Six Shows To Binge-Watch This Fall

The weather is cooling down a bit and the days are getting shorter, so it seems many people start to spend more time indoors curled up on the couch with a blanket and some popcorn. If that sounds like you, your probably looking for some shows to binge-watch or get into. Here are my recommendations for six shows to binge-watch this fall.

The Crown (Netflix)

If you love historical dramas and stories about royalty, The Crown is for you. It tells the inside story of the most famous royal family, The British Family, more specifically Queen Elizabeth II. It’s a well-done series and the actors are so convincing in their roles. There are two seasons available on Netflix with a third season coming November 17, 2019. According to Netflix “The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world — Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.”

The Handmaid’s Tale (US: HULU) (Canada: Crave)

So I just recently got into The Handmaid’s Tale and I’m kicking myself wondering why I didn’t start watching sooner. Based on the novel ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. The show is centred around the experiences of a woman living in a horrible dystopian society called Gilead. Like it’s crazy scary to think about how easy the show makes it the entire thing relatable.

I originally read the novel back in university for a political science course, and even then I remember how unsettled I felt when I realized that the novel is not set in the 1800s but the current day. An infertility epidemic, climate change, and growing traditional-based right movement all created an environment for a society like Gilead. The apathy, the disillusion that what was happening wasn’t really happening, it all reminds me of our society today. It’s creepy.

There are three seasons to binge and trust me, you’ll binge this show…but grab some tissues and some comfort food, you’ll need it.

Stranger Things (Netflix

Stranger Things: A love letter to the ’80s classics that captivated a generation, Stranger Things is set in 1983 Indiana, where a young boy vanishes into thin air. As friends, family and local police search for answers, they are drawn into an extraordinary mystery involving top-secret government experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one very strange little girl.

There are three seasons to watch and I recommend all three of them. The first season is the best one but the other two are pretty good too.

When They See Us (Netflix)

Based on a true story that gripped the country, When They See Us will chronicle the notorious case of five teenagers of colour, labelled the Central Park Five, who were convicted of a rape they did not commit. The four-part limited series will focus on the five teenagers from Harlem — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise. Beginning in the spring of 1989, when the teenagers were first questioned about the incident, the series will span 25 years, highlighting their exoneration in 2002 and the settlement reached with the city of New York in 2014.

I have to be honest, this one was hard to watch. Not because it’s a bad mini-series but because it based on true accounts and I found myself angry and yelling at the tv screen. Oh and shredding lots and lots of tears. I can’t imagine the ordeal these boys and their families when through. I recommend it because I think their stories are important and should be heard, no matter how uncomfortable and angry it makes us.

Chernobyl (HBO)

In April 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics becomes one of the world’s worst man-made catastrophes. This series is so interesting and powerful.

Black Mirror (Netflix)

Black Mirror is an anthology series that taps into our collective unease with the modern world, with each stand-alone episode a sharp, suspenseful tale exploring themes of contemporary techno-paranoia. Without questioning it, technology has transformed all aspects of our lives; in every home; on every desk; in every palm – a plasma screen; a monitor; a Smartphone – a Black Mirror reflecting our 21st Century existence back at us. Each episode is a tale that’ll make you think and leave you feeling uncomfortable, to say the least. It’s worth all the hype it has received and the Black Mirror movie, also on Netflix, is a great interactive film. Yup, I wrote ‘interactive.’ It’s like a pick your own ending book, you are given options as the movie plays and you get to pick the direction of the film. There are various endings too.

I hope you enjoy any of the series above. I’ve enjoyed them very much and hope that you will too.

What series are you binge-watching this fall?