Destress By Binge-Watching These TV Shows Backwards
Want to keep rewatching your comfort shows but tired of the same old, narratively straightforward story? Sit back, relax, and hit rewind on these 10 maximally binge-able shows to get a stress detox and a fresh take on these TV gems.
1. Breaking Bad: This time around — after learning that he has lung cancer, a drug kingpin becomes a high school chemistry teacher to manufacture the most addictive chemical of all, his family’s love.
2. The Bachelor: Watch as a handsome hunk enters a progressively more polygamous relationship with a growing throng of desperate blond women. How many women is too many for this guy with a boring job? 37!
3. Friends: Will they? Won’t They? Don’t Worry. Now, They Already Have. Enjoy re-watching this classic sitcom without all the mind-numbingly repetitive drama as focus gratefully shifts away from Joey. Think New York apartment antics will get tiring after 10 seasons? Think again! The last season introduces a monkey into the main cast, so that’s something.
4. Jeopardy!: What is even better reversed? This classic game show where three contestants fail to stump very much alive host Alex Trebek with increasingly obscure trivia questions.
5. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: Looking for a fun watch with female empowerment? Follow an independent woman and comic flaunt expectation as she eventually discovers that what she wanted all along was a loveless marriage.
6. Bridgerton: Tired of a rewatch that doesn’t pose new real-life ethical questions? Binge-watch this Emmy-nominated drama backwards with your parents to see them slowly get less horny, but also less supportive of interracial relationships.
7. Tidying Up with Marie Kondo: Sick of TV that thinks it’s better than you? Watch as Japanese organization consultant Marie Kondo steadily fills people’s houses with shit that means nothing to them, just like the rest of us.
8. Planet Earth: Climate change stressing you out? Revisit BBC’s documentary series — in reverse! Oh, thank god. Now — we still have time! The only thing we should be worried about is the rapid rate the Amazon rainforest is growing! It’s swallowing up most of South America. Somebody else should really do something about that.
9. Is it Cake?: Can’t deal with absolutely any suspense right now, like none whatsoever? Then watch this new Netflix series backwards, this time immediately knowing the answer to life’s most frivolous question.
10. The Moon Landing: Not a TV show in the traditional sense, but still certainly binge-able. Rewatch one of mankind’s greatest scientific achievements, this time with moon walking on the moon. And, of course, keep your eyes peeled for hidden clues that reveal who actually directed Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.
