The 20 best binge watches of 2020

A reboot-slash-reimagining of the Saturday morning series (and rerun staple), Tracey Wigfield’s “Saved by the Bell” mixes "30 Rock"/"Great News" comedic sensibilities with nostalgia (and remembering just how weird “Saved by the Bell” was) to provide one of the best binge watches (and series) of 2020.

A charming teen dramedy about Sterling and Blair Wesley, fraternal twin sisters who end up part of the unglamorous—and, of course, dangerous—world of bounty hunting. Unfortunately, “Teenage Bounty Hunters” was canceled after one season. But a satisfying single season it was to binge watch.

2020 saw the second half of “BoJack Horseman’s” final season, and like the series finale (title) said,” it was “Nice While It Lasted.” It was also simultaneously very funny and very depressing. The duality of man—or horseman—if you will.

“The Haunting of Bly Manor” is a follow-up to 2018’s “The Haunting of Hill House.” Starring some of the same cast of “Hill House”—now playing new roles to tell a new story—“Bly Manor” also served as an adaptation of “The Turn of the Screw.” (And unlike this year’s “The Turning,” it was a well-received adaption.)

This might seem like 2018 deja vu, but in the wake of YouTube Premium (nee YouTube Red) “Cobra Kai” is now available to stream and properly binge watch on Netflix.

After being canceled by NBC, “A.P. Bio” was saved by NBC’s streaming service, Peacock. And streaming allowed “A.P. Bio” to having an amazingly experimental (and hilarious) episode like “Gary Meets Dave.”

Similar to “A.P. Bio,” “Search Party” made also the jump to streaming in its third season. (Here the jump was from TBS to HBO Max.) The third season of “Search Party” saw Alia Shawkat’s Dory finally face consequences for her actions…and revealed just how far gone she is when confronted with said consequences.

What was originally planned to be “Lucifer’s” final season—Season 5—is now its penultimate season. The first half of this season began with Lucifer in Hell and the introduction of Lucifer’s twin brother, Michael, who is kind of a jerk. It ended with the introduction of a long-mentioned character… and you should probably just watch instead of being spoiled on that one.

Starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, “The Great” is a dramedy loosely based on the rise of Catherine the Great. (The titular Great.) Created by Tony McNamara, co-writer of “The Favourite,” Hulu renewed “The Great” for a second season back in July.

The Anya Taylor-Joy led miniseries brought together two things most shows refuse to bring together, clearly for cowardly reasons: drugs and chess. For that, “The Queen’s Gambit” was quite the 2020 binge watch.

The first half of “PEŅ15’s” second season dropped this September, with Maya and  Anna (played by Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, respectively) ultimately finding themselves at odds, the way teen girls—even the best of friends—often do.

While “Moonbase 8”—the space comedy starring Fred Armisen, Tim Heidecker, John C. Reilly, and also co-created by them, alongside Jonathan Krisel—aired on a weekly schedule on Showtime, all six episodes were also available to stream and watch on-demand as soon as it premiered. (So it counts for binge watching.) “Moonbase 8” is easily the best of the many space series that have premiered in 2020 and certainly the best binge watch.

This gender-swapped, contemporary adaptation of Nick Hornby’s book—and remake of the 2000 feature film—of the same name probably shouldn’t have worked. But it did. It really did. Unfortunately, Hulu decided to cancel the Zoe Kravitz-led series after one season; but fortunately, “High Fidelity” tells a rather complete story in that one season.

From co-creators Dana Fox and Dara Resnik, “Home Before Dark” is a mystery series based on the life of young journalist Hilde Lysiak. Apple renewed the series for a second season back in January—before the series even premiered in April.

In July, Netflix announced it would be bringing all seven of these classic Black sitcoms to its streaming service in 2020. And it did, and it was good. (Even though there were obvious music rights issues that shortened certain episodes of shows. Looking at you, “Moesha.” How did Netflix not secure the rights to show Moesha singing with Brandy? Come on!)

Based on the 2018 Sally Rooney novel of the same name, “Normal People” is a coming-of-age story and one about young love. It’s also one of those half-hour dramas (and a limited series) if that makes the idea of 12 episodes of longing and growing up seem less daunting for you.

In this series co-created by Billie Piper and Lucy Prebble—teaming up again after “Secret Diary of a Call Girl—Piper plays the titular Suzie, whom everyone hates. Why the hate, exactly. Well, Suzie is “an actress whose life is thrown into turmoil when her phone is hacked and compromising photographs of her are leaked.” So, you know, misogyny. But still: quite the binge watch.

This low-key British dramedy about love, sexuality, and addiction dropped in March. Netflix renewed it for a second and final season this December, so don’t worry about watching all six episodes and then having nothing more to look forward to.

When the show dropped in October, a lot of binge watches of Darren Star’s “Emily in Paris” seemed to be of the “hate-watch” variety, with plenty of live-tweeting about all the ways in which the show made no sense and how the Emily character (played by Lily Collins) was like a bizarre amalgamation of “Sex and the City” characters. In November, “Emily in Paris” was renewed for a second season, somehow surprising everyone who hate-watched the show (instead of watching a show they would like), live-tweeted about the show (instead of tweeting about a show they would like), and made the show a huge hit (instead of a show they would’ve liked, which was most likely canceled for lack of viewership and buzz).

If you haven’t binged “Dead To Me” Season 2 by now, what are you waiting for? You have time—as there will be a third and final season—but still. Get to it. Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini are depending on you.