My TV Recommendations
Updated: May 3, 2020
I take great pride in my TV recs because I'm ALWAYS watching a new show. Here are my current favourites
Horror
American Horror Story
I've been a fan of this show since the beginning! American Horror Story (sometimes abbreviated as AHS) is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. There are 8 seasons with a ninth on the way, each with a different storyline and theme. Some seasons draw from real life events such as The Black Dahlia, Ed Gein, and John Wayne Gacy. Some seasons overlap or crossover and there are theories that somehow they are all connected. Here are the Seasons broken down, you don't need to watch all of them to understand season-by-season, but I would suggest it because its a great show all around.
1. Murder House
one of my favourite seasons. A classic with a side teen romance storyline that I'm kinda a sucker for...
2. Asylum
My all-time favourite season of the show. This season was more on the true crime side than sci-fi.
3. Coven
Hilarious and reminiscent of the show creators' other horror TV show, Scream Queens. This season has various levels and is full of powerful ladies. Another favourite of mine
4. Freak Show
This season I didn't enjoy with the exception of the Twisty the clown storyline (and this scene in particular).
5. Hotel
This season was a miss for me, but Lady Gaga's starring role was it's saving grace. I feel like this one lacked a linear storyline which made it less successful as previous seasons
6. Roanoke
I loved this season! Right when you thought it was done, It took off in a whole new direction!
7. Cult
This season came out right as I had finished watching the previous seasons for a third time. The storyline was confusing and went off on multiple tangents, but made an explicit political commentary on the climate of Trump's America following the 2016 Presidential Election
8. Apocalypse
This was the first season to explicitly depict a crossover between seasons. I was intrigued the whole time but I was left wanting more!
9. 1984
it appears as though this season takes place at a summer camp and pulls inspiration from Stephen King's 1984. The promo vid shows a slasher style preview playing on top of a Billie Eilish song, so for those reasons, I'm all ears.
Haunting of Hill House
This show MESSED WITH MY HEAD. It is the smartest, most well-produced television show I have ever seen. If you ask my roommates, they'll tell you that the show made me go insane, but I think that its all part of its intrigue. It was not full of cheap jump scares, it was thoughtful and chilling. A notable chapter is Episode 6 Two Storms, which featured a 17 minute long clip, uncut, transitioning between timelines seamlessly.
Watch Haunting of Hill House on Netflix
Drama
Scandal
Scandal is a Shonda Rhimes classic that delves deep into the life of Olivia Pope, 'Political Fixer'. This show is fast paced and always keeps you on edge, yearning for the next episode.
Watch Scandal on Netflix
How to Get Away with Murder
This show is badass. It takes place at a law school in which professor and defence lawyer extraordinaire Annalise Keating creates a team of students to assist her clients in their murder cases. It's filled with dramatic courtroom scenes, thrilling storylines, and all-around badassery.
Watch How to Get Away with Murder on Netflix
Suits
Suits is another Law drama but the twist is that one of the best associates never went to law school. Plus, it features everyones favourite princess, Meghan Markle
Watch Suits on Netflix
Orange is The New Black
When this show was being released, I would stay up each release date in July beginning from 2013 and binge the entire season in one day. It is a complex story and social commentary on many social justice issues while following a shining ensemble cast. Each character is fully fleshed out and all of the questions you have are neatly packaged in a dramatic and hilarious way. The show borders the line of comedy and drama but is a satisfying watch with either lens.
Dynasty
Dynasty is a recreation of an old TV show that has been modernized for 2019. You follow the lives of the 1% through this dramatic, glamorous Netflix series.
Watch Dynasty on Netflix
Mindhunter
This series is lesser known but it is phenomenal nonetheless. It follows FBI agents in their search for serial killers by analyzing the psychology behind murder.
Watch Mindhunter on Netflix
Euphoria
This new series is raw, real, and beautifully shot. Every scene feels dreamy and the whole cast is irresistible.
Outer Banks
This show has it all, from treasure hunting, to romance, to murder. It is beautifully shot and well written. It is laidback and beachy, following a group of unsupervised teens searching for a missing dad and a $400 million treasure. It addresses a struggle between two opposing classes and where they stand in their small town in a sleek and smart manner.
Teen TV
The Carrie Diaries
This show has been completely overlooked but it is gold! It's a prequel to the Sex and The City franchise and follows high school Carrie Bradshaw through her first job at a big New York City magazine. It is perfectly rounded in terms of romance, fashion, and drama!
The Bold Type
I stumbled upon this show via an Instagram ad and let me tell you, those creepy algorithms know me so well! 3 Best friends work at a fashion magazine comparable to Vogue or Cosmo and it tackles huge social issues! In a nutshell: its The Devil Wears Prada but if everyone was nice.
Clueless
This is another well kept seceret of the small screen. Clueless (TV) was a sitcom adaptation of the cult classic cultural phenomenon that was Clueless (Film). It is super cheesy and 90s AF.
Gossip Girl
This is a show I always return to. A dramatic classic that follows the fabulous lives of the teenage Upper-East-Siders, all while their lives are being logged online by an anonymous Gossip Girl.
Watch Gossip Girl on Netflix
Thriller/Psychological
The OA
This show was recommended to me by my Mom! It is a total mindf**k that jumps between timelines and dimensions. It deals with kidnappings, sci-fi, and supernatural powers. I don't even know how to sum it up, so I guess you'll just have to watch and see for yourself...
Watch The OA on Netflix
Chambers
Chambers is the first TV show to have a Native American woman as the lead, and I must say, she is pretty badass. The premise is, that the main character recieves a heart transplant and begins to feel the things of the person that her heart originally belonged to. There are supernatural and dare I say, demonic elements that occur throughout this mystery and it was another one of those shows that I had to sit through and watch the whole thing in one sitting.
Watch Chambers on Netflix
The Society
The society pulled me in based on the trailer alone (its set to a Billie Eilish song so can you blame me?). It's like Lord of the Flies and Lost, but if High School students were left to fend for themselves in their hometown. Could you imagine being trapped in a place and your graduating class were the only living people on earth? Yikes. They have to self-govern and tensions rise, because nobody knows what is going on. I'm dying to see the next season.
Watch The Society on Netflix
You
When this show aired, it was what everyone was talking about. It is an adaptation of Caroline Kepnes' book of the same name. It is about this crazy stalker boy that falls in love with this (irrefutably annoying) girl in New York City. Basically, the main chracter Joe, is just Dan Humphrey (Gossip Girl) on crack.
Watch You on Netflix
Black Mirror
Black Mirror is the foundation in which my university program (Media Information and Technoculture) is built upon. It is a sci-fi anthology series (none of the episodes connect) that is the "what-if" of any technology.
My favourite episode is Playtest, so if you just want to dip your toes in the Black Mirror water, start there.
Watch Black Mirror on Netflix
Bates Motel
Based on the iconic horror film Psycho, this series follows teen Norman Bates as his life and mental health spins out of control and his mother tries to get him the help he needs. It gets creepy, weird, and twisted- Rihanna even makes a cameo at one point!
Docu-Drama
The Act
This show is the story that everybody could not stop talking about this
year. This show is chilling, thrilling, and completely immersive. I watched it all in one sitting. It follows the true story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard and the torture she endured at the hands of her mother until she finally snapped.
Watch The Act on Hulu
American Crime Story: The People v. OJ Simpson
This classic murder trial was perfectly put to our screens in this drama featuring an American Horror Story favourite, Sarah Paulson
Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
I did a full analysis on Fyre Festival's Fiery downfall and the political economy of media analysis on this, check that out here. But between the Hulu and Netflix Docs, the Netflix one reigns supreme as the more entertaining one (you've probably seen the memes of Andy King all over twitter). This is a must-watch for everyone who loves the media realm or anyone who just wants to see some millenial party go up in flames (pun intended).
Watch Fyre on Netflix
When They See Us
This 4 part series was incredibly hard to watch, but it is a must-see. It outlines the story of "The Central Park Five" and the injustices they faced at the hands of the American justice system. This story is raw, gruesome, and chilling, but integral in our understanding of how racism is perpetuated through policing and prosecution.
Watch When They See Us on Netflix
Tiger King
This is truly the most insane docuseries I have ever seen. You never know what direction it is going to go in, even the director states during the series, they were filming an entirely different storyline before the presented one emerged. It is much more than you would think, following eccentric big cat owners and the danger and legal troubles they find themselves in. But one question remains after finishing the series... Did Carole Baskin kill her husband?
Don't Fuck With Cats
A criminal's gruesome videos emerge online brutalizing the internet's favourite animals: cats. A Facebook group of amateur detectives get to the bottom of the case using various forms of online surveillance methods and sleuthing to catch the criminal, but not before the killer moves on to brutalizing humans.
Comedy
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
I'm not usually a sitcom fan, but Brooklyn Nine-Nine follows the comedic lives of New York City Detectives in the funniest way possible. It's a casual watching show, but it keeps you invested in the characters and their roles. The show has such loyal fans that their social media engagement saved it from cancellation this year.
Watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine on Netflix
I hope you love these shows as much as I did. Let me know in the comments what you thought, and if you have any suggestions for me!
xoxo
Alysha Autumn