For many students, Christmas break is a long-awaited and well-deserved rest. For others, it is akin to the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert, but we are fasting from friends, club sports and Midnight Oil. To distract you from your hunger pains, here are a few shows that are perfect for binge-watching.
Gilmore Girls. This is on my personal holiday binge list because I didn’t watch it during its heyday and it has become a national conversation since making a reappearance on Netflix in October. If you missed out on this gem too or want to revisit a staple of the early ‘00s, “Gilmore Girls” is perfect.
Bates Motel. A modern-day prequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic horror flick “Psycho,” this show elaborates on Norman Bates’ unhealthy relationship with his mother and depicts his gradual descent into madness. It hasn’t amassed the audience it deserves, but I expect “Bates Motel” to be a sleeper hit.
The Walking Dead. “The Walking Dead” has always had a cult following, but in the last year it has exploded into a mega-hit that is watched by seemingly 99% of my Twitter feed. It’s not too late to catch up to the bandwagon, though. There have been 59 episodes, a number that can easily be conquered over the break.
If none of those shows grab your attention, here are a few qualities that make a show great binge-watching material:
- The show has been on for some time. Ideal binge shows have several seasons with dozens or even hundreds of episodes. The more material, the better because longer binges are inherently good.
- The show is off the air. It’s better to binge-watch a show if it’s already been cancelled because there’s nothing worse than watching an entire show in one weekend then having to wait for more episodes every single week. Plus, a series finale provides the closure you’ll need to move on to your next binge show.
- The show is critically acclaimed. I’ll give any TV show a chance, but not when I’m looking to binge watch. You’re about to invest a lot of time into this show so you want to make sure it’s worth it. It’s incredibly frustrating to quit a show mid-binge because it took you nine episodes to realize it’s actually terrible.
- If you’re looking for something suspenseful, don’t tell your friends you’re about to watch it. They will spoil it and it will ruin your life.
