Now that you are safely tucked away at home avoiding the coronavirus, it’s time to grab a snack, call bae and get cozy for a mandatory binge-watching TV sesh. (Note: A break from the news is bueno for your mental health.)
The good news is, some of our favorites—Black Monday and Boomerang—are back for a second season. The bad news is, your eyeballs will begin to gloss over because there’s so much good TV to choose from.
Since there’s no shortage of entertainment on cable or your preferred streaming service (we’re loving right now Philo, a streaming service that’s offering folks a week of free streaming from your favorite networks, such as VH1, HGTV, BET and Hallmark), we selected a few shows to get your started.
Check out our short list and then add these to your queue immediately.
01
Queen Sono (Netflix)
Queen Sono is the reckless-out-the-neckless spy show that we didn’t even know we needed. This African Netflix original series gifts us Queen (Pearl Thusi), a badass (some might say defiant) field agent in South Africa’s Special Operations Group (SOG). But is the SOG all that it’s cracked up to be? We’ll need more than six episodes to unpack things as Queen uncovers details about her revolutionary mother’s assassination.
02
Black Monday (Showtime)
Four words: Mo is back, baby! And it’s just when you thought he would stay on the run forever, ever. In season one, Don Cheadle’s Maurice “Mo” Monroe took on Wall Street’s old boys club, which led to Black Monday, the largest stock market crash in history. This season is all about the aftermath of what happened when the Dow plunged 508 points on October 19, 1987, and the brown funky stuff hit the fan. This time around Dawn (Regina Hall) and Blair (Andrew Rannells ) are in boss mode and Mo—looking all weird—returns. Two questions remain: Who’s catching a case for the murders? And who’s going down for the crash? Check it out Sunday.
03
She Did That (Netflix)
Who’s the biggest boss that you’ve seen thus far? Answer: Black women. An estimated 1.9 million Black-owned firms whip up $51.4 billion in total revenue in the U.S., reports say. Executive producer Renae Bluitt explores the entrepreneurial journeys of The Lip Bar founder Melissa Butler, Carol’s Daughter creator Lisa Price, digital strategist and speaker Luvvie Ajayi and My Fab Finance founder Tonya Rapley. These women are building businesses and creating legacies. This is a must-watch documentary.
04
Cherish the Day (OWN)
Ava DuVernay delivers a visual Valentine with an anthology series that chronicles Gently James (Xosha Rocquemore) and Evan Fisher’s (Alano Miller) fascinating Los Angeles-based love story. Is it possible for a gorgeous free spirit and fine-ass tech type to find romantic bliss? Watch the eight-episode season—it spans five years—to find out. We’re rooting for Gently and Evan ’cause this is no ordinary love.
05
Boomerang (BET)
Inspired by the 1992 classic film of the same name, this series finds us in the gooey middle of millennial love and career aspirations. Season two bowed last Wednesday, so catch up on season one to see Marcus and Angela Graham’s daughter, Simone (Tetona Jackson), navigate mixing advertising business with pleasure alongside Jacqueline Broyers’s son, Bryson (Tequan Richmond). Even when Simone allows her hormones to cloud her better judgment (she gets it from her daddy), her crush-worthy bob stays intact.
06
Hair Love (YouTube)
YouTube hair tutorials aside, Matthew A. Cherry’s “Hair Love,” the Oscar winner for the Best Animated Short Film, ranks as some of the best time (6:47 minutes, to be exact) you’ll spend on the video-sharing platform. Seven-year-old Zuri’s dad attempts to style his daughter’s natural hair for the first time and realizes creating a kinky faux hawk is harder than it looks. But he will not be defeated by elastic hair ties, leave-in conditioner and bobby pins.
07
Twenties (BET)
We finally see a queer woman be the lead character in a TV show. Creator Lena Waithe brings us the semiautobiographical story of Hattie (Jonica Gibbs), an aspiring screenwriter eager to make it in Hollywood. Hattie’s ride-or-die friends, Marie (Christina Elmore) and Nia (Gabrielle Graham), help keep their bestie employed (even when shady tweets from her past resurface during a job interview) while juggling love and career challenges.
