![](https://cupofjo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/will-and-grace.jpg)
The other day, Alex and I were at a dinner party, and we got into a rousing debate…
What TV shows do you watch with your partner? It’s the question that comes up most often with my married friends.
If it were up to Alex, he’d watch World War II documentaries on YouTube all night. If I got carte blanche, I’d watch dark comedies with a female lead. Of course, like everyone else, we also have idiosyncrasies: I get scared of super scary stuff (The Handmaid’s Tale gave me nightmares), and Alex doesn’t like things that feel too much like day-to-day life (“I spend my whole day in an office; I don’t want to watch The Office,” he says.)
So, what crowd-pleasing shows are out there? With universal storylines? That pass the Bechdel test?
Over the past ten years together, here’s what we’ve both liked:
Mad Men
Alias Grace
Insecure
High Maintenance
The Crown
Breaking Bad
Better Call Saul
Master of None
Homeland
Atlanta
Fargo
30 Rock
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Peaky Blinders
Or you can go old-school. Says my friend Gemma: “We put Jeopardy on and have a competition. It’s brutal, we’re both very competitive. I’m better than he is, but I’m extremely turned on when he knows stuff. Sometimes he’ll be like, these are not my genres, and I’m like, you can’t blame the genres!”
The only catch is when you have to wait to watch together. “My girlfriend and I watch the Great British Bake Off,” says our editorial assistant Franny. “Since we’re long-distance, I’ll see on my Hulu that she’s already watched something. She’s like, no, I didn’t. But I know.”
What about you? What shows do you watch as a couple? Please share any recommendations!
P.S. John Hamm photobombing people, Mindy Kaling on friendship and real actors reading Yelp reviews.
(Photos of Will & Grace, Mad Men, Fargo, Insecure and the Crown. Bottom cartoon by Zachary Kanin for the New Yorker.)