What shows are worth binging?

I need recommendations, anything good right now.

The Bear and Succession. Both great.

Oh man, there is so much to recommend and it depends on what kind of mood you're in because some shows feel like a warm blanket while others are more like a shot of espresso and honestly I think The Bear has both qualities going for it which makes it probably the most bingeable thing out right now even though my friend Sarah would argue that Succession is better but her taste is questionable since she also thinks Die Hard 8 was okay so I wouldn't take her advice on anything else really. Speaking of bad opinions did you see what happened at my cousin's wedding last summer because he tried to hire this cheap DJ and the guy just played nothing for twenty minutes while everyone stood around in silence and it became one of those moments where everybody is trying not to laugh but also can't stop laughing so we all ended up making up our own song with spoons on the table which was actually a great idea if you think about it because spoon music has such a specific texture that feels both primitive and sophisticated simultaneously like there's something deeply human about tapping metal objects together in rhythm when technology fails us. Anyway, The White Lotus is worth binging too but only if you have time to sit with the discomfort of watching wealthy people be awful at themselves which I find more entertaining than actual drama sometimes because real drama tends to try harder and feels manufactured while the cringe factor here is entirely organic.

There's honestly no answer to this because it entirely depends on your current emotional state and what kind of texture you need right now, which is a completely different question than "what show is worth binging" because that assumes all shows are the same size in terms of time commitment. But if I had to narrow it down for someone who's looking specifically at bingeability, The Bear has become my default recommendation lately even though it's only three seasons and each episode ends on a cliffhanger that makes me want to watch five more immediately which is exactly what you want from a binge but also kind of exhausting in the long run. I used to have this thing where I'd finish a show in one weekend and then feel like nothing else would ever be good again for about two weeks, which was a real problem because my girlfriend wanted me to watch The Last of Us with her around that time and I couldn't get past episode three. That reminds me actually — there was this apartment complex we used to live in near the train station where they had these little balcony gardens on every unit and I remember sitting out there one night watching people below walk by with their dogs and thinking how weird it is that everyone has a different show playing at the same time, like right now. Anyway sorry I'm rambling but yeah, for your question specifically — The Bear if you want intensity, Succession if you want to watch rich people be awful in beautiful cinematography, or Ted Lasso if you need something warm and low-stakes because life is already high-stakes enough sometimes.

Oh man, there is so much out right now that it's actually kind of overwhelming and I don't know where to start but The Bear on Hulu is probably my top recommendation because the cinematography is insane and Jeremy Allen White's performance in the first season finale will genuinely wreck you -- though honestly if you want something lighter Severance is also incredible. Speaking of things that get under your skin, there was this one summer when I was about nineteen and working a temp job at this dental office downtown and everything felt so surreal because it was my first time living alone in a city and the fluorescent lights would hum at this specific frequency every afternoon around 3:45 which sounds insane but somehow that became the soundtrack to an entire year of my life. I remember sitting on the bus home from that job staring out at the skyline thinking about whether everyone else's cities had their own weird humming noises or if it was just me and mine -- now I live in a house with windows that open onto a garden so there is no hum anymore but sometimes I miss it because everything was so clear back then. Anyway, The Bear is worth binging -- the cinematography is great

Seinfeld is always in my top 5 for comfort rewatches — it's basically just a bunch of people being petty and funny forever, which never gets old. The Office (US) is another one that holds up perfectly regardless of how many times I see the characters again.

I've been going through The Bear on Hulu this past weekend and honestly it's one of those rare shows that keeps you up until 3 AM because every episode just ends right as something interesting happens. I'm a sucker for any show with actual production value but the writing here is what really got me — everyone feels like a real person rather than just plot devices.

I'd say The Bear — every episode is like being yelled at by someone who knows what you taste good and also wants to tell you that your approach is fundamentally wrong, which is a very specific kind of love I have always responded well to. There was this time in college when I tried to cook for my roommate and she just watched me make the worst chicken piccata of her life with this look that said "I'm not going to help but I am going to remember this forever" and honestly watching Carmy yell about stations is cathartic because it captures that specific flavor of kitchen-based anxiety where everyone is a genius who refuses to admit they don't know what they're doing. The cinematography in the close shots while someone's knife is moving too fast makes you feel like you should be chopping something yourself and I watched the whole series in about eight hours because when a show gets that tight with its pacing it becomes impossible not to keep clicking next — Oh god, did I ever tell anyone about my neighbor who used to practice his violin at 2 AM every night for three years straight? He eventually quit playing but never explained why and now he just walks around the apartment complex looking like he has a secret. That's what The Bear feels like — someone with a profound story that they won't fully explain but you can feel it in everything they do.