Sure, we could wax rhapsodic about spending your time off this holiday season “celebrating with family and friends” or “reflecting upon another year gone by.” That’s nice, but let’s face it: You’re going to spend at least some of your holidays binge-watching TV and eating a lot of food. Hey, you’ve earned it. No matter what facet of IT you work in, you’ve no doubt been working hard. It’s time for a little R&R.
But whoa – there’s a lot to choose from these days, what with services like Netflix and Amazon Prime and Hulu seeming to pump out new shows by the hour. No worries; we’ve got you covered, with a list of 10 shows for tech-minded folks to consider for their holiday TV marathons.
[ Job hunting this holiday break? Check out our related article, 12 emerging IT job titles with a bright future. ]
You won’t see Stranger Things here – not because it’s not great, but because unless you live in a server rack, you’ve probably heard of that one. We tried to dig just a tad deeper (though if you’re an armchair TV critic, you’ve probably heard of many of these, too). We’ve also included some old reliables here for those feeling nostalgic or the young’uns who never had to watch Star Trek – the horror! – in single-episode doses.
Happy holidays, and happy watching.
The OA (Netflix)
Speaking of Stranger Things, this series has drawn regular comparisons to the mega-hit. For instance, The Globe and Mail’s John Doyle writes: “The OA is Netflix's strongest and strangest original production since Stranger Things. In terms of substantive, original drama, it transcends it.” (Of course, not everyone agrees.) The genre-fusing show – you’ll see it labeled various hybrids of drama, mystery, sci-fi, and fantasy – is about a young woman who suddenly reappears, with no explanation, after going missing seven years earlier.
The IT Crowd (Channel 4, Netflix)
This British sitcom, which ran from 2006-2013, features the day-to-day travails of a dysfunctional IT staff at fictional enterprise Reynholm Industries. And we mean dysfunctional: The very first episode introduces the new head of IT who, it turns out, knows nothing about IT. It’s a good binge-watch candidate, too, because each of its four seasons comprises only six episodes; the fifth and final “season” ended up being a final episode.
Halt and Catch Fire (Netflix)
This four-season series, which originally ran on AMC, serves up a fictionalized account of the rise of the PC era, first in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and later in Silicon Valley. As one Netflix reviewer puts it, “Halt and Catch Fire does for the 1980s computing industry what Mad Men did for the 1960s advertising industry.”
Abstract: The Art of Design (Netflix)
This eight-episode documentary series, which counts WIRED editor-in-chief Scott Dadich as a creator and executive producer, examines design across various disciplines, such as architecture and automotive design, to – as the official show description puts it – “learn how design impacts every aspect of life.” Perhaps a particularly good watch for IT pros who spend a lot of time thinking about designing systems.
Star Trek Discovery (CBS All Access)
Techie by day, Trekkie by night – don’t be bashful about it, embrace it. The newest series in the franchise, Star Trek Discovery, might be the most appealing to Star Trek newbies. Of course, don’t let us stop you from bingeing on the rest of the franchise as well. CBS All Access has the whole canon, and Netflix has certain shows and seasons, including the original series. We’re not going to weigh in on which Star Trek series you should watch or in what order because, well, the internet might implode. Check out this Reddit thread or this Reddit thread if you want some, um, detailed input on that question.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Netflix)
Another oldie-but-goodie, this cult classic is about a man and his robots (which, of course, he made for companionship) forced in captivity to watch bad B movies by mad scientists on the “Satellite of Love.” The series recently got a reboot, which is also on Netflix, for those who can’t bear the pain of watching “old” TV shows.
Black Mirror (Netflix)
The tech industry sure loves itself the word “innovation” – but who said innovation is always a good thing? Black Mirror is a sci-fi anthology, in the vein of predecessors like The Twilight Zone. Each season is just three episodes. (Hey, you can binge watch and still have time for other holiday celebrations!) As Metacritic user “cwilder06” wrote back in 2013, "People … who have some tech familiarity this show is especially poignant. Think of it as the Twilight Zone (or Outer Limits) with a decidedly more realistic bent that examines the scary consequences of technology today and in the very near future.”
The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
One of 2017’s smash hits, this Emmy-winning series brings Margaret Atwood’s classic dystopian novel, first published in 1985, to the small screen. The story centers on a radical return to “traditional values” in the totalitarian Republic of Gilead, where the remaining fertile women are forced to serve as “handmaids” – essentially reproductive vessels – at the behest of the ruling Commanders. There’s a reason why this particular dystopia may feel alarmingly possible: Atwood has said of writing the novel, “I made a rule for myself: I would not include anything that human beings had not already done in some other place or time, or for which the technology did not already exist.”
3% (Netflix)
A second season is in the works for this well-received dystopian thriller, so no time like the present to get caught up on the first season. In which the population is divided between the utopian “Offshore” and horrors of the “Inland.” Citizens get only one chance to get to the Offshore paradise, and just 3% succeed.
Dimension 404 (Hulu)
This sci-fi show, which debuted earlier this year, is another Twilight Zone descendant, but it focuses on our hyper-connected digital world. From the official description: “Dimension 404 is a science fiction anthology that explores the wonders – and terrors – of our digital age.” Reviews have been mixed, but it’s still worth a try: As a bonus, Mark Hamill takes a turn as the narrator. And, yes, my fellow geeky people: The title is a reference to the ubiquitous online error page.
