12 TV shows that make the world feel like a better place

Welcome to Cozy Week, where we’ll curl up by the glow of our screens to celebrate all that’s soft in entertainment. Pour yourself a cup of hot cocoa and sit by us as we coo over the cutest games, cry over the tenderest movie moments, and drift off to the most comforting shows. Because it can be a cold world out there, and we need something to keep us warm. 

There’s no shortage of television reminding us that the world can be a godawful place. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. From the chilly cynicism of Succession to the OTT WTFery of Tiger King to the gloom and doom of the nightly news, dark stories have their place in our lives.

But so, too, do their opposite — the shows that make the world feel a little warmer, a little more welcoming, a little more livable. Not just the ones that put a smile on our faces, but the ones that help us find hope in dark times, appreciate the joys this world has to offer, and above all, encourage us to be our best selves. 

Here are 12 shows that make the world feel like a better place.

Sense8 

Sense8 revolves around a cluster of eight people from around the world who share a single soul, making its very premise an exercise in radical empathy. And if it sometimes (okay, often) veers toward the painfully earnest in its we-are-all-connected messaging, it also makes a convincing case for the joys of such profound intimacy. 

Watching the show and bonding with its characters feels like being welcomed into the ultimate family, one connected not by blood or proximity or shared history but by the willingness to truly see each other, and be seen in turn. Sure, you may not have a fellow sensate over in Seoul who can share her kickboxing skills with you, or one in Mexico City who can give you a taste of celebrity life. But Sense8 might just convince you to try being a little more open, a little more vulnerable, a little more forgiving, and see if the world doesn’t respond in kind. 

Bob’s Burgers

The Belcher family means many things to many people. For me, they’ve always stood as a reminder to accept what isn’t perfect. All five of Bob’s Burgers’ main characters are markedly flawed: Bob is impatient, Linda lacks self-awareness, Tina borders on delusional, Gene is annoying, and Louise can be downright mean. But in all of their hearts remains a desire to be good to one another as best they know how. 

In the words of Bob, “I love you, but you’re all terrible.” Loving one another because of our shortcomings and not in spite of them demonstrates not only what it really means to be family, but what it means to be kind people. Welcoming patrons Teddy and Mort as well as Bob’s Burgers’ viewers into their home, the Belchers define what it means to come as you are. — Ali Foreman, Entertainment Reporter

Pose

Because Pose focuses on the black and latino LGBTQ community in the middle of the HIV/AIDS crisis, every single character has reason to believe that their world is ending. For some of them, the world does end. In the middle of their crisis, which was exacerbated by a lack of government response and social rejection by the medical establishment, the men and women of Pose find time to form families, experience joy, dress up, sing songs, and generate unyielding beauty amongst themselves and the people they care about. 

Pose is hopeful because its characters are hopeful, and their example is always a shining one. — Alexis Nedd, Senior Entertainment Reporter 

Schitt’s Creek 

Schitt’s Creek starts out savage, plopping a spoiled rich family into a dumpy motel in the middle of nowhere and poking fun at their ensuing panic. But as the Roses warm up to their new lives, so does the show. They forge new bonds with each other and with the townspeople around them (even striking up a few significant romances), learn how to care about other people, and how to be cared for in turn.

Through it all, Schitt’s Creek never forgets how hard-won these relationships are. The Roses aren’t bad people, but they’re not people to whom generosity or supportiveness come easily — so their gestures in those directions mean all the more. By now, in Season 6, Schitt’s Creek has become TV’s most reliable source of the happy cry, and every teardrop feels earned.

Santa Clarita Diet

The premise of Santa Clarita Diet sounds bleak as hell: A zombie outbreak hits a SoCal town, claiming as one of its first victims Drew Barrymore (or rather Sheila, the character she plays on the show). What emerges, however, is a surprisingly tender portrait of long-time love. Sheila and her husband Joel do their best to take this drastic change in stride, and come out with a better understanding of what they mean to one another. 

Their marriage is built to weather storms as harsh as an insatiable craving for human flesh. Their idea of commitment is killing and storing Nazis together, for one of them to eat later as a snack. In short, Joel and Sheila’s is a love that might just make you look at the long-term relationships in your life, and appreciate all over again what it means to stick together through thick and thin.

The Good Place

The Good Place knows very well that existence on this planet can be maddening. The right choices aren’t always clear, and even the best intentions can have unintended consequences. Hell is other people, or your own demons coming out of the woodwork. Death looms on the horizon at any moment. No wonder every day feels like a struggle.

But the series ultimately places its faith in the connections we make with one another, and in our ability to do and be better as a result. For ordinary humans Eleanor, Chidi, Jason, and Tahani — along with a few non-human friends like Michael and Janet — what we owe to each other is the very thing that makes life worthwhile. It’s a lesson all of us watching can take to heart.

This Is Us

The Pearson family is well-acquainted with trauma (idk if you’ve heard, but their dad died), but there’s a reason millions of us tune into This Is Us weekly to sob over the highs and lows of their lives. The Pearsons’ personal upheavals mirror our own and give us something to turn to in times of extreme joy or pain. 

Their loss is our loss, their arguments our arguments, their celebrations ours as well. Watching this family band together and strive for emotional growth makes us believe we’re capable of the same, and that’s as solid a basis for a better world as any. — Proma Khosla, Entertainment Reporter

Steven Universe

The world of Steven Universe is not our world, but its message that any planet could be better makes it one of the most uplifting animated shows on TV. Steven Universe never assumes its audience is too young or too jaded to deal with difficult topics like war, loss, colonialism, and toxic relationships and instead delivers the tale of Steven with sensitivity. 

Brute strength and selfishness are never the answer on Steven Universe; acting for the benefit of others always is. What a beautiful future that would be. — A.N. 

Derry Girls

Set in 1990s Northern Ireland, near the tail end of the Troubles, Derry Girls is a reminder that life goes on even in the midst of chaos and turmoil. Perhaps no episode better illustrates this than the Season 1 finale, which sets a school talent show against the harsh backdrop of a bombing. 

Life, the show reminds us, isn’t ever just the bad that happens, even when the bad is pretty awful. There will always be young people flirting with each other or getting into mischief, and there will always be exasperated parents trying to keep them in line and out of trouble, and there will always be friends of all ages helping each other through hardships big and small. 

Friday Night Lights

The world of Friday Night Lights is perfectly ordinary. It’s set in a Texas high school whose students and staff struggle with relatable problems ranging from poverty to grief to personal betrayal to, um, murder (oh, Season 2). What’s extraordinary is the series’ deep well of empathy — its insistence on seeing the humanity in all of its characters and avoiding easy assumptions about heroes, villains, stars, and sidekicks.

It asks you to take your time getting to know these people, and this town, and what happens here, with the kind-hearted Taylors as our guiding light. And in doing so, it gently suggests you do the same for those around you.

Jane the Virgin

Jane the Virgin takes place in the heightened world of telenovelas, complete with all the scheming villains and over-the-top twists that entails. But its secret weapon is humble compassion, which it extends in unexpected directions. 

Jane, and frequently Jane, goes out of its way to find the heart and humanity in others and draw out the best in them. And while kindness can’t protect Jane from all of life’s cruelties — to the contrary, she suffers more dramatic setbacks over the course of five seasons than some of us will over our entire lifetimes — it is the balm that helps her and her loved ones get back up to welcome another day.

Grace & Frankie

Relating to one another isn’t always easy, but Grace & Frankie stands as anecdotal proof that it can be done. What began in 2015 as a sort of Odd Couple comedy has evolved into one of the most heartwarming ensemble shows on television. Not only have the titular Grace and Frankie put aside their many differences to become best friends, but nearly every other character on the show has undergone some sort of reconciliation plot line. 

Through disputes, disagreements, feuds, and fights, each member of the Hanson-Bergstein clan has been forced to face their own imperfections and change for the better — for one another and themselves. — A.F.