This article was originally published in The Examiner on Dec. 7, 2017.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
Most Stranger Things fans have probably finished the latest 9 episodes released on
Netflix Oct. 27.
Variety reported in November that the ’80s-themed supernatural thriller became the No. 1 most in-demand show among U.S. viewers during the week of Oct. 29 to Nov. 4, according to independent data science firm Parrot Analytics.
While we’re waiting for the Duffer brothers, Stranger Things‘ co-creators, to film the next season, here are some other shows you might want to binge.
The OA
Viewers craving more of Eleven will find a similar character in The OA, which
stands for Original Angel.
Like Stranger Things, The OA blends science fiction, supernatural and fantasy elements — plus a haunting violin theme.
This American mystery drama focuses on near-death experiences, but it doesn’t get bogged down with philosophical questions. Brit Marling plays a blind young
woman who has been missing for several years but is suddenly returned to her adopted parents now able to see.
She tells five teenagers who are social outcasts her unusual but complex story that might just save their lives.
The first season aired on Netflix Dec. 16, 2016, but the next season isn’t expected to
release until early 2018.
Sense 8
Ever felt an unexplainable connection with another person, even someone far away?
You may have something in common with the “cluster” in Sense 8, eight strangers from different cultures and geographical locations who are empathically connected — a new species of human called “Homo sensorium.”
The show is was co-created by the Wachowski sisters (formerly the Wachowski brothers), well-known for the blockbuster Matrix series.
The series has a Rotten Tomatoes critical approval rating of 88 percent percent for the second season.
Both seasons are available on Netflix. While the third season was canceled, a two-hour series finale is slated for 2018.
Ozark
This show is basically the Christian movie Fireproof but with more money laundering and organized crime.
It’s about a middle-class, suburban couple with two kids whose marriage is on the rocks. Much grittier than typical family movies, though, this one’s not for the kids.
The dad, played by Jason Bateman, who’s also known for his role in Arrested Development, is a Chicago financial advisor trying to convince the leader of a Mexican drug cartel to not kill him and his family.
He relocates his wife and kids to the Ozarks, where he promises to launder $8 million before the end of the summer through shell businesses. But how long before he has to tell his wife and the kids?
Ozark was the most popular streaming show this summer after its release in July, Business Insider reported in October. Netflix renewed the show for a second season Aug. 15.
Anne with an E
The three-hour Anne of Green Gables film starring Megan Follows, the highest-rated program of any genre ever to air on a Canadian television network, was a ’90s childhood staple.
Fans of the book and the 1985 film weren’t sure if they’d like the new Netflix show that released this March, also Canadian-based.
A Vanity Fair review in May gave the show harsh criticisms, calling it “bleak,” “gritty” and “dark.”
Maybe these people were expecting more innocent nostalgia than realism. In Netflix’s version, Anne’s imagination and fantastical stories are still whimsical, but viewers see that this is how she deals with the difficulties of being an orphan in the Victorian period.
“This is an Anne with PTSD,” the Vanity Fair reviewer commented.
Anne with an E may not be as child-friendly as its predecessor — but it does feel real
and poignant.
Maybe that’s why Netflix renewed the show for a second season in August.
13 Reasons Why
13 Reasons Why was a hot topic this summer because it shows a teen’s suicide on screen.
The Netflix show is based on a bestselling young adult novel by Jay Asher published in 2007. A teenage girl kills herself, so the story goes, but first she leaves 13 cassette tape recordings explaining why she did it — a suicide note left on a dying technology.
Although Netflix later added a content warning before the final episodes, some mental health experts argued that showing a suicide is irresponsible and encourages copycat behavior, glamorizing the act instead of encouraging people at risk to seek help.
13 Reasons Why may not be for all audiences, but the show vividly illustrates questions that friends and family grapple with after losing someone to suicide and their grieving process, And show writer Nic Sheff defended the show’s ending. He told
Vanity Fair in an op-ed, “My own life was saved when the truth of suicide was finally held up for me to see in all its horror — and reality.”
Variety reported in April that 13 Reasons Why was the most tweeted about show this year so far. Season two is expected to release sometime in 2018.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
This apocalypse-cult-survivor-meets-real-world sitcom from Tina Fey, best known for her role on Saturday Night Live, blends current issues with humor.
The main character, Kimmy Schmidt, decides to start her life over at 29 in New York City after spending the last 15 years in a doomsday cult’s underground bomb shelter with three other women in Indiana, held captive by the Rev. Richard Wayne Gary Wayne.
The show follows Kimmy’s hilarious but painful transition to the outside world.
The first season, released in 2015, earned a 95 percent Rotten Tomatoes score from critics.
Scott Meslow called it “the first great sitcom of the streaming era” in a 2015 review for The Week.
Netflix announced June 13 that Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has been renewed for
a fourth season.
Orange is the New Black
Netflix’s most watched original series is a women’s prison drama with five seasons so far, and two more seasons slated.
The show received praise from critics for humanizing prisoners and featuring characters with diverse backgrounds. Many viewers binge all of the episodes in one sitting each summer, live-tweeting their reactions.
If you’re interested in OITNB but too intimidated to catch up on five seasons, just remember we’ve got several months until next summer’s release.
The Handmaid’s Tale
Most of the shows in this list are available on Netflix, but this one is a Hulu original, based on Margaret Atwood’s bestseller.
Like The Hunger Games or Divergent, the plot centers on a dystopian world with a totalitarian government — but this story isn’t for teens. The Handmaid’s Tale covers issues many women face, but here they’re made much worse by this society run by
religious extremists.
The nation of Gilead, set in what used to be the United States, is on the verge of collapse due to environmental pollution and STDs. Fertile women are assigned as handmaids to bear children for barren high-ranking couples, which the government tells them is their divine duty.
Viewers follow one particular handmaid, Offred, through her daily routine and plans to subvert the system and eventually escape.
The Handmaid’s Tale won eight Primetime Emmy awards, making it the first series on a streaming platform to win an Emmy for Outstanding Series. Hulu renewed the show for a second season, scheduled for 2018.
What not to watch
But if you’re tempted to watch Black Mirror or Limitless when they pop up in your Netflix recommended queue, just don’t. Black Mirror is a science fiction anthology with stand-alone episodes, but I stopped watching after a few episodes because of
the bizarre and disjointed storytelling.
The first five or so episodes of Limitless are entertaining. The show is about an ordinary 28-year-old man who becomes a consultant for the FBI after authorities discover that he is immune to the side effects of a drug that unleashes his brain’s full capacity. However, the story loses momentum when each episode starts to feel like CSI, just rewritten.
Now I’m going back to binging Outlander and Riverdale.
Eleanor Skelton 