Snow Day Screenings: What to Watch During Winter Storm Juno
The weather outside may be frightful for most of the East coast, but that doesn’t mean you have to be left out in the cold when it comes to binging on your snow day. As Winter Storm Juno or whatever the Weather Channel is calling it bears down on everyone from Atlanta to Quebec, we’ve whipped up a wintry mix of shows perfectly suited for whiling away the hours in front of your TVs, laptops and tablets. Just make sure you keep them charged in case Mother Nature decides to mess with the power lines!
Light & Fluffy Snow Day Viewing
Jane the Virgin (The CW)
One of the few gems to come out of the fall broadcast season, Jane not only takes place in oh-so-warm Miami, but is also riotously funny. There’s a new episode Monday night (January 26, 9/8c, The CW), so while away the hours until then catching up with accidentally pregnant virgin Jane (Gina Rodriguez), her telenovela star father (Jaime Camil), and the dishy Latin Lover Narrator (Anthony Mendez).
Broad City (Amazon Prime, Comedy Central)
You don’t have to live in New York City to appreciate the thousands of daily indignities twentysomethings Abbi and Ilana (Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer) suffer. All you need is a taste for the hilariously bizarre and inappropriate.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Netflix, Amazon Prime)
Seinfeld proved that terrible people make for great comedy. Unlike Seinfeld, the crew that runs the run-down Paddy’s Pub aren’t just terrible people, they’re terrible at being terrible people.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Hulu)
That Andre Braugher hasn’t won every comedy award in existence for his role as Captain Ray Holt is a total miscarriage of entertainment justice. The rest of the cast that fill out Holt’s squad are also top-hole (Andy Samberg, Terry Crews, Melissa Fumero, and others), creating a true ensemble workplace comedy that feels like a more urban Parks and Recreation.
The Good Wife (Amazon Prime, CBS)
For an ostensible legal drama that airs on CBS and sometimes tackles rather thorny ethical issues, The Good Wife is surprisingly chock-full of laughs, especially episodes that feature brilliant nutjob attorney Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston).
Pride & Prejudice, 1995 (Amazon Prime Instant Video)
And there is perhaps no better way to spend a snow day than curled up with the best-ever adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved Pride and Prejudice, a luxuriant six-hour indulgence in romantic-comedy manners (first seen on A&E in 1995, and how times have changed). This helped make Colin Firth a star—his wet-shirt scene didn’t hurt—as the dashing Darcy to Jennifer Ehle’s marvelously spunky Elizabeth Bennett. Recommended with several pots of piping-hot tea and one’s favorite chocolate bonbons. Yum.
Olive Kitteridge (HBO Go)
Frances McDormand, robbed of the Golden Globe for Best Actress but justly rewarded by her fellow Screen Actors Guild members, plays the eponymous high school math teacher in this grim but excellent four-part adaptation of Elizabeth Strout’s novel of the same name.
Fargo (Amazon Instant Video)
Just about everyone was skeptical about this sort-of sequel anthology series to the Coen brothers’ masterful 1996 film. But executive producer Noah Hawley, who wrote all 10 episodes, put together a stunner of a cast (Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Keith Carradine), unearthed a gem in newcomer Allison Tolman, and told a story that never quite went where you expected.
The Americans (Amazon Prime)
You know who would roll their eyes at the East Coast’s snowmageddon panic? Phil and Elizabeth Jennings (Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell, respectively), the KGB sleeper agents who are our protagonists in this gripping Cold War spy drama. Season 3 premieres January 28 on FX, giving you just enough time to marathon Seasons 1 and 2.
The Fall (Netflix)
If you thought Agent Scully was tough, wait until you see Gillian Anderson as Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson, an investigator brought over to Belfast from London to catch a serial killer. Oh, and the serial killer is played by some guy named Jamie Dornan (a.k.a. Mr. Grey in the upcoming Fifty Shades of Grey feature).
Fictional Snow Day Viewing
Bones, “The Blackout in the Blizzard,” Season 6, Episode 16 (Netflix)
You know how they say you can catch your death in the cold? Well, the Jeffersonian team tries to stop that from becoming a literal threat when a viral outbreak threatens the city during a snowstorm-triggered power outrage.
ER, “Blizzard,” Season 1, Episode 10 (Amazon Instant Video)
Reason #165 to stay on the couch and watch TV: The busiest, most attractive emergency-room team known to man must deal with a 40-car pileup in the middle of an arctic Chicago blast.
Fame, “Blizzard,” Season 4, episode 6, (YouTube)
Debbie Allen and the singing, dancing teens of New York kick it up while snowbound inside the School of the Arts. Nothing helps keep the cold away like some vigorous jazz hands!
Elementary, “Snow Angels,” Season 1, Episode 19, (CBS.com)
Sherlock and Joan realize that the only thing trickier than navigating Manhattan in the middle of a blizzard is figuring out how a cell phone-store robbery is linked to the architect plans for a Jersey cash depository.
Storm of the Century, 1999 (XfinityTV)
The three-part miniseries based on Stephen King’s creepy tale of a New England town crippled by a Nor’easter and a creepy visitor (Colm Feore) will have you checking the windows and wondering who left those footprints outside in the snow.
Matt Roush, Damian Holbrook, and Oriana Schwindt contributed to this story.
