I remember a time long before Netflix, Amazon Red, Zulu, YouTube Channels and Android Boxes when Summer was the worst time of the year for TV – months of repeats until the Fall schedule started … Then again, I also remember a time that your cable box was connected to your TV by a cable cord 😳
All that to say that in this day in age we have a HUGE selection of choices on what to watch … have have MORE CHOICES than ever and it just keeps expanding.
I’m big into binge watching as most of you are I’m sure … one of things I most look forward to on a Friday night is curling up on the couch with a glass of vino and binge watching my fave shows. I’m a fan of most mainstream popular shows but BELIEVE IT OR NOT I have not watched Game of Thrones (I know, I know I could possibly be the only person in the world who does not watch or like this show). I also have not watched The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, House of Cards, Sons of Anarchy or American Idol. I’m more into true crime, suspense or fact based shows … so it’s not surprising that they top my list of binge worthy shows.
And here they are in nor particular order:
1. The Last Kingdom
The year is 872, and many of the separate kingdoms of what we now know as England have fallen to the invading Danes, leaving the great kingdom of Wessex standing alone and defiant under the command of King Alfred. Against this turbulent backdrop lives our hero, Uhtred. Born the son of a Saxon nobleman, he is captured by the Danes and raised as one of their own. Forced to choose between the country of his birth and the people of his upbringing, his loyalties are ever tested. What is he? Saxon or Dane? On a quest to reclaim his birthright, Uhtred must tread a dangerous path between both sides if he is to play his part in the birth of a new nation and, ultimately, recapture his ancestral lands.
This IS my favourite show right now, season 3 was completely insane! Filled with action, amazing story lines and twists and turns that I was not expecting.
The Last Kingdom (BBC), in my opinion, far surpasses Vikings (The History Channel). I do watch both, but I much prefer TLK. The battle scenes are way better in TLK, the costumes are also superior. Vikings offers tremendous characters like Ragnar, Floki, Rollo, Lagertha, Björn and Ivar the Boneless. The reason TLK is better in my opinion, is because Uhtred has far more stacked against him and is fighting for a much bigger prize, the survival and future of England.
Here’s a pretty good summary on this guy’s point of view as to why he prefers TLK over Vikings. And for the record I don’t look to an entertainment network for my history…just enjoy the show.
2. Wild Wild Country
6 episodes on when the world’s most controversial guru (Osho/Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) builds a utopian city deep in the Oregon desert, conflict with the locals escalates into a national scandal. This was definitely binge worthy and doable in 1or 2 sitings. The group settled on the 65,000 acre “Big Muddy Ranch” near Antelope, Oregon. The ranch was renamed Rajneeshpuram (“City of Rajneesh”). This “small, desolate valley twelve miles from Antelope was transformed into a thriving town of 3,000 residents, with a 4,500 foot paved airstrip, a 44 acre reservoir and an 88,000 square foot meeting hall.
At first I was … what’s wrong with this? Why are they being picked on for wanting to start a new city and support themselves? And then … it all becomes quite clear what’s wrong with the whole situation … Def a weekend binge watch.
3. Murdoch Mysteries
The series takes place in Toronto starting in 1895 and follows Det. William Murdoch of the Toronto Constabulary, who solves many of his cases using methods of detection that were unusual at the time. Det. Murdoch is assisted by Inspector Brackenreid, Doctor Julia Ogden, and the Constable George Crabtree.
This show doesn’t fit into my usual type of show to watch, but I definitely get a kick of watching Det. Murdoch solve his mysteries sometimes using the existing technology of his time to improvise a crude prototype of a technology that would be more readily recognizable to the show’s 21st-century audience.
Plus, I think it’s important to support Canadian content.
Click here to read my blog on when Murdoch Mysteries was shooting my my hometown.
4. Our Curious Georgia
Our Curious Georgia – This is the YouTube Channel of Sean and Jazz, who headed to South East Asia with their baby Georgia just in time for her first birthday! They postponed traditional daycare and the standard 9-5 back home in Canada to maximize their family time, travel and explore the world. I love following them as they live and travel throughout SEAsia (Vietnam, Thailand, Bali etc) with their little Georgie – who I have to say is one of the smartest little girls I’ve seen and a super non-picky eater [she eats rambutan, jack fruit and mayanmars (tomatoes lol)].
They are constantly providing us with insight about living overseas, eating vegan and raising their growing family. I usually can’t wait for the weekly new episode and they have been pivotal in inspiring me to live my dream of moving to SEAsia in a couple of years (go May 2020!)
5. Mind Hunter
This program is right up my alley – it’s set in 1977 – in the early days of criminal psychology and criminal profiling at the Federal Bureau of Investigation – it revolves around FBI agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany), along with psychologist Wendy Carr (Anna Torv), who originate the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit within the Training Division. They interview imprisoned serial killers in order to understand how they think, with the hope of applying this knowledge to solving ongoing cases.
Yep, total amazeballs in my books!
6. How to Get Away with Murder
I’m actually re-watching this one right now – I know that there are so many new shows that I’d like to watch and are binge worthy – but this is an insane thriller is one that every one should watch – Viola Davis plays Annalise Keating a brilliant criminal defense professor who along with her Keating 4 become involved in twisted murder plots that promises to change the course of their lives.
It’s non-stop excitement, with with twists, turns and mindfuckery! 5*
7. Dark
Dark is a German science fiction thriller series. Children start disappearing from the fictional German town of Winden, bringing to light the fractured relationships, double lives, and dark past of four families living there, and revealing a mystery that spans three generations. The series follows Jonas Kahnwald, a teenager struggling to cope with his father’s suicide; police officer Ulrich Nielsen, whose brother disappeared 33 years earlier; and police chief Charlotte Doppler. The story begins in 2019 but spreads to include storylines in 1986 and 1953 via time travel, as certain characters of the show’s core families grow aware of the existence of a wormhole in the cave system beneath the local nuclear power plant, which is under the management of the influential Tiedemann family. During the first season, secrets begin to be revealed concerning the Kahnwald, Nielsen, Doppler, and Tiedemann families, and their lives start to crumble as the ties become evident between the missing children and the history of the town and its citizens.
I was more intrigued in the beginning of the series, now it’s getting into some weird time travel, wormhole stuff and that’s not really my jam – although I didn’t mind Stranger Things.
8. This is Us
Ok, who isn’t watching this show?
The series follows the lives of siblings Kevin, Kate, and Randall (the “Big Three”), and their parents Jack and Rebecca Pearson. It takes place in the present and uses flashbacks to show the family during various moments in the past. Kevin and Kate are the two surviving members of a triplet pregnancy, born six weeks premature on Jack’s 36th birthday in 1980; their brother is stillborn. Believing they were meant to have three children, Jack and Rebecca, who are white, decide to adopt Randall, an African American child born the same day and brought to the same hospital after his biological father abandoned him at a fire station. Jack dies when his children are 17.
I’m in love with this family and I wanna marry Jack, the end!
9. Fuller House
Ok, I mean who doesn’t remember and love DJ, Kimmy, Stephanie and Uncle Jesse?
This was a fave of mine in my younger years and I am not gonna lie – I was totally stoked that this show was rebooting. In a continuation of Full House, D.J. Fuller is a mother of three young boys and is a recent widow. D.J.’s sister Stephanie, her best friend Kimmy and Kimmy’s teenage daughter all move in to help raise her sons. The house is now a lot fuller.
Easy watching, cheesy, but morally filled – I still love it!
10. Marcella
I just binged 2 straight seasons of Marcella – amazing show – it’s a British based TV drama based on Marcella Backland who left the Metropolitan Police for the sake of her family, only to have her husband (Jason) leave her. She returns to her job on the murder squad, investigating cases that seems disturbingly familiar to her and experiences episodic amnesia – leaving her dazed and confused. There are only 2 seasons so far.
Total thriller — I binged watched ALL of Season 2 last night. INSANE! I can’t wait to see what comes next for Marcella.
Which show should I binge next?
My Better Life 