As an 8-year-long insomniac, I've watched a lot of Netflix into the wee hours of the morning. Television is something very near and dear to my heart for this exact reason. I've noticed that every couple of weeks everyone is posting all over social media, "I finished ______, what should I watch next on Netflix?!" So I figured I'd bestow my wisdom upon the world, and give a 3-part overview of all of the shows I've watched that you can find on Netflix! Part I is going to be those shows that are right in the middle of comedy and drama. One episode has you laughing without a care in the world, and the next will have you bawling like a baby. Let's do this!
1. FRIENDS
If you haven't watched "Friends" yet... how are you possibly still a human being? This iconic New York City-set sitcom starts out with the all star cast of Jennifer Aniston (Rachel), Courtneney Cox (Monica), David Schwimmer (Ross), Matt LeBlanc (Joey), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe), and Matthew Perry (Chandler), in their early 20s. It follows them through their life and misadventures as the ultimate group of best friends. Falling in and out of love, career choices, marriage, and a few trips out of the state and country that mark big event reveals in the show. For me, this show is the end all be all. I've never loved a show as much as I've loved "Friends," and I've never watched as many re-runs as I have of this 90s legend. If you haven't seen an episode of this yet, get ready to fall in love and make six new best friends.
2. SCRUBS
This is another sitcom that I started watching when it was still on TV, but watched in succession the second it was released on Netflix. I have watched all 182 episodes of "Scrubs" four separate times -- it's that good. This medical/hospital-based sitcom centers around JD's (Zach Braff) thoughts. Each episode is narrated by his inner monologue, beginning when he is an intern to the height of his medical career. He often freezes time and replays a scene as it would have gone in his hyper-imagination. Theses freezes also tend to include his three best friends and co-stars Turk (Donald Faison), Elliot (Sarah Chalke), and Carla (Judy Reyes). And you can't forget JD's reluctant "mentor," Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley), and his arch enemy The Janitor (Neil Flynn). Sometimes what seems like a straight forward comedy can turn into quite the hospital drama, and just like in "Friends," you watch these 20-somethings go through the bulk of their lives together. You'll laugh and cry with them.
3. HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
"HIMYM" is another show that has been a big part of my life, and influenced and inspired me in a lot of ways. This is the only show that I have ever compared to "Friends," because I feel like it's a modern day set up of "Friends," but with a distinct twist. Again, this sitcom starts off with a cast in their 20's living together in New York, Ted (Josh Radnor), Marshall (Jason Segel), Lily (Alyson Hannigan), Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), and Robin (Cobie Smulders). The show is narrated by older, established Ted, the voice of Bob Saget, and always starts out with him talking to his children, telling them the story of how he met their mother. The show's theme, or distinct twist, is that Ted is looking for his dream girl. You know that he finds her eventually, as you see him talking to his kids in the beginning of each episode, but her identity remains a mystery until the very last season of the series. Throughout the show you'll have ideas of who it might be, and clues will be left behind for you to try to follow, but in the end it's one big surprise. In the meantime, while Ted is looking for this girl of his dreams, you watch this group of best friends grow, succeed, and fail together, and fall in love with each of them equally. Between Robin's Canadian pop star background, Marshall's journey to becoming a lawyer, Lily's artist career and mom status, and Barney's buckets of money and playbook full of schemes to pick up women, you'll never be bored all the while rooting for Ted to find the one (which he thinks he has in the first 5 seconds with just about every girl that he meets). Go watch Ted tell his story!
P.S. If you look at my Odyssey profile picture (which is also my headshot,) you'll see just how much I love this show, but only if you watch it to get the reference!
4. BONES
Bones is bad ass. There's no way to get around it. Emily Deschanel is Bones herself, or Dr. Temperance Brennan. David Boreanaz as Special Agent Seeley Booth. What could be better? Dr. Brennan is a forensic anthropologist working at the Jefferson Institute who is approached by SA Booth to consult on a murder case for her expertise with bones (hence, the nickname "Bones"). Her team, which has previously only worked on bodies that have been dead for ages (literally), pitch in, and they all find themselves consulting on fresh murder cases on the daily. Booth and Brennan become a dynamic duo backed up by Angie (Michaela Conlin), an artist turned facial reconstruction specialist, Hodgins (T.J. Thyne), the "bug guy," and eventually Cam (Tamara Taylor,) a previous NY coroner, Sweets (John Francis Daley), a psychologist on a quest to prove himself, and a wide variety of special and interesting interns. The murderers and villains they meet along the way are insane geniuses, but apart from the handful of these reoccurring menaces, every episode is a new and different murder story. The characters are each so individually unique, and so are their skill sets. WATCH THIS if you want to be blown away, left at the very edge of your seat, and laugh in the process.
5. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Ah, it's an oldie but goodie. Buffy is definitely worth watching all the way through. Centered around three high school kids, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Willow (Alyson Hannigan), and Xander (Nicholas Brendan), and their wise supernatural expert and guardian, Rupert Giles (Anthony Head). They spend a lot of time in the library, but also a lot of time kicking the butts of various vampires. Two of which, Angel (David Boreanaz), and Spike (James Masters) become entangled in a love triangle with Buffy herself. Buffy was chosen as the vampire slayer, but her friends come along for the ride and realize that they are also very key to Buffy's success. This show features two great actors, Alyson Hannigan and David Boreanaz, who are both in other shows that I've mentioned. Lily from "How I Met Your Mother," and Seeley Booth from "Bones." It's really interesting watching them work as much younger versions of themselves. You will fall in love with Willow, Xander, Giles, and even the two blood sucking vampires as the show goes on due to their quirks and talents. Watch this! Your 10-year-old self will be proud!
6. GOSSIP GIRL
Alright, so "GG" can get a little bit crazy, but not "Pretty Little Liars" crazy, if you know what I mean. The voice of Kristen Bell starts you off and ends every episode with the words of Gossip Girl herself, but the show focuses on Serena, Blair, Dan, Chuck, and Nate (Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Dayton Badgley, Ed Westwick, and Chace Crawford) along with their parents, friends, and siblings. These New York teen "royals" were born and raised on the Upper East Side, apart from Dan who is from Brooklyn. You get the inside scoop on their amazingly lavish lives, and how Dan compares, and eventually works his way in. "Gossip Girl" has taken it upon her/his self to get the dirt on these five Upper East Siders and post it live to her blog, which everyone who is anyone gets sent directly to their phone. Gossip Girl knows all. Right when they think graduation can't shake her, she announces that she'll be following them to college. Each season starts out at the beginning of the school term, and ends in turn. Eventually, after many twists, turns, backstabbing, and crazy, lavish bad and good deeds that accompany the filthy rich, Gossip Girl is revealed. Go fall in love with their relationships, careers, and ultimately their fierce loyalty to each other (or if you're me, the legend that is Chuck & Blair).
PS - this show is based off of a book series, so you can always get your GG info from those, too! Xoxo!
7. ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK
Okay, so this one has become a Netflix sensation. I myself didn't start watching "OITNB" until just this year. The hype was so big that I almost felt like what was the point? But the ratings don't lie, this show is goooood. This Netflix original series focuses around Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), who landed in a minimum-security women's prison in Connecticut for her association with her drug trafficking ex girlfriend Alex Vause (Laura Prepon). Her fiance Larry (Jason Biggs), is just learning of this entire fiasco, and sends her into prison to do her time with Alex inside. The stories of the other women prisoners are told also, and there are flashbacks featured in every episode with a look into how they all landed themselves in the joint. This show is filled with the FIERCEST cast of women I have ever seen (Uzo Aduba, Natasha Lyonne, Laverne Cox, Taryn Manning, Danielle Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Samira Wiley, Dascha Polanco, Yael Stone, Selenis Leyva, Annie Golden, Madeline Brewer, Michelle Hurst, and recent addition Ruby Rose). Their talent is measureless, and for me it's been an honor to watch them work, even through my TV screen. Accompanied by male and female guards and prison staff, along with Piper's family, and the families of the other prisoners in flashbacks, this show will have you laughing your ass off and bawling like a baby with seconds in between. It is most definitely a must watch.
Now of course, I fall in love with the cast of every show that I watch. That's why I continue to watch them the whole way through! Of course every show has it's share of dramatic moments and comedic relief, but these shows couldn't land in just a drama or comedy genre, because the presence of both is so prominent! Next week I'll go through shows that lean more towards the drama side of things, so check back with me!
xoxo, Court.
