10 Binge Worthy TV Shows To Watch When You Are Not Reading

I’m not really into movies, but give me a good TV show, and I’m going to be glued to the telly for hours. While my reading is heavily crime and thriller focused, I love watching funny shows, fluffy series and even the occasional manga in addition to murder mysteries.

Some of my favourite shows are actually quite old, but they definitely worth mentioning because I think everyone with similar interest should give them a go.

Top 10 Tuesday is a meme hosted on That Artsy Reader Girl, and this week’s topic is bingeworthy TV shows!

Brooklyn 99

The hilarious adventures of a dysfunctional police team from the 99th precinct is one of my all time favourites and I can re-watch it any time.

Detective Jake Peralta, a talented and carefree cop with the best arrest record, has never had to follow the rules too closely or work very hard. That changes when Ray Holt, a man with a lot to prove, becomes the new commanding officer of Brooklyn’s 99th precinct. As Holt reminds Peralta to respect the badge, an extremely competitive colleague — Detective Amy Santiago — starts to close in on the hotshot cop’s arrest record. Other members of the precinct include Sgt. Terry Jeffords, a devoted family man, Detective Charles Boyle, a hard worker who idolizes Jake, and Rosa Diaz, a sexy-yet-intimidating detective. Civilian office manager Gina Linetti is tasked with cleaning up everyone’s mess, while somehow getting involved in everyone’s business.

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Aquarius

Hippies, 60’s music, a story loosely based around Charles Manson, and David Duchovny are just a few things that make this show awesome.

Golden Globe-winner David Duchovny stars in this dramatic event series set in the 1960s as a police sergeant in Los Angeles. Despite a complicated personal life, this officer embarks on an undercover investigation of a cult leader — Charles Manson — who recruits vulnerable young women to join his cause. Duchovny’s character and that of his young partner face many twists and turns as they track Manson and his crimes.

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Halt and Catch Fire

One of the geekiest and most entertaining TV shows I came across in quite a long time. Set in the 80’s, this show follows Joe, Cameron, Donna and Gordon on their nerdy journey through computer revolution and the dawn of the World Wide Web era in the early 90’s. Joe MacMillan is basically a quasi Steve Jobs figure, and there’s some truly great music that helps create the perfect atmosphere.

It’s the early 1980s, and the spirit of innovation in personal computing is about to catch fire. Hot on the trail is a renegade trio — a visionary, an engineer and a prodigy — who risk everything to realize their vision of building a computer that can change the future. Not long after IBM corners the market with its flagship PC, a flaw is discovered in its operation, opening the door for competition. In steps Joe MacMillan, a former IBM executive who now works for Cardiff Electric. MacMillan plans to reverse-engineer IBM’s technology, putting Cardiff in the thick of the personal computer race. He enlists the help of engineer Gordon Clark, who dreams of creating a revolutionary computer, and Cameron Howe, a volatile prodigy who puts her future on the line to join MacMillan’s rogue project.

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Fargo

One of the weirdest TV shows I’ve ever watched. Dark humour, small town setting, utterly bizarre plot; it ticks all the boxes for me.

Various chronicles of deception, intrigue and murder in and around frozen Minnesota. Yet all of these tales mysteriously lead back one way or another to Fargo, North Dakota.

An original adaptation of the Academy Award-winning feature film, the first season of Fargo features an all-new “true crime” story and follows a new case and new characters, all entrenched in the trademark humor, murder and “Minnesota nice” that made the film an enduring classic. Lorne Malvo, a manipulative man meets and forever changes the life of small town insurance salesman Lester Nygaard. Duluth Police Deputy Gus Grimly, a single dad must choose between his own personal safety and his duty as a policeman when he comes face-to-face with a killer.

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Grace and Frankie

When I grow up, I want to be Frankie. She’s such a lovely, artsy, hippie lady! Just when she and Grace were preparing for retired life with their respective hubbies, the men confess that they are actually in love. With each other. This is how Grace and Frankie eventually become first roomies, then best friends and the whole series is such a heart warming roller coaster, that it quickly became one of my favourites.

The series follows Grace, a retired cosmetics mogul, and Frankie, a hippie art teacher, whose husbands, Robert and Sol, are successful divorce lawyers in San Diego. Grace and Frankie’s lives are turned upside down when Robert and Sol announce that they are in love with each other and are leaving their wives. Now, the women, who have never particularly liked each other, are forced to live together and learn to unite and cope with difficulties.

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Death In Paradise

The Caribbean setting alone would be enough to make me want to watch this series. But of course that’s not only what’s so appealing about it. A British detective sent to Saint Marie, who stick out like a sore thumb, a local officer who goes to great lengths to avoid working, and ambitious rookie and a feisty French sergeant make up the team of the first couple of seasons. Even though each episode is a new murder investigation, the series never fails to be hysterical.

A British inspector is transferred to Saint-Marie’s police department, but he hates the sun, sea, and sand. The series follow his investigations into murders on the island. Later series see another British DI head the investigative team.

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Scream

Basically teen drama meets slasher horror. I didn’t expect to like this one so much, but I was pretty much hooked from the second episode. In the vein of the original movies, hot highschoolers are dropping like flies, and a mysterious killer is on the loose.

Instigated by a cyberbullying incident that goes viral, a brutal murder in Lakewood stirs memories of a crime spree from the town’s past that has haunted some, intrigued others and maybe just spawned a new executioner. At the center of the story is a group of teenagers – with two old friends struggling to reconnect at its heart – who become lovers, enemies, suspects, targets and victims of a killer who’s out for blood.

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Castle Rock

This is actually one of those series I have not watched yet, but it has all the potentials to glue me to the screen for sure. I mean, it’s set in Stephen King’s fictional world. I don’t think I need to explain…

The Stephen King multiverse is the setting for this psychological horror series that takes place in Castle Rock, Maine, which is a location familiar to fans of King’s work. “Castle Rock” explores themes and worlds that unite King’s canon, including the infamous Shawshank Prison. An anonymous phone call lures death-row attorney Henry Deaver back to Castle Rock. He is unsettled by his hometown, but he returns to help a sinister, mostly mute man being kept in a cage underneath Shawshank. 

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True Detective

Although I only saw the first season (which I binged in one sitting on a rainy Sunday), I was completely enthralled by it. In addition to the dark and haunting atmosphere, it had the best soundtrack I heard in a crime series.

Seasonal anthology series in which police investigations unearth the personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within and outside the law.

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Anne with an E

Based on my childhood favourite, Anne of Green Gables this Netflix series promises to bring my beloved under a new light. This is definitely an Autumn series for me, and I can’t wait to watch it!

This reimagining of the classic book and film is a coming-of-age story about a young orphan who is seeking love, acceptance and her place in the world. Amybeth McNulty stars as Anne, a 13-year-old who has endured an abusive childhood in orphanages and the homes of strangers. In the late 1890s, Anne is mistakenly sent to live with aging siblings, Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, who live on Prince Edward Island. Anne, who proves to be uniquely spirited, imaginative and smart, transforms the lives of Marilla, Matthew and everyone else in their small town.

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What are your favourite TV series you would recommend? What shows will you watch this Autumn?