2020TV
Worst thing about the Spanish flu is there was nothing good on TV
It is axiomatic of the pandemic that we could not get through this without art — movies, music, books, and television, which is the lowest and therefore the most accessible of the arts. Wallowing in this cornucopia of streaming content is our highly caffeinated Rachel Megan Barker, who reports from London about what she’s been watching.
by Rachel Megan Barker
TV has been my absolute lifeline during covid. When I am not on calls, I have it on basically constantly. It recreates the sense of things happening around me that I am used to having and have not had during all of this, and it makes the world seem bigger than the one place I currently spend almost all of my time.
I have been watching TV mostly in binges; marathoning a show, then another show, then another, rewatching some shows many times and always making sure I have a plan for what show I am starting next when I finish my current watch.
So here is my tribute to all the TV shows that have kept me going during covid…
House: It is very strange to think I had not watched most of this show before March this year. I have now marathoned it from beginning to end probably five or six times. Maybe it is concerning that a show about, let’s be honest, a fundamentally awful person is so comforting to me. But it is something to do, I think, with embracing the ways I also protect myself from pain (for the avoidance of doubt, I mean his attitude to the world, not his drug habits!). No one should do it in the way he does it, or treat people like he does, but this year when things have been really difficult, diving into something that gives me license to be hard - to fight against feeling too much of the waves of negative emotion I have encountered - has been valuable.
Suits: I really did not expect to get quite so emotional when I finally got round to watching Season 9 of this show. Who knew I had such an attachment to these often entirely ridiculously over the top characters? Not me!
Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures: Putting together my go to chronological watch order (for those who don’t know, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures are spin off shows of Doctor Who, which ran in parallel and have intersecting plotlines) has been a true labor of love, and a good reminder that it is important to do some things for no other reason than them bringing us joy. And revisiting these shows from my childhood has reminded me that I was really, really shaped as a person by TV, and that it’s unsurprising a twelve year old who watched the Doctor running around in the TARDIS every weekend would grow up to be an adult with a very strong aversion to staying in the same place for any length of time.
Staged: I highly doubt I would have believed you, before Staged, if you had told me that during a global pandemic I would have enjoyed a show set during that global pandemic. And yet, this simple concept, so well written, so well acted and so perfectly pulled off, genuinely did that thing of helping me process an event I was living in by seeing it reflected back at me. Plus, it is just really hilarious.
Game of Thrones: Probably my most controversial opinion is that the final series of Game of Thrones was, in fact, good (if rushed) and that all the characters ultimately met the fates that made the most sense for them. And watching through the show a couple of times this year has, in fact, solidified that opinion. Knowing how it all ends up has given a fresh kind of fun to exploring the world, the different characters’ journeys and the intersecting events that build this rich tapestry of a show.
Single Father: This is such a gem of a BBC four parter, from back in 2010, that I had never taken the time to watch before. It explores relationships between parents and children in a way that feels so grounded and real. It is also the only one of these shows that has made me cry.
The Crown: Having entirely skipped season three, I didn’t particularly expect to return to watching The Crown at all; but then that thing where everybody on my twitter feed seemed to be talking about it happened, and I succumbed. The thing about season four is...there is just something so absolutely ridiculous about this whole family and whole institution, and it manages to entirely capture that whilst also taking you on what is really quite an emotional rollercoaster.
His Dark Materials: Settling in to watch season two every Sunday has been a nice ritual this winter. Whilst it sometimes can feel a bit more like a series of snapshots, rather than a coherent and smoothly flowing storyline, it is a beautifully shot and deeply atmospheric series of snapshots with a wonderful cast, and sometimes that is all you need.
Crazy Ex Girlfriend: I knew that in my TV explorations this year, I would eventually end up rewatching this show. I have never seen anything else which captures some of the realities of mental illness the way it does. I deeply adore every single character, and their personal journeys are all so poignant, vibrant and wonderful.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel: It is hard to put into words what the experience of revising Buffy, a show I have not rewatched since I first saw it as a teenager, and watching Angel for the first time, has given to me. And yes, that probably sounds entirely overblown for my experience of watching a show about teenagers fighting vampires - but there is just something about these shows and this universe that makes me want to keep doing things; to keep pushing forward and trying to do good and grow and learn and create and all the stuff I know I should do and want to do. A big part of what I have taken from all the shows I have watched this year is energy, at a time when that energy has often been hard to come by. And Buffy and Angel, for me, provide that energy and then some.
Rachel Megan Barker is a political adviser in London. Her most recent contribution to The Experiment was “Physical Feelings.” Follow her on Twitter at @rachellybee.
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