If you like …
the proportions of Jessica Rabbit and the fish Angelina Jolie voices in Shark Tales, coming of age stories centered on trans women, chosen families, complicated but richly rewarding writer-subject and devotee-hero relationships, unreliable narrators, and shows that are interested in mothers and daughters and the infinite ways they can maim and nurture each other
then you should watch …
Veneno (HBO Max).
If you like …
breaking the fourth wall, guinea pigs, white feminism, dysfunctional families, and submitting to the mortifying ideal of being known
then you should watch …
Fleabag (Prime Video).
If you like …
teens in uniforms who also commit murder sometimes, exponential combinations of preternaturally hot people falling in lust with each other, mysteries, soapy dramatizations of class resentment, and pronouncing Barcelona as Barthelona
then you should watch …
Elite (Netflix).
If you like …
hooded vigilantes taking justice into their own hands, love triangles featuring multiple identities of the same person, and characters almost exclusively wearing soft-looking sweaters
then you should watch …
Healer (Dramacool).
If you like …
soccer (for the Barthelona contingent, that’s fútbol), pure undiluted sincerity, three-dimensional female characters, Jason Sudeikis doing his best Coach-Taylor-from-Friday-Night-Lights impression, chest hair, and stories about sports that are really about learning how to see the best in other people and yourself
then you should watch …
Ted Lasso (Apple TV+).
If you like …
hot single dads, background characters who stumble into the role of the protagonist against their own will, not knowing anything about Star Wars except how cute Baby Yoda is, and Ludwig Göransson scores
then you should watch …
The Mandalorian (Disney+).
If you like …
forgetting that cis straight people exist, Paris Is Burning (dir. Jennie Livingston), Billy Porter’s red carpet moments, and the loving, life-giving bonds forged among those relegated to the margins of society
then you should watch …
Pose (Netflix).
If you like …
making fun of the MCU and DCEU (lovingly or not), Chase Crawford emphatically shedding his Gossip Girl dreamboat image, mommy issues, and exploring how capitalism warps notions of heroism and villainy
then you should watch …
The Boys (Prime Video).
If you like …
confirmation that blondes do, in fact, have more fun (if by “fun” you mean vengeance), the enemies to lovers trope, jocks whose popularity is symbolized by puka shell necklaces, and a deeply cynical view of high school, the justice system, and rich people
then you should watch …
Veronica Mars (Hulu).
If you like …
super specific jokes about Jewish moms and West Coast Asian American himbos, imaginative portrayals of episodes of mental illness and the work it takes to recover from them, and thinking you’re too cool for musicals
then you should watch …
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (Netflix).
If you like …
clones, debating nature vs. nurture in your free time, gray areas of scientific ethics and morality, and the tour de force that is Tatiana Maslany
then you should watch …
Orphan Black (Prime Video).
If you like …
periodically fantasizing about packing up and moving to a small rural town where nobody knows you and your hot new neighbor not-so-secretly wants you with the fire of a thousand suns, romanticizing stereotypes about Southern culture, Friday Night Lights cast crossovers, and fish out of water stories
then you should watch …
Hart of Dixie (Netflix).
If you like …
The Favourite (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos), entertainment over strict historical accuracy, colorblind casting in period dramas, Nicholas Hoult’s butt, and Catherine the Great’s struggle to pull Russia into modernity through sheer force of will
then you should watch …
The Great (Hulu).
If you like …
sexual tension so potent that sometimes it takes you double the actual run time of an episode to finish one because you keep rewinding the sexily tense parts, moms wearing jeans and doing crimes, Retta, and this TikTok
then you should watch …
Good Girls (Netflix).