Every week, we’ll highlight a few television shows you should check out – you know, when you’re not at class, partying or generally having a life. Remember, binge watching is only an accomplishment if you can do it in between (not instead) of all your other activities.
With graduation fresh on everyone’s minds, here are a few shows that can help fill the void left by classes until you get a real person job:
1.) Girls, HBO
Lena Dunham’s baby has had a weird trajectory since its debut. Its first season was a brilliant send-up of post-graduation life, depicting the lives of four young, “normal” New York women all at very different points in their lives.
The second season, well, not so much. Once Dunham realized that she had the power to, I don’t know, spend entire episodes in bed with Patrick Wilson, the satire gave way to the more annoying aspects of her characters. Season 3 started off on a similar rocky note, but by the end it had regained its first-season charms and remembered that it was all about the satire, not sex.
All that aside, you should be binging Girls because if you feel bad about your post-grad prospects, you’ll feel instantly better about your life watching the perpetual sh*t show that these characters inhabit. As Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet), the one on the verge of graduation, once said to her working-class friends: “It’s amazing that all three of you have accomplished so little in the four years since college.”
2.) Silicon Valley, HBO
Speaking of half-hour HBO shows about post-graduation life, you really should check out Mike Judge’s hilarious look into San Francisco’s startup scene. Unlike Girls, this show follows ambitious guys (albeit ones that make the Big Bang Theory nerds look socially well-adjusted) with skills and the vision to make their dream company into a reality. Plus, it’s just wrapping up its first season, which was only eight episodes.
This is the show that will remind you that all it takes is a little hard work and some dumb luck to make something of yourself. And to stay away from self-driving cars; based on this show, I’m not sure we’re ready for those quite yet. Take note Google.
3.) Scrubs, Netflix
First and foremost, Scrubs is one of the funniest shows ever. Period. Nothing gets my funny bone like Turk (Donald Faison) and J.D.’s (Zach Braff) wacky, vaguely homoerotic shenanigans. All eight seasons (Ninth season? What ninth season?) are available on Netflix, so it’s easily accessible.
What does this medical comedy have to do with graduation? Well, absolutely nothing. But take it from a recent graduate: nothing cures the real world blues like stupid humor with heart. Scrubs has more of both in one episode than most shows have in their entire run. For a little screwball fun with a dash of drama thrown in, you can’t do any better than the doctors of Sacred Heart.
Photo: at Girls Wiki
