5 Netflix Shows to Binge Watch During the Blizzard

Winter storm Jonas is set to hit the East End hard this weekend, so there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be sitting inside looking to be entertained. This cold and snowy weather offers a perfect opportunity to binge watch some of those great shows you keep hearing about, as well as some equally excellent shows that for some reason never appeared on most people’s radar. And you can do it all without a shred of guilt—it’s a blizzard out there!

Here are some of our top picks streaming on Netflix that you may never have thought to watch. Now dig in before you dig out!

Jessica Jones – Season 1 (2015) Netflix  (illustrated above)
This thrill ride created by Marvel Comics Cinematic Universe, and starring Krysten Ritter as the titular character, is far more than your average superhero show. Based on Brian Michael Bendis’ comic series Alias, the show follows ex-superhero, now private detective, Jessica Jones as she tries to pick up the pieces of her life following a traumatic event. The perpetrator of said event, the villainous Killgrave—played brilliantly by Dr. Who alum David Tennant—returns, of course, and mayhem ensues. Ritter was born for the role of Jessica Jones and her supporting cast of characters, and the actors who play them, add layers of depth and intensity to the story. This is not just a show for comic book fans. Give it a chance and you won’t be sorry.

Hatfields & McCoys – Miniseries (2012) Netflix
Once it gets rolling, this three-part miniseries about America’s most famous feuding families is impossible to stop watching. Luckily it’s less of a commitment than some other bingeworthy favorites. Each led by a powerful patriarch, former close friends and Civil War vets Devil Anse Hatfield (Kevin Costner) and Randall McCoy (Bill Paxton), the families find themselves deeper and deeper into a growing rivalry that nearly launched a war between Kentucky and West Virginia. Bloodshed begets more bloodshed as hostilities continue—all while a forbidden romance buds between a young man and woman from the opposing families. Based on real events, Hatfields & McCoys was the History Channel’s first scripted program.

Awake – Season 1 (2012)Netflix
A surreal police procedural, Awake only lasted one season when it originally aired on NBC, but that wasn’t for lack of critical acclaim. Jason Isaacs stars as Michael Britten, a detective in the Los Angeles Police Department who begins living in two separate realities after a terrible car accident that, in one reality, kills his wife Hannah. In the other reality, Britten’s wife survives the crash but his son Rex is killed instead. Throughout the show’s 13 episodes, Britten slips between realities, using information from each to solve crimes in the other. What seems like a highly confusing concept actually works fabulously onscreen. Britten has a profound loss in each version of his life, but that also means each offers a reprieve from the loss in the other. Sharply written and endlessly compelling, Awake is one season of television that’s totally rewarding to watch.

Wentworth – Seasons 1–3 (2013-2016) Netflix
Australian hit Wentworth is far and away among Netflix’s best and most under-appreciated shows, and Season 3 was just added to the streaming service’s lineup. Separated from her daughter and awaiting sentencing for the attempted murder of her abusive husband, first-time prisoner Bea Smith (Danielle Cormack) must learn to make her way within the power structure of her new home. The show is full of many of the classic prison genre tropes, but it is done with humor and gripping drama that’s compelling and difficult to stop watching. Wentworth should be the topic of conversation at far more water coolers in this country. Season 3 airs in 2015.

Maron – Series 1–3 (2013–2015) Netflix
IFC comedy series Maron is a quiet little show that comedy fans need to watch. Starring neurotic comedian and renowned WTF podcaster Marc Maron as a fictional version of himself, Maron offers small, believable and uproarious storylines and vignettes that always deliver the funny. He’s like a hipper Larry David in HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, but he deftly remains likable throughout all three seasons (mostly, anyway). The show features a long list of celebrity guest appearances, including some of the best comics working, and not working, today. Maron also stars Judd Hirsch as Marc’s father and Josh Brener as his assistant.

Need more ideas for great streaming shows?

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