Top 5 TV Series We Are Into These Days

I guess since my husband works for a network, we often seem to get asked what we are watching these days.  In the age of on-demand programming, there always seems to be something we are watching, something we are hoping to get too soon, or something we are waiting for to come back.  

Here is what gets me excited these days:

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel   This series is a period piece which takes place in the 1950s.  It is about a married woman with young children (Midge Maisel) who finds unlikely success as a stand-up comic.  She goes against the norms of the day to follow this newfound passion – prejudice against her as a woman in a man’s world, hassles from her parents who thought they had given her the perfect life, etc.  The stand-up is funny, the storylines are interesting, and the period clothing and styles are total eye-candy.

Shameless This series is in its tenth season and it is still interesting.  It is about a Boston Irish family with six children, an absentee mother and a drunk self-absorbed father.  When the kids were little, one could see how they scammed the outside world to survive, but were always loyal to the family.  As they grow older, the now teens and young adults are wrestling with trying to be their own good persons but also still taking on their no-good father’s characteristics in varying degrees.  Great character development and an all-around pretty unique show.

Ozark What happens when a financial planner suddenly finds himself in a pickle with his business when his partner breaks bad? He gets involved in a money laundering scheme with a Mexican drug lord of course.  I am fascinated by the twists and turns in this series while watching the main character stay just one small step ahead of trouble.  Add to that his wife and kids getting into the same and every episode keeps you guessing.

The Walking Dead This is a series that I never would have watched had our son not asked us to watch it with him.  The show portrays life in the months and years that follow a zombie apocalypse.  Some of the gory scenes, especially early on, were really hard to watch.  But now I have become numb to that.  What I really find intriguing about TWD is the psychology of it all: who survives initially and why.  What this new world does to them.  What homeostasis looks like in the apocalypse, etc. 

Finding Your Roots I bet you didn’t see this one coming.  This series is a docuseries exploring the family histories of celebrities.  Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and his team dig through records all over the world to climb back up one’s family tree.  There are always surprises but the thing that amazes me most is how resourceful the research team is.  They navigate through different sources, different languages and country protocols, and even DNA, to make connections.  It is my life’s dream to be on this show if only I could convince Henry that my story would be awesome…

So there you have it, some of the series that keep us up past our bedtime these days.  Would love any input on what to add to our To Watch list!

Eve