We're outing our guilty pleasure watchlist
No guilt December, we call it
That midnight bowl of ice cream with a side of sour cream. Knowing the colour of Katrina Kaif’s wedding earrings. Popping that giant pimple the skin gods have cursed the tip of your nose with. The TV shows and movies that we judge but just can’t stop watching. Guilty pleasures, we call them. Things we enjoy, but not openly because heaven forbid our cool friends find out about our not-so-cool habits.
Our pleasure-seeking nerves have been revved up by the return of Emily in Paris for a much-awaited and equally-hated second run. Interestingly, some psychologists have found that this shame you feel when indulging in guilty pleasures may actually be enhancing our gratification because it increases our feelings of desire. It also helps us destress, says professor Robin Nabi.
“Taking a mental break and enjoying something that doesn’t require intense intellectual focus gets us out of problem-solving mode. It can also aid us in coping with stress more effectively and interacting with others in a more positive way,” he adds.
Experts like Nabi believe that feeling guilty about, or denigrating, things we enjoy might reduce the benefits they provide. Letting go of self-imposed shame over our hobbies can be liberating and improve our social lives, which is why it’s time to banish the term “guilty pleasures” from our collective lexicon.
It’s okay to want to switch off your brain for the entirety of 5-7 hours and escape into a parallel universe that cannot affect your real one. It’s why Gunda remains a pop-cultural phenomenon.
Scroll down to find some of the most binge-able shows and movies for your viewing pleasure. We’re no longer guilty about loving them, and you shouldn’t be either.
15 binge-able g̶u̶i̶l̶t̶y̶ pleasures to add to your watchlist
For those who binged Emily in Paris like it was the elixir to COVID
1. An Astrological Guide for Broken Hearts (2021)
When I saw the trailer for this show, I was immediately pulled in because of the kinship I felt with the lead. A millennial woman with a broken heart looking for love based on her horoscope? Yep, exactly the kind of tomfoolery you can expect from yours truly.
An Astrological Guide for Broken Hearts is the best kind of comfort watch out there if the zodiac is your guiding sign. Strangely enough, the Italian Alice Bassi, played delightfully by Claudia Gusmano, reminded me of Bridget Jones, another leading lady whose failed romances bring me some hope for my own love life — or the lack thereof.
She is cute and quirky, finds herself in ridiculous situations in front of her heartthrob of a boss, Davide (Michele Rosiello), and is helped through her heartbreaks by her best friends Paola (Esther Elisha) and Tio (Lorenzo Adorni).
So you can bet, when I found out the show was based on a book, I read that too.
Watch it on Netflix.
2. Harlem (2021)
If you loved the shenanigans of the leading ladies on Four More Shots Please! and are now looking for another version of the show you can comfortably binge from the safety of your bed, Harlem is what you need.
Following the lives of four thirty-somethings Black women in one of New York City’s rapidly gentrifying neighbourhoods — and the namesake for the show — the series feels like it’s trying to fill the Sex and the City-shaped hole in our hearts. Of course, I’m never going to question how these women with incredibly low-paying jobs have a closet full of gorgeous designer clothes and apartments fit for a magazine cover. Sorry, not sorry but my mind checked out 3 seconds into the first episode.
Watch it on Amazon Prime.
3. Christmas Flow (2021)
When you’ve already binge-watched the second season of Emily in Paris and need another Paris fix, Christmas Flow will come to your rescue. This new French offering by Netflix hits you right in the feels with its rom-com beats and feel-good Christmas vibes.
The protagonists Marcus and Lila cross paths while shopping in one of Paris’s most beautiful departmental stores, so even though Omicron may have poured a bucket of cold water over your Europe vacation plans, Christmas Flow will transport you right to the French capital.
Watch it on Netflix.
For lovers of all things supernatural
1. Pyaar Kii Ye Ek Kahaani (2010)
This Ekta Kapoor show came out at the height of my teenage obsession with vampires (thanks Twilight). Every morning, my friends and I would dissect the anatomy of Vivian D’sena’s brooding face in the previous night’s episode with alarming clarity.
The story follows Abhay (Vivian Dsena), a 200-year-old vampire who falls for a human called Piya (Sukirti Kandpal), who looks exactly like Maithili (also played by Sukirti Kandpal), his soulmate when he was human. If your mind went straight to the doppelgänger plot on The Vampire Diaries (TVD), you wouldn’t be wrong as the story was inspired by both TVD and the Twilight Saga.
I recently rewatched this supernatural saga during our locked-at-home days, and boy, it did not disappoint. The vampires were still vampiring, the werewolves werewolving and Piya still fainting at the drop of a hat. Their unchanged universe gave me some much-needed comfort as the world around me was literally swirling in flames (COVID, the Amazon forest fires, the Australian bush fires — I’m sure you don’t need reminding). So, if the supernatural is where you get your escapism, this show is for you.
Watch it on Disney+Hotstar.
2. Bulgasal: Immortal Souls (2021)
When I first saw the trailer for Bulgasal: Immortal Souls, my mind immediately went to the Gong Yoo-starrer show Goblin. (For the uninitiated, the wildly famous show portrayed the life of a 900-year-old goblin looking for his wife to free himself of the curse of immortality.) And I wasn’t far off considering the series tells the story of a woman who repeats death and reincarnation as a human for 600 years and remembers her past lives, and a man who cannot kill nor be killed and has lived for the past 600 years as a bulgasal—a mythical creature that feeds off human blood and is cursed with immortality.
The elaborately constructed initial episodes of Bulgasal are riddled with intertwined destinies, backfired curses, and revenge plots. Expect reincarnated characters, grand plans of destiny, and the odd villain as the hero’s vengeance-driven story line moves forward in its seven-week running time. What more could your I’m-obsessed-with-all-things-supernatural personality possibly want?
Watch it on Netflix.
3. Naagin (2020) 
Binge-worthy Indian television at its best, Naagin is a contemporary take on the age-old icchadhari naagin narrative that Indians relish.
I started watching it during the lockdown with our housekeeper, and calling us obsessed would be an understatement. The sizzling chemistry between the two main characters played by Surbhi Chandna and Sharad Malhotra definitely did not make it easier to stay away. Even months after the lockdown ended and I didn’t have to stay at home anymore, I would still make my way back by the time the new episode premiered.
A tight slap in the face of science, VFX, and logic, it is so extra that it’s often unwatchable but I’d be lying if I claimed I didn’t enjoy the mirch masala a little too much.
So, kursi ki peti baand lein, because season 6 drops in January.
Watch it on Voot.
For the ones who are obsessed with reality TV
1. Selling Tampa (2021)
For those of you who are heartbroken over season 4 of Selling Sunset coming to an end, it’s the perfect time to immerse yourself in Selling Tampa — the Selling Sunset spinoff you didn’t know you needed.
Fulfilling your voyeuristic wants for property porn, Selling Tampa follows a group of agents at the Allure Realty brokerage as they get to work on the Florida market. As invested as we are in the petty in-office drama between the gorgeous real estate women of Tampa, the show has a solid thing going for itself with its all women-of-colour cast.
If your life feels incomplete without a weekly dose of reality tv-watching, Selling Tampa will be soul food for your starving self. For a moment, it almost feels like you’re in the Mughal emperor Akbar’s court, what with all the calculative drama, but who would pass on a chance to snoop around multi-million dollar homes?
Watch it on Netflix.
2. The Big Day (2021)
If you’ve been missing the spectacle of the big, fat Indian wedding in the era of the pandemic, it’s time you watch The Big Day on Netflix.
The show follows six engaged Indian couples planning extravagant weddings. With two weddings in each of the three episodes, viewers get an exclusive inside look at the multibillion-dollar Indian wedding industry.
Sure, The Big Day did not add any value to my TV watching memories, but the behind-the-scenes effort that goes into making Indian weddings the magnificent display that they are, and the sheer opulence of the whole shebang, kept me glued to my screen.
Watch it on Netflix.
3. Blown Away: Christmas (2021)
Blown away is how I felt after I watched this show. As I had not watched the original, the Christmas version seemed especially spectacular. Something needs to be said about watching glass go from being a molten mass to the exquisitely detailed, full-tree’s-worth of Christmas ornaments — and all of that in a few hours.
Blown Away: Christmas will feel like a nice, four-episode present for you this holiday season, with its holiday- and winter-themed glass art and a workshop full of Christmas decor. For the holiday version of the glass-blowing competition, we see the five top alumni from the original show return to make an all-star cast, competing to win a cash prize.
Of course, I won’t be the Grinch and reveal who makes it to the end but suffice to say, this present will make your holidays worthwhile.
Watch it on Netflix.
For those sexy late-night shenanigans
1. Sex/Life (2021)
With guilty pleasure binge written all over it, Sex/Life is a hot and heavy sexathon — as portrayed by its name — with a heavy dollop of melodrama on the side. It’s a daily soap opera come to life if said soap opera was in a head-on collision with the likes of Fifty Shades.
Billie Connelly, a suburban wife and mother played by Sarah Shahi, embarks on a fantasy-fueled journey down memory lane that puts her present reality on a crash course with her wild past. Binge-able softcore at its finest, the show revolves around Billie, her sex-in-a-leather-jacket ex Brad, who is supposed to be the love of Billie’s life, and her suit-&-tie-wearing husband Cooper.
If nothing else, watch it for the breezy white dresses Billie wears to bed. Or the extremely beautiful people that populate her world. I did, and unabashedly so.
Watch it on Netflix.
2. Nevertheless (2021)
I am not kidding when I say Nevertheless might be the raciest K-drama I’ve ever seen. From a lead couple who likes getting handsy every few scenes to the cute, lesbian love story and the carefree, no-strings-attached relationship between friends with benefits, the K-drama offers an honest view of sex and modern relationships.
With an art university in its backdrop, the series follows a group of friends as they make sense of their personal and professional lives before they graduate. I’ll be honest, the narrative does feel a bit hollow at times, and the show may move incredibly slowly, but its frankness about sexual desire in the largely conservative Korean culture will win you over.
Watch it on Netflix.
3. Sex, Love & Goop (2021)
Gwyneth Paltrow and her multi-million dollar luxury wellness empire Goop have returned to Netflix with yet another exploration on sexual healing.
Couples are matched with professional sexologists in each episode to work through their concerns, which range from diverse sexual appetites to a missing spark to deep-seated physical issues. The ultimate result is unexpectedly poignant, a gutsy effort on everyone’s part to expose their insecurities—and themselves.
I did not expect to learn anything from this watch, but learn I did as Paltrow puts it in the first episode, “Your intimate relationship is a meditation in everything that’s wrong with you.”
Watch it on Netflix.
For the ones who thrive on drama
1. Dynasty (2017)
Based on a 1980s primetime soap opera of the same name, Dynasty stars Elizabeth Gillies as heiress Fallon Carrington, who decides the time has come for her to take over the family business as COO. Instead of a promotion, she is presented with a stepmother, Cristal, who is played by Australian actress Nathalie Kelley. And thereon, the drama begins.
If you’re like me who thrives on glamorous drama, screechy fights with weaponised manicures (the infamous Kourtney vs Kim brawl, anyone?), watching Dynasty is the best gift you could give yourself this holiday season. With the series back for its fifth run on your screens, gear up to take in the over-the-top allure of this melodrama in all its splendour.
Watch it on Netflix.
2. Love ft. marriage and divorce (2021)
I’m a fan of Korean dramas that thrive on the “meet-cute” between star-crossed lovers. Almost never have I watched a Korean drama that shows what happens after they have their happily ever after, which is why I was intrigued when I saw the trailer of Love ft. marriage and divorce. Having more to do with the often unseen, ugly side of marriage, the show tells the story of three married couples, each in their 30s, 40s and 50s.
This Korean drama has all the makings of a great melodrama, and with the series coming back for another season soon, I shall be glued to my TV waiting for the new episodes to come with bated breath but till then, who says you can’t rewatch your favourite parts a couple of million times?
Watch it on Netflix.
3. The Five Juanas (2021)
If your love for telenovela-inspired Jane The Virgin keeps you reaching for more, this new offering from Netflix will have you hooked. Okay, it might be difficult to stop from rolling your eyes at the concept of this Mexican telenovela, which follows the lives of five women named Juana, who discover they are sisters with the same fish-shaped birthmark on their derrieres.
A Latin soap opera at its finest, the five Juanas of The Five Juanas will keep you occupied.
Watch it on Netflix.