For many, this Election Day will be spent devouring as much coverage of the voting results as possible, flipping between different news channels while simultaneously checking Twitter and refreshing several different election results websites.
Others, however, may need to take a break from all the election coverage — or perhaps shut out everything having to do with the election entirely, as a necessary distraction from what would otherwise be fuel for a spiral down into a bottomless chasm of unresolvable anxiety and doom.
And who needs that, especially in 2020? No one! So here are some hopefully helpful — and by no means comprehensive — suggestions for alternative ways to ride out the election, both via streaming and over old fashioned linear TV.
If You Love Politics, Just Fictional and Hopeful
“The West Wing”
There is rarely a bad time to watch Aaron Sorkin’s love letter to a time when the occupants of the White House were good faith public servants dedicated to the common good. All seven seasons are available on Netflix, but if you’re especially keen for an alternative history of a presidential election, the seventh and final season — starring Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda as the respective Democratic and Republican nominees — is just the ticket.
If You Love Politics, Just Fictional and Set in a Bleak, Post-Apocalyptic America
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Watch Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) take on the totalitarian government of Panem as she learns to manipulate public sentiment and rally the fractured remnants of what was once the United States, and take comfort in how real life remains, for the moment, much less dire.
If You Love Politics, Just in Its Purest Expression
What the Constitution Means to Me Amazon
“What the Constitution Means to Me”
If you missed Heidi Schreck’s acclaimed play on Broadway — and statistically speaking, you likely did! — then this is your chance to swim in her deeply engrossing and engaging explication of the U.S. Constitution, the 9th and 14th Amendments, immigration, domestic abuse, sexuality, and whether we should throw out the country’s founding document entirely.
If You Love Christmas TV Movies
The Christmas Club The Christmas Aunt
“The Mistletoe Promise,” “The Christmas Club” and “Christmas Wishes & Mistletoe Kisses”, “Twinkle All the Way,” “Candy Cane Christmas” and “The Christmas Aunt”
Yes, it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but that hasn’t stopped Lifetime and Hallmark from inundating their airwaves with a bounty of holiday movies that involve strangers meeting by chance, renewing beloved holiday traditions, learning to see past outdated holiday traditions, and tons and tons of the finest fake snow basic cable TV movies can muster. Bathe in their cozy yuletide glow.
If You Love "Friends" But Think It Needed Actual Black People and Gay People
“Happy Endings”
For a three years in the early 2010s, ABC aired this sublimely silly sitcom about six friends (played to perfection by Eliza Coupe, Elisha Cuthbert, Zachary Knighton, Adam Pally, Damon Wayans Jr., and Casey Wilson) in their late 20s/early 30s whose romantic and professional foibles and affection for ever-escalating wordplay captivated fans worldwide. Then ABC canceled the show after its third season, and the show’s true legend was born. Fizzy, funny, easily binged — a perfect distraction.
If You Love Classic American Cinema
The Godfather and The Godfather Part II
“The Godfather” (5:30pm ET) and “The Godfather Part II” (9:30pm ET)
Francis Ford Coppola’s epic about the Corleone crime family cuts deep into the heart of America, as we watch favored son Michael Corleone (Al Pacino, at the very start of his career) transform from a war hero determined to transcend his family’s mafioso way of life into the cold-hearted head of the entire criminal operation. So it’s not an uplifting experience, per se, but it is a profoundly engrossing one — and they’re arguably the very best two American films ever made.
If You Love Looking at Other People's Incredible Homes
“Home”
Whether it’s a tiny modular apartment in Hong Kong or an innovative greenhouse built over a log-cabin house in Sweden, this Apple TV Plus series hits that comfy architecture porn sweet spot — especially in month eight of a pandemic in which we’ve all seen far too much of our own homes.
If You Love '90s Sitcoms From the Stars of the "Bad Boys" Franchise
Martin Fresh Prince of Bel Air
“Martin” (6-8 p.m. ET); “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (8-11 p.m. ET)
Just as returns start rolling in, stave off your spiking anxiety by flipping over to two of the very best ’90s sitcoms starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith, respectively. Episodes include Kid of Kid n’ Play winning a date with Lawrence’s sharp-tongued alter-ego Sheneneh on “Martin,” and Will and the Banks kids letting Bell Biv DeVoe shoot a music video in their house on “Fresh Prince.” It’s the ’90s!
If You Love, Well, "Chopped"
Chopped
“Chopped” (1 p.m. to 4 a.m. ET)
If all else fails, Food Network is running a “Chopped” marathon all day and all night. Whether you enjoy trying to guess what the generic food brands are supposed to be replacing (like “sponge cake snakes” for Twinkies!), rolling your eyes whenever anyone grabs the truffle oil, or screaming whenever anyone cuts themselves, you can be confident that you will disappear into a comforting bubble of bizarre ingredients and inventive cuisine.
Article by: Adam B. Vary for Variety.
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