Sometimes you seize the weekend and make every minute of freedom from work an opportunity for fun and adventure. Those are great days, for sure, but they’re also exhausting. It’s why sometimes when Friday rolls around you just want to be lazy. But we know how to lounge around while still being “productive.” Just watch an entire TV show! If you don’t want to put any energy into figuring out which one, though, we’ve put together a list of shows you can marathon in a single weekend. (All while still getting some sleep!) And no matter what kind of series you want to stream this weekend this list has something for everyone.
Drama: The Knick
This period medical drama set in a New York City hospital in 1900 stars Clive Owen as Dr. John W. “Thack” Thackery. His desire to discover surgical advancements and gain fame among his peers is undermined by his cocaine and opium addictions. Directed by Stephen Soderberg, the show ran for two seasons and 20 episodes running anywhere from 42 minutes to an hour. You can easily knock The Knick out in a couple of days, but sleeping won’t be easy with the adrenaline rush this high-paced entertaining drama will give you.
Where to Watch: HBO Max
Comedy: Love
Coming in just under 17 hours total, the rom-com series Love from Judd Apatow, Lesley Arfin, and Paul Rust offers the different perspectives of two people building a relationship together. Starring opposite Rust’s Gus is Gillian Jacobs as Mickey. They’re both very different, especially in all the ways they’re not anyone’s idea of the perfect mate. For a show both named for and about “love,” this makes the list because it’s incredibly funny in the way relationship problems are when they don’t involve you.
Where to Watch: Netflix
Action: The Adventures Of Brisco Country Jr.
For one glorious season on Fox, Bruce Campbell starred as the titular hero of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. Set in 1893, the Western was one of the strangest to ever appear on TV. Running from 1993 to 1994, it was also one of the most entertaining. Part comedy, part steampunk, and part science-fiction, the show followed the Harvard lawyer-turned-bounty hunter and his unlikely cadre of friends for 27 episodes, which you’ll gladly knock out quickly. (Sorry for how upset you’ll be to learn there’s not a second season to enjoy.)
Where to Watch: Tubi (For Free!)
Horror: Scream: The TV Series
The Scream franchise is back on the big screen, but some fans might not remember it’s run on the small one and that’s a shame. Scream: The TV Series ran on MTV for two years before its shortened third and final season debuted at VH1. (With a Halloween special in-between.) The anthology series managed to take inspiration from its movie counterpart with its comedy and self-awareness, all while still delivering something fun and scary of its own. It’s 30 episodes are a killer way to spend your Saturday and Sunday.
Where to Watch: Netflix
Sci-Fi: Dark
For three seasons and 26 episodes, Dark took viewers on a journey through time and multiple generations in the fictional German village of Winden. It’s hard to talk about plot specifics without giving away too much, but trust us when we say you won’t have any trouble finishing this mysterious, atmospheric, mind-bending show in one weekend. It’s so engrossing you might even wrap it up in one long sitting. Well, that is unless you watch it with someone else. Then you’ll need time between episodes to discuss your best theories as to what’s happening.
Where to Watch: Netflix
Superhero: Legion
What’s real and what’s imagined? How can a mutant with incredible powers know the difference when he can’t even trust his own fractured mind? And how can you defeat your enemies when it’s not clear if someone is friend, foe, or both? For three seasons, Noah Hawley and Legion turned those questions into one of the most bizarre—and best—superhero shows on TV. Starring Dan Stevens, Aubrey Plaza, Jean Smart, and an all-star cast, the FX Marvel series is unlike any other superhero story put on screen. We wish we could forget about it so we could watch it again for the first time.
Where to Watch: Hulu
Fantasy: The Good Place
Mike Schur turned his success as co-creator of Parks and Recreation into one of the most unlikely television shows to ever air on network television. The Good Place is a wildly original, highly entertaining, absolutely hilarious Trojan horse for legitimate philosophical discussion about morality and ethics. If you know nothing else about the fantasy sitcom, do yourself a favor and just start watching its 53 episodes the minute you finish work this week. You’ll thank us on Monday. (We know because you’ll feel bad not using manners after watching this series.)
Where to Watch: Netflix
Animated Series for Adults: Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop remains one of the seminal anime series of all time. For 26 episodes the show brought viewers into a sci-fi neo-noir world of 2071, where a group of bounty hunters roam the galaxy after Earth was left nearly uninhabitable. While the series take inspiration from many genres, it has stood the test of time thanks to its universal themes of loneliness and boredom, as well as its exploration of how we can never escape our past. Not only is it a perfect way to spend a weekend, there’s a bonus 2001 movie you can enjoy as well.
Where to Watch: Crunchyroll / Netflix
Animated Series for Kids (and Adults): X-Men: The Animated Series
Without Fox’s X-Men: The Animated Series we might never have seen Marvel’s mutants make it to the big screen. And without those films we probably wouldn’t have the MCU, either. The animated show really was that influential on the superhero genre. So yeah, it was pretty fantastic. In fact, it was so good and so important Disney+ will soon revive it with X-Men ’97. Before it does watch all 76 episodes of one of the most important cartoons in television—and movie—history.
Where to Watch: Disney+