IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT, AND I’M STREAMING FINE ROUNDS 5-6

Things aren’t looking good right now. Coronavirus is all around. The economy will probably collapse. There’s no toilet paper available anywhere. And worst of all, we’re all stuck inside with our families.

Luckily, there’s a ton of great TV to help get us through this difficult time. If you’re looking for something to watch, Fancy Boys Club is here to help. Over the next few days, we’ll be breaking down our favorite coronavirus quarantine streaming options in the only way we know how: a draft.

Today, we’re dropping rounds 5 and 6. Catch up on past rounds here: 1 & 2, 3 & 4. Who got the best picks? Let us know in the comments.

Round 5

17. Game of Thrones | Matt Drufke

The first time my wife and I watched this show, she levied out the most fair criticism I’ve ever heard of HBO’s most acclaimed and popular show: “I can’t tell all the bearded white guys apart.” 

She had a point.

That being said, Game Of Thrones got the nation (like, the entire fucking nation) to live and die with a show about a fantasy midevil world where dragons flew, magic existed, and you better not fall in love with a character, because that person’s odds of making it through a season are 50:50, AT BEST. The fact that so many conversations I overheard involved names like Theon and Sansa always put a smile on my face.

When this show was humming, there’s nothing it didn’t do well. Palace intrigue? They got you. Characters learning to see the best in each other? Hand me a damn tissue. The best action scenes to ever exist on television? Yeah… those, too.

You can not like the finale, or the whole last season. That’s your choice. But, like another choice coming later, I understand that you have to love a whole show, warts and all. I hold this show in high regard despite it’s stumbles (take note, Jack). I’ve also seen every episode (TAKE NOTE, JACK). 

And you can say the show fell. But, it also knew how to fly on the wings of a dragon.

Available On: HBO Go, HBO Now

18. The Newsroom | Rick Copper

I did not watch this when it first came out because that clip of Jeff Daniels ripping the sorority girl a new one regarding America not being the best country in the world got super annoying. Eventually I relented and was glad I did.

Aaron Sorkin took a newsroom, which had been generally used for comic relief (Mary Tyler Moore Show) and turned it into a rapid-fire setting of morality. Does it get too preachy at times? Oh hell yes it does, but that’s Sorkin. Could it have been shorter? Yeah probably, but when you get Olivia Munn on camera, it’s so difficult not to renew for another season.

Fiery, that woman. Jeff Daniels, Sam Waterston, Dev Patel, Emily Mortimer, Jane Fonda – the cast overall is fantastic.

However, what should have been shorter was Game of Thrones. You spend all that time getting to the conclusion ‘those who do nothing get handsomely rewarded?’ Who wrote that ending – Jared Kushner?

Available On: HBO Go, HBO Now

19. Gilmore Girls | Jack Baker

Woof. The first two picks in this round are rough. I loved Game of Thrones but that ending ruined the rest of the show. The Newsroom? If you want Sorkin-esque dialogue without the smug neoliberal condescension, Gilmore Girls is the show for you. 

It’s my wife’s favorite show. It’s on all the time in our house. She loves it and I’ve come to love it as well. Also, she said she’d divorce me if I didn’t draft it. 

Gilmore Girls is the wonderful story of the three generations of the women in the Gilmore family. You watch them fight, laugh, love, talk way too fast, make way more pop culture references than any one person actually could,  Sebastian Bach shows up for a while, and they hold coffee cups in complete violation of the laws of physics. It’s great. Also, Logan sucks. Team Jess for life. 

I highly recommend the companion podcast Gilmore Guys. If you don’t enjoy the Jason Mantzoukas episodes, you shouldn’t be allowed to live.

Available On: Netflix, and every TV in my house

20. Letterkenny | Brandon Andreasen

I remember my brother one day saying “you’ve gotta watch this” and it was a Best Of clip from season five of a show i’d never heard of before. It was Letterkenny. Once I figured out what the show was, I set out to see every episode. I exclusively got Hulu at first to watch the show. At the time, the seasons were incomplete, a malady that has since been rectified. The show almost has a King of the Hill style humility to it. The characters have their world in which they exist. Their morals, their rules, their opportunities, their failings, all intertwine and affect the other members of the town. It’s a show I can easily sit down to watch one episode of, and end up still watching four hours later.

Available On: Hulu

Round 6

21. Archer | Brandon Andreasen

Underrated brilliance is the best way to describe the first four seasons of this show. Even though it has slowly (and then very quickly) fallen off the rails as they explore alternate universes for their characters to operate in, there is no doubt that the rapid fire jokes, intertwining, season long story lines, and fully developed characters and backstories have created a show that has impeccable comedic timing and enough going on to keep anyone entertained. 

Available On: Hulu

22. Dexter (Seasons 1 -5, 7) | Jack Baker

Look, I knew this pick would be somewhat controversial, but I feel like I’m taking a lot of heat for trying to steer our readers toward good shows to binge. Isn’t that the point of this draft? Unlike some Fancy Boys, I’m not going to blindly support something when it sucks. Cough Game of Thrones Season 8. Cough. West Wing. Cough.

The first season of Dexter is great. It’s intense, thrilling and a whole bunch of other adjectives. Seasons 2 and 3 build on the great first season and then season 4 takes it to a whole other level. John Lithgow is absolutely terrifying and his Trinity Killer takes the top spot as one of TV’s all time great villains. Things fall off a bit in Season 5, although it’s still real solid. I like to pretend seasons 6 and 8 don’t exist.

Yes, Dexter had one of the worst finales of all time. But unlike Game of Thrones, the bad ending of Dexter doesn’t take away from the ability to appreciate the earlier seasons. In Game of Thrones, season 8 showed that all the time we spent with those characters wasn’t really for anything. We invested so many hours building toward a big final battle that ended with a whimper and then dragged on for a few more episodes that didn’t make sense. Dexter’s seasons each told a complete story so you can appreciate the great ones on their own merits and ignore the rest.

Available On: Netflix

23. Portlandia | Rick Copper

OK, Brandon is correct. Archer was on my list because it is brilliant and you can watch a ton of it and quarantine time will slip away like butter through your… fingers… let’s not get too graphic here. Dexter is great but skipping years is forbidden – I love that cake but not the frosting kind of attitude does not cut it. Lost? Matt has a habit of picking shows that go flaccid at the end, leaving everyone disappointed. C’mon!

Portlandia is quirky as hell. Fred Armison is as amazing as he is clueless, and Carrie Brownstein is a fucking genius. Comedienne and a total fab guitarist? Sleater-Kinney for fuck’s sake! I really love this show, especially Vagina Pillow:

Available On: Netflix

24. Lost | Matt Drufke

Exhibit A:

With Lost, JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and Carlton Cuse were never afraid to just throw you right in and say, “You’re here. Catch up.” The show was never an insult your intelligence or tried to slowly explain things to you. You just had to accept the reality you were in and try and figure it out for yourself. That was the joy of it all.

Lost is a show that feels like a puzzle with every episode a piece. If you like shows with a linear narrative and clear conflict resolution, you were not gonna like what you were being given. And the show was ok knowing that it wasn’t for everyone. But, for the people who enjoyed this kind of storytelling, they were going to get everything they wanted and then some.

Also, polar bears.

Lindelof created a master clinic of giving you enough information to care about a character, only to watch how they would use their past to survive the worst island vacation of all time. With every twist and turn, Lost kept you wanting more, even with some weaker seasons (for me, those are seasons 3 & 4). At the core of the show is a struggle about coming to terms with loss. This is all too fitting, because I still miss the show long after it’s gone.

Available On: Hulu

Check back tomorrow for rounds 7-8!