7 Shows I Really Love

I remember when I was younger, my parents would limit my time watching TV to weekends. During the week, we were focused on school, so we weren’t allowed to watch TV. I think this helped immensely. I’m guessing the only exception to the no-TV rule was Oprah Winfrey’s show on ABC on weekdays. Oprah would often talk about important topics such as nutrition, getting out of debt and managing finances, and various disturbing life experiences, such as the woman who went to an ATM at night and had to beat up a man who assaulted her and claimed to be her husband. I loved a lot of Arthur and Between the Lions, and as I’ve grown older, I’m becoming more addicted to YouTube, which is technically TV to me. I am also starting to binge-watch a lot of shows. I always get this heavy feeling when a show is over, but then I understand that these people need to move on in their careers and do other stuff. These are a few of the TV shows I have binge-watched these past few years:

1. Blackish: This was a really good show. I was sad when it ended but also understood that the actors needed to move on and do other things. It’s about a middle-class African American family living in Los Angeles who are trying to navigate living in a predominantly white neighborhood. Dre is the father of four (and later five) kids: twins Jack and Diane, his teenage son, Junior, his teenage daughter, Zoey, and his baby son, Devante. Dre’s parents, Pops and Ruby, live together with the family and they are hilarious. The show has some funny moments but also brings up serious issues, like one episode where Dre and his coworkers debated about the 2016 election and another where they are addressing police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Dre also works as the only Black person in his department (until Wanda Sykes pops in some of the episodes to call out Stevens and Lido on their shit. Those moments were priceless.) so he has to navigate a lot of microaggressions and ignorance from his white coworkers and boss. I think one of my favorite episodes was “The Nod,” in which Dre and Pops teach Junior the importance of nodding to another Black person as a form of acknowledgement.
2. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. At first, I didn’t know if I would be interested in it, but then I watched the first episode, and the minute Midge got onstage and started drunkenly talking about her husband having an affair with his secretary, flashed her breasts and got arrested, I was hooked. What I love about this show is that it showed me that failure is necessary for success. Midge fails many times during her standup career, but she learns what works and doesn’t and becomes a successful comedian through lots of trial and error. She also stays true to herself and remains down-to-earth, even when society tells her that she needs to fit their expectations. I remember one episode that stuck with me was when Midge meets this famous comedian named Sophie Lennon. Sophie has this gimmick she does where she pretends to be working class and from Queens, but in real life Sophie lives in a mansion and is very wealthy, and also incredibly pretentious. She tells Midge that to survive the competitive male-dominated world of comedy, she needs a gimmick and can’t be true to herself, but Midge proves her wrong because even though people don’t warm up to her at first, they eventually do, and they realize that she is in fact very funny.
3. Downton Abbey. I remember seeing my mother watch this show a lot in May 2022 because it was going off of Netflix. I didn’t understand what the big deal was at first, other than that I kept hearing people talking about it. When in my cello lesson, my music teacher referenced the mood that a piece was trying to convey as being like Downton Abbey. The minute I watched the show, though, I could see why people liked it so much. Each character has such an interesting and rich backstory, and it wasn’t just about the wealthy Crawley and Grantham family but also about the butlers, the footmen and the chambermaids who work for them every day. At the time, I developed a crush on the actor who plays Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier). I got really attracted to his dark hair and tall stature, and so I kept looking up interviews about him because I thought he was really cute. Also the music was incredible; I really love the music during the scene where Mary and Matthew fall in love in the rain (the song playing is called “Such Good Luck”). I also love the friendship between Isobel and the Dowager Countess, and the competition between Denker and Spratt.
4. Ted Lasso. I am so glad I got the Apple TV as a gift because watching Ted Lasso was a Godsend. Also, the same actor who plays Spratt in Downton Abbey is the same actor who plays Leslie Higgins in Ted Lasso (Jeremy Swift). I really love Ro Kent’s character. If you haven’t seen Ted Lasso, it’s about an American football coach named Ted who goes to England to coach a football league called AFC Richmond, despite not having any prior experience coaching UK football. He encounters a lot of obstacles when he first starts coaching, to the point where everyone is flipping him the bird and shouting at him a certain six-letter word (hint: it rhymes with “banker”), but over time people learn to appreciate his dedication to AFC Richmond. I also love the show because it addresses the importance of getting help when you struggle with your mental health. Ted suffers from panic attacks, and at first, he is reluctant to get help, even when Dr. Fieldstone keeps hinting to him that he may need to make an appointment to see her, and he laughs it off like it’s no big deal. But he realizes over the course of the show that even as he is taking care of and encouraging others, he needs to take care of himself, too. As someone who has been in a dark place with my mental health, I learned the hard way that toughing out a depressive episode or a nervous breakdown isn’t a great (or safe) thing to do in the long run, and delaying getting the help you need only makes the situation worse. There have been many times when I thought, I don’t need therapy, I’m fine! I can figure this shit out on my own! Or when I was first referred to a psychiatrist to get on medication, I freaked out and ended my therapy appointments. I often waited until I had gone through a crisis, until I was on the very edge, to ask for professional help, and honestly looking back, I would have trusted my gut sooner when it told me that all those periods of isolation and withdrawal from others, thoughts of death, lack of energy and appetite fluctuations, and loss of interest in hobbies and activities were probably a sign of something more intense than just “I’m sad.” I think that is why watching Ted Lasso encouraged me because it shows that seeking professional help and being honest about what you’re going through with other people can be a scary experience, especially because there can still be stigma around getting help, but it’s necessary for healing from these painful experiences. Which brings me to my next pick…
5. Shrinking: After watching Ted Lasso I was so excited to find out that Brett Goldstein, who plays Roy Kent on the show, was on the writer’s team for Shrinking. Shrinking is another Apple TV show and it’s about a therapist named Jimmy who is grieving the death of his wife, Tia, and figuring out how to show up for his patients in the best way. He also has a strained relationship with his teenage daughter, Alice, who is also grieving the death of her mom. His colleagues, Paul and Gaby, help him navigate through his grief even when going through their own challenges as therapists. However, they also are not happy when he goes against the grain and decides to get more involved in his patients’ personal lives by spending time with them. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it backfires, but Jimmy develops genuine connections with his patients, namely a man named Sean, who keeps getting into fights and suffers from anger management issues. The writing of this show is absolutely brilliant, and each character has a unique personality. It also reminded me that therapists aren’t just therapists; at the end of the day, they are human beings with their own problems and worries. Honestly, after watching this show and other shows about therapy, I have more appreciation for the work that therapists have to do. Listening and helping people navigate complex issues such as trauma, grief, sexuality, and relationships isn’t easy and compassion fatigue is real, so that’s why I appreciate the work therapists do.
6. Bridgerton. I kept hearing about this show a lot, and I finally decided I wanted to watch it to see what all the buzz was about. I admit, I have only read the first couple of books in the novel series, but I am anticipating season 3 of the show. I thought it was cool that Shonda Rimes was able to create this world of Bridgerton. It is the most racially diverse period drama I have seen in a while. Also, I really love it because the actress who plays Eloise Bridgerton is a Buddhist like me. She has this really awesome interview on Shondaland about how she used her practice of Nichiren Buddhism to overcome her challenges with mental health and become an actress. The interview really encouraged me.
7. Succession. I am going to be honest, this was one of the more difficult series to get through. It seemed on the surface like a bunch of mean-spirited backstabbing and other shenanigans, but I love satire and dark comedy and this show is definitely a dark comedy. It’s about a multimillion-dollar media family named the Roys who argue with their dad, Logan, about who will succeed him as CEO if Logan becomes incapacitated or passes away. While none of the characters are necessarily great people, the show gives a glimpse into their humanity and each actor really brings the character to life. I started watching it after the show got numerous awards at the Emmys, Golden Globes and SAG-AFTRA awards. I wanted to see what the buzz was about, and at first I couldn’t get into the pilot episode, but as I watched the intrigues and the arguments and the suspense unfold, I couldn’t stop watching the show. I was also cooped up indoors during the time I watched it, and wasn’t going out much, so I had a perfect excuse to binge-watch the show. If I could have done it differently, though, I probably would have watched the show over a series of weeks. It’s emotionally intense, especially towards the end (no spoilers, I promise), so by the end I was pretty exhausted. I think the most interesting character relationship dynamic is between Tom and Greg, to be honest. Tom acts like this super confident person, but he treats Greg like a subordinate, and Greg also lacks self-confidence so he later on in the show becomes a pretty corrupt character. It kind of reminded me of when Nate Shelley in Ted Lasso became egotistical and tore up Ted’s Believe sign. He was a sweet character at the beginning, but he never got his dad’s approval, so he got upset and took it out on Ted. However, Nate redeems himself eventually after picking up an old hobby he loved. Greg is sweet and naïve at the beginning, but even he is trying to gain Logan’s approval and a taste of power at Waystar- Royco and he ends up following in Tom’s footsteps to chase after that power. I did fall in love with Greg’s affinity for California Pizza Kitchen in season 1, though. The music by Nicholas Britell in this show is absolutely incredible, too. The theme always gives me goosebumps because it’s so powerful. It’s this genius blend of hip-hop and classical and conveys the power and ambition that the Roy family and the other characters crave throughout the show. The writing is also really good.