TV Shows to {Restart}: Skipping Dark Dramas and Comedies for Something Younger

I’m a Breaking Bad girl. I binged hard and caught up, then watched the final season in real time during the same weeks I tried to sleep-train our stubborn baby. I embraced my soaring blood pressure, sat on the furthest edge of my seat, and wondered how he managed to wake and cry during the most pivotal scenes.

My anxiety was through the roof—but in a good way!

What was going to happen next?! How was Vince Gilligan going to wrap this up? What if I turned down the volume of the baby monitor? If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it…

I’m also a Game of Thrones girl, a Chernobyl girl, a Mr. Robot girl, a True Detective Season 1 girl. I love suspense. I love darkness. I love dark humor. A Succession girl. A Fleabag girl. An I-own-the-movie-American-Psycho girl (a topic for another essay perhaps). However, these shows are the obvious recommendations, the ones we’ve already talked to our friends and family about, the ones we’ve practically shouted at them about, “You need to watch!” So yes, you should watch all these again.

Today, however, I am offering light to combat the dark, a recommendation for a show I watched in its entirety starting in April 2020 and then again in August 2021.

My friend had recommended the show, but this was not the kind of friend I could necessarily trust with TV recommendations(you know the type). I rolled my eyes at the concept: a 40-year-old woman pretends she’s in her twenties to get a job in publishing? No. Hillary Duff? Who do you think I am?

Yet suddenly, when I desperately needed to escape my family, I watched one episode and then another. The female leads were strong, smart, and easy to root for. Sutton Foster was adorable and so was Hillary, and then there were the clothes, the men (!), the hilarious supporting characters (Miriam Shore as Diana!), and the New York city we fantasize about.

I don’t care what anyone says: I am recommending Younger.

Sometimes we need the easy shows, the short shows, the fun and sexy shows, those sweet-and-addictive-like-candy shows. I say watch it and then watch it again. Yes, Younger!