FEEL GOOD TV TO WATCH WHEN FEELING DOWN.
APRIL 23, 2020
No doubt when you’re not refreshing your Instagram every 10 minutes, taking 6 walks a day, baking bread from scratch or making yourself 57 snacks to eat in a day, your other hobby during self isolation has been binge watching television shows. It’s definitely been mine, I went from watching pretty much zero TV to watching every single series that ever existed.
For many of us, everything that’s going on in the world is a lot to digest and creates anxiety. Combine that with not being able to see family and friends, you have the perfect ingredients to make your spirit feel pretty sad and down, and the longer the lockdown goes on for the sadder our spirits can get. I don’t want to say I’m an expert at having a sad spirit, but that’s kind of how I feel given the last year and a half I’ve lived. I know when I needed a pick me up, I would turn to some of my favourite good ol’ faithful comedy or feel good TV series. When you can’t create your own laughs, a comedy show is perfect to get you smiling.
I’ve always, always, tackled every hard situation with humour and advocate that laughter is the best medicine. I still 100% believe this even after all I’ve gone through, and think these shows will help you laugh your ass off and feel a little lighter after a few binge sessions. With that being said, remember everything in moderation! Make sure to do other things in between your binge sessions, otherwise that can get your spirits down even more. Cook a meal from scratch in between seasons, take a walk mid way through your binge, bake some fresh muffins to enjoy when you pick up your binge session in the evening.
If you know me outside of the blog, you know this is my “go to” show to make me feel better. I don’t care what you say, it’s the funniest show ever and has the best catchphrases I reference often for laughs. Also I have a, weird, huge crush on Jason Bateman. Anyone else? Those unfamiliar with the show, it’s about a wealthy family that falls to grace after the father is arrested for fraud. Jason Bateman is the main character, and the only normal one, who no matter how much he wants to escape his insane family always ends up coming back out of loyalty and love for them.
I will give a fair warning, the first 3 seasons produced by Fox are the best. The fourth season by Netflix is a shit show and not all that funny, I recall being very disappointed when I watched it and haven’t watched it since. I’d perhaps just skip the fourth season all together to be honest, basically no more than 2 cast members share a scene together. So bizarre, and it was because none of the actors could get their schedules matched up to film the show together. I honestly didn’t even realize there was now a 5th season. I might give it a shot because, well, self isolation… I’ll update once I’ve given it a go.
This one seems obvious and do I really need to tell you why you need to watch Friends?
If you’ve been living under a rock and have no idea what Friends is, it’s about a group of 6, I believe mid to late twenties, friends (duh) living in New York city. It’s where the “Rachel haircut” came from, I always wished for thick hair so I could pull off that hair style! *sobs about it still*
This cast of characters is SO good, literally. It is seriously so HARD to pick who your favourite is from this show. Is it Leslie Knope and her super energetic optimism? Is it Ron and his love of eggs and bacon? Ben, your nerd crush? Donna and her self love over everything attitude? Chris Traeger, who is basically the male version of Leslie. Literally. Jean-Ralphio? Li’l Sebastian? Literally, I dare you to pick a favourite. You can’t.
The show centers around Amy Poehler’s character, Leslie, the director of a town called Pawnee’s Parks & Recreation department.
As funny as this show is, literally, there are so many episodes that touch your heart, so you get the laughs plus the feel good from this series. If you don’t want to invest in watching all 7 seasons of the show, which I don’t understand why you wouldn’t. You, LIT-ER-ALLY, have so much time on your hands right now, but if you for some reason don’t have time on your hands just watch Season 3 Episode 13 “The Fight”. It may, literally, be one of the funniest episodes of television ever. Though there’s another episode from another show, which yes I’m including on this list, that might be the funniest episode of television ever.
Also, if you are a fan of Parks & Recreation you get why I’ve used the word “literally” so much. If you’ve never watched it, I assume this is annoying? Literally.
Ok, not a scripted comedy television show, but these fab five are hilarious in their antics. More importantly, it’s such a heartwarming show to watch, a good for the soul series. You’ll cry tears of sadness and happiness, probably in the same episode, you’ll laugh and be smiling all by yourself while you watch it. Also, hi Antoni is Canadian and we gotta support our Canadian BAE.
New Girl
Sadly, this one is going to be the hardest to find for binging. I have NO idea what service streams it, so you might have to illegally rewatch this one.
I love the concept of this show, Jess gets dumped and end’s up moving into a loft with 3 boys. My teenage self’s dream for my future would have been to live in a loft with a bunch of crazy boy roommates. Whose with me?
There is a season where Jess leaves (Zooey Deschanel was having a baby in real life, or something like that) and Megan Fox comes in as the temporary girl roommate. It was a bit odd but still has it’s funny moments and flows with the rest of the seasons somehow. If you can’t find the full series, just see if you can find the episode “Background Check”. It’s a cluster fuck of craziness and I laugh out loud every time I watch it. To me, it’s probably the funniest episode of television I’ve ever seen. I really enjoy chaotic humour and this delivers that.
I think the title speaks for itself, it’s about the modern mother. One who has a career and is trying to juggle motherhood. Honestly, if you are currently working from home and being your child’s daycare provider or teacher AND mother for the day, you are going to love this show right now! There’s realism and relatable scenarios for any working mother, there are swear words, pooping, vomiting, lice, nudity and laugh out louds. You can catch all seasons on CBC Gem or Crave TV, if you can’t access either of those I believe the first 3 seasons are on Netflix.
I hope if you watch any of these shows, or just one of them, they make you laugh and feel as good as I do after watching them.
Do you think I missed any must watches on my list? I know I’ll have a ton of you come at me with where’s “The Office”? I just never could get into that one. I don’t know why? Maybe too much awkwardness? I have a lot of issues enjoying something when there are super awkward scenes or plots.