15 Shows You Always Scroll Past That You Should Sit And Watch

Just watch these dang shows!

1. The Good Place

NBC

Where you keep scrolling past it: Hulu and Netflix

What it's about: Eleanor (Kristen Bell) finds herself in the "Good Place" (read: Heaven) after an accident ends her life, but the problem is she's a terrible person and clearly doesn't belong there. She enlists the help of her mistakenly assigned soulmate Chidi (William Jackson Harper) to teach her how to be a better person and — hopefully — keep her secret safe.

Why you should just give up and watch it: Despite the high-concept premise, The Good Place finds ways to ground itself and stay fresh throughout the first season. Just when we start to get tired of watching Eleanor avoid letting her secret get out, we're thrown a twist to make the story interesting again. You might ~think~ you know which way the show is going, but you probably don't until it takes one of its many sharp turns.

2. Ozark

Netflix

Where you keep scrolling past it: Netflix

What it's about: A financial adviser goes into hiding in the Ozarks with his family as he takes on the task of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars for a crime boss.

Why you should just give up and watch it: First off, yes, that is Jason Bateman and Laura Linney in a show together. If that's not enough to get you to watch, then consider the fact that it's being compared to Breaking Bad by pretty much everyone who watches it.

Seriously though, if you liked the normal-guy-does-criminal-things aspect of Breaking Bad, then this show is the perfect spiritual successor for you to become obsessed with.

3. The Mick

Fox

Where you keep scrolling past it: Hulu

What it's about: When her wealthy sister flees the country to avoid arrest, an irresponsible aunt is thrust into a parental role as she's forced to become the guardian of her niece and nephews.

Why you should just give up and watch it: The show has one of TV's best and most underrated comedic actors in the starring role (Kaitlin Olson of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia fame), but the supporting cast is equally hilarious. Carla Jimenez is a riot as Alba, the wealthy family's former maid whose journey of self-discovery is littered with bottles of booze. And Thomas Barbusca — whom you might recognize as the kid from the Wet Hot American Summer sequel, or that Geico commercial with Peter Pan — hilariously shines as the teenage epitome of white privilege.

The show returns for a second season on Fox starting Sept. 26, so you have some time to catch up on the first 17 episodes on Hulu.

4. Atypical

Netflix

Where you keep scrolling past it: Netflix

What it's about: Sam — a high school senior who is on the autism spectrum — takes the advice of his therapist and tries to get a girlfriend.

Why you should just give up and watch it: You would expect a coming-of-age show about a teenager on the autism spectrum to be a tearjerker...and you'd be right, Atypical will absolutely make you cry. But it's also consistently hilarious throughout its eight-episode first season. And while some of the jokes are at Sam's expense, the show does a good job of being sensitive about people on the autism spectrum without treating Sam with kid gloves. And, much like ABC's Speechless, Atypical paints an accurate picture of what life is like for a family with a member who has special needs.

5. Jessica Jones

Netflix

Where you keep scrolling past it: Netflix

What it's about: Jessica Jones is a private investigator who also happens to have superhuman abilities. But when a man from her past with mind-control powers comes back into her life, she has to fight to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else.

Why you should just give up and watch it: Listen, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you to watch The Defenders. I'm definitely not going to tell you to watch Iron Fist. But even if superhero shows aren't your thing, I'd bet good money that you'll still love Jessica Jones. It plays more like a detective show than a superhero one, and it features quite possibly the best villain Marvel has shown us on screen to date.

It starts slow, so give it at least a few episodes to get going. You won't regret it.

6. Last Chance U

Netflix

Where you keep scrolling past it: Netflix

What it's about: A documentary series centering on a junior college football program in rural Mississippi, where a hot-headed coach takes in players who have failed out of Division I programs due to academic — or legal — problems.

Why you should just give up and watch it: You don't have to like, care about, or even understand football to enjoy this show. It tends to focus more on the lives of the players and faculty who work with the school's team, and the socioeconomic factors that lead young men who grow up in poverty to pursue football over academics. It's a fascinating look at what life is like in a southern, rural town where football is one of the only things that brings in money and prestige.

7. Dear White People

Netflix

Where you keep scrolling past it: Netflix

What it's about: Students of color at an Ivy League school prove to doubters that we are absolutely not living in a post-racial society.

Why you should just give up and watch it: Dear White People blends comedy and drama perfectly while dropping some serious truths about what it's like to be a person of color in America right now. It'll be educational for some viewers, cathartic for others, but entertaining for all.

8. Broad City

Comedy Central

Where you keep scrolling past it: Hulu

What it's about: Two girls in their mid-20s live a very millennial life in NYC, and basically just try not to fuck things up too much.

Why you should just give up and watch it: Even if you've never lived in New York City, this show will make you feel like you have. Abbi and Ilana's misadventures are weirdly relatable despite how delightfully oddball they can be, so I guarantee you'll get more than one gut-busting laugh out of them along the way.

9. Happy Endings

ABC

Where you keep scrolling past it: Hulu

What it's about: A couple's breakup causes rifts and occasional awkwardness within a group of friends.

Why you should just give up and watch it: You know when there's a show (like Firefly for example) that gets cancelled too early and people find it late and fall in love with it and lament that it didn't do well when it was on the air? Happy Endings is one of those, so there's an inherent risk with watching it: You will fall in love with it, and then you will run out of episodes and be sad. It's still worth it, though.

10. Rick and Morty

Adult Swim

Where you keep scrolling past it: Hulu

What it's about: A teenager's estranged, alcoholic grandpa (who happens to be a super-scientist) shows back up in his life and starts taking him on incredibly dangerous and inappropriate adventures across galaxies and dimensions.

Why you should just give up and watch it: Rick and Morty isn't for everyone, but if you give it a shot, you just might be surprised by how much you like it. Ignore the show's obnoxiously rabid fans and appreciate it for what it is: a show that approaches relatable, emotional storylines in the weirdest way possible. Where else could you watch an episode that's centered around a sociopathic scientist turning himself into a pickle to get out of going to family therapy?

11. Moral Orel

Adult Swim

Where you keep scrolling past it: Hulu

What it's about: Orel, an elementary-school-aged boy living in a strictly Christian small town, learns how to be a good Christian from adults who have the moral capacity of...I dunno, a gnat? Something with almost zero moral capacity.

Why you should just give up and watch it: If you're sitting there right now saying, "Of COURSE I've seen Rick and Morty you dumbass, tell me about something I haven't seen," then you'll like Moral Orel. It's a spoof of sorts on the old Christian claymation shows of the '80s, but in this case, our protagonist misinterprets every lesson he learns about how to be a good Christian. In one episode, Orel gives money to a homeless drug dealer in order to be charitable, and ends up addicted to crack. In another, he learns that waste is immoral, so he starts drinking his urine.

Eventually the show moves away from that episodic structure and dives deep into the problems that the fictional, ultra-religious town's residents ignore, like alcoholism, domestic abuse, and infidelity. If that sounds super dark and heavy, it is.

12. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

CW

Where you keep scrolling past it: Netflix

What it's about: When high-powered lawyer Rebecca Bunch runs into her ex from her teenage years at theatre camp, she decides to move across the country to be nearer to him — but she's totally not moving for him. At all.

Why you should just give up and watch it: Listen, I've written about this show before and I'll keep doing it until everybody watches it. Yeah, it's a musical, and that might scare some people off. But I'll be damned if it isn't the funniest, freshest show on television right now. It might seem light and bubbly at first, but under that is some real-talk about mental illness and how we approach relationships in a world where expectations about love have been made unreachable through movies and pop culture. Just give it a few episodes. Trust me.

13. Chewing Gum

Netflix

Where you keep scrolling past it: Netflix

What it's about: It's your basic love triangle: A girl who was raised religious but desperately wants to lose her virginity, her pious boyfriend, and a guy who might just be the answer to her problems.

Why you should just give up and watch it: Sometimes British TV is the best TV. We all know this. So when I tell you that Chewing Gum is some of the best British TV out there, that should mean something. Just don't watch it with your parents.

14. Lost

ABC

Where you keep scrolling past it: Netflix

What it's about: Does anybody really, actually know? Strangers work together to survive after an airplane crash strands them on a mysterious island, but everything after that is...complicated.

Why you should just give up and watch it: It has come to my attention recently that there are actually people in the world who haven't seen Lost. If you are one of those people, please fix the issue promptly. It doesn't matter if the ending's been spoiled for you, you're still gonna have a damn good time (most of the time) watching this show. There's a reason Lost became a phenomenon, so give it a shot and find out why.

15. This Is Us

NBC

Where you keep scrolling past it: Hulu

What it's about: Without spoiling too much: A family's complicated relationships are told through flashbacks as big changes dredge up the past.

Why you should just give up and watch it: A LOT of people watch this show, so maybe I'm just preaching to the choir here. But as network dramas go, This Is Us is pound-for-pound one of the most enjoyable ones to watch. You'll fall in love with each cast member, then you'll hate them for a bit, and then they'll win you back over again. Also, This Is Us is oddly great at throwing in plot twists in a genre that doesn't tend to lean heavily on plot twists, so it'll keep you wanting to binge the next episode (or two, or three) right away.