Five Shows to Binge-Watch This Summer

Summer vacation holds endless potential for creating new memories, experiencing exciting things, and getting a reasonable amount of sleep. However, I have a proposition for you: instead of doing that, spend your entire break watching TV! The following is a list of five shows you may not have seen before that are perfect for wasting hours on while trying to ignore existential dread. These shows have all ended, so once you consume the entire series in just under a week, there won’t be any agonizing wait for it to return in the fall. Of course, that also means that once you finish them, there’s nothing to look forward to. Enjoy!

1. Undeclared

This one is kind of cheating, at least as far as “binging” goes – there are only seventeen episodes. All that means is that it’s a perfect way to ease into the world of nonstop television watching. focuses on college freshman Steven Karp as he attempts to make friends and pass class at the fictional University of North Eastern California. If that sounds boring, it’s really not. The college life presented in the show feels relatable despite being aired from 2001-2002, and the level of absurdity the characters’ day-to-day life reaches just keeps rising. The relationships between characters develop over the show’s short run, and it easily fulfilled all my dreams of watching college students buy school papers from a young(ish) Will Ferrell.

2. Freaks and Geeks

Do you need more 1980s school-awkwardness in your life? I’ll answer that for you: Who doesn’t? follows high-schooler Lindsey Weir as she realizes that her life as a mathlete isn’t everything she wants it to be. Over the show’s eighteen episodes, she befriends some popular burnouts (the titular freaks) and participates in the total change of her life. Her younger brother, Sam, and his friends, the geeks, provide a nice contrast to Lindsey’s newfound bad side, and are Contains: teen angst, alcohol, drugs, a really big drum set, kids trying to be cool and find themselves

3. Psych

This is one of the best blends of comedy and real emotional drama I’ve ever seen in a TV show. The premise: Shawn Spencer is not psychic. He pretends to be psychic to help with police investigations. It’s so good, you guys. Most episodes focus on a current police investigation that Shawn and his friend Gus are called in to investigate. Shawn pretends to be psychic, other cops get annoyed, friendships are created, people are kidnapped, etc. It’s a lot of fun and never takes itself too seriously, even when, like, people are dying. Also, there’s a musical special episode during the seventh season that is potentially the best piece television ever broadcasted.

4. The X-Files

A lot of new buzz surrounded this show earlier in the year because of the six-episode reboot Fox aired in January and February. This is one of the most lasting and important pop culture touchstones, with ten total seasons (including the reboot) and two movies. It follows the quest of Special Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder to investigate the paranormal and unexplained cases labelled “X-Files” by the FBI. Mulder is the believer, and Scully is called in to debunk his work, but they end up forming a strong bond as they search for the truth. As the seasons go on, the overarching plot, the show’s mythology, becomes more complex and makes viewers question how much our government is really hiding.

5. Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated

Listen, please. This show is the best. Scooby Doo is a classic, and this reincarnation of the characters and monsters is the eleventh one that’s been done. The unique tone of this show comes from how it plays with dynamics between characters in a way that none of the other Scooby-Doo shows have done before. The humor is sharp, and the air of unease is amplified by a series-long mystery. Also, the animation is beautiful. This is a great show for watching any time of day or night since it’s always a nice blend of spookiness and light-hearted fun. And dogs.