Lockdown 6.0 Recos: Twenty web series that will help you stand apart from the crowd
Some are well-known. Some are just barely known. And... some... hidden gems. Here are a few series recommendations crossing linguistic barriers that are more than enough to earn some all-important social media cred, and of course, timepass...
Nowadays most posts about favourite shows include people talking in Dothraki, singing in Spanish, and saying Knock Knock jokes. So here's a quick guide for ones who revel being non-conformist.
America Mappillai: What would you do to get out of a forced marriage? They say you can say 1000 lies to conduct a marriage. But what if one of those lies to stop a marriage changes your life forever?
Arrested Development - A typically dysfunctional family would seem ordinary in front of the Bluths. AD is a brilliantly written series with stellar performances that only gets better with every season
Arrested Development - A typically dysfunctional family would seem ordinary in front of the Bluths. AD is a brilliantly written series with stellar performances that only gets better with every season
Asur - It’s like all your coronavirus fears have been bundled in an 8-episode show about the circularity of good and evil. The paranoia is baseless but telling
Avenue 5 - The show is set in the future where space cruises have become a thing. The sci-fi comedy series is created by Armando Iannucci (Veep) and stars Hugh Laurie. What else do you need?
Barry - What happens when a contract killer is bitten by the acting bug? Remember Jigarthanda? Of course, it is not the same, but there is a sense of warmth in the familiar. Also, there is Bill Hader.
Chuck - Here's the answer to what was Zachary Levi doing before he became... Shazam! He was hilarious, had a computer in his head, fought crime and saved the world, more than once.
Community - If Troy and Abed in the Morning doesn't win you over, nothing will. This series has a cult following. As Senor Chang would say, 'Does anyone have an alliance I can join? I'm really loyal.'
The Ghost Bride: So... if all your financial troubles could go away, will you marry a ghost? Would you be ready to live with a ghost to help your family? What if there was more than what met the eye?
Gods of Dharmapuri: Everything is fair in love and war, and both 'everything' and 'fairness' assume new meaning in the field of politics. Blood. Brotherhood. Betrayal aplenty in this Telugu series
I am not Okay with This: Every superhero origin story relies on personal angst, upliftment, acceptance, and realisation. This series has all this and much more, especially, a heart at the right place
Kallachirippu: What is it with Tamil series and forced marriages. Anyhoo, it is dealt with in an entirely different way here. And there's a wonderful case of The Butterfly effect in the works here.
Kannamoochi: One of the pleasant surprises in the Tamil web series space, Kannamoochi deals with a number of threads and manages to tie them all up admirably.
Locked Up: This Spanish series about a young woman convict getting used to prison might seem similar to Orange is the New Black, but this is surely not copied and has a completely different treatment.
Psych: Before Mentalist, there was Psych. A fun take on a brilliant mind feigning clairvoyant and psychic abilities to solve crime. And did I say it was fun? It is so much fun!
Scrubs: Do stories in a hospital necessarily need to be grim? Scrubs is anything but, and the quirky slapstick humour and the virtual world of its lead, JD, continues to have a separate fan following
The IT Crowd: Deadpan humour. Check. Jokes on computer illiteracy among many. Check. Social awkwardness of nerds. Check. A cliche-filled show but oodles of fun. Also, typical British humour. Check
Tiger King: If a blend of crime exposition and stories behind wildlife owners and ‘animal rescuers’ interests you, the madness of the Tiger King is sure to take you on an insane ride
Trial and Error: Do you like long-drawn legal procedures come alive onscreen? Then you'd surely have a laugh seeing John Lithgow take the mickey out of legal procedurals like People vs OJ Simpson
When They See Us: This series needs to be watched so that the men, now known as the 'Exonerated Five', are finally seen. Seen for who they are and not who they were portrayed as for many, many years.