Today I am delighted to share with you a guest post from Diane Zakaria. You can find Diane at Nomad Seeks Home and she is sharing her favourite shows to binge watch:
My Favourite Shows To Binge Watch
Sometimes there’s nothing better than settling down with a blanket on the sofa and having a series marathon of some awesome show. Over the years I’ve watched so many – some with my fiancé and some by myself – but there are always a few I’ll come back to to re-watch.
Friends
1994 – 2004
Source: http://uproxx.com/tv/thanksgiving/
I’ll keep this short and sweet as there are very few people who haven’t watched Friends. My fiancé is one of them but he unknowingly will end up watching it one day if I have anything to do with it. Friends is like comfort food. It gave me unrealistic expectations of what my twenties would be like and I loved it. I used to watch it so much as a teen that I knew all the words and would always score high in a Friends quiz. It’s been a few years since my last marathon (damn you E4) but all the DVDs sit on my shelf waiting for next time. And there will be a next time.
Green wing
2004 – 2006
Source: http://bestofbritish.tumblr.com/tagged/green+wing/page/2
A bit of British weirdness. I have only met a handful of people who actually enjoyed this show but it’s always been a firm favourite with me. All about doctors and other people who work in a hospital, its full of weird and wonderful characters that all interact with each other in hilarious storylines and sketches. They could have probably made it into a sketch show but I like how there is an overall storyline to it.
It’s also quite unique in the way that it’s shot. At some points, the film will speed up or slow down to emphasise what’s going on in the scene. I’ve never seen anything else like it. My favourite characters are Alan Statham; the most awkward radiologist the world has ever seen, and Sue White; the maddest staff liaisons officer you will ever come across. She once led a camel through the hospital.
It’s a bit of a marmite program but I was obsessed and I recommend at least giving a couple of episodes a watch.
The Office (US)
2005 – 2013
Admittedly, I used to complain about the US Office for years without ever having seen it. I think it just came out frustration of the long line of British shows that the USA took and ruined. I’m looking at you Skins, Shameless and The Inbetweeners. But I’m happy to say that this is one that they didn’t ruin.
One day last year I ran out of things to watch and saw it was on Netflix so I finally decided to give it a go. I really wanted to hate it and I did during the first episode, which was essentially a word for word copy of the British one. But after the first episode was out of the way, I will gladly admit that it made me laugh. Once it steered away from the British version it had me hooked. I think I got up to about season 6 when my fiancé finally agreed to watch with me. So we started from the beginning and loved it. We have so many in jokes now from it!
Once we got up to season 5 it was removed from Netflix so we did something we haven’t done in years. We bought the DVD box set. That’s how good it is! My personal favourite characters are Dwight Shrute; the hardworking beet farmer/paper salesman who is obsessed with becoming manager of the office and Creed; the oldest guy in the office who isn’t entirely sure what it is he does there and also appears to have a sketchy past…and present.
Black books
2000 – 2004
Source: http://soyonsdesinvoltes.tumblr.com/post/9413056850
Another British one for you. If you’re a fan of Bill Bailey or Dylan Moran and haven’t seen this then I suggest you do immediately. It’s all about a cranky alcoholic man called Bernard who runs a book shop with his assistant Manny and their neighbor who stops by a lot called Fran. All you think about during the episodes is “How is this book shop still open?” The characters get into all sorts of high jinx’s and it always gets me laughing. It’s something I’ve introduced a lot of friends to and all of them have loved it!
New Girl
2011 – Present
Source: http://newgirlthings.tumblr.com
Back over the pond for another sitcom. This is another one I have introduced a lot of people to who have ended up loving it. It stars Zooey Deschanel and is about a girl who after a breakup needs a place to live and ends up in a loft with three men in LA. She’s weird and they aren’t. But as things move along, it turns out they’re all as mad as each other and end up in the strangest situations.
Now I will admit that I wasn’t expecting much from this when it started a few years ago – especially with the caption “She’s Adorkable”, but I was pleasantly surprised by how funny it was. It’s different from other ensemble cast sitcoms I’ve seen before and a few of the storylines were quite unique. Have you ever seen a show where a guy meets an old Korean man who doesn’t talk and they end up at a swimming pool – see photo above. It gets weird!
It’s still currently airing and though I’m not so sure if it’s as good now as the first season, I still really enjoy it. Plus my fiancé watched it and liked it, which is pretty impressive considering he hates a lot of things I watch!
So those are just a few of my favourites out of many but I’m always looking for more new things to marathon. What’s your favourite TV show – past or present?
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