10 sci-fi, fantasy and history shows to binge over Thanksgiving break

Whether you’re into sci-fi, fantasy, or history, we have a recommendation for how to spend your binge time on this long weekend.

The Thanksgiving holiday is here, and across the country, thing are a little different. Thanks to the pandemic, a lot more people are at home, having smaller gatherings if they’re having one at all.

And that’s sad, but not every Thanksgiving tradition has to be thrown out the window. Whether you have family and friends there or are merely communicating with them from a safe distance over Zoom, you can still indulge in some post-dinner TV binges, using a few days off to take in buzzworthy shows you’ve been meaning to catch up on, or others you may discover right now.

To help you in your quest, we’ve put together a handy little list of some of the best shows to watch while you digest. Take a load off.

The Boys

The Boys is one of the biggest success stories to come out of Amazon Prime Video so far, and really blew up with its recent second season. There’s a third on the way, which makes now the perfect time to get into this superhero satire on the rise.

The Boys, based off a comic book series of the same name, is about a world where superheroes are real; look out your window on any given day and you’re like to see Homelander tearing through the sky or Queen Maeve lifting a bank robber’s getaway car over her head. But unlike the Avengers, the superheroes in The Boys are egotistical d**kheads who save people for the money and praise, not because they really want to be heroes, although a few do try.

The superheroes are the villains, with the ragtag title characters dedicated to bringing them down. It’s a very timely show that manages to tap into our current superhero moment and a growing feeling that the people with the most power on the planet may not care very much about the rest of us, all while being wickedly violent and fun.

Lovecraft Country

Streaming on HBO and HBO Max, Lovecraft Country is similar to The Boys in that it has a yen to shock and awe you, although the subject matter couldn’t be more different. This period piece, set not long after the Korean War, follows a Black American family as they deal with both the country’s history of white supremacy and hideous beasts from the beyond that want to gnaw off their faces…and the two might be more closely related than you’d think.

Once again, this show is very timely, this time tapping into the yearlong conversation Americans have been having about race relations. It looks at some heavy questions in elucidating ways, but it never forgets that it’s a horror show, and believe me, there are some horrific things in there. More shocking and gross than than scary, the show is a feast for the eyes, with some new idea or imaginative monster around every corner.