- Bears, beets, "Battlestar Galactica," "Bingeworthy."
Michael!
Let me guess, every night you come home
from a hard day's work, and you turn on Netflix,
ready to watch something new and exciting.
Then you end up watching "The Office"
for the 400th time.
Your Netflix subscription is turning into a $10 per month
Office subscription.
And, hey look, nothing is wrong with "The Office,"
but there are just so many really funny shows out there
that deserve some of your time,
almost as much as Michael Scott deserves
a Lifetime Achievement Dundie.
This is "Bingeworthy,"
and here are the comedies you should be watching on Netflix
instead of "The Office."
Or at least in addition to "The Office,"
once you finish rewatching it yet again.
- Where are the turtles?!
- "Big Mouth."
So how do I explain Big Mouth?
It's an incredibly crass cartoon
that basically walks us through a bunch of middle schoolers
going through puberty.
And each character's, you know, changes,
are visually represented on screen
by a large, furry, loud, hormone monster.
Also, very crass.
- The (beep) did you just call me?
- Yeah, it is definitely kind of weird.
But it might feature one of the most talented
voice acting cast on television right now.
You've got Nick Kroll,
John Mulaney, Maya Rudolph, Jordan Peele,
Jenny Slate, Fred Armisen, Jessi Klein,
And because it's about puberty,
there's plenty of super cringey, very awkward pieces
of humor throughout the series,
which should be welcomed territory
for anyone who loves and appreciates
the self-deprecating comedy of "The Office."
- This kid might be a genius.
- Dear White People.
Writer/Director Justin Simien made waves at Sundance
way back in 2014 with the film "Dear White People."
And then Netflix commissioned him to stretch it out,
flesh it out,
and turn it into an incindiary comedy series
for their streaming platform.
- Guys, you know what this is?
This is racism.
- Yeah, I thought President Obama fixed all that.
- I know.
- Here's the basic set-up.
After a blackface party at the fictional
Winchester University erupts,
an inevitable controversy and outrage,
"Dear White People" veers its way
through disparate reactions and responses,
including the perspectives of school leaders,
a college newspaper reporter,
and Sam, the host of the provocative
Dear White People radio show.
Does it have some serious overtones?
Of course it does!
But it peppers in some truly hilarious moments
of levity, biting satire,
and extremely relevant cultural commentary.
- Alec Baldwin was a genius.
- Aw, hell.
- "Schitt's Creek."
Comedy legend Eugene Levy,
who might be best known to '90s kids
as Jim's dad from "American Pie."
- You see that?
You see what she's doing?
She's kind of looking right into your eyes,
saying, "Hey, big boy."
- Or Gerry Fleck from "Best In Show."
- I've got two left feet, I've got two left feet.
- Teamed up with his son Daniel Levy
to create "Schitt's Creek."
A goofball Canadian comedy series
that has unjustly flown under the radar
for the past several years.
The fifth season was just released,
and now, finally, this modern cult classic
is well, just becoming a classic in its own right.
Daniel Levy created the idea for "Schitt's Creek"
after watching a whole lot of reality television
and asking himself, "What if all these super rich
spoiled families suddenly lost all their money?"
Now that would make for great TV.
In the show, Eugene Levy and the great Catherine O'Hara
suddenly go belly up,
and have to move out to a town they bought as a joke,
and live out of a motel that's owned by the town mayor,
Chris Elliott.
Basically, if you like the character-driven plots
and humor of "The Office," you'll love "Schitt's Creek."
You'll find these characters annoying,
ridiculous, hilarious, and at the end of the day,
at least a little bit endearing.
- He could potentially see himself considering saying,
"I love you" at some point, sometime soon, so.
- That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
I'm telling mom.
- "The Good Place."
This one is particularly apt for everyone out there
who loved "The Office," but also "Parks and Recreation."
- Hi there, is there a project you're working on?
- I know more than you.
- Michael Schur, who created "Parks and Rec,"
was also a writer and producer on "The Office."
So there's some legitimately great comedy lineage here.
In "The Good Place," Eleanor, played by Kristen Bell,
wakes up in "The Good Place,"
a heaven-like afterlife, and is greeted by Ted Danson,
playing a weirdly friendly guy named Michael.
It's not very long before Eleanor realizes
that this was all just a big mistake.
- Somebody royally forked up.
Somebody forked up.
Why can't I say fork?
- The early episodes involve her trying to hide,
well, most of the stuff she did when she was alive.
There are a lot of twists and turns in the series,
so we don't wanna give too much away.
But you can fully expect all of the full blown-out zaniness
of "The Office" and "Parks and Rec,"
but dialed up to 11 in this show.
It features a lot more fantasy elements
than Schur's previous works,
but it manages to keep it all grounded
with the same razor-sharp wit you should be accustomed to.
- Her memory's still being rebooted
because, who you know, someone murdered her.
- "Lady Dynamite."
OK, so maybe the most underrated show on this list,
Lady Dynamite is, well,
it's really freakin' weird.
But I mean that in the best possible way.
- Yes!
- Rawr! - Ahh!
- And come on, didn't you think some "Office" episodes
were really freakin' out there?
- Sort of an oaky afterbirth.
- This is a Netflix original
that could maybe only live on Netflix.
It's an absurdist semi-autobiographical account
of Maria Bamford's struggle with mental illness
that casually leaps across time, space,
and various identities, to deliver something that,
well, really is almost unlike anything else
on television right now.
It's fun!
It's wild.
It's uncompromising.
And it was canceled after two seasons.
- But if you wanna watch something
that's truly bonkers,
"Lady Dynamite" should be top on your streaming queue.
- For I am just, ah, wobbly and hot like a flan.
- "Cheers."
"Cheers" is obviously not a deep cut.
It just happens to be one of the most popular
and celebrated sitcoms of all time,
like "The Office."
But I do feel, personally, that it doesn't get the attention
it deserves on Netflix.
If you don't know, "Cheers" tells a story
of a neighborhood bar in Boston named "Cheers."
Duh.
- What is a brewing alcoholic beverage
consisting of barley and yeast?
- I don't know, usually, you just have a beer.
- Ted Danson, who makes his second appearance on this list,
plays an ex-big-league pitcher who runs and owns "Cheers."
And he always seems to get into high jinks
with his staff and the gang of regulars
who are always around,
and who almost definitely spend a problematic amount
of time inside of a bar.
Just being honest.
Keep your eyes peeled for a young Frasier Crane
because, if you didn't know,
"Frasier" is indeed a spinoff of "Cheers."
- You happy now?!
- Alcoholism and radio psychiatrist aside,
there are 11 seasons worth of episodes here.
And the writing on "Cheers" is superb.
It pretty much created the mold
of what the modern sitcom should be.
- We're kind of like pen pals.
- You, you exchange letters?
- No, pens.
- Ah, who am I kidding?
You guys are just gonna go watch "The Office" again anyway,
aren't you?
I'm not mad.
Just disappointed.
That's what she said!
Hey, I'm Alex Robinson and that was "Bingeworthy."
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check out the link in our description.
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