Short show that can distract me this morning?

November 6, 2019 8:53 AM

Do you have any recommendations for a 30-90 minute show I can watch on Netflix (or maybe Youtube) this morning?

This is me. Do you have any recommendations for distracting me this morning before I go out this afternoon? Either a movie or stand-alone TV show that I can just watch one episode of.

I like Queer Eye, but watch it with my wife, so am not doing that now.

Other shows or genres that have been good:
X-Files
House of Cards
Breaking Bad
Trevor Noah
The Mentalist
Silent Movies

Or a documentary on a fairly light subject could be good.

posted by NotLost to Media & Arts (17 answers total)

Samurai Gourmet

You are welcome.
posted by RolandOfEld at 9:02 AM on November 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

Aggretsuko. It's 15 minute bites and great zone-out watching. Totally different from your list above but again, brain disengage quotient is excellent.
posted by area.man at 9:04 AM on November 6, 2019 [5 favorites]

Documentary now.
posted by eotvos at 9:05 AM on November 6, 2019

An episode of Gourmet Makes, maybe? Gourmet Doritos is a good one for a nice balance of trials vs. success.
posted by damayanti at 9:11 AM on November 6, 2019 [4 favorites]

Adam Ruins Everything is pretty engaging.
posted by gaybobbie at 9:15 AM on November 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

James Acaster is a British comedian with a series of four lightly connected one hour stand-up specials on Netflix under the name Repertoire; they're quite goofy.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:22 AM on November 6, 2019 [5 favorites]

Tony Robinson--who was Baldrick on the Blackadder shows--presents a series on awful jobs throughout history that's on the Absolute History channel on Youtube and I have really been enjoying it for distraction factor. This one is on terrible jobs in the British navy and this is on the worst jobs people did for royalty. A nice combination of his being amusing, educational content, and reminders that the world is in fact better now than it used to be. Also really cool to see the sorts of things people are doing today to recreate the lives of regular people throughout history, versus just the wealthy.

I will also agree with the Gourmet Makes recommendation and also add in the Making Perfect series. It has both a pizza and a Thanksgiving version, I haven't seen the latter yet but the pizza was really good.
posted by Sequence at 9:32 AM on November 6, 2019

I really like Hot Ones episodes on YouTube. They are usually 20-30 minutes long, but you could watch a couple of them. Sean Evans is great at doing interviews. You can trawl around for celebrities that interest you, and skip the ones you don't.

Watching people eat spicy wings on Hot Ones was an excellent distraction through a recent period of depression.
posted by Juniper Toast at 9:39 AM on November 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

If you’re okay with some political stuff, Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj is great (suggested because you like Trevor Noah). If you’re just looking for straight feel-good distraction, I like Nailed It.
posted by Weeping_angel at 9:41 AM on November 6, 2019

Best answer: Hyperdrive is so fun. I'm not into cars at all but it's exciting and gorgeous cause there's so much neon. It's basically American Ninja Warrior for cars. It's very distracting.

Also Salt Fat Acid Heat is very joyful and interesting and easy to watch just one episode at a time.
posted by carolr at 9:43 AM on November 6, 2019

Best answer: Salt fat acid heat is quite soothing
posted by Ftsqg at 9:43 AM on November 6, 2019 [7 favorites]

Bathtubs Over Broadway! (I'm probably too late)
posted by Clustercuss at 9:47 AM on November 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

The first couple episodes of American Vandal (if you enjoy somewhat immature NSFW humor).
posted by sallybrown at 9:55 AM on November 6, 2019

TV shows on Netflix that would be pretty easy to get into and stay into if you're in a place to not be too critical, and would probably distract me in this situation:

Republic of Doyle
Lucifer
Schitts Creek
How to get away with Murder
Agents of SHIELD
Jane the Virgin (it surprised me a lot)
posted by itesser at 9:58 AM on November 6, 2019

The episodes of Over The Garden Wall are no more than 12 minutes long, and it's very seasonally appropriate! It's on Hulu, but I don't want to link you to anything for fear of spoilers.
posted by fiercecupcake at 2:32 PM on November 6, 2019

I recently started watching the Great British Baking Show, and it is enjoyable.
posted by AppleTurnover at 4:13 PM on November 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for all the ideas! I went with Salt Fat Acid Heat, but I look forward to checking out the rest.
posted by NotLost at 5:54 PM on November 7, 2019