Your Summer Watch List

While Netflix is great for the kids, let’s be real here Moms (and okay, you too Dads). One of the best parts about Netflix is that it can be watched on a plethora of devices. If the kids are in the television room and you need a break, you can always grab a show on your smartphone in the next room over. Or, if you’re feeling a little bored with the mindless task of emptying the dishwasher, you can prop up your iPad, turn on Netflix, and entertain yourself a little bit.

Like reading novels, Netflix is best experienced one show at a time (in my opinion, at least). And, like reading, I personally always feel a loss when one show ends. I never know whether my next show will fulfill me as much as the last. So as you prepare to jump into a summer of kids at home, let me give you a summer entertainment list for the new generation of Mom. This is akin to your Summer Reading List, but different. Here’s your Summer Netflix Watch List so you can hit play on some Mom-only time this summer and find out what to watch on Netflix next.

1. Orange Is The New Black

I was late to the OITNB bandwagon and actually waited until right before Season 2 was released (June 6!) to start watching Season 1. I must say, despite the graphic language, and yes, graphic content, I was hooked. The story was great and I really loved that I could watch a hard and rough show about women in prison without feeling uncomfortable the whole time. I will admit that Season 2 is much darker, and personally I am not loving it as much (I still haven’t watched the final episode, which is a weird place to stop) but I know there are so many people who liked Season 2 more than Season 1. Watch OITNB alone (not kid friendly!), or with your husband in bed if that’s what gets you both going. ;)

2. Suits

If you like smart lawyer dramas and sexy men in suits, this is the show for you. Suits follows a young not-quite lawyer as he brilliantly works his way into a top lawyer under the influence of his hot-shot mentor. This show offers brain candy and eye candy and you will be paying as much attention to the plots as you do to the characters. (Can you tell I have a crush? Or two?).

3. Sherlock

It took a lot of convincing to get into Sherlock. I always find British television shows a little more difficult to wrap my head around, and this was no exception. Sherlock seasons are three episodes in length, but the seasons are dynamic and gripping. Sherlock is a modern adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. This is an award winning show, and for good reason. The characters have amassed cult followings on Tumblr and fans sit with bated breath anticipating future seasons. Watch Sherlock when you have enough time to watch an entire episode and enough quiet to focus on the dialogue.

4. The Good Wife

I’m mentioning another legal drama because it is worth mentioning. I don’t think I’m particularly drawn to them, but they make good tv. The Good Wife is about the wife of a cheating and corrupted state’s attorney who decides to return to the legal world as a first year lawyer after years of being a stay-at-home-mom. While the legal plots are fascinating, what The Good Wife does best are the interpersonal relationships and family dynamics. I love that this show is about a woman navigating the world as a working mother with a failing marriage. I just feeling like it resonates in our world so much. If you haven’t yet watched The Good Wife, do yourself a favour and start watching.

5. Bones

I love a really good crime drama, but many are shows that I will watch an episode at a time without really going back to follow a whole season. For some reason, Bones is different. I’m not sure what it is about it, but I really love this show. Bones is about a forensic anthropologist, her FBI partner, and the team she works with. As the seasons progress, the story-lines that tied each episode together became stronger and stronger. One of the recurring serial killers has even taken a permanent spot in my nightmares.

6. How I Met Your Mother

There are times when I know I want to watch a nice, hour long show, but there are other times when I definitely need to kick back quickly with a half hour comedy. Comedies do my heart good and there are a couple sitcoms that Netflixs carries that I laugh my way through. HIMYM has been one of my favourites for years, but recently I’ve started watching the episodes when they appear on Netflix (which means I still have not seen the last season – no spoilers, please!) HIMYM was really a great sitcom – I’ve heard it described as Friends for a new generation.

7. Happy Endings

My second sitcom favourite is a show that got cancelled long before it’s time. Happy Endings might just be the funniest show I have ever seen. Like How I Met Your Mother, it is about a group of friends in the prime of their lives and it is laugh out loud funny. Fans were devastated when it was cancelled and critics claimed the cancellation was a mistake. Luckily, you can watch the episodes that aired before its cancellation on Netflix.

8. Dawson’s Creek

You totally remember being a teen and watching Dawson’s Creek every summer, don’t you? Need I say more?

  What would you add to the Netflix Summer Watch List?

I am a member of Netflix’s Stream Team and as such I have been compensated with a complementary Netflix subscription and a few other perks. The stories and opinions are all my own and have not been bought.