Did you devote every Monday (and occasional Sunday, and Tuesday) to watching Arie Luyendyk Jr. on his journey to find everlasting love—and then, whoops, find it again—on The Bachelor for the last couple of months? I feel you. If you’re like me, the rest of the week required a sort of cultural-spiritual screen-free cleanse and now Arie’s engaged and you’ve got a Netflix “Recently Added” tab so stacked, it’s overwhelming. Fear not, binge-loving friends. We’ve got your back when it comes to sifting through all that new new on your fave streaming service. Here, five new Netflix shows to watch immeds now that Arie is in our rear views and we have our evenings back.

A contestant’s creation, right, and the original cake, left, from the baking competition Nailed It! (Photo: Netflix Canada)

Nailed It! 

A reality show competition inspired by some of the most iconic #PinterestFails ever? Sign us the hell up. The six-part series Nailed It! challenges, ahem, ~non-professional bakers~ to recreate elaborate cake designs to hilariously disastrous results with the winner (i.e. the amateur who comes closest to the legit design) bagging a cool $10K prize. If you’re like me and you had “fondant fatigue” from the proliferation of pro baking shows in the mid-aughts, Nailed It! is the antidote for that and you *will* laugh so hard you’ll cry.

Renée Elise Goldsberry in a scene from Altered Carbon
(Photo: Netflix Canada)

Altered Carbon 

This new Netflix original series is the sci-fi show for people who aren’t really into sci-fi (it me). Starring certified hunk Joel Kinnaman—yes, the same strapping Swede who played scrappy Stephen Holder in the dark mystery series, The Killing—alongside a bunch of badass ladies like The Good Wife standout Renée Elise Goldsberry, series breakout Martha Higareda, The 100’Dichen Lachman and Riverdale’s Hayley Law, and based on the 2002 cyberpunk noir novel by Richard K. Morgan, Altered Carbon is equal parts entertaining and thought-provoking. Set approx. 700 years in the future, when a human being’s mind can now be digitized and downloaded into a “cortical stack” at the base of the brain, so bodies–called “sleeves”—are interchangeable and death isn’t really permanent, it makes you ponder some existential stuff like whether you’d want to live forever if you had the chance, nbd—a.k.a. a 100 percent guarantee you’ll use your brain one billion percent more than when you watched the dating misadventures of dull AF Arie through eyeballs held open by toothpicks. Plus, it’s got a v. diverse cast which is always refreshing, especially in 2018.

Sydney Sweeney in a pink top and Elijah Stevenson in an army jacket
Sydney Sweeney and Elijah Stevenson in Everything Sucks! (Photo: Netflix Canada)

Everything Sucks! 

Whether you came of age in the ’90s like moi or your only knowledge of the decade comes from binge-watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Netflix and shopping for chokers at Claire’s after seeing the Kardashians wear ’em, this new Netflix original will serve up a serious dose of nostalgia for Walkmans, Caboodles, tiny boomboxes and the tween malaise typically reserved for only the most authentic ’80s and ’90s dramz.

A poster for the show Greenleaf
(Photo: Netflix Canada)

Greenleaf 

Greenleaf is all the family chaos that we love from Bachelor Nation’s Hometowns, without ever having to deal with Arie constantly saying “I love that.” The deliciously dramatic series, which originally aired on the OWN network and is executive produced by her highness Oprah Winfrey, follows the Greenleaf family and their somewhat unorthodox business: a Memphis-based megachurch. The show begins when the Greenleaf’s prodigal daughter, Grace, returns to the family mansion—but little does the family know, she’s returned for redemption. The twists and turns that ensue will have you questioning everything from faith to the power of family, and everything in between. It only took one episode to get me hooked and I haven’t stopped singing the praises of this show since.

Sarah Gadon sits in a small cell in a scene from Alias Grace
Sarah Gadon in a scene from Alias Grace (Photo: Netflix Canada)

And one that’s arriving v. soon: Alias Grace 

If you couldn’t stop watching The Handmaid’s Tale, Alias Grace will help fill the Offred-sized hole in your heart until it returns at the end of April. This six-part miniseries was written and produced by Canadian screen royalty, Sarah Polley, and debuted on CBC last fall to critical acclaim—that would be an almost-perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes, thankyouverymuch—and will make the move to ‘flix on March 29. Starring Canadian actor Sarah Gadon and True Blood alum Anna Paquin, this adaptation of the 1996 Margaret Atwood novel by the same name will remind you treasure your freedom faster than you can say “praise be.” The series tells the story of Grace Marks, a poor Irish immigrant and servant in Upper Canada who’s accused and convicted of the infamous 1843 murders of her employer, wealthy farmer Thomas Kinnear, and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery.

Filed under: Netflix