Television is one of my biggest passions in life. It is so easy to just throw a TV show on whenever I need an escape from the world. There are many types of genres of television that sometimes people don’t even know where to start. My goal with this blog is to give you recommendations of what TV shows you should be watching, especially if you have no idea on where to begin. It doesn’t matter if you prefer shows with comedy, drama, romance, adventure, mystery, or even reality TV. There is something for everybody here.

I have always loved television. 2015 is the year where I started binge watching shows from beginning to end. There are so many TV shows that I have loved where I feel like I can watch them on a loop forever. But there are also some TV shows that maybe I didn’t love as much as I was expecting based on the hype around them. Today, I would like to focus on TV shows you should be watching that I think every single human should experience at least one time in their lives.

My Top 5 TV Shows You Should Be Watching

1. The Good Place

Starting off strong with my number one favorite show of all time: The Good Place (2016-2020). Mike Schur is the creator behind this show (who also worked on shows such as The Office and Parks and Recreation).  I personally watched the last two seasons of the show live. Watching the show live made for some of the best television viewing of my life. Getting to theorize what plot lines would occur every week was so thrilling.

One big thing about The Good Place is not only that it is hilarious and will make you cry at the most random times, but that it is also educational. Moral Philosophy weaves its way into the storylines each week without making it feel like you are in a classroom. The show goes from teaching about the trolly problem to transitioning to a dumb fart joke.

If I could go back in time and relive watching any TV show for the first time, I would choose this one in a heartbeat. If you take any recommendation from this list, I would say this is the #1 TV show you should be watching. Watching this show will indeed transform you into the best version of yourself.

2. This is Us

This Is Us (2016-2022) is a TV show I didn’t watch until it was over. Sometimes binging this show got to be a lot just because of how emotional every single episode is. But, hey, if you’re into that type of thing, then this is the TV show you should be watching. But at times I wouldn’t care about the emotions each episode would bring because I was so captivated by the family dynamics presented by the Pearson family. For the people who watched it live, this show truly became a weekly therapy and crying session.

There was truly never a time when I was watching that the storyline would falter. I was always invested to see what would happen next. But the biggest thing that stands out to me about this show is how human it is. It truly encapsulates what it means to be a person living on this earth. You get to see all of the characters going throughout their lives and making mistakes.

If you need a good cry, this show is definitely the one for you.

3. LOST

LOST (2004-2010) was truly the first show of its kind to end up on network television. The first episode alone was one of the most expensive pilots at the time. What made LOST so different from any other show airing at the time was how complex the storylines were for a network TV show. The mystery show made itself television you could not miss. You couldn’t just tune in when it was convenient. Missing an episode would be detrimental for your viewing experience. It truly was a TV show you should be watching at the time especially because everyone was talking about it the next day.

Many television shows that have aired after LOST  have been influenced from different aspects of it. One big thing LOST is known for is using flashbacks and flash forwards to guide the story along. The Good Place and This Is Us are two shows who majorly took inspiration from also implementing flashbacks and flash forwards into their shows.

I love watching shows that have heavily influenced the television medium. Studying them and seeing what made them work is so fascinating to witness. LOST is truly such a special show and reminds one to this day.

4. Parks and Recreation

Parks and Recreation (2009-2015) is truly the happiest TV show you will ever watch. Leslie Knope, our main character, is sunshine personified. If I am ever in a bad mood, putting on Parks and Recreation always lifts my spirits. Many people like to compare Parks and Recreation to The Office. It is a reasonable comparison since they are both mockumentary style TV shows written by the same people. I love both shows, but I have to say that the hopefulness of Parks and Recreation will always outshine the gloom of The Office for me personally.

At the end of the day, what makes Parks and Recreation so good are the characters. They are the core foundation of the show. Without any one of the characters it quite literally would not be the same show. All of the main characters are brilliant, but even the side characters really make up the town of Pawnee. The writing of the show truly makes you feel like you live in the town with all of these people.

5. Cheers

Last on my list I decided to save the sitcom that has shaped every sitcom that has been released after it: Cheers (1982-1993). This show is one of the blueprints for the modern day sitcom. We have it to thank for many aspects of the sitcom genre. One of the biggest aspects being introducing the “workplace sitcom.” The bar the characters worked and frequented ended up being the central hub of the TV show. The show also had an ensemble cast with characters that all interweave with each other’s lives.

Sam and Diane, two of the central characters of the show, became the relationship that would shape other modern day sitcom relationships. These two were magic on screen. You could just let them be in a scene together for ten minutes at the end of an episode and it wouldn’t get boring or stale. You wouldn’t be wondering when the scene would be over and we would go back to our other characters. They would just entice you into not being able to look away from the screen.

If you are a true sitcom enjoyer or a true television fan, you need to give Cheers a watch.