The Best Shows to Binge-Watch on Netflix

By Danica Krenson on March 13, 2013

We all have those days where all we want to do is lay in bed and watch hour after hour of our favorite shows. Now that Netflix has expanded its repertoire of TV shows on Watch Instantly it’s become even easier! Netflix charges $7 per month for access to both Watch Instantly and mailing DVDs to your house (two at a time), and I personally think it’s one of the best investments you can make. However, I’d recommend checking with your parents to see if they’ve signed up for membership already, as multiple users can use the same account as long as they have the password. This can become a problem with mooching friends or roommates who might casually ask for your parents’ passwords. Regardless of how you access Netflix, here is a list of great shows that are perfect to binge watch, whether it be for the first time or revisiting a favorite.

1. Parks and Recreation

This mockumentary is currently one of my favorite shows ever. It’s only thirty minutes long, and Netflix has four seasons on Watch Instantly. Amy Poehler stars as an unfailingly positive government worker who never gives up. Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Adam Scott and Rob Lowe also star. If you haven’t seen the show, suffice to say that you will LITERALLY laugh out loud and quickly become hooked. If you are already a fan, then you obviously caught my Chris Traeger reference and know that nothing is sexier than fingerless gloves (except maybe turkey chili).

2. How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother (or HIMYM, as my friends and I call it) is also thirty minutes long, and Netflix has seven seasons for you to watch. The show has almost a cult following, and the reason is this: the characters are hilarious and likeable, and the storylines sometimes carry over seasons, which leave viewers hooked and feeling included. It stars Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Neil Patrick Harris, Cobie Smulders, and Alyson Hannigan as five best friends living in New York City. If you haven’t given it a try, prepare to become hooked!

3. Law & Order: SVU

Even though channels like USA and TNT seem like they air it 24/7, I would recommend watching it on Netflix because you can watch them in order and you can pause episodes and come back to them. This show is highly addictive, and while the main characters are likeable and have arching storylines, the best part about this show is that you don’t need to have watched the whole series to understand the plot of one episode. These episodes are one hour in length, which means you have to commit more time to watching, and unlike sitcoms or other kinds of shows you actually have to pay attention to the plot in order to follow it.

4. Say Yes to the Dress

This one is for my fellow wedding enthusiasts. The show is set in Kleinfeld’s, a bridal department store in New York City. Over the course of each thirty-minute episode, the viewer gets to follow two to three brides-to-be as they try on wedding dresses in search of the one that makes them say “yes”. There is usually a theme to each episode, such as “overbearing mothers” or “bringing the fiancée”, and it’s always interesting to see the different family dynamics, as well as obviously the gorgeous different types of dresses. This one is good to have on in the background as you procrastinate doing homework.

 

5. Keeping Up With The Kardashians/Laguna Beach/The Hills

Come on, you know you secretly love shows like this. We love to mock the people who watch them and the people on them, but they covertly hook you into the ridiculous storylines and keep you coming back for more. Plus, it’s always good to know who the people on the cover of US Weekly and People Magazine are. Again, these shows are good to keep on in the background while you “do homework”. My only complaint is that for some reason, Netflix only has the first season of Laguna Beach on Watch Instantly, and though that’s the best season they really need to add the last two.

Honorable Mention: Friends

Friends is a great show, so who knows why Netflix doesn’t have it. I bet if they added it to Watch Instantly and advertised this fact, people would sign up just to revisit Rachel, Joey, Ross, Phoebe, Monica, and Chandler.

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