What to watch when you need a break from the election

Thinking about the election? You’re not alone.
Unless you’re living in a internet, TV, billboard, lawn-sign and mail-free bubble, you’re probably aware that the 2024 presidential election is coming up in just a few days. The contest between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is sucking up all the energy in seemingly every room close to the big day, as polls, policies and pundits flood the airwaves. It can all feel overwhelming.
While being an informed citizen who’s up to date on the race and the candidates’ stances and plans is admirable, there is such a thing as burning out on political news when the election is so emotional and heated. You don’t need permission to take a break from CNN and peruse something a little lighter every once in a while. And if you don’t have the brain power left to choose something good for a pick-me-up, we can take care of that.
We gathered five choices of happy-go-lucky, silly, funny and blissfully apolitical TV show categories you can watch when you are tapped out on Steve Kornacki’s analysis of Pennsylvania counties. So stream, zone out, and recharge. And if you want to tune into election coverage when you’re feeling better, just turn on any cable news channel, late night TV (including a live election night “Daily Show with Jon Stewart” on Comedy Central), and of course, our USA TODAY election coverage. But please, take care of yourself first.
Stream on: Netflix, Roku TV.
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There is no sweetness quite like the kind that comes with a perfectly baked bun on “The Great British Baking Show.” The U.K.’s national treasure became a sensation across the pond for its focus on kindness, camaraderie, sunshine and sweet old ladies who love to bake cakes for their grandkids. It’s hard to be unhappy while watching this kind of uplifting, craft-focused reality TV that gives you a smidge of competition but a lot of beautiful food and a lot of smiles. See also “The Great Pottery Throwdown” (Max) and “Making It” (Peacock) if you’ve already finished “Baking.”
Stream on: Max, Disney+.
One of the best ways to escape real life is to disappear into a series that travels to faraway worlds. British sci-fi drama “Doctor Who” can take you anywhere in time and space, from alien planets to the age of the dinosaurs to prerevolutionary France, with its alien Doctor (currently Ncuti Gatwa) in his TARDIS spaceship/time machine. And there are so many episodes of the series, both from the classic era and the “new” one that began in 2005, you can pick and choose only the best to cheer you up. Try scary but satisfying “Blink” from Season 3 or silly and mysterious “The Unicorn and the Wasp” from Season 4. And if you want more science fiction to whisk you away in a spaceship, you could go for “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” (Paramount+) or “Futurama” (Hulu).
Stream on: Netflix.
Some may call it trash TV, but one person’s trash is another’s treasure trove of binge-watching. The latest season of Netflix’s love-at-first-lack-of-sight reality show “Love is Blind” was taped in Washington, D.C., but the only politics it will remind you of are the relationship kind. This year’s couples, who meet in anonymous “pods” and get engaged when they see each other for the first time, were among the most dramatic and histrionic of all seven seasons of the series, with a tumultuous reunion and plenty of twists. If you want something a little tamer and less seedy, try “The Golden Bachelorette” (ABC/Hulu), but for more on the lusty end of the spectrum, go for “Love Island” (Peacock) or “Too Hot to Handle” (Netflix).
Stream on: Peacock, Prime Video.
If you like the familiarity and comfort of crime procedurals like “Law and Order: SVU” or “FBI” but want something a little more lighthearted, there was an era of TV in which USA Network delivered nothing but that kind of “blue sky” TV series. They offer a murder or a crime or a law case every week, but all the cops and civilian consultants joke over the dead body. The best of them is “Psych,” about a super-observational detective (James Roday Rodriguez) who pretends to be a psychic so the police will hire him for help. It has the best characters and jokes, but you can find good-humored procedural high jinks on shows including: “Suits” (Netflix, Peacock), “White Collar” (Netflix, Hulu), “Monk” (Netflix, Peacock), “Burn Notice” (Netflix) and “Castle” (Roku TV, Hulu, Prime Video).
Stream on: Hallmark+, Netflix, others.
If you want something so very sweet it verges on treacly, it’s never too early to just dive full on into Christmas season with cheesy, meet-cute movies from Hallmark, Netflix, Lifetime and others eager to cash in on the trend. Boy meets girl (or boy, or girl meets girl), and one’s probably from a big city and the other from a small town. There’s probably a Christmas-tree farm or a cookie-baking contest. Maybe there’s a prince or a princess or a mistaken identity. But no matter what, there’s a happy ending. And at the end of the day, we’re all worried we won’t get a happy ending this election. So go escape into some guaranteed cheer for a while.
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