#13 shows you can binge in one day if you need a distraction

Well, we’ve got some ideas for you. Below are 13 shows you can binge-watch in their entirety in about a day (between two and 10 hours).

1. Astronomy Club

How long: 2 hours (6 episodes, about 20 minutes each)

If you’re in the market for something light-hearted and low-commitment, you can’t do much better than this one-season sketch show. With a tight-knit cast of eight Black comics who honed their craft together at UCB, Astronomy Club gets funnier the zanier and more specific they get.

How to watch: Astronomy Club is streaming on Netflix.

Or try: I Think You Should Leave (Netflix) for more sketch comedy weirdness, and then Middleditch & Schwartz (Netflix) to kick the bizarreness up a notch. 

2. Blood of Zeus 

How long: 4 hours (8 episodes, about 30 minutes each)

Netflix’s newest original anime, Blood of Zeus is a fresh spin on Greek mythology boasting epic drama, gorgeous style, and brutal violence. Okay, so it’s not exactly TV comfort food — but sometimes the best way to forget about the real world for a bit is to get engrossed in a distant fictional one.

How to watch: Blood of Zeus is streaming on Netflix.

Or try: The Witcher (Netflix) for more fantasy drama, this time in live-action, or Harley Quinn (HBO Max) for a much, much goofier take on a superpowered narrative.

3. Crashing 

How long: 2.5 hours (six episodes, about 23 minutes each)

You’re probably familiar with Fleabag already, but have you seen Crashing? The 2016 British dramedy centers on six people muddling through their 20s while living together in an unused hospital, all in creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s bracingly honest style. 

How to watch: Crashing is streaming on Netflix.

Or try: Lovesick (Netflix) for more cute Brits with interpersonal drama, or High Fidelity (Hulu) for a more American spin on young adults trying to find love.

4. Flight of the Conchords 

How long: 10 hours (22 episodes, about 30 minutes each) 

The gentle, goofy humor of Flight of the Conchords, centering on a New Zealand folk-rock duo (Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie) trying and mostly failing to make it in the U.S., is just the balm that a stressful day calls for.

How to watch: Flight of the Conchords is streaming on HBO and HBO Max.

Or try: Double down on the New Zealand humor with What We Do in the Shadows (Hulu), based on the 2014 movie also starring Clement.

5. Julie and the Phantoms 

How long: 4.5 hours (9 episodes, about 30 minutes each)

One surefire way to forget about reality for a while is to get yourself lost in the pleasantly ridiculous. Like Julie and the Phantoms, about a teen girl who forms a band with the ghosts of her late mother’s bandmates. As a bonus, this one is wholesome enough to watch with the whole family.

How to watch: Julie and the Phantoms is streaming on Netflix.

Or try: The Baby-Sitters Club (Netflix) is another upbeat charmer for all ages.  

6. Living With Yourself 

How long: 3.5 hours (8 episodes, about 27 minutes each)

Truth be told, Living With Yourself, starring Paul Rudd and Paul Rudd as a man and his clone, is not a great show. But sometimes, you don’t want greatness. Sometimes, you want something just barely interesting enough to pass sometime.

How to watch: Living With Yourself is streaming on Netflix.

Or try: Floor Is Lava (Netflix) is a time-filler show if there ever was one.

7. Los Espookys 

How long: 3 hours (6 episodes, about 30 minutes each)

Halloween may have come and gone, but there’s no wrong season for enjoying this silly and surreal comedy about four friends staging fake exorcisms and hauntings for paying clients — when they aren’t dealing with real mirror dimensions and water demons, that is.

How to watch: Los Espookys is streaming on HBO and HBO Max.

Or try: Bored to Death (HBO and HBO Max), a droller but similarly good-natured comedy about likable oddballs on strange assignments. 

8. Love, Victor 

How long: 5 hours (10 episodes, about 30 minutes each)

To quote Mashable’s Alexis Nedd, Love, Victor “is a show that captures the feeling of reading great fanfiction” — which is to say it embraces the corny tropes of the rom-com genre while also delivering genuine emotion and progressive values. 

How to watch: Love, Victor is streaming on Hulu.

Or try: Never Have I Ever (Netflix), which also focuses on a lovably awkward teen but leans more comedy than dramedy.

9. Made in Heaven 

How long: 7.5 hours (9 episodes, about 50 minutes each)

Remember weddings? You can attend nine of them in a row with Made in Heaven, which centers on two friends who run a wedding planning business together in Delhi. Expect juicy drama and jaw-dropping opulence with a side of thoughtful social commentary.

How to watch: Made in Heaven is streaming on Amazon Prime.

Or try: If you’ve never seen the BBC miniseries version of Pride & Prejudice (Hulu or HBO Max), it too delivers romance, drama, and really lavish sets.

10. PEN15 

How long: 8.5 hours (17 episodes, about 30 minutes each). 

We’re guessing we don’t need to tell you what PEN15 is at this point, but if you haven’t gotten around to it, there’s no time like the present. You might spontaneously implode from the secondhand embarrassment of middle school, but at least you won’t be stressing about current events.

How to watch: PEN15 is streaming on Hulu.

Or try: American Vandal (Netflix), another deeply funny series about those adolescent years.

11. The Queen’s Gambit 

How long: 6.5 hours (7 episodes, about 56 minutes each)

The Queen’s Gambit is the competitive chess period drama you never knew you needed in your life. There’s a lot to love here, from the beautiful sets and costumes to the endlessly fascinating lead performance by Anya Taylor-Joy. 

How to watch: The Queen’s Gambit is streaming on Netflix.

Or try: Emily in Paris (Netflix) for another recently buzzy series, albeit one frequently associated with the term “hate-watch.”

12. Selena + Chef  

How long: 4.5 hours (9 episodes, about 30 minutes each)

Like so many of us, musician and actor Selena Gomez has spent her quarantine trying to up her cooking game. Unlike us, she’s got help from some of the best chefs in the world — and thanks to Selena + Chef, we get to enjoy their tips and recipes too.

How to watch: Selena + Chef is streaming on HBO Max.

Or try: Love peeking inside other people’s nice homes? Dream Home Makeover (Netflix) will also scratch that itch. 

13. Stath Lets Flats 

How long: 5 hours (12 episodes, about 23 minutes each)

BAFTA favorite Stath Lets Flats hasn’t quite caught on in the U.S. yet, but that’s all the more reason to scope it out. Jamie Demetriou (the Bus Rodent from Fleabag) plays a horribly incompetent but strangely endearing lettings agent in London, surrounded by a similarly off-kilter collection of coworkers.

How to watch: Stath Lets Flats is streaming on HBO Max.

Or try: Stick with the workplace incompetence theme with Party Down (Hulu).