There are scores of TV shows out there, with dozens of new episodes each week, not to mention everything you can find on Hulu Plus, Netflix streaming, and HBO Go. How’s a viewer to keep up? To help you sort through all that television has to offer, Flavorwire is compiling the five best bets for the coming week. I don’t need to tell you what to watch this Tuesday night — the entire country will be glued to some kind of screen, and Stephen Colbert is hosting a special election night broadcast on Showtime, live from New York’s Ed Sullivan Theater. Plus, don’t forget to watch SNL‘s 2016 election special on Monday night, if you can be lured away from the premiere of Martha and Snoop’s Potluck Dinner. It’s been a long campaign, guys.
Today: The Crown
This new Netflix original is among the streaming service’s most expensive series to date (it doesn’t quite beat The Get Down), and it’s basically royals-porn for those among us who obsess over Will and Kate and have been grieving the loss of Downton Abbey. The Crown stars Wolf Hall‘s Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II, and the first season tracks roughly the first decade of her reign, starting from her marriage to Prince Philip. The ten-episode season is available to stream on Netflix as of today; a second is already in the works.
Now: Lovesick Season 1
With just under two weeks until the second season of this charming British rom-com — originally and unfortunately titled Scrotal Recall — lands on Netflix, now’s the perfect time to catch up on the first season of Lovesick, which follows young Dylan (Johnny Flynn) as he tracks down his former girlfriends to inform them he’s contracted chlamydia. At a breezy six half-hour episodes, Season 1 , available on Netflix, is the perfect way to unwind on a Friday night.
Monday: Martha and Snoop’s Potluck Dinner
She’s Martha Stewart. He’s Snoop Dogg. They’re going to cook food together, then serve it to celebrity guests such as DJ Khaled, Kathy Griffin, Seth Rogen, and 50 Cent, and we’re gonna eat that shit right up. [The TV, that is, not the food — Haute Cuisine Ed.] This beautiful enigma premieres on VH1 Monday at 10 p.m.
Monday: The 2016 SNL Election Special
There’s been a lot of talk about how this nutty election season has defied parody, but Saturday Night Live‘s done a decent job skewering the 2016 campaign and those three headache-inducing debates, thanks to Kate McKinnon’s Hillary and Alec Baldwin’s Trump. Monday’s hour-long election special is a collection of the show’s best sketches related to the 2016 race; expect to see Larry David’s spot-on Bernie Sanders, plus Sanders himself. But will the producers include Trump’s hosting appearance from last November, a decision many protested at the time of its announcement? Tune in Monday at 10 p.m. on NBC to find out. (Or record it, if Martha and Snoop prove too tempting.)
Tuesday: Stephen Colbert’s Live Election Night Democracy’s Series Finale: Who’s Going to Clean Up This Shit?
Spend election night with Stephen Colbert, who will air this wonderfully named one-time special live on election night, announcing the state-by-state results as they become available — “uncensored, maybe nude, probably hammered,” the late-night host quips in the promo. The show begins at 11 p.m. (EST) on Showtime (not Colbert’s regular home at CBS) and will feature surprise guests and previously-taped remote segments.