Stuck in the house and wondering what you can put on your binge list? Now that streaming media is widely available, we’re saturated with content, especially with streaming shows that release seasons all at once. Forget those days of waiting for next week’s episode. Now it’s harder to keep a series fresh in our minds while we wait for the next season.
If you are quarantined, fret not. There are a ton of options for indulging in a binge-fest.
Netflix
If you just couldn’t get enough of “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” Netflix released a bonus episode this weekend. However, it hasn’t been met with much fanfare. Forget the fascinating, documentary style of the show and instead prepare for a reality-show-esque follow-up, which many reviews describe as a disappointment.
For another compelling docuseries, watch “How to Fix a Drug Scandal.” This four-part exposé released April 1 offers a scathing look at two crime drug labs in Massachusetts that compromised a mountain of criminal cases with corrupt practices.
Or, catch up with “Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer,” a riveting series that follows a vigilante-led effort to track down a killer after he released gruesome videos on the internet.
Fan-favorite “Ozark” has finally returned with its third season after more than a year of waiting. Starring Jason Bateman, Laura Linney and Julia Garner, “Ozark” follows a family that relocates to the middle-of-nowhere Ozarks and gets caught up in money-laundering, atypical organized crime and drug cartels. We watch as the family’s relationships begin to break down while trying to stay ahead of the game – and alive.
“Unorthodox” is a new addition to the Netflix roster that has gained a lot of momentum in its mere four-episode release. Based on Deborah Feldman’s memoir, “Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots,” this series follows Esther, played by Israeli actor Shira Haas, as she attempts to escape her strict Hasidic community (and her husband) in Brooklyn, only to end up in Berlin and coming to grips with her past.
Amazon Prime
“ZeroZeroZero” merges a gritty, international crime thriller with melodrama and emotionally complex family issues. Originally airing on Italian television in February, this series was released in its entirety March 6 on Prime. Andrea Riseborough, Dane DeHaan and Gabriel Byrne star as the Lynwoods, a US family in the middle of major international drug trades between Mexican and Italian mafias.
For a true crime fix, look no further than the docuseries “Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer.” Maybe you’ve already seen the handful of Bundy-based releases that have hit streaming services in the last year. But this one seeks to tell a new version of the story from the perspective of the women who knew Bundy. The five-part series opens with Elizabeth Kendall asserting: “This story has been told many times by men. Now’s the time to talk about our own story from beginning to end.”
Science fiction newcomer “Tales from the Loop” was added April 3 and all eight episodes might last you through the weekend. Based on the paintings of Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag, this drama mixes robots, time travel and other sci-fi elements with a nostalgic aesthetic of simpler times and an examination of the human condition. But don’t consider it a rehash of (binge-worthy favorite) “Black Mirror.” Showrunner Nathaniel Halpern disagrees with this comparison, telling TheWrap: “It’s not a cynical or bleak show, so it’s certainly like the anti-’Black Mirror.’”
HBO
No, you don’t need a subscription. For a “limited time,” HBO has chosen to release a selection of movies, documentaries and original content for free.
Available on HBO NOW or HBO GO, you can now rewatch “The Sopranos” for the fifth, tenth or twelfth time (whichever count you are on). Assuming we’re all familiar with “The Sopranos” as the greatest show of all time, according to Rolling Stone’s Rob Sheffield – and a figurehead in the category of original content – we also have access to other game-changing HBO shows like “The Wire.”
According to Variety, this critically-acclaimed American crime drama has nearly doubled its viewership during the COVID-19 outbreak. Pitched by showrunner David Simon as “the anti-cop show, a rebellion of sorts against all the horseshit police procedurals afflicting American television,” “The Wire” is catching up with a new generation. It is proving its mettle as the greatest television show ever made, according to the BBC’s Emma Jones.
If you like escapism, you’ll find it among the over-the-top Southern accents and hot vampires and werewolves (and more otherworldly beings) of “True Blood.” Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer and Alexander Skarsgård star in this series. It follows Bon Temps, La. waitress Sookie Stackhouse as she becomes entwined in a supernatural love triangle that exposes her to non-human worlds beyond imagination. Don’t be mistaken – this isn’t “Twilight.” This series has plenty of sex, violence, exploding vampires, backwoods rednecks and attempts at political overtones to stand on its own without any glittering, teenage romance.
Viewers who haven’t had the pleasure of being an HBO subscriber can finally catch up with favorite shows like “Veep,” a political satire starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, or “Six Feet Under,” a compelling melodrama with a focus on death as it profiles a family dealing with life while simultaneously running a funeral home.
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