If you like The Facts of Life, you should be watching these two shows

It goes without saying that The Facts of Life occupies a substantial space in my life. The hours I spend tending to this blog (and it is never as much as I’d like to) speak for themselves. Facts is, without a doubt, my very favorite television show ever of all time.

But in the last couple of years, it’s gotten some company. Specifically, there are two television shows that are active right now that if you haven’t seen, you should watch them immediately.

You’ve at least heard of, if not seen an ad for Claws. I started seeing ads for this TNT original in the summer of 2017 when I ran a God-forsaken motel from which I still haven’t recovered and the highlight of my day was watching Law & Order episodes on TNT On Demand. I know that was a run-on sentence. That’s how I felt at the time.

So here I was having this summer of awful madness, and along comes what looked like another silly crime drama with busty, vapid women inserted for eye candy. Then came the ad where I said “The hell? This show looks fucking weird.

Indeed, one of Claws‘s unique traits is that it is so much more than its plot. Yes, it’s about a Florida crime syndicate that launders money through a nail salon, but that’s not at all what it’s about.

Damn me for assuming from the trailers that the featured women were vapid and limited to a role as eye candy. Desna, Jen, Polly, Anne, and Virginia are some of the most complex, well-developed female characters that have ever been on television. They are the show. Every single one of them is powerful and empowered and badass while also being flawed, vulnerable and authentic. They’re ethnically diverse, and their characters have varied, unusual backgrounds. There’s a lesbian, a sex-worker, an alcoholic, a woman who grew up in the foster care system, a woman who lives in a seedy motel, a married woman with children, a woman who cares for her adult brother who has autism, and an ex-con. Some of those are the same people.

The show is about these five women. They are devoted to each other, but they also fight. They trust each other, but they have secrets. Each of them makes poor decisions. And I adore every last one of them.

The show is funny and poignant and terrifying and goofy and weird. The acting is superlative and the characters are intersectional in a way that is not usually seen on television. Watch it. Seasons one and two are on Hulu or for sale on Amazon. Season two might also be on TNT on demand. Season three will start in June.

Before you start watching Derry Girls, I have to warn you: there’s only one season. That season is only six episodes. It will end far too quickly and you’ll be so sad. Luckily season two is on its way.

The show takes place in Derry in the north of Ireland during the ’90s. Our four girls are Michelle, Erin, Orla, and Clare. They are neighbors and best friends (Erin and Orla are cousins) who attend a Catholic school, which is all girls except for Michelle’s cousin James, who is English and is afraid of being beat up at the boys’ school. If you know why this is funny, skip the rest of this; just go watch the series.

But even if you use the term “Northern Ireland” without thinking twice, you can still enjoy a show that is, just like The Facts of Life and Claws, about friendship among women/girls. The show opens with Orla reading Erin’s diary. There are crushes and heartbreak and sex and dancing and food and, above all, support.

I hadn’t realized until writing this post that my favorite shows are comedies about groups of women. Other shows, like Golden Girls and Designing Women fall into this category. Neither is a favorite of mine, but I don’t hate them.

It is important that both of these shows not only feature women, but have women at the helm in some way as writers, creators, producers, directors, and other leadership positions. Maybe that’s why they’re so good.

So, after you run off and binge these two shows, come back and tell me what other shows you can think of that fall into this category. And give me reviews. Unless you don’t like them. Then I don’t wanna hear it.