Sometimes all you need to do to unwind after a challenging day, week, or even year is to stare intently into your laptop screen while binge-watching a heartwarming TV show or a happy-go-lucky movie. By doing this, you can transport yourself into the fictional world where your problems and worries from the real world don’t exist or matter.
The good news is that Netflix is stuffed to the gills with uplifting TV episodes that embrace you like a hug whenever you want to put off all of your obligations and tasks in favour of binge-watching a show with ice cream, popcorn, or takeout to keep you company.
‘Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee’ (2012 – 2019)
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is an online series that Jerry Seinfeld created, directed, and hosted. Seinfeld is seen driving about in a new vintage car in each episode, picking up a fellow comic, and then the two of them go out for coffee and conversation.
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is a fantastic show with an original premise and a fun and entertaining host. The show, which includes some of the biggest names in the business, serves as a genuine showcase for the comedic talents of its guests. The programme has featured a lot of the funniest and most intriguing characters in the business, from Tina Fey to Barack Obama. Viewers will love Seinfeld’s interactions with his guests and laugh aloud while watching the Netflix series. A fantastic fusion of humour, automobiles, and coffee is what’s not to love?
‘Community’ (2009 – 2015)
An eccentric group of community college students who start a study club and eventually become friends are the subject of the classic sitcom Community Community. The programme follows these people as they struggle to understand their time at community college while juggling their relationships, relationships with others, and personal struggles.
The series is certain to keep viewers interested with its sharp and humorous writing and diverse and endearing cast of characters. The show is also highly intriguing and may capture viewers with its study of these characters’ relationships and lifestyles. A comedy that manages to be both humorous and witty, Community is a must-watch series that has endured over time, making it a true treasure of the television industry.
‘Dash & Lily’ (2020)
Dash and Lily, a holiday teen rom-com based on the book Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn, is as cheerful and upbeat as Christmas lights. In the Netflix original series, Dash (Austin Abrams) and Lily, two New York City teenagers, pursue a relationship (Midori Francis).
Although they have never met, they frequently exchange a notepad by chance and send each other on dares when it is the holiday season. This delightful story of two youngsters finding themselves and their love for one another is made even more magical by the approaching holidays. Dash and Lily are the key to Netflix’s feel-good programmes, with the ability to cheer up even the most pessimistic Grinch.
‘Heartstopper’ (2022)
When Heartstopper, a contemporary story of syrupy love, debuted on Netflix in 2022, it rapidly rose to the top of the list of the finest feel-good programmes. It centres on Charlie (Joe Locke), a recently outed gay British schoolboy who has an unrequited crush on straight jock Nicholas “Nick” Nelson (Kit Connor) at his all-boys grammar school. Charlie continues to lean into the infatuation despite the advice of his friends, bringing out a side of Nick he was unaware of.
The series, which is based on a webcomic and graphic novel of the same name, has characters of every gender and sexual orientation. The book will make you squeal, and Nick and Charlie have fans of all ages drooling over their Netflix TV version.
‘Jane The Virgin’ (2014 – 2019)
Jane The Virgin is one of the funniest and most realistic shows on Netflix. It tells the hilariously absurd tale of Jane (Gina Rodriguez), an unwittingly artificially inseminated virgin who raises a baby while scurrying between two love triangle vertices. The programme illustrates and places emphasis on contentious issues like immigration changes without passing judgement.
The show is incredibly adorable and keeps you wanting to watch long after you’re so exhausted you could fall asleep standing up. It is set in a world full to the brim with drug lords, hidden twins, malevolent professors, and a police department conspiracy. The strong female relationships and bilingual narrative in Jane the Virgin deserve high acclaim.
‘New Girl’ (2011 – 2018)
It’s inevitable that pandemonium will ensue when recently divorced elementary school teacher Jess Day (Zooey Deschanel) moves into an apartment with dude-bros who would rather do the bare minimum than make their flat livable. You keep watching New Girl, an epic story of clashing personalities and chaotic disasters, because of the endearing individual interactions between the characters.
Fans want to rent a room in the apartment and never leave because of the cast’s heart-stopping performances and the humorous will they, won’t they between Jess and her cantankerous bartender roommate Nick (Jake Johnson). It’s a Netflix feel-good series that never fails to lift viewers’ spirits.
‘Queer Eye’ (2018 – )
Without a doubt, Netflix’s most popular reality television programme is Queer Eye. The Fab Five, experts Jonathan Van Ness, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, Bobby Berk, and Karamo Brown, travel the globe and assist people get their lives together in this remake of the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy from the 2000s.
The show isn’t always easy to watch, but it always has the best of intentions. It offers advice on personal hygiene, home improvement, style, food, and life. Full disclosure: Prepare to enjoy this show through tears as you gather your tissues.
‘That ’90s Show’ (2023 – )
The list of recent legacy sequels in both cinema and television includes That ’90s Show. Kurtwood Smith, Debra Jo Rupp, Topher Grace, Laura Prepon, and other original cast members return in the new Netflix series, which capitalises on the success of the enduring That ’70s Show. As the new gang, it also features up-and-coming actresses like Callie Haverda, Ashley Aufderheide, Mace Coronel, and others.
There is still something here for both long-time viewers eager to watch for the sentimental appeal and those who just want a light-hearted sitcom that reflects the spirit of the ’90s, even though it hasn’t exactly taken off and the humour can occasionally fall flat.
‘The Good Place’ (2016 – 2020)
Eleanor (Kristen Bell) instinctively understands it’s a mistake when she learns she has passed away and is now in a place that resembles heaven. She is convinced that something is really wrong when the neighbourhood director Michael (Ted Danson) selects her “soulmate” Chidi Anagonye (William Jackson Harper). It quickly becomes apparent that The Good Place is a lot more intricate than she would have imagined.
The Good Place is surprisingly cheerful in comparison to other shows about death and the afterlife, and each episode might be the most heartbreaking 20 minutes you spend on Netflix. It’s one of the most enjoyable television programmes that makes you feel wonderful inside.
‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ (2015 – 2019)
Ellie Kemper’s character, Kimmy Schmidt, is released from a 15-year captivity by a doomsday cult leader and is left with a sizable quantity of money and her entire life to figure out. She chooses to remain in New York City as opposed to returning to her Bunker Memories in Indiana.
The possibilities are endless for Kimmy until a penny-pinching, in need of a roommate Broadway actor named Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess) takes her in and teaches her the essential life skills. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which Robert Carlock produced, maintains the silly humour of 30 Rock but does away with the pessimism.