Well hi there, I hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day Weekend, and (for the non-vegetarians out there) ate your weight in meat.

Hamburgers for dazzze.

One thing about me that you may have ascertained from reading the blog thus far is I harbor a deep, longing love for the telly. Television, though slowly killing my brain, has been a great companion to me over the years. I find myself becoming really (unhealithly) tied to TV characters so much so that I remember ugly crying in middle school when I watched the last episode of the Wonder Years.

“B-b-b-ut I need more!!!” I recall wailing.

Yeah, totally normal reaction.

Since I’m an enabler and misery loves company, I’m going to recommend shows like other shows you’ve most likely binged on via Netflix. That way, the heartache once the final episode is watched can be soothed, not by a box of Hot N’ Spicy Cheez-Its, but by more TV.

If you’ve already watched the recommended show, then these options can be switched. I’m a genius like that.

If you like Scandal…

If you’re like the thousands of people who bring a notepad and pen to the couch and furiously write down Olivia Pope’s incredible outfits only to realize that they and she are out of your league—oh is that just me?—then you know Ms. Pope’s insane “handling” of all the things is tough to resist. Scandal’s fast paced D.C. politics, the cliff hanger after cliff hanger after laptop screaming cliff hanger, and, yes, the lip-quivering relationship between Fitz and Olivia all combine to form one of the most addictive show on Netflix. Olivia Pope is a boss lady with a capital B.  I absolutely love how she manages to get more done in an hour than I do in a productive month. I compare my relationship with Scandal to my relationship with Uggs. For a while I snootily thought they were nice, just not for me, but then after sliding my feet into the oh so soft, luxurious sheep skin booties, the next thing I knew I was walking out of a gas station with Cheeto puffs and Uggs ala Britney, and refusing to take them off even though, you know, I had a job.

Stretched that analogy pretty thin.

Point being, Scandal is a great show, and if you want more delicious Scandal-esq drama…

Watch House of Cards

In my humble opinion, House of Cards is the best show out there right now. Watching Frank Underwood’s twisted, grueling rise to power despite his adversaries, despite things like the law or common decency, is surprisingly gratifying and a little terrifying. The similarities between Scandal and HOC’s cut-throat setting of Washington D.C. are undeniable. People are slimy, politics are shifty, and everyone gets. theirs. yafeel?

Although some believe HOC goes a bit down after the first season, I see it more as the first season is so insanely good and different from any other show out there, that it’s nearly impossible to trump. Watching the creators of HOC try to top the drama cornucopia that is season one, is pretty fun, though.

Also, I would love to see Claire Underwood (Frank’s fashionably icy wife) and Olivia Pope have a stand off of wills because both of those women are so cunning, so powerful, so intelligent, and so very fabulous that I feel like I’d turn to stone just watching the two of them in the same room. Similar to Scandal, the plot of HOC takes you down a winding labyrinth.  HOC is definitely darker, most likely because it doesn’t have the lively motown score that Scandal playfully employs. If you in any way feel intrigued by the human condition and how far people are willing to go to get what they want, then tune into HOC and thank me later.

If you like New Girl...

Who’s that girl? It’s your best friend who you’re obsessed with, Jess. New Girl is a show that I can come back to again and again. I find myself laughing at the roommates’ nutty lives with the same satisfaction I did the first time I watched it.  What makes New Girl great, is the characters.  Zoe Deschanel’s portrayal of Jess is so easy breezy, you feel like it’s gotta be life imitating art imitating life. Seeing Jess interact with people so very different from herself is sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes shocking, but always hilarious.

The show is about roommates trying (and usually failing) to survive as adults, a concept that I can totally get behind. Jess is the smart, wacky voice of reason when it seems the rest of her roommates will crumble without her telling them not to plunger the sink or to stop being so grumpy about every.stinking.thing (Nick). It’s the characters that hold the, sometimes overzealous plot, together.  Winston is the scapegoat friend who isn’t funny and then suddenly is the most hilarious character on the show. Schmidt is the curly haired nerotic after my own heart who loves pop culture, ze lay-deez, and himself, above all.  Nick is a hopeless doof that you can’t help but root for even as he bumbles through life and love without money, health insurance, or common sense. If there’s a warm space in your heart for New Girl then…

Watch The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Y’all I finished Kimmy Schmidt in a day. It was a Saturday. I think. Anyway, the show is tough to stop watching for a similar reason to New Girl–the characters.

Yes, the plot is pretty genius–Kimmy lived a good chunk of her life in an Indiana bunker after a charismatic preacher tells her and three other women that the world has ended. The series opens after Kimmy leaves the bunker and tries to make her way in the most difficult place for an adjusting “mole woman,” New York City. Even though I love the plot, I love the plucky, unflappable, determined characterization of Kimmy Schmidt more. Seeing her adjust to the information age after having been given the wrong information for the last 15 years is heartbreakingly hilarious.

You can’t talk about Kimmy Schmidt without mentioning Titus Andromedon, a striving star in the making who is one part crazy, one part self-centered, and an entire helping of divalicious. Titus is Kimmy’s roommate, and the trouble they find while trying to survive the big city life is addictive.  Music videos get made and self-actualization almost happens. Oh and Jane Krakowski as Jacqueline Voorhies is everything, especially if you liked 30 Rock, especially if you know any self-centered rich middle aged women going through a midlife crisis.

Now get to watching, loves!

What are your favorite Netflix shows on which to binge shamelessly?

Part 2 coming attacha soon…

Phot Cred:

Image 1: http://www.hammerandgem.com/get-look-olivia-pope-scandal/

Image 2: http://www.salon.com/2013/03/12/why_is_francis_underwood_a_democrat/

Image 3: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/the-27-most-relatable-jessica-day-quotes#.rjYDRgAQV

Image 4: http://www.tvinsider.com/article/1139/unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt-titus-burgess/