While all of your favorite TV shows on broadcast networks are on summer hiatus (come back soon, “This Is Us”!), it’s the perfect time to catch up on shows that you might have been neglecting.
And there’s no better way to catch up on shows than to binge watch everything that you have missed or didn’t know about on Netflix.
With new TV shows, documentaries, movies and more constantly getting added to Netflix, it’s hard to pick and choose which programs to invest some serious Netflix and chill time into.
'Evil Genius'
Were you a fan of the true crime documentary series “Making A Murderer”? If you binged on that, then you will zip through this new documentary series about the true story of the “Pizza Bomber,” and the allegations and arrests that followed.
With just four episodes, “Evil Genius” is the perfect weekend binge. There are enough twists and turns that will leave you on the edge of your couch until the next bombshell is revealed.
'Arrested Development'
When Netflix decided to resurrect the beloved TV show "Arrested Development" for a fourth season after being off the air since 2006, fans of the show rejoiced that the Bluth family was coming back. The excitement quickly went away once fans realized that the new fourth season was pretty lackluster.
Despite a boring fourth season, Netflix brought the Bluths back for season five and hopes are high. The first couple of episodes deal with cleaning up the mess that was season four, but once new plots are introduced, it feels like the Bluth family is finally the Bluth family again.
'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'
Creator Tina Fey is back with her wacky cast of outcasts for a fourth season of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” a show about a woman trying to build her life back together after being rescued from an underground doomsday bunker and being held captive by a crazy preacher.
Fey and her crew of writers do an incredible job at tackling the various cultural moments of 2018 like #MeToo, Donald Trump and even everyone’s obsession with true crime documentary series (see “Evil Genius” above).
And just like Fey’s previous show “30 Rock,” “Kimmy Schmidt” is so tightly packed with jokes and zingers that you need to watch each episode twice because you surely missed a joke or two.
'Nailed It'
Netflix has explored the cooking world with series such as “Chef’s Table” and “Ugly Delicious,” but none of these series can compare to the hilarity and pure joy that is “Nailed It.”
Based off the popular hashtag “nailed it,” the show plays with the idea of ordinary bakers making beautiful yet incredibly challenging Instagram-worthy cakes and bakes. Most professionals probably couldn’t finish the cake challenges in time on “Nailed It,” which is why it’s so fun to see regular people attempt the impossible.
The best part about the show is that everyone does an awful job, and the judges really don’t care! The judges’ critiques are always positive and nice, even if it the cake looks like a pile of mush with frosting smothered all over. Everyone on “Nailed It” is just having fun, something we rarely see on reality competition shows.
'The Break with Michelle Wolf'
If any comic is going to be known as 2018’s breakout star, it’s gotta be Michelle Wolf. After giving a hilarious (although some would beg to differ) performance at this year’s White House Correspondents Dinner, Wolf is primed to bring late night TV to Netflix.
With new episodes coming out each week, Wolf tackles the hot topics of the week with her unique brand of comedy and hilarious sensibility. She is also one of the few woman comics hosting her own late-night show, something that is still a problem in 2018.
'Ali Wong: Hard Knock Wife'
Netflix is certainly making a name for itself in the original scripted TV show department, but the network is slowly becoming the best place for comedians to showcase their standup specials, and no other comedian has made a bigger splash than Ali Wong.
Wong’s first special, “Baby Cobra,” is a remarkable set, filled with hilarious stories and jokes about her husband, career and family — all centered on her Asian heritage. Oh, and she was extremely pregnant filming the special.
In her second special, “Hard Knock Wife,” Wong is back with cathartic tales of motherhood and marriage, all the while pregnant again with her second child. Any mother who has felt the lows and highs of childbirth and raising a baby will surely find an ally in Wong.
'Queer Eye'
In the age of TV show reboots (RIP “Roseanne”), no other show has been more successful and beloved than Netflix’s reboot of the groundbreaking Bravo series “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.”
Now rebranded as just “Queer Eye,” the makeover reality show follows a group of five gay men as they give makeovers to straight and other gay men who need more than just a new wardrobe. The “Fab 5” give these men a new sense of confidence, all the while connecting them to a group of queer men with whom they normally would never have thought they had anything in common.
Every episode is a feel-good tearjerker that will remind you that despite all of our differences, people of different groups can still come together and find common ground.
'Flint Town'
The police force in Flint, Michigan used to have around 300 officers, but when viewers are transported to Flint in November of 2015 in the docuseries “Flint Town,” there are only 98 officers.
That striking statistic is the groundwork for this series that shows the difficult job of the Flint Police Department as it deals with a city that has growing unemployment, poverty and having its water poisoned due to a negligent government.
One would normally get to see the struggles that the citizens and police officers of Flint have to deal with, but “Flint Town” draws back the curtain to reveal an ugly truth about class, racism and poverty.
'Our Souls at Night'
It’s always a match made in heaven when Jane Fonda and Robert Redford reunite on the silver screen, even after not appearing together in a film for 39 years.
Fonda's and Redford’s characters are next door neighbors who both also happen to be widowed. The two decide to sleep in bed together platonically, until a beautiful relationship is born. “Our Souls at Night” is special because audiences rarely get to see people of a certain age portrayed in movies or TV other than as a sweet-loving grandma or strict grandpa.
In “Our Souls at Night,” Redford and Fonda’s characters are three-dimensional and vulnerable, opening up about finding love during your last chapter of life and making sacrifices for your family.
'The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes'
TV shows about incredibly expensive homes that most of us could never afford create this fantasy and escapism that we often crave from TV, but “The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes” takes that formula and turns it up 10 notches. The four-episode series follows architect Piers Taylor and actress and “property enthusiast” Caroline Quentin as they travel the world to literally find the world’s most extraordinary homes.
What sets this show apart from other reality programs is the appreciation for the architecture of each of the homes. Hosts Taylor and Quentin know a lot about architecture, and they explain to the audience who the architects made the decisions they did when designing and building the home.
Happy Binging!
