Fresh Spring Watchlist! (Top 5 things to Watch Right Now)

Howdy everybody!

Now that it's officially springtime and the weather is changing, I thought it would be nice to offer up some fresh recommendations for what to watch while you're on Spring Break.

For those of you who aren't partiers, I see you. This one is for you:

1. Marry Me (on Peacock)

I saw this movie twice: once when it was out in theaters, and again when I discovered it was on streaming. I loved it both times.

As someone who loves romantic comedies as a genre, I think this movie was a true return to form for cinema, and I highly recommend that everyone drop what they're doing and watch this movie. It's surprisingly good, despite the insane premise.

If you aren't aware of the plot of this movie, allow me to clue you in. Marry Me is about international pop sensation Cat Valdez (Jennifer Lopez) and her famous Latin pop star boyfriend Bastian (Maluma), and they plan to get married live on-stage in front of millions of fans in a televised wedding ceremony. Only, just moments before the wedding, it is leaked that Bastian has been cheating on Cat with her assistant. So, in a move partially fueled by an emotional breakdown, Cat picks a random fan in her audience to marry her instead. Only, it turns out the guy she picked isn't a fan at all, but ordinary schoolteacher, Charlie Gilbert (Owen Wilson), who happened to be at the concert by pure coincidence. So now the two of them have to navigate being married to a complete stranger for the press, and act normal despite one of them being internationally famous.

First of all, I have to give this movie credit for having such a wild premise. When I initially saw the trailer, I really thought that this movie was going to be off the rails in a "so-bad-it's-good" kind of way. But to my delight- this movie was actually good in a good way!

The romance between Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson is adorable, and the story plays this relationship earnestly, which is nice. Not to mention the fact that their meet-cute was original (they literally met on their wedding day), and the costume design was lovely (I mean, look at the wedding dress J-Lo was wearing!).

Cat Valdez's iconic wedding dress (It reportedly weighed about 95lbs!)

Even the comedic moments of this movie made me smile, which is a nice change of pace from the lackluster Netflix rom-coms that I've seen recently. The banter between J-Lo and Owen Wilson was cute and made me chuckle, and Sarah Silverman and Michelle Buteau's characters were also funny and delightful.

This movie also featured several elaborate musical numbers throughout, (since the characters are meant to be pop stars) and its own soundtrack, performed by J-Lo and Maluma. The titular song in the movie is catchy, and all of the other songs in this movie are unironically good. I even have a couple of them on my Spotify playlists (and not just because I love Maluma). 

This movie just made me miss the 2000's when rom-coms were thriving. 13 Going on 30 and The Proposal were classics of the time, and Marry Me reminds me of those in a good way. I miss that era of good, cute romantic comedies. Now all we have to look forward to are bad Netflix original movies (see: my review on The Royal Treatment) and the latest bland Marvel movie.

I can't help but recommend Marry Me to anyone who likes romantic comedies. Truth be told, I went into this movie fully expecting it to be a fan-fiction story come to life, but now I'm just a fan.

2. Ghosts (UK) (on HBO Max)

Ghosts (UK) starring Charlotte Ritchie and Kiel Smith Bynoe

First, a disclaimer: this show isn’t technically an HBO Max original series, but it’s streaming on the service thanks to the BBC.

Ghosts is a UK comedy show about a married couple, Alison and Mike, after Alison inherits the Button House estate from a deceased relative she's never met. Since the couple is flat-broke and unable to find a place to live in London, this seems kismet! They decide to live in the Button Houst estate and turn it into a luxury hotel so they can make money. Only, the manor is in incredible disrepair, and haunted by several ghosts. 

After an accident leaves Alison legally dead for two minutes, Alison wakes up and realizes that she can see and hear the multiple ghosts in her home. The only thing is, her husband can't hear or see them, and all of the ghosts range from quirky and loveable to straight-up annoying to be around.

Ghosts (US) on CBS starring Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar

My first introduction to this show was actually through its American remake on CBS. I was about three or four episodes deep into the American version of Ghosts before I caught the attribution credits at the beginning stating that it was developed for American television from the UK series. After about thirty seconds of Googling, I found that the original Ghosts was available to watch on HBO Max, thanks to the BBC.

So, call me curious, but I watched the three series' available of the UK Ghosts on HBO Max.

And it's delightful!

The main appeal of this show is the fun characters that are haunting this massive house. Each character has their own personality and set of quirks that are in full display in each episode. It's delightful watching these characters play off one another in each episode. Watching the ghosts navigate eternity stuck in the same decrepit house is surprisingly enjoyable, and it's refreshing to watch Alison and Mike adapt to living with ghosts. There are nine ghosts in the main cast, and most of them are featured in every episode alongside Alison and Mike (see below). 

The ghosts from left to right: Julian, a corrupt government official (a la Trump); the Captain, a World War I captain; Kitty, an airheaded romantic; Robin, a caveman; Fanny, the lady of the house; Humphrey, a beheaded nobleman, Patrick, a middle-aged scout leader; Thomas, the romantic poet from the Elizabethan era; and Mary, the sweet commoner.

Each ghost has their own elaborate history of how they came to be in the house (some are merely hinted at, and some have yet to be revealed), but at its heart, this show is a comedy about a group of ghosts who have become friends over the course of centuries together. All of them experience various hijinks with the contractors attempting to fix up their house, while also bonding with Alison and Mike as they get to know them. This show is like if Monty Python and the Holy Grail had a baby with Ghost Whisperer, and that baby is so cute. 

Please do not get me wrong. I am only endorsing that you watch the UK version of Ghosts, and not the American version. After watching both, I can confidently say that the UK version is the one I want to share with more people.

I am not saying that the American version is inherently bad compared to the British version, but it is certainly... different. Perhaps I would write another review comparing and contrasting the two versions of the concept on a later date, but for now, please just watch Ghosts (UK), streaming on HBO Max or the BBC.

3. Eternally Confused and Eager for Love (on Netflix)

Based on the title alone, I think it's a given that I would like this show.

Eternally Confused and Eager for Love is an Indian comedy series about Ray, a lonely 20-something who is (like the title suggests) looking for love. The only quirk is, he has an imaginary wizard friend who speaks to him as a voice in his head.

Right off the bat, the show sounds quirky, which is most of the reason why I watched it. But after finishing the first season of the show, I have to say that I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.

For one thing, Ray is painfully relatable in his awkwardness and his quest for love. He only has one real friend, Riya, and he’s never had sex, which is something that his other friend, Varun, is trying to get him to change. 

From the start, the show seems like an average romantic-comedy series, but somehow Eternally Confused manages to do more than the standard plot “lonely 20-something looks for love.” I would say that this is mostly because this show has a slight Curb Your Enthusiasm spin to it where things usually don’t work out for Ray in the end, but only because he managed to say or do something to get in his own way. When Ray is caught between a rock and a hard place, we as the audience know that it’s Ray’s fault he’s in this situation, and so we feel empathy for him while also being fully aware that he wouldn’t have been in this situation if he’d just handled it appropriately.

This show is also interesting because it has a certain level of self-awareness. This is shown through the added layer of the voice in Ray’s head. He assigns this voice to a wizard character that he sees everywhere, and they bicker back and forth in a Venom-esque way that is surprisingly comedic, if not a little jarring to get used to.

I’ll admit, I actually liked this element of the show because it showed the audience exactly how Ray spoke to himself and thought of himself. The inner wizard voice doubles as both his conscience and his own anxiety speaking. When he’s too drunk to think, Ray is relaxed and his wizard voice doesn’t criticize him as much. When he’s feeling especially low, the wizard makes him confront the fact that he’s making himself feel worse by self-sabotaging. I definitely think the wizard-Ray dynamic is an interesting way to talk about self-loathing and/or depression. Throughout the whole show, Ray and the wizard are practically inseparable because they are- very literally- the same person. 

I liked a lot of the side characters as well, such as Ray’s best friend, Riya, and his parents. Everyone in this show had some good moments that let their character shine through. However, the moment that stuck out to me was a moment in one of the earlier episodes in the show where the wizard asks Ray what he wants, and Ray responds that he wants to be happy. In response, the wizard scoffs and says that Ray should have picked something easier to want, like cake, instead.

That moment sticks with me because I thought the exchange was not only funny, but painfully realistic.

Overall, I really liked this show. (No promises, but I reserve the right to post a deep dive about it later because I have a lot of thoughts about this show as a whole.) Generally, most of my thoughts are incredibly positive, but there are a few moments in the show that I found questionable. That said, this show is definitely still worth watching on Netflix. 

4. Abbott Elementary (on Hulu)

Abbott Elementary is a show that I had been looking forward to for a long time. That’s mostly because I was a fan of the creator, Quinta Brunson, back when she was still a minor internet celebrity. 

For those who don’t know, Quinta was famous online for making viral skits and is well known for her time as a content creator for the main BuzzFeed YouTube channel in the mid-2010s. I was a fan of Quinta during this era, and I’ve been a fan of her work since.

Quinta’s viral “He got money” sketch

In early 2021, Quinta announced that she had created a new show that was picked up by ABC called Abbott Elementary. It was a comedy show about a group of teachers working in an underfunded Philadelphia school with an irresponsible principal.

I was HYPED. 

Not only was I hyped because I grew up a teacher’s kid and I was ready to see a show about a group of black teachers just like my mom, but I was also hyped because Quinta was no longer just an internet celebrity. She was on national TV and was going to become a household name. I couldn’t help but feel proud of how far she’d come.

The show premiered in December of last year, and frankly, it’s a delight! My personal favorite characters are Barbara (Cheryl Lee-Ralph) and Ava (Janelle James) who are both incredibly funny and relatable. As a teacher, Barbara’s character surprisingly reminds me of my own mother, and Ava's antics as the principal make me laugh out loud more than I thought I would at this silly workplace comedy. 

Overall, this show is special to me for a few reasons: 1. I fully believe that my mother could be a character on this show, based on the stories that she’s told me about teaching and children over the years. 2. Quinta herself is also a teacher’s kid, and that’s immediately obvious when you see her respect for real teachers. 3. This show is black and authentically so, which is important to me.

Abbott Elementary is filmed in a similar way to The Office, but the vibe of the show is noticeably different. This show is funny while discussing real issues plaguing teachers today such as underfunding, administrative hurdles, and teaching America's youth. It puts a positive spin on most of these challenges by having Quinta's character, Janine Teagues, tackle them head-on. Like Michael Scott from The Office, Janine is the heart of this workplace comedy, and without her positivity and can-do attitude, the show wouldn't have been popular enough to secure a second season.

A few weeks ago, it was renewed for a second season, and I love that for everyone involved.

I'm so glad that this show is getting the recognition that it deserves, as Abbott Elementary was the first ABC comedy to quadruple its ratings after its premiere episode. I suspect this is thanks in no small part to the memes shared on Twitter:

If you don't have cable and can't watch Abbott Elementary live, then you can always watch it a day after it premieres on TV on Hulu. I highly recommend that you check it out. 

5. The Other Two (on HBO Max)

To keep my review concise: I love this show.

I'll admit, I had my doubts when I first started watching it, but I like the way that this show presents itself.

The Other Two was a Comedy Central original that premiered in 2019, which had its second season premiere on HBO Max last year. The series follows Cary and Brooke Dubek as they struggle with their thirteen-year-old brother becomes wildly famous overnight. In season one, the pair find themselves struggling to cope with their younger brother's internet fame while their own lives seem to be stalling, and their careers are not where they wanted them to be. In the second season, they add insult to injury when their mom, Pat Dubek, also becomes a successful talk-show host, overshadowing her children once more.

Chase Dubek, AKA- ChaseDreams (who was very clearly modeled after Justin Bieber)

This show is both hilarious and painfully relatable. Despite the premise of the show mocking how the eldest Dubek children are considered less special than their younger brother (and later, their own mother), the show never comes across as mean-spirited or bitter, like you might expect it to. At the heart of it, Chase Dubek really loves his older siblings, and they love him back. Despite being a famous TV personality, Pat Dubek also adores her children and think they can do no wrong. There is an undercurrent of positivity that makes the entire show seem not only more real, but more grounded in this family dynamic. The Dubeks aren’t trying to tear each other down, they’re trying to lift each other up. It is the public's perception of this family that is the driving conflict of Cary and Brooke's life. How the public perceives them is then internalized and reflected in how Cary feels about his acting career and how Brooke feels about her job prospects.

I also love this show because it likes to parody the entertainment industry and touch on relevant topics within the industry. For example, when Chase becomes a famous singer overnight due to a viral song that he wrote, everyone immediately loves him, just like Justin Bieber’s meteoric rise to fame. But (SPOILER) when they discover that he can’t really sing and used autotune to sound good, they immediately pivot his brand into being more of a fashion icon, like Kanye, instead. Another example of this is how Pat’s talk show is a parody of the Ellen show, right down to the dancing in the audience. One of my favorite examples, though, is where Cary has to question if he’s being used as queerbait for a straight actor he’s dating, or if the actor he’s dating is queer and just uncomfortable with his own sexuality.

Overall, I didn’t expect much from The Other Two when I started watching it, but now I’m pumped for the third season to release on HBO Max when that comes out.

If you’re looking for content to watch while you’re on Spring Break, I hope this list helped you in some way. If you’re not on Spring Break like I am, then I hope you still enjoyed reading this. Thanks again and have a happy Easter!

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Stay safe out there, guys!