The Shows: What to watch during holiday downtime

My daughter and I recently walked into our Monday afternoon Pilates class and ran into our old friend Bob Luna. Bob, a Renaissance man of a fitness instructor, restaurateur, and singer, was just wrapping up a dance class that we love to watch him lead. With his big smile, he came across the room to us and, without saying hi, said, “Are you watching the show?!”

We knew exactly what show he was talking about – Nobody Wants This – and not only had we watched it, but we, too, were obsessed. The 10-episode Netflix series follows Joanne, an agnostic sexcapades podcaster played by Kristen Bell, and Noah, a.k.a. “Hot Rabbi,” played by Adam Brody, as they fall in love against all odds – and all family members’ opinions. “The show,” as Bob called it, is a laugh-out-loud rom-com, spot-on, if not exaggerated, in its observations about human nature and intermarriage, probably because it’s based on creator Erin Foster’s real-life relationship with her husband Simon Tikhman. Bob, whose husband is Jewish, says, “What I loved about it is that there were stereotypes within and outside the Jewish faith. You don’t often see it done that well.”

But our show of the moment isn’t the only bingeable new release this fall. If you find yourself with a little extra time over the holidays, check out some of these promising picks. We’ll be right there with you.

What Netflix’s Emily in Paris lacks in weight is more than made up for in fashion and frivolity. “It’s predictable but cute,” Debra Orkin, a retired dental hygienist, says. “And it’s for sure more fun than watching all the news.” For an extra grin, look up the impromptu lip-sync of Wannabe by the Spice Girls performed by Lily Collins (Emily, and also Phil Collins’ real-life daughter) on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Apple TV’s seven-episode series Disclaimer stars Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, and Sacha Baron Cohen in a psychological thriller that turns a journalist (Blanchett) into the main character of a story she does not want told. The same platform’s second season of the dramedy Shrinking brings back Jason Segel and Harrison Ford as therapists who themselves are deeply flawed, and totally human.

HBO’s The Franchise spoofs Hollywood, following the cast and crew of a second-rate superhero movie. Isn’t everything a little funnier with a British accent?

Speaking of British accents, The Great British Baking Show airs for its 15th season on Netflix. Beloved for gathering home bakers under a tent to compete for the award of Star Baker, The Great British Baking Show is the thing one of my daughters and I stream in bed together when we just need some mindless happy. 

For Bruce Springsteen fans, there’s documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, available on Hulu and Disney+. Road Diary is just that – a video account of the E Street Band’s 2023 tour, plus bonus footage from shows beginning in the ’70s. 

More from Netflix: Lonely Planet, starring Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth in a midlife crisis romance; Anna Kendrick starring in and directing Woman of the Hour, a fictionalized account of a real-life serial killer who appeared as a bachelor on The Dating Game in 1978; The Perfect Couple, an eye-candy whodunnit based on Elin Hildebrand’s book and starring Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber in a fabulous Nantucket setting; and the unauthorized Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, starring Chloe Sevigny and Javier Bardem, and the follow-up documentary The Menendez Brothers with interviews of the siblings from jail. 

Just in case nothing has piqued your interest yet, Houston’s New York Times bestselling author (and Booklist’s “reigning queen of comfort reads”) Katherine Center says K-Dramas, or Korean television, on Netflix are her happy shows. “These are soap operas in the best way,” she raves, adding, “I cannot fall asleep now unless I hear the sounds of Korean people talking!” Katherine especially recommends Crash Landing on You (Netflix), the story of a beautiful Korean businesswoman who is paragliding when a freak tornado flings her into North Korea, where she then gets stuck in a tree and is rescued by a man Katherine calls “the Brad Pitt of Korea.” “People get shot, there are blood transfusions…and the actors fell in love with each other while they were filming the show!

“It takes a minute to build, but give it an episode or two. You will come to care about these people so much…it will lift your heart right up into the clouds.”

For a holiday weekend – or any time – that’s pretty hard to beat.