Three Shows You Need To Binge Watch this Weekend

This is going to sound totally lame, but sometimes the best part of my week is spent sitting in front of the television. Last night was the season finale of Empire and I was seriously looking forward to spending two hours sitting on the sofa eating mozzarella bites. Like, there was nothing I wanted more.

I’m going to go ahead and chalk that eager laziness up to the fact that TV is so good right now. Of course there’s the “prestige” shows like House of Cards and Game of Thrones with their lofty plotlines, stellar casts and high production values. But there have also been a few solid not-prestige but also not-trashy series kicking off this year. And that genre, I think, is perfectly suited to binge watching.

Empire (Fox)

If your biggest gripe about having a day job is the fact that you’re not home to watch soaps, Empire is your jam (and apparently, the jam of 71 percent of black women aged 18-49). People are calling it “the black Dynasty” because, yes, it’s a prime time soap centered around a successful family of back-stabby hip hop moguls. But it is so much more than that. The characters on the show are all so complex, and you’ll be almost forced to pick a different favorite every week. (Mine is Hakeem, currently. Or maybe Jamal. I don’t even know!)

Hindsight (VH1)

I am a marketers dream. After the first commercial spot for Hindsight aired last year, I set the DVR to record the season. I’m just that impressionable. Most of the shows I impulse-record fall flat, but not Hindsight. I was pulled in by the premise of a modern girl traveling back in time to re-live her 90’s life (complete with Ace of Base and clothes straight out of the Delia*s catalog), but what kept me watching was the twisting story lines. Becca has lived this life before, but every move she makes (having learned from her past) might actually change the future she knows.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)

This show is the ultimate binge watch. Tons of laughs. Ridiculous plot lines. Hilarious reaction shots. Short episodes. A late-in-the-season cameo from Tina Fey. What more do you need in a series? Ellie Kemper from The Office plays Kimmy, a former mole woman who has just been rescued from the bunker she shared for 12 years with her kidnapper and three other sister wives. After a media tour in New York City, she decides to make a go of it with a new life in NYC.

 

Each of these shows just wrapped up their first season, and all are available to watch right now online. So, naturally, I’m done with all of them. Anybody have a binge watch suggestion for me?