Beyond the binge

I have been keeping a running list of binge-worthy shows on various pieces of paper around my desk, certain that I would get around to a post about them. Then I didn't. Part of that had to do with my wanting to get through shows, then being sidetracked. I have started Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access at least three times, and I like it, but somehow I have never gotten out of Season 1. While Picard (also on All Access) is intriguing, I am several episodes behind and therefore withholding judgment.
 On the other hand, there are shows I have binged and found wanting; Amazon's Jack Ryan comes to mind, as mostly meh, especially in a second season that reworked large chunks of Clear and Present Danger, though not very well. Why Women Kill on CBS All Access
I may go back to The Boys, or not, since it didn't thrill me one way or another. And there are shows that await my bingeing, like Dare Me, which is so artfully unsettling that I'd rather devour it all at once than take it in weekly bites (since it does indeed bite like a cobra, as any reader of Megan Abbott's books would know). If I ever finish CLAWS, it will have to be on a binge, since its fun characters and melodrama just wore out in the most recent season.

So what should you binge? A few possibilities:
Bunheads (Hulu and Freeform On Demand) is a lost gem from Amy Sherman-Palladino, a single-season saga of a Vegas chorus dancer (Sutton Foster) who ends up helping to run a dance school with her mother-in-law (Kelly Bishop). Do I have to say more than Kelly Bishop and Sutton Foster to get you to watch? It's a delight, full of Sherman-Palladino wit, folks from her stock company of actors (Alex Borstein as two different characters) and more than a little wistfulness. Should have had a longer run.
And, as long as we're talking AS-P, if you haven't watched The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon yet, why not? The most recent season has its problems, including in the last couple of episodes, but it's a joyous work over all. Ditto for The Good Fight (CBS All Access), a sequel to CBS's The Good Wife, with Christine Baranski's Diane Lockhart and Cush Jumbo's Lucca Quinn at the center, a LOT of political humor (at Donald Trump's expense) and a crazed turn by Michael Sheen that foreshadows what he does in Prodigal Son. I've also had mixed feelings about the course taken by The Handmaid's Tale, while remaining loyal to the Hulu saga.
Not at all joyous but buoyed by the performances of Linda Cardellini and Christina Applegate is Dead to Me, a Netflix show that is spot-on about the nature of grief but puts that in the middle of a mystery. Then there's GLOW, also on Netflix, which has its share of sorrows in its saga of frustrated people working in pro wrestling, but somehow finds joy in what its people do -- as well as offering splendid work by Alison Brie, Marc Maron and Betty Gilpin.
The Mandalorian on Disney+ had its pleasures, too, emphasizing the connection between Star Wars and classic westerns such as The Magnificent Seven and Clint Eastwood's Sergio Leone trilogy. Also: Baby Yoda. Modern Love on Amazon was uneven -- as anthology series tend to be -- but when it worked, it was worth the effort. And if you have not gotten into The Deuce or Succession, both on HBO, be prepared for forays into the grimmest side of human nature with intermitten redemption.
Is there more? There always is. I have a sticker reminding me to dive into The Plot Against America (HBO), Self Made (Netflix), Hunters (Amazon) and Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu), not to mention ongoing habits like Better Call Saul on AMC or the brilliant, tortured Brockmire, now in its final season on IFC. In other words, plenty of reasons to be OK about staying home.