Hi, I'm Paula Sanderson

Welcome to #FlattenTheCurve, Social Distancing, and Self Isolation or as I’d call it – time to catch up on all the TV shows and movies you’ve missed and/or want to rewatch 😉

To help you out I’m putting together a list of some of my top picks for the next few weeks based on where you can find them.

Today’s list is my top Netflix picks – but I’ll hit up Crave, Prime and ‘Real TV’ too.

I won’t be listing shows from Disney+ but that’s because I don’t have access to it to come up with a list. However if you want to give me your password that would be fire because I really want to watch High School Musica:l the Musical: the Series… and you know, I’ll also make a list of great shows to watch.

Some of these shows I’ve blogged about in the past, others are new shows that I’ve wanted to talk/rave about forever. I’m hoping to expand out theses posts out in the weeks to come with some more in-depth ‘why you need to watch this show’ info – but for now I’m giving you titles, vibes, basic plot info, and why they are great for quarantine.

Let me know what I’ve missed or if there are shows you think I should start to watch!

On Netflix:

Gilmore Girls
Vibe: Cozy classic / smart girls talking fast in a small town
Basic Plot: A mother-daughter duo take on the world in their own quirky way
Why it’s great for Quarantine: You already know and love this show. Times are scary, Stars Hollow is not. Plus you’ll be inspired by Rory’s crazy book list to maybe turn off Netflix and start reading which would be good for you.

Derry Girls
Vibe: Screwball comedy / teens being ridiculous
Basic Plot: Four best gal pals from Derry Ireland, and their ‘wee English’ guy friend, navigate life as Catholics in Northern Ireland during the Troubles… hilarity ensues.
Why it’s great for Quarantine: It’s March, so it’s St. Patricks Day season – grab a Guinness, turn on those subtitles (because you won’t be able to understand them) and get your Irish on. PLUS – if those girls can live through a civil war, we can get through this.

Read my full blog here. 

What a Girl Wants
Vibe: Teen Classic ft peak Amanda Bynes
Basic Plot: A girl just wants to find her dad, but finds a whole new British life including obviously a hot British boyfriend.
Why it’s great for Quarantine: It will remind you of simpler times, like when Amanda Bynes was at her peak and you were probably in middle school and your biggest problem was remembering your math homework…

Atypical
Vibe: Cozy family dramedy
Basic Plot: A coming of age show about a teenager on the autism spectrum, who has decided he is ready for romance… and how his family deals (or doesn’t) deal with his burgeoning independence.
Why it’s great for Quarantine: Incredible soundtrack, very calming penguin/antarctic animal metaphors, and you have time now to watch the first three seasons before the fourth and final season comes out later this year.

The Circle
Note – this is The Reality Show (not the Tom Hanks/Emma Watson Thriller)
Vibe: Digitial Reality
Basic Plot: A group of people hang out in isolated apartments (like us right now) and only connect using a social media platform (like us) called ‘The Circle’. Sounds stupid – but it’s extremely addictive.
Why it’s great for Quarantine: We are all basically living our lives in the Circle – no human contact but we can connect using social media…but we can be glad no one is filming us. If you already watched the American one – Netflix just released ‘The Circle: Brazil’ – so we’ve got new episodes and you can learn a new language 🙂

Love is Blind
Vibe: Romantic Reality
Basic Plot: People date in ‘pods’ never seeing each other until they get engaged after only 5 days of knowing each other. Then when they meet each other, shit may or may not hit the fan. It’s all a bit ridiculous.
Why it’s great for Quarantine: Everyone is watching it, so you might as well understand why we all hate Jessica so much. I’m not the biggest fan, but you should watch it so we can talk about all the faults that this show has.

Cheer
Vibe: Heartfelt Sports Documentary
Basic Plot: Head Coach Monica Aldama runs a tight ship of the Navarro Cheer program in Corsicana, Texas. Her athletes are incredible at their sport, but are also incredible people who have overcome crazy circumstances. We follow the team on their way to the National Championships.
Why it’s great for Quarantine: Besides the incredible cinematography, it will inspire you to maybe get up and leave your couch to do a few stretches. It will also send you on a youtube wormhole of watching cheer videos and you have time for this right now. Plus – I need you all to watch it so we can debate if Monica is more like Tammy or Eric Taylor.

Terrace House
Vibe: Calming Japanese Reality
Basic Plot: At any given point, six Japanese young people live in a gorgeous house and live their best lives. They often date each other, work extremely hard at their jobs, and also sometimes get mad for eating each other’s food. Meanwhile, six Japanese celebrities offer commentary on their every move. It’s phenomenal.
Why it’s great for Quarantine: There is SO much Terrace House for you to enjoy. There are 4 iterations of the show, each with over 50 episodes that are roughly an hour long each. You will literally never have this much time to watch this show again and it’s a GEM. I’d highly recommend watching the show in order to understand the references. Start with Boys and Girls in the City (S1), Aloha State (S2), Opening New Doors (S3), and then watch the current Toyoko 2019-2020 (S4).

Read my full blog about Terrace House here. 

Queer Eye
Vibe: Rainbows and Glitter.
Basic Plot: 5 wonderful Queer folk help everyday Americans live their best lives.
Why it’s great for Quarantine: You need to feel good. The Fab Five will make you feel good and encourage you to do some self-care during this stressful time. Get a face mask hunny, french tuck your pjs and maybe also eat some avocado. You’ll feel better soon.

Read my full blog about Queer Eye here. 

Jane The Virgin
Vibe: Feminist Telenovela
Basic Plot: Jane the Virgin gets accidentally artificially inseminated. Chaos, hilarity and absolutely everything under the sun ensues. The fantastic Villanueva women are at the heart of this story, but the supporting cast of men are pretty phenomenal too.
Why it’s great for Quarantine: This is one of the most twisty shows I’ve ever watched – you think one thing is going to happen and then something else happens. You will be so wrapped up in the plot that you won’t remember that the world is imploding.

Read my full blog about Jane here. 

Timeless
Vibe: Procedural with Time Traveling Terrorists
Basic Plot: Terrorists have stolen a Time Machine and are trying to rewrite history. Historian Dr. Lucy Preston, military operative Wyatt Logan and engineer Rufus Carlin unite to stop them each episode.
Why it’s great for Quarantine: We are currently living through a major historical event. People will talk about ‘the Covid Crisis’ for years. Thinking about historical events and thinking about how they changed the world is the whole point of this show. Bonus – this is a COZY show. You can watch an episode at a time but can also binge the whole thing. There are only 2 seasons (which is a shame) but wraps up everything perfectly. Such a gem of a show.

Unbelievable
Vibe: Social Justice Drama
Basic Plot: Well there are kind of two plots going on here – one focuses on a teenager who reports being raped, then recants her story, and a second plot focused on two female detectives who come together after working on rape cases in different states. They weave together in really interesting ways. Based on a True Story.
Why it’s great for Quarantine: You probably missed it when it first came out and that’s a shame. It’s extremely well made and worth your time. Time you have now.

Money Heist
Vibe: Sexy Spanish Crime Drama.
Basic Plot: A group of sexy Spanish criminals break into the Royal Mint of Spain. It gets absolutely insane fast.
Why it’s great for Quarantine: This is one of my all time favourite shows to recommend to people. You’ll be taken in by the heist, wrapped up by the professor/inspector’s relationship, and stimulated by all the action. If you’re worried about getting bored while at home, this show will make sure you won’t be. Plus there is a whole plot point around being locked up that you’ll appreciate. BUT PLEASE – do not watch this with dubbing. Get the subtitles out and watch it in the original Spanish. It’s just that much better. Season four comes out on April 3rd!

I can’t show you a trailer because that will spoil it – but if you’ve seen the show, you’ll appreciate this: 

Elite
Vibe: Sexy Spanish Crime Drama meets Gossip Girl/The OC.
Basic Plot: A group of sexy Spanish teens are all wrapped up in a murder at an Elite school in Spain. You won’t know who is murdered until the end of the first episode and finding out the who/what/where/when/why/how will keep you going. Meanwhile – they all hook up. It’s hot.
Why it’s great for Quarantine: The sexy Spanish teens are hot. Get a bottle of wine (or two) out of your stash and get into it. Again – PLEASE do not watch this with dubbing. The original Spanish is incredible. Season 3 just dropped on March 13th so lots of new stuff to watch 🙂

Read the full Elite blog here. 

That’s all for now friends. Check back in tomorrow for the Crave list 🙂