MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The outbreak of COVID-19, known as the novel coronavirus, is causing some widespread panic as health officials continue to figure out how to stop the spread of the virus.
Multiple health departments, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommend multiple measures you can take to keep yourself healthy. The easiest recommendations are washing your hands and avoiding close contact which has been called social distancing.
The spread of COVID-19 has locked down countries, like Italy, and is starting to shut down businesses and cancel massive public events in the United States.
More and more people are beginning to limit their public interaction, which could cause some majors issues.
If you’re one of those people who are self-quarantining for two weeks, as recommended by the CDC, it can get pretty boring at home.
However, we can thank modern technology and streamining services like Netflix to keep you entertained.
We have some series you may want to binge in order to keep yourself entertained while fighting off feeling sick.
Love Is Blind
A new dating experiment took the internet by storm before the COVID-19 outbreak got as serious as it currently is.
The show hosted by Vanessa and ‘Obviously, I’m’ Nick Lachey puts a group of single men and women into a dating situation. Except, the concept leads to a whole mess that no one was ready for.
The men and women are separated into two different living quarters. They go on dates with people and get to know each other through ‘pods’.
Essentially the ‘pods’ is one big room, with a wall in the middle. The man is on one side and the woman is on the other. They cannot see each other but they can hear each other.
Why are people being set up like this? To prove if love goes beyond physical appearance.
So, the only way the couples can see each other is if they agree to get married to each other without ever looking at each other.
After the engagement, the couples are flown out for a vacation in Mexico before they move in together and get married.
It is a train wreck that you cannot stop watching. If there is one things americans love, its messy reality television series.
By the end of the season, you will cringe at the phrase ‘Mark is only 24.’
Good Girls
‘Good Girls’ is definitely a drama you never knew you needed.
Three moms end up getting tired by playing by the rules and struggling to get through the hoops life throws at you.
It is one of those shows every woman and mother can find themselves in: cheating husbands, struggling to pay your child’s medical bills, custody battles and you know, your run of the mill armed hold up of a local grocery store.
The show features some recognizable faces including ‘Candy Jar’s Christina Hendricks, ‘The Perks of Being A Wallflower’s Mae Margaret Whitman, and ‘Parks and Recreation’s Retta.
The story line is full of hysterical moments and some situations that pull on your heart strings.
Now remember, there are only two seasons available so be sure to take your time.
The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez
‘The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez’ is currently sitting at number five on Netflix’s ‘Top 10 in the U.S. Today’ list.
This is a pretty dark story that details the situation around the torture and murder of eight-year-old Gabriel Fernandez.
His mother, Pearl Fernandez, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aquirre, were sentenced in 2018 in the child’s death.
Pearl Fernandez was given a life sentence and Aquirre was given a death sentence.
According to CBS Los Angeles, Aquirre believed Gabriel was gay.
The six part miniseries follows the court case that shook southern California.
Grey’s Anatomy
Maybe a global pandemic is the best time start watching one of the most popular medical dramas in American history.
‘Grey’s Anatomy’ premiered in 2005 and is still putting out new seasons 15 years later,
The series follows Meredith Gray, played by Ellen Pompeo, as she navigates her residency at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital later named Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.
It features some other big names in acting like Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl, Patrick Dempsey and T. R. Knight.
If you need a better explanation, it’s a more serious and dramatic version of ‘Scrubs’
Mindhunters
Another crime drama that takes place in the 1970s as two FBI agents change the field of criminal science by diving into the psychology of murder.
The series features Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany and Anna Torv as they interview serial killers to understand how they think and applying it to on-going cases.
Season two of the show is actually based on the Atlanta murders of 1979 to 1981.
The situation is a series of murders in Atlanta, Georgia where at least 28 children and adults were killed over a two-year period.
Wayne Williams was arrested, tried and convicted in two of the murders but was never charged in the other cases.
This is rated TV-MA so you may not want to watch with the kids around.
Schitt’s Creek
If you’ve ever wanted to see the demise of a wealthy family that is so out of touch with modern day society, this is the show for you!
The premise of the story is that a video store entrepreneur and soap opera star find themselves completely broke. The only asset they can keep, aside from a few small things, is a small town called ‘Schitt’s Creek’ which they bought as a joke years prior to the series.
So, Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy) and Moria Rose (Catherine O’Hara) pack up their two children David (Daniel Levy) and Alexis (Annie Murphy) and move to a Schitt’s Creek motel.
The four of them learn to live in a rural town with absolutely no money. It’s won multiple awards and has been making headlines as season 6 comes to an end in April.
On My Block
‘On My Block’ follows the lives of four teens growing up in South Central Los Angeles, which keeps them on their feet with a number of issues with the prominent one being gang violence.
The group experiences a series of life challenges that tests their friendship such as: gang initiations, money issues, murder, gun violence and high school.
The newest season of the Netflix original series just hit the streaming services a few weeks ago after a dramatic end to season 2 which left some viewers questioning where the show was going from that point.
Dead To Me
Christina Applegate really shows off her wide range of acting in ‘Dead to Me’
The series came out in May of 2019 and it follows Jen, played by Applegate, who is going through a tough time after her husband was killed in a hit-and-run accident.
She joins a support group for grief and becomes friends with another woman, Judy (played by Linda Cardellini), who is the complete opposite.
Both women navigate dealing with the tragic events in their lives and really explore the comedic side of dealing with grief.
As you watch the show, you find out Judy has a major secret that could wreck her friendship with Jen.
It’s definitely something to delve into.
Parks and Recreation
In a time of crisis, we ask ourselves ‘what would Leslie Knope do?’
Parks and Recreation ended after a seven season run on NBC but the story line remains timely as ever.
‘Saturday Night Live’ alum Amy Poehler was one of the minds behind the series and portrayed the main character Leslie Knope.
The series follows Knope’s quest to show people that local government is meant for good while her boss, Ron Swanson (portrayed by Nick Offerman), tries to do everything he can from the government having a hand in people’s lives.
The show has a slow start but will have you locked in after episode five.
It stars some other big names like: Chris Pratt, Aziz Ansari, Aubrey Plaza. Adam Scott and Rob Lowe.
The Office
Human Resource departments will forever be needed and ‘The Office’ definitely proves that to be a fact.
The hit NBC show is actually based off a british version of the show led by Ricky Gervais (yeah, that guy who said a lot of offensive things at the 2020 Golden Globes).
The show is centered in Scranton, Pennsylvania at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.
The main character, Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell) terrorizes his employees in his office with bad jokes and inappropriate antics but garners full support from the office ‘suck up’ Dwight Schrute. The show also features a major couple in any television program, Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly.
Jim and Pam’s relationship takes a transition from side plot to the main plot multiple times throughout the series. At some points, you’ll be rooting for them and crying.
Other times, you’ll just be cackling at the characters who help advance the plot.
These shows are all available on Netflix and do not involve you leaving your house or even your couch.
