5 shows to comfort binge on Netflix once The Office departs
By Erin Qualey
Schitt’s Creek
Unless you’ve been living under a rock in 2020, you’ve probably heard of Schitt’s Creek. The sweet comedy about the soulful redemption of a once-rich family swept the Emmys this year, and also swept the internet as a gif sensation. (Really and seriously, there’s a Schitt’s Creek gif and/or quote for every occasion.)
The final season of the series aired weekly on Pop TV just as the world was deep into pandemic shutdown fatigue, and many people found it a delightful escape from the heaviness of the current state of the world.
You may already be familiar with the show, in which case it makes for a perfect replacement comfort binge, or, if not, it’s the perfect show to discover and then watch over and over and over again as you catch nuances, pick up the lingo, and just generally fall in love.
New Girl
New Girl aired from 2011 to 2018, and it’s often a forgotten favorite. Just like Schitt’s Creek, it has a terrible and awful title, and that fact probably turned people off over the years. But honestly, New Girl is pretty great.
While it does have moments of girlishness thanks to the titular character Jess (Zooey Deschanel), it also centers on a group of guys who agree to let Jess live with them after she catches her boyfriend cheating on her.
As a result, the show has a nice balance of masculine and feminine, and revels in moments of roommate foolishness like when the gang plays the perplexing but delightful drinking game True American, or when Cece (Hannah Simone) and Winston (Lamorne Morris) do a classic Cece / Winston Messaround.
The only downside of making this show your new go-to comfort binge is the godawful theme song of the first few seasons, but if you’re a heavy sleeper or don’t mind a loud jangly tune every 20 or so minutes, you should be golden.