15 OF THE FEEL-GOOD (AND RIDICULOUSLY FUNNY!) WEEKEND WATCH TV
In this world of cinematic, small or big screen, entertainment, it feels like good TV or stories are hard to come by. You know the kind, the sort that makes us feel good or that rewatchable TV show we still love after the third time watching. In today’s climate, dark or “intellectual” or smutty seems to be the themes with very little in-between. However, I think there some shows that fit into this mold, slim though they may be and the goal on this fine day is to dig those up and feature them. Just because.
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15 OF THE FEEL-GOOD (AND RIDICULOUSLY FUNNY!) WEEKEND WATCH TV Share on XThe parameters of this list or “rules” really aren’t professional. But then, the goal of this space is more about being for fellow viewers and TV enthusiasts since that’s all I am. So, while there isn’t a ton of list editorial objectivity, I do try to put a percentage for that into every list curated. The term “feel good” is also subjective and while I do try to find shows tagged as such on informational platforms, some are just my own perspective of the term; and of course, probably all of these shows deal in sad or hard things. Some of these are less “cozy” (which many associate with “feel good”) and instead are just ridiculous, but also funny.
Saying all of this, I do have to confess, some of this list is likely to be slanted with subjective favorites, but I am going to try, and share shows that have high user ratings which would suggest they are not just favorites but also rewatchable TV shows people consider feel good stories. So, all this to say, here we go… let us see what there is to discover.
FEEL GOOD and REWATCHABLE TV SHOWS
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS
Two besties are at the center of this. About to hit their 40s, this show follows their attempts to keep those years at bay all while the teenage daughter (played fabulously by Julia Sawalha) of one often has to be the parent to their appalling and childish choices.
Synopsis: Two women behaving badly, throwing up not growing up, dressing like a dream and drinking like fish. Eddy deals badly with weight gain, ex-lovers and turning forty. – via Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with BritBox
AGATHA RAISIN
The ways I loved this Acorn TV show are limitless. It has Ashley Jensen in the titular role playing a highly sought after PR exec who gives up the career and London lifestyle for a smaller (and gossipy!) village life where she ends up solving local crimes. The team this show builds (which does change some from season one and two) is so fun to hang with, and while it never really resolves (in terms of her dating anyone permanently), there is a bit of romance, too.
Synopsis: Ashley Jensen stars in this quintessentially British village mystery based on the bestselling books by M.C. Beaton. Fulfilling a lifelong dream, Agatha Raisin retires early to a quaint village in the Cotswolds and soon finds a second career as an amateur detective investigating mischief, mayhem, and murder in her deceptively devious town. – via Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with Acorn TV
CORNER GAS
I cannot remember when, but I did binge this show that is tagged as a “quirky comedy.” It’s about a middle of nowhere gas station and the people who run it and stop at the middle-of-nowhere dinner. The show is a good time and is created by its star Brent Butt. The show ran from 2004 to 2009 and I think also had an animated show in 2018 which then ran through 2021.
Synopsis: An ensemble comedy group gets up to a lot of nothing in the prairie town of Dog River, Saskatchewan. – via Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with Howdy or Peacock; or check places like Roku.
DOC MARTIN
I binge watched this two or so years ago, and found it completely delightful. There is a bit of bitter sweetness here and there, but the show maintains its charms throughout and has the best dry sense of British humor. The plot follows an uptight and once respected surgeon who needs to take a bit of time off so he moves to a small village (you know the kind, where everyone knows everyone – and their business!) to open a general practice. The show was award winning and starred Martin Clunes. If you think it sounds familiar, it may be because it was remade in the states as Best Medicine.
Synopsis: Martin Clunes (Men Behaving Badly) is brilliant in this fish-out-of-water comedy about a hotshot London surgeon forced to retrain as a GP and relocate to a sleepy Cornish village. – via Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with Acorn TV
KEEPING UP APPEARANCES
Patricia Routledge led this British comedy about a woman who is appalled by the “uncouth” family she has, and so to appear more refined, she tells stories to her neighbors about them. She also oftentimes takes things too far, all of which she does with her patience and often exhausted husband. Her antics will keep you in stitches! And I dare you not to laugh at most of them.
Synopsis: Hyancinth Bucket has turned being a snob into an art form, her surname is pronounced ‘Bouquet’ don’t you know and her family don’t help. Her long-suffering husband Richard does his best to live with her domineering ways. But Hyacinth’s a determined lady with one mission – to impress. – via Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with BritBox
HAPPY ENDINGS
A sitcom, this one has a 7.8 (of 10) user rating and features a fun premise that follows a group of besties. The premise kicks off in the aftermath of one of them leaving her groom at the altar and how this affects the dynamics of this group of six friends. Needless to say, this is one of the best, and maybe underrated feel good TV shows (at least of the more modern era) I have enjoyed (and I don’t seem to be alone in that).
Synopsis: An altar-bound couple break up on their wedding day, forcing their friends to choose which side to take after the split. – via Prime Video
Digitally purchase this show on places like Prime Video
LARK RISE to CANDLEFORD
A period drama, this one is gentle and sweet. The primary heroine is young Laura, a girl who is sent to the more genteel village of Candleford where her parents hope she is able to receive more education and further refinement thanks to the guidance of postmistress Dorcas Lane, a cousin of Laura’s. I’ve actually seen this show, in its entirety, through twice and enjoyed it so much both times.
Synopsis: Seen through the eyes of young Laura, the inhabitants of Lark Rise, the small hamlet gently holding on to the past, and Candleford, the small market town bustling into the future, endure the many upheavals of inevitable change. – via Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with BritBox; or digitally purchase on places like Prime Video
MOM
Anna Faris and Allison Janney led this sitcom about the tangled and complicated relationships between mothers and daughters. The show gets a little more serious later on and includes a struggle with alcohol. It also lost Faris nearer the end of its run. It has a 7+ (of 10) user rating so I think it’s safe to say, it’s a well-liked comedy.
Synopsis: From hitmaker Chuck Lorre comes his next big comedy – an irreverent and outrageous take on true family love – and dysfunction. Newly sober single mom Christy struggles to raise two children in a world full of temptations and pitfalls. Testing her sobriety is her formerly estranged mother, now back in Christy’s life and eager to share passive-aggressive insights into her daughter’s many mistakes. – via Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with Netflix or check Roku. You can also digitally purchase on Prime Video
15 OF THE FEEL-GOOD (AND RIDICULOUSLY FUNNY!) WEEKEND WATCH TV Share on XMY FAMILY
A British sitcom, this one has a good cast (Robert Lindsay, Zoë Wanamaker) and follows a dentist who must learn to live with the eccentricities of his crazy children. The show gives us lots of laughs, and as usual, has that fun dry British humor which makes this a feel good TV title. Also fun is the fact that Daniela Denby-Ashe co-stars, a name period drama film addicts will know from the BBC production North and South.
Synopsis: Dentist Ben Harper and his wife Susan are certainly loving parents, they just have problems showing it. When you meet their kids, you begin to understand why. – via Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with BritBox or find it with Tubi TV
NEW GIRL
A classic in the modern sitcom era, this one has Zooey Deschanel as a teacher who becomes the roommate of three guys. The show chronicles their ups, downs, changes in life and of course, a few romantic entanglements, too.
Synopsis: After going through a bad breakup, a woman in her late 20s moves in with three single guys. – via Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with Hulu or Peacock. Or digitally purchase the show on places like Prime Video
REBA
As its title would suggest, this show had Reba McEntire starring as a woman picking up the pieces of a divorce and trying to raise her three kids. It also had a pre Sweet Magnolias star Joanna Garcia and Steve Howey, too! The show is a family comedy and is, all around, just a good time that probably is better loved than Reba’s newer NBC show Happy’s Place.
Synopsis: When your husband of twenty years divorces you for a woman half his age, it’s time to move on to Plan B. – via Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with Hulu; or check Tubi TV. You can also digitally purchase this show on places like Prime Video
SHAKESPEARE and HATHAWAY: PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS
This is a cozy mystery that actually feels appropriately like a cozy mystery. It’s about a bride who hires a PI to find out if here fiancé is on the up and up only for her to then become business partners with him and together they run the business where more than one curious (and theatrical) case walks through their doorway.
Synopsis: The unlikely detective duo of Frank and Lu discover that not all is as peaceful as it seems in the picturesque Stratford-upon-Avon, where fact is stranger than fiction and low-life criminals get caught up in deliciously high drama. – via Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with BritBox; or find to digitally purchase on places like Prime Video
THE VICAR of DIBLEY
A European comedy (there is just something about British humor that makes everything ten times funnier), this one has Dawn French playing the titular character. Like all of these, there is bittersweet in some of the stories or episodes, but overall, things remain cheerful and there are plenty of laughs as the episodes unfold about the various townspeople and of course, the vicar too. Also, this one is highly rated and is a BAFTA nominated comedy.
Synopsis: Dawn French stars in this beloved BAFTA-winning sitcom as the Vicar of the sleepy rural parish of Dibley. – via Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with BritBox
UGLY BETTY
A very feel-good show, this one ran on ABC from 2006 – 2010 and had America Ferrera playing a savvy and smart woman who ends up working in the fashion industry, a place where she doesn’t fit the typical “look” of the ideal fashion icon.
Synopsis: From executive producer Salma Hayek comes ABC’s Ugly Betty, based on the most popular telenovela ever! Smart but wholesome Betty embraces her unique appearance and independent attitude in the cutthroat world of New York fashion. – via Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with Hulu; or find to digitally purchase on places like Prime Video
THE UNICORN
This one starts off in the aftermath of sorrow, but ends up being really quite charming and very much feel-good TV. It’s about a widower who tries to raise his two daughters with the help of his friends and eventually, re-entering the dating scene.
Synopsis: THE UNICORN is a single-camera comedy about a tight-knit group of best friends and family who help Wade (Walton Goggins) embrace his “new normal” in the wake of the loss of his wife one year ago. – via Prime Video
Digitally purchase this show on places like Prime Video
MORE to consider
- 2 BROKE GIRLS, cbs
- BUNHEADS, freeform
- THE CAFÉ, britbox
- CALL ME KAT, fox
- DEATH VALLEY, britbox
- THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW classic sitcom
- GILMORE GILRS, wb
- HAPPILY DIVORCED, tvland
- HAZEL classic sitcom
- JANE by DESIGN, freeform
- MELISSA and JOEY
- MRS. BROWNS BOYS (this is one of those won’t-be-for-everyone shows)
- THE NANNY
- WILD CARDS, cw
- YOU’RE KILLING ME, acorn TV
Photos: Alamy
Sound off below! Have you seen any of these feel-good TV shows or do you count them as easily rewatchable? What do you consider a favorite feel-good show? Share below.
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Great list! My favorites on it are Reba, 2 Broke Girls, The Nanny and Mom. : ) <3 Some other classics I would recommend are The Drew Carey Show (just finished rewatching it on Tubi), The Golden Girls and Mama's Family. : ) <3
I haven’t seen any you mention but I like to watch the “older” comedies as shows that I can enjoy without having to overthink everything, so I’ll have to keep these in mind. :)
some fun shows
For sure. :)
Keeping Up Appearances is an all time favorite! ;)
That one made me laugh SO much. :)