Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Hulu) and her Scooby gang saved the world a lot in the show’s seven seasons. If you’re feeling a little apocalyptic about what’s going on in the world, take comfort in that it’s not a demonic mayor looking to ascend to a new level and eat your town in the process.You’ll have to wait a few more weeks before the last 11 seasons of Doctor Who touch down when HBO Max launches in May, but the show’s time-traveling, persona-shifting Gallifreyan hero/heroine has soft spots in his/her two hearts for humankind.Buffy spinoff Angel (Hulu) was just hitting its stride when it was unceremoniously canceled. But Buffy’s vampire-with-a-soul ex shares the same clever writing (and several favorite characters) with its partner-in-fighting-crime.If you like superheroes of a more traditional sort, Smallville (Hulu) gives you 10 seasons worth of teenage Superman (and his future nemesis, Lex Luthor) to enjoy.
West Wing (Netflix) gives you an insider’s look at what happens in the White House with an inspiring (but all too human) President Bartlet—though you might want to skip the fifth season’s “No Exit,” which depicts the staff on a coronavirus-like lockdown after a potential contaminant is detected.Veep (HBO Now/GO) captured a wickedly funny spin on life in the White House during a few incredibly unproductive administrations.Before the internet became home to elaborate government conspiracy theories, The X-Files (Hulu) weaved some pretty amazing ones about alien abductions and illnesses.
You might want to skip the controversial last few episodes of the legen-(wait for it)-dary series How I Met Your Mother (Hulu), but the rest of the show is pretty darned great. (Warning: You may end up as the slap bet commissioner in your own house.)When you don’t have your own virtual happy hour lined up, grab a drink and head over to the bar where everybody knows your name, Cheers (Netflix and Hulu).Gilmore Girls (Netflix) recently released a short-run revival, but the folks at Stars Hollow are definitely worth revisiting from the very beginning.
The plane crash survivors on Lost (Hulu) were in their own form of shelter-in-place on a tropical island with smoke monsters and other dangers—and were probably in dire need of toilet paper, too.Firefly (Hulu) was one of the most short-lived shows with a rabid fan base—it mixed the genres of sci-fi and westerns in a tale of a group of pioneers on the far reaches of space.Star Trek (Netflix) was the sci-fi show that launched a ton of spinoffs (and copy cats)—but the kitschy cool of the one that started it all is worth repeating now.
MAS*H (Hulu) still regularly makes critics’ lists of top TV shows of all time nearly 50 years after it first appeared. While billed as a comedy, the show’s depiction of a group of Army medical personnel during the Korean War regularly veered into more serious territory.Scrubs (Hulu) played like the diary of J.D., a goofy medical intern, on his path to becoming a full-fledged doctor at Sacred Heart Hospital.
