Television series

Bonding

Bonding is a scrappy, quick-hit comedy about a grad student and her high school best friend stumbling into the New York BDSM scene. It's deliberately crude, earnestly affectionate, and more interested in character than shock value. For people who like their comedies messy, their friendships complicated, and their sex work depicted without sanctimony.

TVMaze rating3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like comedy that finds the awkwardness in friendship and sex work without sniggering, and you enjoy a messy, affectionate hangout show where the characters are more ridiculous than cruel.

Skip it if you want a tidy, fast plot or a steady stream of gags, since this one lingers on quiet, uncomfortable moments between its leads and runs more on mood than punchlines.

What it asks of you: Short episodes, about seventeen minutes each, two seasons of fifteen in total, so it's an easy commitment, but it wants patience with its slower, character-led stretches rather than constant momentum.

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Fleabag2016

A brilliant, lonely woman narrates her way through chaos with the same blend of self-aware humour and genuine vulnerability. It nails the specific misery of trying to connect with people while hiding who you really are.

But The fourth wall breaks can feel gimmicky if you're not already charmed by the voice, and the emotional gut-punches land harder if you're patient with slow episodes.

Fleabag poster

Sex Education2019

Treats sex, friendship, and teenage shame with comedy and real tenderness. It's crude but never mean-spirited, and genuinely curious about how people actually talk to each other about desire.

But The ensemble is large and some storylines meander. If you want tight plotting over character sprawl, it will frustrate you.

Sex Education poster

Broad City2014

Two best friends getting into ridiculous trouble in New York with unselfconscious joy. It's anarchic, filthy, and generous—interested in its characters' pleasure, not their punishment.

But The humour is deliberately shapeless and the episodes can feel like sketches glued together. Some people find that freeing; others find it exhausting.

Broad City poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Bonding

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Lip Service2010

Both treat their characters' sexuality as normal and integrated, not the whole story. Both are unafraid of showing people wanting things and getting them.

A British drama about queer women in Glasgow with jobs and bodies and complications. It takes sex and desire seriously while being genuinely funny—and it's completely unafraid of its own sexuality.

But The production values are modest and the pacing is leisurely. If you're used to American TV's bounce, it might feel slow.

Lip Service poster
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Russian Doll2019

A woman trapped in a time loop discovers friendship as a way out. Dark, funny, structurally clever, and underneath it all—genuinely about loneliness and connection.

But The first season is much stronger than the second, and if you're watching knowing that, the mystery loses some power.

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Transparent2014

A family implodes when the patriarch comes out as transgender. It's messy, unsentimental, and committed to showing how other people's truths disrupt everyone. Deeply alive.

But It's heavy, often bleak, and the family is sometimes unlikeable. The show doesn't soften that for comfort.

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The Mindy Project2012

A woman-centred workplace comedy that actually likes its protagonist and her desires. Smart, romantic, funny, and refreshingly unconcerned with being likeable.

But The tone shifts between seasons and the workplace sitcom structure means some episodes are forgettable. It's uneven.

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Schitt's Creek2015

A wealthy family loses everything and moves to a small town. It's about radical acceptance of other people and yourself, wrapped in genuinely good-natured humour. Surprisingly moving.

But The first season is rough and the whole thing takes time to find its footing. Early episodes feel forced.

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Insecure2016

A woman navigates work, friendship, sex, and identity in Los Angeles with both comedy and seriousness. It's alive on the page—characters actually surprise you and each other.

But Some seasons are stronger than others and the finale divides people. The comedy can be subtle when you're hoping for bigger laughs.

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You're the Worst2014

Two terrible people fall in love in Los Angeles. It's genuinely funny, character-driven, and doesn't punish its protagonists for being messy or selfish—just shows who they are to each other.

But The characters are often petty and cruel. If you need protagonists to be fundamentally good, this won't work for you.

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The Girlfriend Experience2016

Both use sex work as a lens to ask: what happens when you commodify intimacy? Both refuse easy judgement.

A law student escorts rich men in New York, narrated in close whispers about power and performance. It's formally experimental, weirdly intimate, and genuinely about the gap between who we are and who we perform.

But It's slow, abstract, and cold in a way that deliberately keeps you at a distance. If you want warmth or clear emotional beats, this isn't it.

The Girlfriend Experience poster

High Score2020

Both Bonding and High Score are about subcultures—marginal communities with their own codes and values—and both treat those communities with real respect and curiosity, not anthropology.

A documentary series about video game history, but framed through the people who made games and what those games meant to them. It's nostalgic without being sentimental, and genuinely curious about creativity under constraint.

But You need some baseline interest in games or computing culture. It's not trying to convert the indifferent.

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