12 shows available on Netflix you should watch – Part 1

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Yes, I’ll admit it: I watch shows! I manage to find time, usually between 10pm and 2am (I’m barely joking) a couple nights a week. Unfortunately, I have a hard time finding things to watch on French television, or stuff to watch through my internet provider.

Enters Netflix.

Finding something on Netflix

I trust that by now you know what Netflix is. In France, it only arrived a few years ago (less than 4 years ago). There are almost no competitors in the same price range here.

I personally think Netflix is good and bad at the same time.

If you know what you want to watch, and it’s available: jackpot. However, if you are not sure what you want, or – and that does happen a lot – what you want is not in the Netflix catalog: then you are lost. I have spent an unbelievable amount of time (I might be exaggerating) looking for something: old movies that I’ve been meaning to watch (and based on the fact that the last movie I saw at the movies was in black and white…I’m not kidding: it was the Artist…I’m really not looking for recent movies). When FINALLY, I get something watchable, I’ll just fall asleep once I press play.

Movies are often long (especially if it’s a movie with Jack Black that your husband randomly picked: it’ll feel like a 10-hour long movie). Stopping in the middle with the intention of watching it later does not work. It’ll just stay in your list of things you are watching forever. Sometimes, they go on forever but you still want to see the ending. Why? Maybe because you think you’ll get a medal for having survived such a horrible flick? Maybe it’ll be a story you will tell your grandkids “I once watched Mothers and Daughters and survived!” What could also happen is Netflix will tease you through social media for watching it, as they sometimes do. Even they think their movie catalog sucks.

Anyway, all this to tell you that movies are less and less what I’m into. I’ve always watched TV shows, back when it wasn’t that great to say you had seen all the episodes of such and such show. I guess you can call me a hipster (or a no-life).

Shows for all tastes

To guide you in this constant quest to find the perfect show, I made a list of the shows I enjoy that are worth it. I have varied tastes, so there is sure to be something for you in there ! The shows I mention are fairly recent, I won’t talk about older, but nonetheless cult, shows such as Breaking Bad, Friends, Parks and Recreation, or HIMYM (at least in the first few years, then not so much).

Masters of None

How did I discover it? Simply because it’s created by Aziz Ansari that I had enjoyed watching in Parks and Recreation a few years ago (a show with Amy Poehler, and Chris Pratt among others).

What’s it about? It follows Dev Shah (played by Aziz), a young thirty something American from Indian descent who lives in NY, in his romantic quest, and professional life.

Why is it good? Because the stories are nice, the dialogues are fun and the entire package remains light and funny.This show has been nominated and won a few awards.

Glow

How did I discover it? Someone had told me good things about it. Women wrestling is not really my thing, or I thought it wasn’t anyway.

What’s it about? It’s based on a true story: how a television show about women’s wrestling was created in the eighties in the States. GLOW is an acronym for Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.

Why is it good? You feel invested in the story between the two main characters pretty quickly. It tells real stories, not all easy sometimes. It’s funny and touching. It has that 80’s touch that has been pretty popular recently.

Call my Agent

How did I discover it? Unlike the other shows, this is a television show that has been broadcast on French national TV. Random facts you might want to know about this: there are a few national channels all starting with “France” : France 2/3/4/5/O – I mean you have to be French to think it’s pretty cool to name channels like that. The “funny socialist” part is we pay a tax to support it every year with the local taxes, about $120. So not an original Netflix show. Based on this alone, I wouldn’t even have wanted to hear about it. But a passionate person I know convinced me to watch a couple episodes.

What’s it about? It’s about a talent agency in Paris. You follow the professional (and personal) lives of the agents and their assistants. In every episode, a real actor makes a cameo as one of their clients. The actors are mostly known in France, but names such as Christophe Lambert, Cécile de France or Nathalie Baye could ring a bell.

Why is it good? Again : the dialogues are clever, the characters can be surprisingly endearing. Also, who doesn’t like it when actors play “themselves”?

Santa Clarita Diet

How did I discover it? Here we owe it all to Drew Barrymore’s agent’s work, or maybe her own even. I was made aware of this show directly through her Instagram account. It looked kind of gory but funny. And, for me, if it’s funny then chances are I will like it.

What’s it about? Santa Clarita is where Sheila and Joel, two real estate agents, and their daughter Abby live. Everything starts falling apart (maybe not a figure of speech) when Sheila suddenly turns into a zombie.

Why is it good? I admit it’s gory and bloody, so if you can’t handle it just cover your eyes when it turns ugly. It’s primarily a comedy, led by the two main actors who look like they are having a lot of fun, and who are quite endearing (side note: Sheila’s husband is weirdly attractive, all dopey and in love with his cannibal of a wife).

Anne with an E

How did I discover it? I stumbled on it while navigating through Netflix (can you picture me on a bark ?). The image on the poster is that of a bright blue-eyed redhaired little girl with freckles on her face and a crown made out of flowers on her head. This is a highly photoshopped picture of the main actress, a 15 year old girl. It’s yet another adaptation of the book Anne of Green Gables, a book I had read and enjoyed as a kid.

What’s it about? It is based on the book Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. It tells the adventures of the romantic Anne Shirley, an orphan taken in by the Cuthbert (a brother and a sister, both elderly) in Canada at the end of the 19th century.

Why is it good? I found it to be refreshing and poetic. The actress playing Anne is captivating, and knows how to deliver superb (long) monologues ! A show in costume.

Gilmore Girls : A Year in the Life

How did I discover it? It’s the sequel to the show that started in 2000. As an “old” fan, I had been waiting a long time for it !

What’s it about? The relationship between a mother, Lorelai, and her daughter, Rory, to whom she gave birth at 16. This part of the storyline takes place a few years after the end of the Gilmore Girls (the one on TV in the 2000s). Rory is now a thirty something single woman who seems to be struggling to manage both her professional and personal life.

Why is it good? The show used to be well known for its dialogues, and their length. This new series lives up to the hype. The dialogues are still a lot of fun. The characters are entertaining. The whole thing is light and comical. Everyone who was ever someone in the show pops up, like Milo Ventimiglia (now a dad in This is Us) or Matt Czuchry (the blond young lawyer in The Good Wife) or Jared Padalecki (Supernatural anybody?). And just for those three, you will enjoy watching it.

And for those who want to know, at the risk of being unpopular, I have always been #teamlogan.

That’s it for this week, I gave you 6. Next week, I will give you 6 more shows. Be patient! You already have a lot on your plate with those, probably around fifty hours of binge-watching (a hundred more if you watch Gilmore Girls from the start)…

Were any of these shows familiar?