jokes and super catchy songs in short, breezy episodes!
@kareni…one day I hope to go visit. She tells us the food is the best.
Not “new” exactly, but I’m currently hearing “The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity and Madness” podcast.
Somebody said it’s has elements from The Magnus Archives podcast and Murderbot, and so far (midSeason Two) it is holding up to that.
Watched all 3 seasons of Derry Girls last week. The show is great fun, but sometimes the teenagers were a bit frenetic and exhausting – so true to life! I wound up love, love, loving Sister Michael’s deadpan reactions to them (and everyone else).
Also recommend the holiday episode of The Great British Baking Show with the cast of Derry Girls. It’s a bit startling how much the actors’ personalities are similar to the ones they portrayed, although maybe they are just channeling their former lives as Clare, Erin, Michelle, James, and Sister Michael.
https://www.netflix.com/watch/81001577?trackId=14277283&tctx=-97%2C-97%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C81013505
TED LASSO over and over and over again.