Plunging into a new show is a difficult decision. This is the show you’ll procrastinate writing that paper with. The show you’ll watch during study breaks, and the show you’ll de-stress with after midterms and finals.  With literally thousands of options available on Netflix, it can be difficult to decide which show to jump into. But here are a few options that you can’t go wrong with:

• Parks and Recreation

This show has everything: parks, waffles, a “beautiful tropical starfish” named Ann, candy, obesity and large amounts of inspirational speeches.

This comedy is a perfect combination of hilarity and commentary on the reality of the U.S. government.  It stars Amy Pohler as the tenacious, enthusiastic ball of energy Leslie Knope. She stars alongside Aubrey Plaza, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman and the not-so-infamous Chris Pratt before his Guardians of the Galaxy debut.

Perfect for anyone who loves breakfast food and government policies.

• Freaks and Geeks

This show follows Lindsey Weir (Linda Cardellini) and her younger brother Sam (Francis Daly) as they attempt to fit into to their appointed high school cliques (the freaks and the geeks, respectively). This show is perfect for the average college student to remember why high school was such a pain, and a short enough series (cancelled after just one season) that it will only slightly hinder studying for finals, rather than outright destroying your grades.

The debut of many great comedians, this show stars Jason Segel, Seth Rogen, James Franco and that nerdy guy that worked at the snow globe factory in Parks And Recreation (Martin Star).

• Penny Dreadful

This unpredictable thriller is a combination of American Horror Story and Scooby-Doo.  This show features a mash-up of classic stories like Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf-Man and Dorian Grey. Though the premise of the show focuses on the supernatural, the characters are incredibly human, in that a majority of them are incredibly unlikeable.

The main characters –Vanessa Ives (Eva Green) , Sir Malcom (Timothy Dalton) and Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett) – constantly battle the evil destroying  Victorian London and at the same time attempt to guard their own secrets. Whether they’re guilty of inadvertently killing their mother after she saw them have sex with the devil, or accidentally killing a slew of people when the full moon hits,  odds are that you’re going to want to watch this thrilling and all-around-weird show.

• Sherlock

This is a modern reimagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, with a large portion of the same plotlines.  Benedict Cumberbatch brings the high-functioning sociopath Sherlock Holmes to life, with Martin Freeman as his “sidekick” John Watson.

This is an incredibly complex show, relying on minute details to piece together the murders that occur in each episode, and battling Sherlock’s nemesis, the psychopath Moriarty.

A great show for anyone who enjoys CSI and  Law and Order,  but wants something less predictable and with more British accents.

• Orange is the New Black

After Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) is sentenced to 15 months in a federal prison, she has to adapt to life on the inside by leaving her white, suburban mindset behind.  As Piper learns to familiarize herself with life inside the prison, her personality changes with it over the course of the show’s five seasons, becoming increasingly more ruthless in order to survive.

This show is filled with fascinating three-dimensional characters from a variety of vastly different backgrounds, often delving into their personal history and how they came to be imprisoned.

• Marvel’s Jessica Jones

You don’t have to be a diehard Marvel fan to love Jessica Jones. The show follows an ex-superhero named – you guessed it – Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), who drowns her painful memories in alcohol. She generally wants to be left alone, but is unable to escape the power of the show’s villain, Kilgrave (David Tennant), an egotistical sociopath that has the power to control minds using only his words.

Tennant’s performance gives the audience a villain they can truly hate, and Ritter gives the audience a realistically flawed hero that struggles to overcome her guilt and PTSD in order to defeat the bad guy.

If you like violence, sex and a kick-ass female lead, then this is the show for you.

• Jane the Virgin

This is essentially a soap opera that makes fun of the over-dramatization of soap operas, while at the same time making the audience invested in what happens to the characters on the show (which is a soap opera).

The main character, Jane (Gina Rodriguez), is artificially inseminated with a rich hotel owner’s child when she goes to the doctor for a routine check-up.  Though she and her fiancé decide to go through with the pregnancy as a surrogate, Jane starts to have feelings for the father of her baby. As they say repeatedly throughout the show,  “Straight out of a telenovela, no?”

• Blue Mountain State

This show perfectly depicts what everyone thinks college will be like. Parties, football, sex and overall stupid shenanigans. A perfect show to watch on a Friday night when you don’t want to leave your room but still want to take a romp on the wild side (insert sunglass emoji here).

• How I Met Your Mother

Although the finale of this series was considered one of the worst in television history, this show has nine seasons filled to the brim with hilarity as a father recollects the adventures of his 20s to his children

Starring Jason Segel, Alison Hannigan, Josh Radnor, Neil Partick Harris and Colby Smulders,  this show has a perfect comedic ensemble. You’ll want to watch and rewatch this series, chock-full of bromance,  recurring jokes and intricate plotlines with stories that connect four seasons later.

• The Office

Do you have an inadvertent love of paper? Do you wish your boss would spend more time distracting you from your job? Do you like bears, beets and Battlestar Galactica? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then The Office is the show for you.

This series, a remake of its British counterpart,  follows the day-to-day operations of seemingly mundane people and their jobs at the paper supply company Dunder Mifflin. Michael Scott (Steve Carell), the branch manager, is the king of  ignorance and cringe-worthy humor.

This show displays an exaggerated version of people you many encounter in your life. The cat-obsessed co-worker. The cranky middle-aged man waiting for his retirement. The prankster. The beet farmer that cares too much about his job and often brings weapons into the office to fend off intruders.

—

For more information or news tips, or if you see an error in this story or have any compliments or concerns, contact [email protected].