10 shows to keep your mind off coronavirus while we’re staying at home in Charlotte
Coronavirus is officially a pandemic, and most of us are confined at home to stop it from spreading. So what do you do all day?
It’s easy to get stir crazy when the weather would normally warrant a day at the U.S. National Whitewater Center or a weekend festival. But let’s face it — instead of cleaning out that storage closet, writing that novel, or beginning that passion project, you’re going to watch TV. We all are. In fact, the European Union is even asking Netflix and other streaming platforms to stop showing video in high definition to prevent the internet from buckling under all that use.
As Thursday, March 26’s stay-at-home order officially locked down Mecklenburg County just a little bit tighter, it’s a good time to a look at what others around the country have been viewing as they spend more time at home to stop the spread of COVID-19:
- Disney Plus (43.48% traffic increase over the past month)
- HBO Go (23.50% traffic increase over the past month)
- Netflix (17.57% traffic increase over the past month)
- Hulu (7.99% traffic increase over the past month)
- Amazon Prime Video (1.17% traffic increase over the past month)
Information courtesy of SEMrush, a data trends provider.
Instead of watching reruns of Friends or Seinfeld — even though it’s tempting — consider trying something new. Here are a few ideas to get you started, depending upon your virus-avoiding mood:
(1) For when you want to laugh instead of stressing about the virus
Watch: Schitt’s Creek
Where: Netflix
Genre: Comedy/SITCOM
Cast: Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Daniel Levy, Annie Murphy, Emily Hampshire
Premise: The formerly wealthy Rose family winds up completely broke with only one asset to their name: a podunk town called Schitt’s Creek. Picture a run-down motel, eccentric locals and a family who goes from fine dining to fast food. The family will have to learn to navigate their new lives — and may just form unlikely relationships along the way. It’s laugh-out-loud funny and oh-so quotable.
(2) For when coronavirus isn’t scary enough
Watch: Containment
Where: Netflix
Genre: Drama
Cast: David Gyasi, Christina Moses, Chris Wood, Kristen Gutoskie
Premise: Following an epidemic that breaks out in Atlanta, the city is split into two — those quarantined, and those fighting to live. You’ll follow the lives of several individuals during the outbreak including a police officer, a doctor, a pregnant 17-year-old, a teacher and a CDC researcher. While symptoms of the virus displayed in the show are more grisly than COVID-19, it still depicts the panic and disorder caused by an outbreak.
If you feel weird about watching fiction so close to reality, don’t. You’re not alone. The Huffington Post reported that the poorly reviewed 2016 show is suddenly appearing in Netflix’s top 10 this week, along with Pandemic, a docuseries released in January about the possibility of a worldwide pandemic.
Once you’re done with Containment, if you’re willing to plop down a whopping $3.99, you can rent Contagion on Prime Video.
The 2011 movie averages a couple hundred downloads a day normally, and The Verge reported that it spiked to 18,000 downloads on January 29. The Observer’s Lawrence Toppman has some other related movies you might like here (Is Outbreak on your list yet?).
(3) For when you want to be scared by something other than viruses
Watch: American Horror Story
Where: Hulu
Genre: Horror
Cast: Evan Peters, Emma Roberts, Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Angela Bassett, Lady Gaga
Premise: Each season of this series revolves around a different set of characters. If you like haunted houses, demons, insane asylums, witch covens, freak shows, creepy hotels and ghosts, this is the show for you.
(4) For when you want to feel creepy out of sheer boredom
Watch: You
Where: Netflix
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Cast: Penn Badgley, Elizabeth Lail, Victoria Pedretti, Ambyr Childers, Shay Mitchell
Premise: Starring Penn Badgley, this show is no Gossip Girl. Main character and bookstore owner Joe Goldberg seems like a friendly boy-next-door to aspiring female writer, Beck.
For Beck, her sweet crush on Joe blossoms into a relationship. For Joe, it becomes an obsession. And he’ll remove any obstacle that gets in the way of him getting closer with her. If you were worried about coronavirus, this will give you another reason to look over your shoulder.
(5) For when real life is just too much
Watch: Carnival Row
Where: Amazon Prime
Genre: Fantasy
Cast: Orlando Bloom, Cara Delevingne, Tamzin Merchant, David Gyasi, Karla Crome
Premise: After humans invade the exotic homelands of mythological creatures, the growing population tries to coexist. However, they’re forbidden to love or fly with freedom. You’ll follow the unlikely love story of detective Rycroft “Philo” Philostrate and a refugee faerie, Vignette Stonemoss, as Philo follows the case of a string of murders and rekindles his relationship with Stonemoss, who harbors a secret.
(6) For when you just want to hang out on any other planet than Earth
Watch: The Mandalorian
Where: Disney+
Genre: Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Cast: Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, Carl Weathers, Taika Waititi, Werner Herzog
Premise: Yes, this is the show that inspired all of the “Baby Yoda” memes. Set five years after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order, a Mandalorian bounty hunter secures a valuable asset. Even if you’re not a Star Wars fan, the show is worth a watch, as the Mandalorian bounces from one planet to another to keep the valuable asset — The Child (“Baby Yoda”) safe from the reaches of the enemy.
(7) For when you actually would just prefer to live in space til the virus is gone
Watch: Avenue 5
Where: HBO
Genre: Sci-Fi
Cast: Hugh Laurie, Lenora Crichlow, Josh Gad, Zach Woods, Suzy Nakamura
Premise: Set 40 years in the future (when Buffalo houses the nation’s capital), Avenue 5 is the tale of a luxury passenger ship owned by a billionaire and the passengers who find that their upscale vacation has taken a turn for the worse. The ship is heading back home to Earth, but faces a malfunction that adds three years to the commute back. Can an incompetent caption, a sassy/smart engineer, a dense millionaire and a “Karen” get the passengers home safely?
(8) For when you want to focus on other dumpster fires besides the virus
Watch: Fyre Fraud
Where: Hulu
Genre: Documentary
Premise: In today’s social media culture, it’s tough to discriminate between influencer promotions and true value. Fyre Fraud goes inside the story of the notorious Fyre Festival — pitched as a Cochella-esque experience on a tropical island —and how it led to a massive rip-off. There’s a similar documentary on Netflix called Fyre, but the Hulu version has an on-camera interview with the man (scam artist) behind it all: Billy McFarland.
(9) For when you need some drama to keep you from going stir crazy
Watch: Big Little Lies
Where: HBO
Genre: Drama
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz, Laura Dern
Premise: Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Laine Moriarty, this series follows the lives of four women in Monterey, California who are drawn together by a murder. The first season will keep you guessing with a classic “whodunnit” theme, and the second season will follow their lives as their lies unravel.
(10) For when you see the virus as an opportunity to binge-watch reality TV
Watch: Love is Blind
Where: Netflix
Genre: Reality Television
Premise: They say not to judge a book by its cover — Love is Blind makes that a reality for singles on the show. They try to match and fall in love without ever seeing each other face-to-face for ten days, speed-dating style. Will emotional connection mean more than physical attraction?
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 1:28 PM.
