TV shows don’t need to be something just to laugh about and relax. It can also bring many important topics into discussion and make you think about what’s going on in the world – in a humorous and soft way (or not).
So, if you wanna know some of the options to add to your list and have something new to share with your friends, here we go!
#1 – Dear White People
This Netflix hit is a very critical show about racism and discrimination. In the first season we’re introduced to Sam, Troy, Lionel, Coco, Joelle and Reggie, a group of black students in a predominantly white Ivy League college.
Sam has a program on the campus’ radio called “Dear White People”, which she uses as her channel to speak up about her experiences as a women of color. After an event called “the blackface party”, the group realizes that racism is still a thing at a campus that’s not nearly as “post-racial” as it thinks.
Every episode focus on one of the characters telling their story. The Netflix show is based on a movie with the same title.
#2 – Las Chicas Del Cable
Las Chicas Del Cable (Cable Girls, in English) is the first Netflix original show produced in Spain. With a feminist speech, it tells the story of four young telephone operators in the middle 1920’s.
Lidia, Ángeles, Marga and Carlota work at the National Telephone Company of Madrid and, as women in the search of independence, they know what misogyny looks like. Each of them has their own issues and romantic interests, but their friendship is the most important topic and, no matter what, these women all come together to help one another.
The show tell us about many controversial topics such as domestic violence, polyamorous relationship, gender identity, abortion and, of course, feminism. Because of that – and many other reasons – this show it’s a must see on this list!
#3 – The Handmaid’s Tale
The Handmaid’s Tale is set in the dystopian future of Republic of Gilead, former US, where a authoritarian, theocratic regime took place and moved quickly to consolidate its power and reorganize society along a new militarized, hierarchical model of the biblical Old Testament.
In this society, women’s rights are limited. They are forbidden to read or write and are categorized according to their duties. The story is told by Offred, a Handmaid – class of women kept for reproductive purposes by the ruling class in an age of declining births due to sterility from pollution and sexually transmitted diseases.
The Hulu production won 5 Emmy Awards and 3 Golden Globes. The show is based on a novel, written in 1985 by Margaret Atwood.
#4 – The Fosters
The Fosters is about the story of a family composed by an interracial couple, Stef and Lena, and their kids: Brandon, Stef’s biological son, and the twins Jesus and Marianna, who were adopted as small children.
At the outset of the series, the couple take in two foster children, Callie and Jude, whom they later adopt. The girl is a “troubled” teen with an abusive past whose ways will turn the family lives upside down, and the boy was also mistreated in his previous foster home.
The ABC show ended after 5 seasons, but is on Netflix to remember the importance of family and, first and foremost, is about diversity.
#5 – Atypical
Sam is an 18-year-old boy on the autism spectrum. The whole plot begins when he decides it’s time to find a girlfriend and be more independent. While he is on his journey of self-discovery, the rest of his family must deal with all the changes in their own lives as they all struggle finding out what really means to be normal.
The Netflix show is about empathy and connection with family, friends and romantic interests. But more important than that, is about knowing what defines ourselves and what matters in life – with a little bit of humor, of course.