An Idiosyncratic List of Ten Shows To See Now. And Five To Skip.

By Erica and Karen

Will you have some downtime during this season, allowing you to sit somewhere sipping hot mulled cider and watching something that will make you laugh, or cry, or wonder, on the small screen? Or in an actual theater? Here are some ideas—new, and old. None of them is a classic for the season. But they all will bring you cheer.

1. Moonstruck. Yes, it is almost twenty five years old, and it is a rather absurd movie, full of stereotypical characters. But somehow it is still romantic. And funny. And exuberant. Cher and Nicolas Cage are so young. And the moon is always full.

2. Stranger Things. For some reason we did not watch this when it came out, but now we are hooked. A little E.T., a little romance, some monsters of the human and non-human variety.

3. Dune. Part one of two is streaming. We loved the book when we were younger, and we love this dramatization. Especially the mother/son collaboration. Paul is powerful but he would be nowhere without his mother, Lady Jessica.

4. Ted Lasso. OK, you have surely seen this series already, but isn’t it great? All the female characters are superb. And perhaps the story is a little autobiographical.

5. The Beatles: Get Back. Because you have loved the Beatles for decades and you want to relive their youth. Exhilarating.

6. Money Heist. A weird show about weird people holding hostages in a weird place for weird reasons. But somehow enticing.

7. No Time To Die. Because Daniel Craig is second only to Sean Connery as Bond. How Craig does an aging Bond is thoughtful. (We never thought we would use that word in connection with a 007 film.)

8. Lupin. Omar Sy is a compelling star, Paris is a compelling setting, and together they command an interesting tale.

9. West Side Story. We can’t wait to see the Spielberg version, because we loved the first film. Any retelling of Romeo and Juliet has our attention.

10. The Lehman Trilogy. Because you need to get back to live theater. And this is an amazing dramatization of a family saga that affected everyone before it was done. A theatrical tour de force.

And, just because we are ornery, here are four to skip, in our opinion: Succession, White Lotus, Squid Game, Girl From The North Country.

Isn’t it fun to do something totally self-indulgent once in a while?