Some can be binged over a few days. Some might take a few months. All of them should boost your spirits. Don’t see one of your favorites?
Share it in the comments section. Whenever TV watchers talk about what they’ve been “bingeing,” they often focus on television dramas and action-adventure series, which have stories that unfold across multiple episodes. But sitcoms can be just as fun to binge. Whether they feature romantic subplots that take several seasons to develop, or they just deliver hilarious jokes at a steady clip, a good TV comedy can be as addicting as an edge-of-the-seat thriller.
For anyone who’s stuck at home right now and in need of something funny and diverting to stream, what follows is a list of sitcoms that are especially easy to consume in bulk, organized by the number of episodes each has. Some of these series can be watched in their entirety in a day or two. Others might take months. But all of them are good company.
Episodes: 12 Stream it on Amazon. Early in the first “Fleabag” episode, the show’s creator and star, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, does her first of many sideways glances into the camera. From that moment on, Waller-Bridge turns her viewers into confidants as she tells a hilariously raunchy and frequently surprising story about a self-destructive young British woman trying to regain the trust of her friends and family. The tale plays out across two short, twisty seasons, filled with memorable supporting characters.
Watch the first “Fleabag” episode and it’s hard not to race through the remaining 11 to find out whether these endearingly messed-up folks will be OK. (Read the New York Times review. ) Episodes: 20 Stream it on Hulu or Starz; buy it on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube. An all-star comic ensemble — including Adam Scott, Lizzy Caplan, Ken Marino, Jane Lynch and Martin Starr — populated this little-seen Starz comedy from before many of them moved on to bigger things.
Although “Party Down” runs only 20 episodes, its punchy look at the secret showbiz dreams of Los Angeles cater-waiters is a delight from start to finish. The episodic format follows the servers at different swanky events each week, which proves to be a solid sitcom gimmick, putting a funny cast of characters into conflict with a wide range of Hollywood phonies. (Read the New York Times review. ) Episodes: 24 Stream it on Amazon.
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The pros and cons of modern romance get a thorough and often painful examination in this British sitcom about an American ad man (Rob Delaney) and an Irish schoolteacher (Sharon Horgan) who have a fling that leads to an unplanned pregnancy. Funny and frank about sex, child-rearing and relationships, “Catastrophe” is unafraid to push its central couple to the breaking point. But what really makes it so involving is that the lead characters are such witty and well-meaning people, who amuse each other whenever they’re not at each other’s throats. (Read the New York Times review.
) Episodes: 26 Stream it on Hulu; buy it on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube. Sadly overlooked during its two abbreviated seasons on ABC, this cheerily scathing corporate satire follows the everyday adventures of an upbeat executive (Jay Harrington), who always strives to put a positive spin on his company’s many bizarre world-domination schemes. The show illustrates how office politics and big business control the way we behave, and it gently spoofs how we talk about everything from race to romance in the 2000s. Each “Better Off Ted” episode functions as a sparkling and highly re-watchable farce.
(Read the New York Times review. ) Episodes: 32 Stream it on Hulu; buy it on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube. The stand-up comic Jerrod Carmichael based this short-lived NBC comedy on his own North Carolina family and on the variety of sociopolitical perspectives among modern African-Americans. Conceived as an “All in the Family” for the 2010s, “The Carmichael Show” is both addictively entertaining and bracingly honest, with each episode functioning a little like an amiable debate, in which everybody — no matter how ill-informed — gets to weigh in on a variety of topics including guns, porn and President Trump.
(Read the New York Times review. ) Episodes: 39 (and counting) Stream it on Netflix. The 1970s version of the producer Norman Lear’s “One Day at a Time” dealt with divorce and single parenting in the American working class, and it was as groundbreaking in its way as his “All in the Family” had been. But the modern remake is even better.
Reimagined by Lear, Mike Royce and Gloria Calderón Kellett, the new show takes place in a Cuban-American household in modern-day Los Angeles. The old-fashioned three-camera, live-audience format has been cleverly refashioned here into a kind of miniature social-issue theater, with episodes touching on generational clashes, religion, immigration controversies and gender norms — all with poignancy and wit. (Read the New York Times review.
“) Episodes: 65 Stream it on HBO Now; buy it on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube.”
By the time “Veep” ended, the real-word political news had eclipsed this darkly comic take on modern American governance, making its inside look at Washington infighting seem like less a wicked satire than a cautionary tale. No matter how brutal “Veep” can be to watch today, the show remains explosively funny, featuring creatively vulgar dialogue that borders on the poetic. Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s performance as the foul-mouthed, opportunistic Vice President Selina Meyer is one of the most powerful pieces of comic TV acting of the last decade: at once vulnerable, angry and sardonic. (Read the New York Times review.
) Episodes: 84 Stream it on Hulu or Netflix; buy it on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube. When the crooked California real-estate magnate George Bluth (Jeffrey Tambor) gets thrown in jail, he asks his beleaguered son Michael (Jason Bateman) to control the excesses of their spoiled family. That’s the basic premise of “Arrested Development,” which doesn’t even begin to describe the complexity of one of this era’s most original sitcoms: a show packed with so many sight gags, puns and double-entendres that sometimes jokes which are set up in one episode don’t land until several episodes later. Through the first three seasons in particular, “Arrested Development” gets funnier as its dense story of privilege and presumption gets more tangled.
(Read the New York Times review. ) Episodes: 125 Stream it on Amazon Prime, Hulu or Netflix; buy it on Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube. At once one of the most realistic and optimistic TV shows about American civic life, this mockumentary about small-town bureaucrats stars Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, a woman who endures the shortsighted criticism of her community and the cynicism of her colleagues to make a positive impact on Pawnee, Ind. With its eclectic cast of characters — including Nick Offerman as Leslie’s arch-conservative boss, Aziz Ansari as her social media-obsessed sidekick, Adam Scott as her nerdy romantic partner, and Chris Pratt and Aubrey Plaza as the impulsive young lovers — “Parks and Recreation” combines heartfelt relationship stories with funny observations about red tape and surly citizens.
(Read the New York Times review. ) Episodes: 138 (and counting) Stream it on Hulu or NBC; buy it on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube. In this inspired reimagining of the workplace sitcom, a goofy but skilled New York detective (Andy Samberg) works alongside his equally oddball colleagues to fight crime while trying to win over their rigid, humorless captain (Andre Braugher). Like a souped-up version of the ’70s cop-show classic “Barney Miller,” this rocket-paced series balances scenes of goofing off around the office with blockbuster-style cop action, in well-plotted procedural stories that can wind through several episodes or even the better part of a season.
(Read the New York Times review. ) Episodes: 150 (and counting) Stream it on CBS or Hulu; buy it on Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube. Allison Janney and Anna Faris are one of TV’s best comedy teams, playing a formerly estranged mother and daughter who’ve moved in together after both spent years struggling with drugs and alcohol. After seven years on the air, the “Mom” writers keep finding new ways to generate jokes and pathos from these ladies’ codependent relationships and lingering regrets.
A big part of what makes the show work is that it’s so frank about the struggles of recovering addicts. Even the smallest victories are precious because these characters — and “Mom” fans — know successes are temporary. (Read the New York Times review. ) Episodes: 182 Stream it on Hulu; buy it on Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube.
Forget the blood, death and melodrama of most TV medical shows. Sacred Heart hospital on “Scrubs” is a warm and welcoming spot, where a good-natured, wide-eyed young doctor named J. D. (Zach Braff) learns his craft and forges lifelong friendships, all while figuring out how to be a responsible adult professional.
The hero’s self-aware narration and kooky daydreams are wonderfully whimsical — making “Scrubs” as fantastical as it is funny — but there are enough life-or-death situations in any given episode to keep the quirkiness from becoming excessive. (Read the New York Times review. ) Episodes: 215 Stream it on IMDb TV; buy it on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube. While the ABC sitcom “Modern Family” was drawing attention from critics, viewers and Emmy voters, during that same era the network’s “The Middle” told stories about contemporary American domestic life that were just as pertinent and relatable.
Led by Patricia Heaton as the perpetually exhausted middle-class wife and mother Frankie Heck, “The Middle” features talented comic actors — many of them quite young — who find the small moments of weirdness and wonder in the everyday grind of jobs, school and housework. Like a lot of 21st century families, the Hecks live paycheck to paycheck, dealing with minor crises that often carry over for several episodes. Because in the real world, people don’t resolve every problem in a half-hour. (Read the New York Times review.
) Episodes: 236 Buy it on Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube. Though sold as yet another show about pals hanging out in New York City (like its Must-See-TV progenitor “Seinfeld,” but with a younger and prettier cast), “Friends” quickly developed its own voice as its writers put its likable characters through dramatic changes. The on-again-off-again love affair between Ross (David Schwimmer) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) drove the plot initially. But through 10 seasons, the show’s four other pals — Chandler (Matthew Perry), Monica (Courteney Cox), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) — all cycled through career and romantic ups and downs.
Even now, it’s all too easy to watch a dozen “Friends” in a row, just to see what’s going to happen next. (Read the New York Times review. ) Episodes: 275 Stream it on CBS, Hulu or Netflix; buy it on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, or YouTube. A snappy sitcom set in a Boston barroom helped popularize TV’s “will they or won’t they” rom-com formula with its central relationship: between the playboy ex-jock Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and the snobby intellectual waitress Diane Chambers (Shelley Long).
The roller-coaster romance provided an emotional foundation for all the winning barbs and banter among the pub’s chummy regulars. By the time Long left at the end of Season 5, the rest of the ensemble was so perfectly calibrated that the series didn’t need a love story anymore: Viewers felt just as at home with these characters as the characters did at Cheers. (Read the New York Times review.
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