SO you\u2019re at home social distancing and now you\u2019ve got a problem: there\u2019s too much stuff to watch, and you don\u2019t know where to start! I know that feeling, but thankfully for you I just finished a PhD on television and part of my \u201cresearch\u201d was watching absolutely everything I could get my little mitts on! So, I thought I\u2019d write you up some of my favourite series as recommendations! I\u2019ll do four categories, depending on what you feel like watching, outlining two recommendations in each category along with a longer list of recommendations sub-categorised by streaming service. ALSO, if you\u2019re looking for a good, FREE, streaming service then look no further than either ABC\u2019s iView or SBS On Demand\u2014they\u2019ve both got an excellent selection and are completely free! SBS On Demand has more internationally famous content, while iView has better Australian content. For each, you just need to register an account, but no card details or anything else like that. Sound good? Let\u2019s go.<\/p>\n
Easy-Breezy<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Quintessential Easy-Breezy <\/strong>series are shows like Friends<\/em>, Seinfeld<\/em>, and The Simpsons<\/em>. These series are things you want to watch without feeling guilty if you start scrolling through your phone or leave the room entirely. That is not to say that they\u2019re vapid or simple\u2014quite the opposite! The very best easy-breezy series are those that are excellent while you\u2019re watching them, but don\u2019t stop making sense if you do something else for a while. You can drop in and out of them at your leisure, but they will continue to be comforting background noise even if you haven\u2019t been watching for the past two hours. Here are my three recommendations!<\/p>\n The Office <\/em><\/strong>(US)<\/em> (Rated M) Available on STAN and Amazon Prime<\/p>\n For my money, I think this might be the best easy-breezy sitcom to ever come out of the United States. Steve Carell is amazing to watch as Michael Scott, the Scranton manager of paper company Dunder Miflin. His incompetence and socially inappropriate personality are as compelling as his heart of gold! The writing can be a bit sloppy in its first season, but from season two onwards it is just dazzling. The reason you watch this series is for the characters, as with any sitcom, who consistently deliver fun stupidity while also being reassuringly heart-warming. If you want a hilarious comedy that never tries to be too deep or meaningful, then The Office <\/em>is a series you should start watching right now!<\/p>\n Episodes to Whet Your Whistle: \u2018<\/strong>Diversity Day\u2019 (Season 1, Episode 2), \u00a0\u2018<\/strong>The Dundies\u2019 (Season 2, Episode 1), \u2018The Injury\u2019 (Season 2, Episode 12), \u2018Casino Night\u2019 (Season 2, Episode 22), \u2018Beach Games\u2019 (Season 3, Episode 22), \u2018Stress Relief\u2019 (Season 5, Episodes 14 and 15).<\/p>\n Peep Show<\/em><\/strong> (UK) <\/em>(Rated MA 15+) Available on STAN<\/p>\n Peep Show<\/em> at its worst is better than most comedies at their best. The first six seasons are amazing, though it is frequently gut churning in their awkward hilarity. It probably shouldn\u2019t be defined as a \u201ccringe comedy\u201d, but sometimes it can be very <\/em>cringey. The humour is very dark, I must warn you, and it\u2019s full of unsavoury content including drug use, depictions of sex, and swearing, but it\u2019s never gratuitous and always enhances the comedy. It\u2019s called Peep Show <\/em>because the series is always filmed from the point-of-view of its characters, usually one of the two protagonists, Mark (David Mitchell) and Jeremy (Robert Webb). They are terrible people with, maybe, hearts of gold? If you want to see if it is for you, start off with the episode \u2018Stag\u2019 (Season 4, Episode 5). Mark is getting married to a woman he doesn\u2019t love, but he is paralysed by his own inadequacies. It all comes to a head when Jeremy takes him away for a stag weekend on a houseboat in the Shropshire Union Canal. The episode involves them meeting a nice family with a young woman who Jeremy starts a relationship with, until he accidentally kills her dog, \u2018Mummy\u2019.<\/p>\n Episodes to Whet Your Whistle: <\/strong>\u2018Warring Factions\u2019 (Season 1, Episode 1), \u2018University Challenge\u2019 (Season 2, Episode 4), \u2018Mugging\u2019 (Season 3, Episode 1), \u2018Stag\u2019 (Season 4, Episode 5), \u2018Jeremy\u2019s Manager\u2019 (Season 5, Episode 5).<\/p>\n Fleabag<\/em><\/strong> (UK) <\/em>(Rated M) Available on Amazon Prime<\/p>\n It\u2019s won awards for a reason! Pheobe Waller-Bridge is an amazing writer, a charming actor, and a makes her pseudo-titular character both sympathetic and unenviable at the same time. She runs a failing caf\u00e9 that she once co-owned with her best friend, whose death is left unexplored beyond the fact that it traumatised Fleabag. Sounds pretty funny, right? Well, trust me it is hilarious, drawing on excellent characters that have no right to be as fleshed out and nuanced as they are, considering that each of the two seasons contain only six episodes, and each episode is less than half an hour in length! I put this on the easy-breezy list only because I re-watch it so much. The first time I watched it I was glued to the screen and no amount of alcoholic swabs could remove me. All you\u2019ll need is six hours from one day of quarantine and you\u2019ll be able to see the entire thing\u2026 And then, like me, you\u2019ll scour the internet looking for a shred of hope that there will be a third season.<\/p>\n Episodes to Whet Your Whistle: <\/strong>There are only twelve, and I recommend watching them all many times.<\/p>\n More Easy-Breezy Recommendations<\/strong><\/p>\n Netflix:<\/strong> Sex Education<\/em>, Santa Clarita Diet<\/em>, Arrested Development<\/em>, Brooklyn Nine-Nine<\/em>, Rick and Morty<\/em>, South Park<\/em>, Feel Good<\/em>, GLOW<\/em>, The Good Place<\/em>, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt<\/em>, Star Trek (TNG, DS9, VOY, Enterprise)<\/em>, That 70s Show<\/em>, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air<\/em>, Avatar: The Last Airbender (NOT THE MOVIE!!)<\/em>.<\/p>\n STAN:<\/strong> Friends<\/em>, Frasier<\/em>, Seinfeld<\/em>, Community<\/em>, Scrubs<\/em>, The Office<\/em>, Parks and Recreation<\/em>, 30 Rock<\/em>, Peep Show<\/em>, Broad City<\/em>, Spaced<\/em>, Friday Night Dinner<\/em>, The Mighty Boosh<\/em>, Red Dwarf<\/em>, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer<\/em>.<\/p>\n Amazon Prime:<\/strong> Fleabag,<\/em> The Marvelous Mrs Maisel<\/em>, Seinfeld<\/em>, Community<\/em>, Monk<\/em>, The Nanny<\/em>, The Office<\/em>, 30 Rock<\/em>, Parks and Recreation<\/em>, Married with Children<\/em>.<\/p>\n SBS On Demand: <\/strong>Faboriginal<\/em>, Future Man<\/em>, The Last Man on Earth<\/em>, Brooklyn Nine-Nine<\/em>, The Orville<\/em>, New Girl<\/em>, The X-Files<\/em>.<\/p>\n ABC iView: <\/strong>Doctor Who<\/em>, This Time with Alan Partridge<\/em>, Hard Quiz<\/em>, Whose Line is it Anyway?<\/em>, Get Krack!n<\/em>, Shaun Micallef\u2019s MAD AS HELL<\/em>.<\/p>\n Other: <\/strong>The Simpsons<\/em>, Curb Your Enthusiasm<\/em>, Dollhouse<\/em>, Moonlighting<\/em>, Nathan For You<\/em>, Review with Forrest Macneil (US)<\/em>, Malcolm in the Middle<\/em>, It\u2019s Always Sunny in Philadelphia<\/em>.<\/p>\n Stay tuned – next Friday I’ll present my list of Binge-Worthy shows\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n All the best, <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SO you\u2019re at home social distancing and now you\u2019ve got a problem: there\u2019s too much stuff to watch, and you don\u2019t know where to start! 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\nPeter Ellis PhD<\/p>\n