5 Ways to Spend Your Cold Autumnal Evenings (On Netflix)

The Vampire Diaries

One day Stefan and Damon Salvatore, vampire brothers show up in Mystic Falls. Over the following 6 years, pretty much everybody who lives there dies. Most of them are vampires now. Nobody in Mystic Falls especially minds, because Stefan, Damon and all their vampire buddies are super hot. And the people who do mind? Well, they rarely survive longer than a season, so we don’t worry about them too much.

Watching this show has made me worryingly nonchalant about seeing people’s heads fall off.

Fringe

Sometimes evil corporations start messing with parallel universes, and somebody has to do something about it. In this case that someone is Olivia Dunham, secret agent. Working with her, is recently un-institutionalised genius Walter Bishop, and his son, the blackmailed-by-Olivia-to-help conman/genius Peter Bishop.

I have not yet finished watching this. I binge watched the first 3 seasons last summer. I got way too emotionally involved with it though, and had to stop watching when the story took a turn I didn’t like. I also got frustrated with the continuous failure of the writers to explain what Peter’s deal is. That said, watching it is still one of my top obsessive moments of the past couple years, so that’s why it made the list.

Firefly

A merry band of criminals travel through space together conning, stealing and when appropriate, saving the odd community from the villain they we were working for in the first place. All of this takes place with many a witty aside, and occasional games with plastic dinosaurs.

I find Firely to be deeply comforting. It makes me feel like everything is going to be okay. I think it can do the same for you too. There’s a reason everyone is still so obsessed with it.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

This show does a really good job of describing itself. Buffy is a vampire slayer, living in Sunnydale, a small American town that just happens to be on a hell mouth.

Buffy is a show about growing up. Season 4 was a great example of this, though I know a lot of people don’t like it so much (I want to make clear, despite my pro-season 4 stance, that I hate Riley as much as any sane person should). It was the season when Buffy and Willow went to university, and Xander went to work. Spike lost his ability to be a vampire, in the traditional sense (eating people). Everything that happened in that season was a really perfect example of what happens when you got to university – everything changes. Your relationship with your friends is different because you don’t see them at school every day, your parents and guardians aren’t responsible for you anymore (a newness that is weird to you and them), and in some cases, you find that the driving factor in your life isn’t the same any more. That, plus fighting the supernatural equals awesomeness.

Community

A man makes a study group to sleep with a girl and ends up with a group of friends he never wanted! Hilarity ensues. Except for season 4, which sucked, but we don’t talk about the gas leak year.

In this show, flawed humans meet ridiculous humans and talk about pop culture. Also a young girl has a thing with a guy inappropriately older than her. Essentially it’s everything I ever wanted in a show.