March 2020 is a month that changed all of our lives forever… well, hopefully at least for the next year or so, until :fingers crossed: life gets back to normal.  But for now, this pandemic is here to stay not just in NYC or the USA, but globally mirziamov.ru.

Expectations for a better future are at an all-time high, but you know what else has risen high over the past year?  Screen time – whether it’s laboring away in front of your laptop, toasting during virtual happy hour on your tablet, or doomscrolling the night away on your phone.  There has NEVER been a year people spent so much time looking at millions of pixels, and we have nothing but the pandemic to thank for that.

Let’s talk about the biggest screen we probably all own – the TV, and maaaan, what a saving grace television has been for us through this crazy time.  If there was any other better moment to be a couch potato, this was the year.  Folks at Pulse Creative have always considered themselves entertainment connoisseurs, however, especially now, we elevated our binge mastery to new levels.

Without further ado,  we present to you Binge Bangers – a Pulse Creative curated list of shows we think are worth watching, with commentary from our team on their picks!   

Dhareza’s picks:

• The Queen’s Gambit – “Never in our history has chess been so cool.”
• Raised by Wolves – “A disturbing look into a possible future.”
• The Handmaid’s Tale – “A disturbing look into a possible present.”

Schaeffer’s picks:

• Frasier – “Comfort food for the quarantined soul.”
• The Last Dance – “The social [media] team asked for my favorite shows [for this list]… and I took that personally.”
• Palm Springs – “I’m a sucker for indie movies where nothing happens… or it happens over and over and over again.”

Kelly-Ann’s picks:

• The Boys – “Bloody gruesome mayhem, twisted super hero’s with mommy issues and crazy fetish’s mixed with dark cynical humor… need I say more?”
• 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way – “When my brain is going 100MPH and needs to slow tf down; trash TV at it’s best.”
• The 7 Deadly Sins – “When I really needed to escape reality into a ridiculous, hilarious and addictive fantasy world.”

 Avery’s picks:

• Love Island – “There’s NOTHING more mindless.”
• The Boys – “CRAZY good.”
• Bad Education – “Because the British just do comedy better.”

Mikhail’s picks:

• The Peaky Blinder – “For the 3rd time…because sometimes you wanna enjoy tea time and be a gangster simultaneously.”
• The Haunting of Hill House/Bly Manor – “Because I cherish horror with a compelling narrative.”
• Scissor Seven – “It’s an animated series straight out of China about assassins… need I say more?”

Jeff C’s picks:

• • Kingdom – “Medieval combat, court drama and lots and lots of zombies, Kingdom feels a lot more present and real than I’d like to admit, but that’s why it’s so good.”
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender – “A cartoon fantasy epic inspired by kung fu films, it’s the perfect story of good versus evil, but it’s smart enough to know it never comes cheap or easy.”
  • Mindhunter – “Disturbing and fascinating, Mindhunter reveals the workings of the sickest minds and I can’t stop watching.”

Steph L’s picks:

• The Queen’s Gambit – “Remember when you used to make fun of people in cheese club? Yeah…who’s laughing now? Sexy, exciting, addicting.”
• The Boys – “Whoaaa – terrifying reality of what super-heroism would look like in our current world with social-political corruption and overlooked mental health issues.”
• Top Chef – “Food + drama? Hit me up. As a food enthusiast, this show gives me life. I also feel less guilty as I snack through my pantry while watching. But seriously, the food looks glorious.”

David’s picks:

• The Daily Show – “Recent news has been a farce, feelin’ more like ‘The Onion’ than legit news. Instead of sulking about the downfall of humanity, I’d rather laugh while getting my daily dose of current events.”
• Fear The Walking Dead – “Had this show on the back-burner for the longest time… and maaaan, what a time to finally binge a show about the beginnings of a zombie pandemic, during a real pandemic that is still developing.”
• The Office – “Can’t believe no one put this show on their lists for this blog post, so I’m adding it because we know damn well that we all love re-binging this.”

Nicole’s picks:

• Lucifer – “The actual Devil is living in LA. I mean, WHAT A CONCEPT! Also, Tom Ellis…  😍”
• Selling Sunset – “I wanted to see the inside of million-dollar mansions and watch some mindless drama.”
• PEN15 – “This show is SO painfully awkward & nostalgic… You can’t look away.”

Allison’s picks:

• Yellowstone – “Cast is phenomenal!! Montana family protects its land from Native reservation & land developers in beautifully scenic drama-filled series with Kevin Costner as the patriarch. ‘Got a Problem, Send Rip’”
• The Politician – “If you have an open mind, like to laugh and enjoy a top notch cast give this show a try… Netflix’s The Politician 💙❤️   It’s so over the top while being just… amazing!!! And the one liners are to die for . Bette Midler, Judith Light, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Platt, Zoey Deutch, Jessica Lange, Dylan McDermott, January Jones, and so, so many young new talented actors.”
• Tell Me Who I Am – “True story about twin brothers. One loses their memory in a tragic accident. The other re-invents the story of their lives to shield his twin from a twisted childhood full of dark family secrets. Only for the lies to come shattering down all around them both. Told firsthand by brothers Marcus & Alex. Beautifully shot & profoundly moving documentary with a powerful story to boot.”

Melanie’s picks:

• Helstrom – “Just disturbingly poignant.”
• Normal People – “Because I’m a sucker for pain.”
• Madam Secretary – “In our world right now, this is utopia.”

Jason’s picks:

• Raised by Wolves – “Cinematography is off the chain and because it’s Ridley Scott.”
• Dave – “Lil Dicky is the fucking man.”
• The Boys – “Trying to catch up on all the hype.”

Monica’s picks:

• The Last Kingdom
• The Handmaid’s Tale
• This Is Us

For all three: “Shows my hubby and I watch together to keep from going stir crazy.”

Jeff D’s picks:

• The Vow – “I learned a lot from this.”
• Killing Eve – “Hot psychopath assassin – I love her.”
• Succession – “You can’t make a ‘Tom-let’ without breaking some ‘Greg’s.’”

Evangelia picks:

• The Queen’s Gambit – “The hype was worth it.”
• The Sopranos – “A classic I never had time to watch.”
• Succession – “This show made me feel like my life was normal, holy SHIT do rich people have problems.”

Alfonso’s picks:

• Mindhunter – “Real life serial killers, FBI’s early days of criminal profiling, true crime stories are just weirdly fascinating to me.”
• Peak Blinders – “Well written, amazing cast, suspense filled, and based on real life gangsters/stories!”
• The Queen’s Gambit – “Smart, exciting show about a female chess player. I don’t play chess but finished all 7 episodes in a day!

Lyly’s picks:

• The Boys – “I accidentally started watching and did not stop, it was great!”
• Cold Case – “I cry every episode; it just gets to me.”
• The Big Flower Fight – “I love flowers and ran out of cooking competitions to binge watch.”

Jim’s picks:

• Lovecraft Country – “Game. Changer. In every way possible.”
• The Queen’s Gambit – “Brilliant writing, beautifully navigating away from the expected outcomes of genius & addiction, and giving a female protagonist an empowering arc to healing.”
• The West Wing – “I am what you call a ‘Wing Nut’. This was network TV. That’s 22 episodes a season. Aaron Sorkin wrote 4 seasons. That’s the equivalent of 8 seasons these days, plus a holiday special episode each, in 4 years. Imagine how exhausted he was trying to beat the clock every week (he took this experience and used it in Studio 60 and the Sunset Strip with Matthew Perry’s character, also a West Wing alum). The writing, directing and production values of this show, despite being dated, remain at a level never yet matched. Regardless of your political affiliation, this is a romance of what the White House could be if a small group of people, who aren’t afraid to be smartest people in the room, and know they are smartest people in the room, imperfect and biased as they may be, genuinely cared about the United States of America. (Sorkin left the show after Season 4. Seasons 5 – 7 are not terrible, but they’re not great. Still great acting, but most everything else suffers. The show evolves away from Sorkin’s style and into something more akin to traditional network nighttime drama.)”

Steph H’s picks:

• The Queen’s Gambit – “Chess was my childhood thing 😊”
• Lucifer – “Because Tom Ellis is SMOKIN’ HOT HAHA.”
• Money Heist – “VERY addicting!”