9 shows you could watch while working from home to improve your focus

It’s a different kind of pain when you miss seeing the one character you find redeemable on a largely annoying show making yet another destructive life choice (*cough* Rue *cough*) — all because that annoying client called to ask another stupid question. Maybe the joke’s on this, um, hypothetical person for watching an episode of Euphoria when they’re supposed to be working, regardless of the fact that they just couldn’t wait.

Working from home has birthed many a habit that vacillate from being unprofessional to scandalous in one breath (yes, we know about your I’m-sitting-in-a-work-meeting-without-pants behaviour). But, of course, Netflix and chill as you email and hyperventilate reigns supreme. What else can you do to replicate the chai-sutta gossip near your office’s tapri when you’re stuck working within the four walls of your house?

But despite how much your pantless situation and your recent binge-watching obsession might be distracting you from the constant pinging of your inbox in the background, you can’t afford to ditch work and get invested in your show — unless, of course, you enjoy getting a stern talking-to from your boss on a Zoom meeting with all your colleagues. This is when you start to understand the charm of low-stakes, background television.

Grace McMahon, life coach at Beingwell, says background TV offers a form of “auditory stimulation” that, somewhat surprisingly, actually comes hand-in-hand with many benefits.

“This background noise helps to drown out our inner monologues, which can become annoying and even anxiety-inducing for some. For others, it can keep the realisation of monotony at bay, make them feel less lonely, or offer comfort. And it can even serve as a way to occupy our minds, even when we’re not really paying any attention to what is happening on screen,” she explains.

Hearing the low murmur of a low-stakes TV show in the background is like texting your ex: it’s comfortable, easy, and makes you feel less alone. And when it comes to getting through a particularly trying workday, several of these shows can not only provide nice background viewing but can actually “improve our focus, particularly when it comes to the cognitively demanding tasks we are given at work,” according to McMahon.

Because we know you don’t have the time to devise the perfect work from home watchlist, we have done the heavy lifting it for you. Here are 9 low-stakes TV shows to have on in the background that don’t require too much of your brainpower as you soldier on through your never-ending task list.

9 shows to add to your work from home watchlist

If your workstation for the day is the family TV room

Shark Tank (2022)

When you live in a small apartment with one work desk to share, there are often days you will be relegated to the machhi market that is your family room because someone else snagged the work desk for some really important Zoom calls.

You could scream and scream some more but you would only be adding to the chaos, not reining it in. This is where Shark Tank comes in. Put this family-friendly show on and you’ll have your peace and quiet in five minutes because everyone’s eyes will be glued to the TV. And that’s because the entrepreneurial reality show with its dramatic soundtrack, jugaadu entrepreneurs, and best of all, wild success stories, makes it a great masala watch. I mean, who doesn’t want to imagine themselves in the shoes of these real-life entrepreneurs winning very real money? It might be just the kickstart you need to stop ignoring that mind-numbing project you’ve been putting off.

Watch it on Sony Liv.

If work is the farthest thing from your mind

Single Drunk Female (2022)

On those work-from-home days when you’d rather be sipping on a tall gin and tonic by the beach, what you need is a generous helping of Single Drunk Female to jolt your brain into reality and the full inbox awaiting you.

Samantha Fink of Single Drunk Female is a 20-something alcoholic who has to move back home with her overbearing mother when she waltzes into work late and drunk, assaults her boss and is fired and arrested as a result.

Being an (almost) adult myself, watching the antics of Samantha didn’t just hold up a mirror to my own, but made me feel a tad less miserable and a whole lot more motivated as I worked on important tasks on the side. And if not even that, it definitely drilled into my brain a million and one reasons why my thoughts of wanting to chew out my irritating client — instigated by Samantha’s own booze-fuelled reckoning — should remain thoughts only.

Watch it on Disney+Hotstar.

If you’re just not having a good day 

Sweet Magnolias (2020)

I am obsessed with watching the likes of One Tree Hill and Gilmore Girls. They’re the epitome of comfort-watching: set in small towns where everyone knows everyone — or rather, is in their business whether they like it or not — and they all converge in the same coffee shop on the weekends.

In an OTT universe inhabited by the Rue Bennets of the world, who could say no to the Sweet Magnolias of Serenity, where everything always ends up just fine in the end no matter how wrong they have gone? Even better, you could be watching this show in the middle of a very hectic workday yet have no risk of missing a favourite character doing anything drastic — because they never really do.

Housed in a small corner of OTT relegated to feel-good 2000s nostalgia, Sweet Magnolias has recently come back for a much-awaited second run in February. So if you’re in need of a work from home watchlist dominated by the low murmur of your soon-to-be-favourite comfort show, come spend some time in the world of Sweet Magnolias. It’s a reminder that no matter how badly your day is going, everything will turn out alright.

Watch it on Netflix.

If you need a kick of motivation before your lunch break arrives

Heavenly Bites: Mexico (2022)

Those days when your blood sugar is running dangerously low, hours before lunch break are the worst. You could give yourself a sugar rush by eating all the chocolates in your house, and god knows I’ve been there. But it rarely works out in my favour. An hour later, I’m hungrier than ever and all I have to show for it is empty wrappers and sticky fingers. So what better to keep you going until your lunch break than a food documentary, rife with deliciously saturated images of culinary perfection? Especially if you’re a foodie like me with a salary-defying food fetish.

Like a visual love letter for all food enthusiasts, Heavenly Bites: Mexico is an ode to the quirkiest, most creative dishes birthed in the North American country. If food is both your sickness and cure like yours truly, this up-close and personal look at Mexico’s vibrantly fun culinary culture will leave you powering through your to-do list to your lunch break before you know it. Plus, it’ll help you settle on what to order for lunch. You can thank me later.

Watch it on Netflix.

If your task list keeps going on, and on, and on

How I Met Your Father (2022)

Sitcoms are the perfect candidate to be a good background show. Their storylines are simple with the same characters in familiar backgrounds, going about their lives as usual. And if you’re someone who grew up on a steady diet of Friends and the OG How I Met Your Mother, How I Met Your Father will offer you the comfort of a warm plate of chai-pakode on a rainy day.

If you thought you had grown out of watching sitcoms about friend groups who were knit tighter than that sweater your grandma made you and managed to bag impossibly cool apartments on meagre salaries, How I Met Your Father will prove you wrong. As if finding love in the Big Apple wasn’t hard enough, this group of friends, starring former Disney kid Hilary Duff and Suraj Sharma of The Life of Pi, are doing it in the junior year of the pandemic. Medium TV at its best, How I Met Your Father is actually a funny story, as the tagline suggests, but not too funny, either, which is exactly what your work-from-home watchlist needs when you have lots on your plate.

Watch it on Disney+Hotstar.

If you need to push yourself through the post-lunch slump

The Gilded Age (2022)

Would you switch on your TV and flip to Star World to watch the latest episode of your favourite historical drama Downton Abbey as you did your homework? I did. Something about the old-world grandeur of their lives made me feel like I was writing a long-worded letter to my lover and not a Physics theorem. And this old-world grandeur is exactly what I go back to when I need help getting over my 4 pm slump. So if you’re also someone who thrives on period dramas, The Gilded Age will make a permanent home on your WFH watchlist.

With the push of a button, you can find yourself in the middle of Central Park in 1882, amongst the herd of sheep (yes, for real) that inhabit it and not dangerously close to faceplanting into your keyboard. Set in high society of then-Manhattan, the show is full of sumptuous costumes, dreamy suitors, and an intense rivalry unfolding between the families that populate said world.

A pleasant show to half-watch, The Gilded Age and its rivalries will pull you out of your slump and keep you wonderful company as you answer those post-lunch emails with a pot of strongly-brewed coffee and some pound cake on the side. Serve it up on your fanciest plate, and you’ll feel right at home.

Watch it on Disney+Hotstar.

If the heat of summer has melted your brain

Our Beloved Summer (2021)

You know those particularly hot days when you would rather be waterboarded by your boss for missing that important meeting than emerge from your air-conditioned cocoon? Don’t worry, I, too, often get that urge. That’s why we have this visual delight of a K-drama (find more captivating options by clicking here)that will double as a cold nimbu paani for your hot, humid workdays.

The slow-burn romance between the main characters will cool your fevered brain, and have you rooting for their happily ever after. With a mesmerising soundtrack, it’s just the right amount of dreamy that will challenge your imagination and inspire you to think outside the box on your latest project.

Watch it on Netflix.

If you need to take a chill pill

Rebelde (2022)

What is it about teen shows that make them ideal for background watching? Is it the sweet innocence of their issues that were once your own, that wouldn’t shock your hardened core anymore? Or is it the fact that most of these actors playing the teens are your own age, making you imagine your own self in simpler times and problems? We don’t have an answer, but this telenovela-style Mexican teen drama does.

On the days you just need to take a chill pill, what better medium to escape than watching a musical high school teen drama with a perfectly sexy cast that has more chemistry than a high school lab?

Revolving around hormone-fuelled teenagers boarding at an elite school of music, Rebelde is a heady blend of teen drama and top-notch music. So if you’re a fan of both, Rebelde has enough in the tank to recommend, especially when you need to take your mind off of your own shit and focus on someone else’s.

Watch it on Netflix.

If your work-BFF is on a chutti

Murderville (2022)

It’s a truly sad day when your work BFF is on a chutti because who else are you going to rant with? But just when you think all is not well, Murderville will hit you like a tez hawa ka jhonka. 

Yeah, we know you’re mourning for the day, but those tasks are not going to get done themselves just because your work-BFF decided to ditch you. So here we have a murder mystery for you to solve, which will distract you from your sadness but not your to-do list. No, I’m not lying, you’ll know why in a few more sentences.

You know how some murder mystery plotlines are so ridiculous that it feels like the actors are making it up as they go along? In Murderville, they truly are. None of the episodes really have anything in common except Will Arnett’s senior detective Terry Seattle, delusional about his competence levels.

The bumbling detective attempts to solve murders with his celebrity guests, who have no script and are winging it just like you do at work. With this selection on our work from home watchlist, you can expect a few belly-aching laughs that will keep you running, even when your work spouse is not around to share the joke.

Watch it on Netflix.