If there’s anything remotely positive about 2020 (aside from Paul Rudd’s new look) is that I have definitely had more time to allot to just tuning the world out and catching up on shows.

I seem to had a theme this year — I was gravitating towards shows that were about people who are going or have gone through the same things as I have. I am not so much in the mood for stressful things like global problems for now when it comes to entertainment. I like those ones which made me think of my own life, if I should make some real estate investments (this one of The Seasons Residences speak to me!) evaluate some choices and hopefully be inspired to make some more good ones.

LOVE LIFE | HBO GO.

Darby is a twenty something New Yorker who shares her story of someone greats in this series. This series was produced and starred in by Anna Kendrick so I was hopeful — and I was not disappointed! I loved this show so much I finished it in two days. It resonated so much to me, navigating my early twenties to closing my twenties. I loved my twenties and it was fun. I’m glad I went through it all. :D Watching Love Life reminded me of those.

2. DOLLFACE | HULU

One of my early quarantine discoveries, Dollface stars Kat Dennings stars as Jules and she realizes she does not have girl friends after her boyfriend dumps her. This was a very nice female romp show I consumed all too fastt.

3. ELITE | NETFLIX

Definitely not something I went through as a high schooler but I thoroughly enjoyed Elite — to me, it was like a mix of both Gossip Girl and How to Get Away with Murder so this kept me up many quarantine nights. Love love Carla (played by Ester Exposito!)

4. HiGH FIDELITY | HULU

Unfortunately cancelled by Hulu already - UGH — this is inspired by the original High Fidelity book and movie starring John Cusack. Similar to Love Life, Rob (played by Zoe Kravitz) makes playlists about people in his life most especially the ones he dated (and loved).

5. BOOKSMART | HULU

Technically not released in 2020 — but I only had time to catch Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart this year and I thoroughly enjoyed watching high high school friends try to live their lives after realizing they’ve spent all their time being booksmart. It was a treat to watch something so intelligent and witty and still quite very human.

6. DOWN TO EARTH WITH ZAC EFRON | NETFLIX

I did not have high expectations for this show but I was completely blown away with Zac Efron’s 1) transformation to full “daddy” status and the fact that this show is like a “world’s best practices” in sustainability. I particularly enjoyed the French episode on water. WHO KNEW there can be a water connoisseur!

7. Normal People | HULU

It took me quite a while to finish the book and definitely the series had me taking a gap after the quite long “exploratory” sex scenes of Connell and Marianne but after some time I finished it and got overwhelmed by the whoosh of intense teenage love that blossomed into something quite of a best friendship but also raw, passionate (sexual) and ever present. I loved how normal Normal People was.

7. Upload | Amazon Prime

A surprising weekend watch, this series (and I quote) “if The Good Place and Black Mirror had a cool, hipster, happy son.” It’s a futuristic sci fi show that feels quite “normal” and relatable because the future does not seem robotic and all the right emotions are still there too. It’s about Nathan Brown —- who lives the afterlife as an ‘upload’ and his angel Nora, who is an upload customer support. All I have to say is this was so refreshingly good — all the philosophical goodness of The Good Place and the scary futurism of Black Mirror. Watch on Prime Video.