This past year hasn’t been easy. Between the anxiety surrounding COVID-19 and the disappointment of cancelled events, I’m always looking for a way to take my mind off things.
Since we’ve been in lockdown for over a year now, I’ve binge-watched a few TV shows to fill the time and to boost my mood. Here are some of my favorites!
I’ve started to think about this past year in three different eras, and I associate each TV show I’ve watched with each part of the past year. First, there was “That 70s Show Quarantine.” I know this sounds silly, but hear me out. Around this time last year, when we were all sent home from Temple, I was sad. Really sad. As I sat in my childhood bedroom and mourned my freshman year of college and the normalcy of everyday life, I needed a distraction. With all this free time on my hands, I decided to try a TV show that I had always wanted to watch, but never got around to. I started That 70s Show. I’m aware of how dramatic this sounds, but it really did turn around that first month of isolating at home. It gave me something to do and something to laugh about, and my mom joined in about halfway through. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. The sitcom follows a group of teens and their shenanigans living in Wisconsin in the late 1970s. I was LOLing nearly every episode.
The second part of last year was “New Girl Quarantine.” I decided to give New Girl a chance in May, so by this time I had fallen into a routine at home and was much more well-adjusted to the new normal. However, with the end of the semester came an abundance of free time. I found myself overthinking anything and everything. Obviously, this isn’t productive or healthy. New Girl became the show I watched to distract myself when any unwelcome thoughts popped into my head. The show follows Jessica Day, a middle school teacher who moves into an apartment with three men after a messy breakup. Not only are the characters quirky and entertaining, but they are genuinely likable people. I found myself rooting for them and becoming invested in their lives and relationships. Especially Nick Miller (New Girl fans know). New Girl also gets bonus points for having a Taylor Swift cameo in one of the episodes, which totally caught me off guard and had me both fangirling and laughing. This is the ultimate comfort show.
The most recent period of COVID-life for me has been “The Good Place Quarantine.” I watched The Good Place over winter break this year. Once again I had more free time to sit with unhappy thoughts after classes ended. It didn’t help that I was disappointed about missing out on my family’s usual Christmas traditions and missing the typical excitement and anticipation of the holiday season. I decided to watch The Good Place, which has such a unique and fascinating concept that initially caught my attention. It didn’t take long for me to warm up to the characters and appreciate the clever writing. The show begins with Eleanor Shellstrop, a young woman from Arizona who wakes up to learn that she has died and gone to The Good Place, which many people would consider heaven. The problem is that Eleanor was not a good person. She would yell at environmental activists outside the grocery store. She was that bad. Eleanor believes she has been sent to The Good Place by mistake and tries to become a better person, but that’s barely scraping the surface. If you like plot twists, lots of jokes, and an emotional ending, definitely give this show a try.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned this past year, it’s to find happiness in the little things. I certainly miss going to concerts, Temple football games, and seeing my friends from closer than six feet away, but I do have a new appreciation for sitting on the couch having a good laugh with my mom, and finding distractions that brighten my day.