Many of us who find ourselves firmly in the double-digit days of quarantine are searching for ways to spend our extra free time indoors that don’t involve reorganizing everything in our homes or obsessively tracking the latest dismal COVID-19 news. We’ll be posting a bi-weekly roundup of media and entertainment sources recommended by our CALA staff to provide a welcome distraction from the world.
Whether you’re looking for a thought-provoking docuseries or the reprieve of a lighthearted sitcom, we’ve got all of your television quaran-streaming needs covered this week. Check out the list below and recommend your own recent favorites in the comments!
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness
Watch it on: Netflix
Netflix’s newest true-crime docuseries charts the downfall of Joe Exotic, an eccentric zookeeper and big cat breeder convicted of the murder-for-hire of animal rights activist Carole Baskin—a dubious character in her own right. Aptly described by critics as a cross between Making a Murderer and Eastbound and Down, this story has it all: exotic animals, murder, a Shaq cameo, drug kingpins, polygamist cults, country music, a presidential campaign, and one serious bleach blonde mullet. – Cayla Delardi
The Good Wife
Watch it on: Amazon Prime
I’d love to offer something meaningful but I’m so not there at the moment. The Good Wife has many seasons and is a binge-worthy, mid-brow, sometimes trashy political legal drama set in Chicago. Starring, among others, Archie Panjabi (the most ridiculous, badly-dressed seductress of anything that moves that I feel sorry for her), Martha Plimpton (what’s not to love), Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife herself), Audra McDonald, Parker Posey, Mike Colter (deliciously well-dressed charming and terrifying drug lord), Alan Cumming (that charmer), and a whole host of Hollywood and Broadway stars who play various judges, lawyers, criminals, and politicians. Gets my late-night vote for adapting to the coronavirus lock-down. – Anne Maguire
Hilda
Watch it on: Netflix
Released in 2018, Hilda is a series based on graphic novels about a blue-haired girl with a knack for befriending spirits and animals. The show follows Hilda and her mother from their home in the woods to the city of Trolberg, where Hilda goes on adventures with her human friends, an invisible elf, and a deerfox named Twig. Great for kids and complex and visually interesting enough to engage parents. I recommend the books, too. – Eve Mayer
Gentefied
Watch it on: Netflix
I don’t love every episode or character in this series, but on the whole this is a great story of a family forced by their rapidly gentrifying neighborhood to make some hard choices: either change (and risk selling out their community) or don’t (and risk losing their family restaurant). I especially love the episode about Ana Morales’s (Karrie Martin) mother, Beatriz, starring Laura Patalano. – Andrew Dicus
Money Heist (Casa de Papel)
Watch it on: Netflix
The fourth season of this totally addictive Spanish thriller series is about to begin on Netflix on April 4. This show is so much fun, a whole new take on the Robin Hood, Bonnie and Clyde, critique-of-capitalism genre that has all the flair and style of an Almodovar film, suspense to honor and rival Hitchcock, and a Patricia Highsmith level of exquisite storytelling. – Jenny McPhee
The Office
Watch it on: Netflix, comedycentral.com
Comedy about people working together in an office. The manager, Michael Scott is so wrong on many levels. The Office never gets old and I still LOL watching most episodes. – Ken French
The Inn at Little Washington
Watch it on: PBS
An inspirational documentary, with a historical perspective. – Suzanne Kaplan-Fonseca
The Expanse
Watch it on: Amazon Prime
The Expanse is a science fiction drama set hundreds of years in our future, where space exploration has caused humanity to separate into three factions: “Earthers”, “Martians”, and “Belters”. The discovery of a potentially life changing alien lifeform, within our solar system, increases tensions between these three factions as they all fight to get their hands on it. – Jervon Mercier
Arrested Development (and other “comfort viewing” favorites)
Watch them on: Netflix
I’ve been strictly “comfort viewing” random episodes of shows that I know will make me laugh and that I’ve seen so many times there is no suspense factor. Arrested Development, The Office, Spaced, and Supernatural. That said, I have plans to start the 3rd season of Ozark this weekend. – Kristine Kerr