The past 18 months has seen a sea change in the way content is being consumed. Moving away from the big screen, the pandemic became a catalyst for the growth of OTT as a platform to consume content from the world over.
In this blog, I aim to share a couple of popular sitcoms and crime thrillers that are currently streaming on various OTT platforms and my thoughts on the same.
Seinfeld, the wildly popular 90s sitcom made a comeback on Netflix. Seinfeld would be the 1st sitcom I would recommend to everyone who enjoys the genre of comedy. This sitcom has been commonly described as a show about nothing, and that is quite fitting since there is no major storyline that can be observed through the nine seasons; however, this is what makes it so unique and makes it arguably the greatest sitcom of all time.
A couple of months ago I had asked my mother if there were any other sitcoms that she would recommend for me to watch as I had already finished watching ‘Friends’, ‘That 70’s Show’ and ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’. She told me that I should watch Seinfeld. It just took the first couple of episodes for me to get completely hooked on this series.
The series is set in an apartment building in Manhattan, where Jerry Seinfeld lives, his neighbour is Kramer and they both have two friends; Elaine Benes and George Costanza. Each of them has such contrasting personalities that it is just funny how they behave and react with each other and their surroundings. The entire comedy is based on everyday situations as simple as getting soup from a shop. This sitcom highlights how the life of the four friends impacts each other. I recommend everyone to watch this show as people can relate to it and also it is rated the number 1 sitcom of all time by various publications such as ‘Entertainment weekly’, ‘Rolling Stone’ and the ‘TV Guide’.
Peaky Blinders is a British period crime drama television series set in Birmingham, England. This series follows the exploits of the Shelby Crime family in the direct aftermath of the First World War. The name of the gang Peaky Blinders is said to have come from a practice where gang members would stitch razor blades into the peak of their flat caps. In fights, they could then simply use their hats to slash the faces of their enemies.
The leader and the head of the Shelby family; Tommy Shelby is a former British soldier who fought in the First World War. His actions at Mons reportedly saved thousands of allied lives, for which he received medals of honour after the War. After the war, Tommy started building his empire in bookmaking; both legal and illegal. After obtaining a share of horse race betting revenues, he goes on to obtain licenses at the racecourses around the country. The Shelbys also owned several cars, homes and properties. The show highlights the struggles that the Shelby’s and their gang face to become the most powerful organization in the United Kingdom. Throughout the show, we can see the harshness and reality of many businesses and how they function. We are also able to observe the environment and the types of people there were a few decades ago.
This is another series, I recommend everyone to watch – the fact that this is a true story makes the show really exciting to watch and is absolutely binge-worthy.
Another great technology feature that has emerged in the wake of the pandemic has been the ability to watch shows together on a video chat. Multiple platforms allow users to stream shows at the same time and while we may be physically distant at least through such features we can socially enjoy shows and movies the same way we did prior to the pandemic.
So with Diwali round the corner, I recommend everyone to binge-watch the above two shows with your friends and family.
Araish Thakur
Grade 11 – IB Diploma 1
