Suggestions for the thinking girl, the lazy girl, the tired feminist girl, the unicorn girl and the ‘whoever the fuck I wanna be’ girl.
You know those social conversations where people discuss TV shows, with all those violent scripts of great character plots and many a plot twists, yes those, I am never a part of those conversations. One, because I have never watched them and I have nothing to contribute, two, because they all sound the same — hero is not really the hero, he is the anti-hero and that is SO COOL- WHAM!
It is true and happens most often that I do not find people to talk about the shows I have liked and watched on Netflix, Prime, Hulu or HBO. Usually, I watch a great show and I try to talk about it with people around me and they never seem to understand why I am thrilled about it. And if I like a show very very much, I rarely share it with other people, because I am always so scared they won’t get it and that will hurt me. But of late, I have been thinking that all these great shows deserve to be spoken about and shared.
So here goes my list of watch worthy, amazing, not to be missed shows for people who can get over the usual. I am also including a few shows I watched last year because I do think they need to be on this list.
1. 30 ROCK
I discovered 30 Rock after I became an irrevocable fan of Tina Fey. Liz Lemon is a character that will rock your life. Every character is so well written and is deeply etched in the confines of my memory now. I still remember this scene where Tracy Jordan for his randomness yells at a pigeon, “ Stop eating people’s old french fries, pigeon! Have some self-respect! Don’t you know you can fly?
Now, this is the kind of humor that cracks me up, pushes me down the couch, makes me roll on the floor with laughter and snort through my nose. It is so pathetic and so funny — Tracy Jordan being judgemental of a pigeon, and then questioning its intelligence! Oh man! Of course, one of the most prominent things about the show is Alec Baldwin and his charm. Baldwin’s character is irreplaceable, and if you read Tina’s book “Bossy Pants” you will get to know so many backstories on how he signed up for the show, and her nervousness about roping him in.
Tracy takes the cake for being so effortlessly in your face, Jenna will win you over with her relentless vanity, and Kenneth is a face you will always remember.
To summarize, Liz Lemon is not a character, Liz Lemon is a way of life!
2. Big Little Lies
If 30 rock is my comedy anchor, Big Little lies made me believe in thriller too. I am not one for violence and that deters me from watching most thriller shows. Reese Witherspoon is a huge star in her own right, and someone I deeply admire for the brilliant brands she has created. Check out @Hellosunshine @pacific standard for starters.
Anyways, after a long while, I watched a series in one full shot and enjoyed every bit of it. Four leading ladies, complex and gorgeous in their own ways, their life and all its complications, and above all a secret that forges their friendship. It is absolutely amazing to see female friendships in good light, along with a kickass story plot and brilliant camera work. The background music just adds more power to the beautiful storytelling.
It’s a crazy fucking series! I am telling you ! <3
I once suggested this show to a really close friend of mine, and his response was I usually don’t watch “girl stuff”. I was like what’s “girl stuff”? As you can guess, the conversation that followed wasn’t very friendly, and one many of us have had. Well-intentioned, educated people with wives, mothers, and sisters who like to classify certain kinds of content as girl stuff, just by assuming a few things and hence decidedly proclaims there are not interested in that piece of work. Never mind, its a thriller, never mind it has got a stellar cast and plot, just, because 4 ladies are on the cover( one of which is Nicole Kidman herself!), this man-child just cuts me right there to tell me he doesn’t watch girls stuff. Well, okay then, dude! Whatever.
The most important reason of all — Season 2 features Meryl Streep!
3. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
A brilliant comedy created by the talented Amy Sherman-Palladino, taken to a whole new level by Rachel Brosnahan. Set in an extremely conservative era, where all you see is senseless patriarchy, Midge is a breath of fresh air who looks at everything through a sense of wonder. Right in the first episode, when she and Joel are traveling to the pub downtown in a cab, you get a glimpse of how Midge views the world, and that is so frikking beautiful. I fell in love with the show at that very instant. 🙂
If you like comedy, and you believe women are freaking funny, this has to be on your list.
4. Fleabag
Take something that is dark, undefined, almost disturbing, and put Phoebe Waller — Bridge’s astounding storytelling and acting skills on it, and you have a show that is so original, so moving and so HUMAN, a show like Fleabag. Dark comedy is a hard genre, and much harder when there are real characters with complex emotions, but fleabag features a single woman with a dry wit and an admirable yet almost stupid sense of bravado. I watched the show long before the awards season, some two years back and I tried telling many people to give it a chance. But no one was interested, unless some jerk on a stage announced Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s talent to the world. This is the state of art today! 🙂
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Watch it!
5. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
I must be honest here, I only started with the show because Tina Fey was involved in creating it. The plot of this show is not something you would come across every day. It’s about a girl who was held captive in a bunker along with three other girls, by a psychopath priest (DON DRAPER!!!), gets rescued after 15 YEARS, and moves to New York for a new beginning.
Two episodes in, and you are hooked to the colorful characters, and of course Kimmy. I may have gone in for Tina, but I stayed for Ellie Kemper (Kimmy). She totally and unabashedly owns the show throughout and makes such a complex character convincing enough to be real. Ellie is an excellent actor, and the character is quirky, super optimistic, post-trauma syndrome experiencing, compulsively helping empath, with unidentified rage issues. She pulls it off effortlessly. The other gems are my favorite Jane Krakowski, who is hilarious as the native American woman who finally is ready to embrace her true identity, Titus the talented singer and the diva who keeps the audience enthralled with his wit, and Lillian who will become a friend you will miss coming home to even if on screen. 🙂
Furthermore, I loved the way the show approached sensitive topics like patriarchy, religious beliefs, and #metoo. It was a pleasure to watch!
6. Great News
I have never seen anybody ever talk about this show, at least in my online and offline circles, and I think that is simply because it is such a delight to watch. It is beautifully written, and the cast is on point. Tracey Wigfield is the creator of this show, and some of her previous work includes The Office and 30 Rock. It is about a young woman struggling to make it in a news channel, and her overprotective mom deciding to do an internship in the same company. The star of the show for me, is undoubtedly the mom (Andrea Martin), a pleasure to watch through and through. See, that is why representation matters in every sense. It is so delightful to watch an older woman be the star of a show, and it is just so frikking refreshing.
There aren’t a lot of TV shows that tackle ageism and the barriers between the old and the young, so hilariously, and yet so sensitively. If you want a break from watching teenagers do drugs and get into trouble, watch Carol rock her TV job at the age of 60! 🙂
P.S. Katie is equally brilliant and so wonderful to see someone who looks like any real woman than some typical model turned heroine.
P.P.S. Tina Fey makes an entry in the second season and I cannot get enough of her!
Summing it up!
I am sure I have missed a few good shows that I might have enjoyed. I will be sure to update it as and when I come across more gems. 🙂 I hope you all give a shot to these wonderful characters who will bring you a lot of laughs and joy as they did to me!
