BINGE-R #36: 10 Series to Long Weekend Binge

A note from your fellow binger: I’m pretty sure nothing says Easter more than sitting down to watch a show’s entire run over a four day stretch. So today’s BINGE-R takes a break from the usual format to spotlight 10 differing series you can watch in full – depending on your level of commitment – over the long weekend. Please remember to stand up, stretch, and maybe walk around the room every few episodes. Stay healthy on that couch. Thanks, CM.

Just One More Episode: Noel Wells (Rachel) and Aziz Ansari (Dev) in Netflix’s Master of None

3 hours of British self-laceration – Fleabag S1 (Amazon): “Full of offbeat innovation, scabrous humour and daring technique…” [review here]

4 hours of urban reality – Atlanta S1 (SBS on Demand): “It manages to not only be humourous and unsettling, but to twist each quality to serve the other…” [review here]

5 hours of seventies spying – The Game S1 (Netflix): Set in 1972 and liberally doused in the tense, intimate and very British regret of John Le Carre’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, this BBC espionage thriller follows a heartbroken MI5 agent, Joe Lambe (the cruelly handsome Tom Hughes) investigating a covert Soviet plot. It’s marked by personal betrayal and tightly plotted twists, and the five episodes are satisfyingly self-contained.

5 hours of comic skewering – Master of None S1 (Netflix): You can prep for season two of Aziz Ansari’s terrific observational comedy (due May 12) by burning through the first 10 episodes, which match the comedian’s cherry self-deprecation with deceptively astute takes on race, privilege and relationships. Few sitcoms manage to be raucous, funny and tender in the same space.

7 hours of interplanetary conspiracy – The Expanse S1 (Netflix): “This is one of the best science-fiction shows since the genre’s modern benchmark, the Battlestar Galactica reboot…” [review here]

7 hours of nostalgic terror – Stranger Things S1 (Netflix): One of the reasons I started BINGE-R was because I was surprised at how many people who had Netflix accounts but hadn’t even heard of this compelling 1980s science fiction flashback where the strength of adolescent dedication clashes with otherworldly monsters and Matthew Modine’s frightening hair. If you still haven’t seen Stranger Things, now’s the time.

14 hours of life’s rich pageant – Transparent S1 + S2 + S3 (Stan): For me, this is still the best title on any streaming service. An evocative, multi-layered account of a Los Angeles clan whose less than stellar patriarch (Jeffrey Tambor) is transgender and now identifies as a woman, these three seasons go to complex places that unfold and then intertwine each character.

15 hours of heartbreaking humour – Bojack Horseman S1 + S2 + S3 (Netflix): Getting fiercer, funnier, and closer to its true subject of living with depression as the first season unfolds, Bojack Horseman is an anthropomorphic animation about a faded Hollywood equine sitcom star (voiced by the masterful Will Arnett) trying to make sense of his derailed life and career.

18 hours of beguiling alternate history – The Man in the High Castle S1 + S2 (Amazon): “A concept that ruptures the history of the 20th century and turns it into a gripping drama that plays out on an individual level…” [review here]

21 hours that changed television – Twin Peaks S1 + S2 (Stan): It’s 26 years since David Lynch and Mark Frost’s mysterious noir-soap concluded, and with the comeback season due May 22 now’s the time to return to the fictional town where teen Laura Palmer was murdered and everyone was a cause of suspicion. Please note that if you do watch all of Twin Peaks in four days BINGE-R takes no responsibility for the state of your nerves afterwards.

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