I’ve been feeling down lately and I started re-watching futurama for some good nostalgia, but it keeps making transphobic jokes which is kind of just making me feel worse. Anyone have any suggestions for comfort shows to watch?
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They’re not fiction, but two that work for me are Great British Bake-Off and Taskmaster. The people on GBBO are so positive and helpful, it’s a welcome change from American cooking competitions. Taskmaster is creative and silly, always good for a laugh.
Second the recommendation of Ted Lasso. Ted is a wonderful example of a person who doesn’t understand something, knows he doesn’t understand, but his heart is in the right place and he wants to learn.
Series 15 of Taskmaster featured Mae Martin, a nonbinary comedian
They were fantastic as well!
The series with Mike Wozniak should be avoided unless you’re okay with passing out laughing.
The New Zealand version has a different dynamic, but I enjoy it as least as much as the OG.
Bake Off is pretty much pure comfort. It’s just perfect in every way.
The American version isn’t bad either. It avoids the worst of reality show tropes, and it still has Paul Hollywood, so not bad at all.
Great Canadian Baking Show is similarly positive. Everyone is so nice it hurts! They often help each other finish challenges and it’s a competition show :)
Bluey!
It’s cute, it’s short, and it’s great for de-stressing! I put it on almost any time I’m feeling anxious or depressed
It’s written so wonderfully, and can be fully enjoyed by adults just as well as kids
Came here to say Bluey!! My partner and I (both grown ass adults) watch it together and cry tears of joy as we let it re-parent us!! Such a wonderful show!
To tack on “kids shows that are just fine thank you very much” I really enjoy “Tinga Tinga Tales” The animation is crazy, music beautiful, the stories interesting (folk tales) and the characters fun. Great way to wind down for 20 minutes, finding out Why Frog Croaks.
My partner and I have been really enjoying Spy X Family. Its a nice little found family/comedy series with very wholesome content.
The premise is that the titular Spy has an assignment to make contact with a total shut-in who only appears in public for events at his son’s school. So the Spy adopts a child from a shady orphanage and meets a woman who is willing to fake being his wife to get his child into the elite school. Of course, the child he adopted can read minds and the woman he fake married is secretly an assassin. No one but the child knows the truth about everyone and they’re each so focused on hiding their own secrets they don’t catch on to the others. The series isn’t complete yet, but so far the major theme is them coming to genuinely value their little family as more than a convenient facade.
Its just such a cute show, and I go back and forth between cackling and tearing up at how cute they all are. The only thing I think is particularly off about the show is the assassins brother. He’s a secret police officer and also incestuously obsessed with his sister. Its a weird inclusion, but he is made fun of by the narrative for his behavior and that is enough for me to still enjoy how good the rest of the show is
Ted Lasso
Adventure time
Steven Universe
Out Flag Means Death
The Good Place
What We Do In The Shadows
King of the Hill. Actually has a couple of drag queens and trans storylines and they’re treated respectfully
I assume that you are in the US - and I don’t know if this is available- but the BBC show ‘The Detectorists’
It’s always a good choice to watch Avatar
I’m sure you’ve already been through the usual suspects. So here’s my list. Hopefully some more esoteric ones will help out.
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Our Flag Means Death
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Star Trek: Lower Decks
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Los Espookys
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Good Omens
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Killjoys
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Black Mirror
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The Magicians
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The Umbrella Academy
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Sandman
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The Orville
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Farscape
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Love, Death, and Robots
Black Mirror? That’s the only show I had to stop watching for my sanity, and I like some pretty dark stuff.
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I’ve heard good comments about Orange is the new black, although I’ve never watched it.
I just remembered The Last Of Us series came out, but I forgot to check it out.
I rewatched Sailor Moon not too long ago, and it’s pretty LGBTQ+ friendly for something out of the 90s.
Whatever you do avoid the dic dub at all costs.
The VIZ dub is pretty good, but the DIC dub is garbage.
The originals can get repetitive at times.
The reboot has better pacing with a less helpless main protagonist, but some of the story bits made more sense to me in the originals.YMMV
- Pretty Cure
- Hakumei and Mikochi
- Non Non Biyori
- K-On!
- Owl House
- Star Trek TNG
- Aikatsu!
- Little Witch Academia
- According to Jim (it’s been a while, but I’m pretty sure there’s no homophobic joke in it)
The Owl House
Adventure Time
Tuca & Bertie
Over The Garden Wall
Bee and Puppycat is my comfort show
I don’t remember there being transphobic jokes in The Golden Girls, so maybe that?
Just the opposite! There’s an episode with a trans man, and it’s (according to one trans person on youtube) a really good portrayal. It might be both the most progressive and least problematic sitcom out there
Like @Froyn said, Bob’s Burgers is super cozy.
Dogs in Space
Farscape
She-ra and the Princesses of Power
All are scifi, the top two are sillier and the bottom two are longer and get a bit serious and emotional at times.
If you haven’t seen Farscape and you like scifi space opera wackiness and Jim Henson puppets, seriously give it a go. It’s very comforting and fun.
Farscape is a deep cut.
Even Sillier than that is a British comedy called “Red Dwarf” and as far as I recall there is no transphobia. The closest I remember is an episode where the main character ends up in an alternate dimension with the female version of himself. They hit it off and the male main character of the series ends up pregnant, to his distress. At the time I remember it being a really interesting way to bring up gender dynamics without being too laboring, though it’s been a while, and I also haven’t seen the new seasons they apparently made after the show got cult status.
Edit to add: a Reddit thread has this to say about Red Dwarf and being trans
In series 8, Kryten is assigned to women’s prison wing, just because he doesn’t have a penis when he clearly resembles a male, sounds like a male and acts like a male. That’s regardless of the fact that he has no chromosomes because he’s an android (not even gynoid, so another good point). The show makes it out as ridiculous that the only reason why he’s treated as female only because of his lack of penis.
Also, in the episode DNA, it’s shown that when he’s turned into human male, he’s still an android on the inside because he clearly feels discomfort from certain dysphoria, where he finds appliances sexually attractive and inability to adjust to human biology lacking robotic features.
Edit to add to the edit, I forgot the ships on board computer actually does upgrade themselves to present female
