These shows lighten the load of housework
Housework in the summer is a drag. When it’s sunny and warm and inviting outside, it’s incredibly demoralizing to stay inside scrubbing a toilet instead of tanning or playing with your dog in the fresh air. And yet, it seems, we have to soldier on being adults.
Whenever I’m stuck inside cooking, cleaning, organizing or doing other chores, I soften the blow by turning on the TV. But I can’t watch just anything while I’m doing something else. I have special criteria for a housework show: Either I need to have seen it before, or have no investment in its outcome. It needs to be uncomplicated. And if I’m consumed with my task, it can’t be too visual.
Over the years, I’ve developed a long list of shows that I watch almost exclusively when I’m doing something else. But these four are the old standbys in my streaming queue. Maybe they can make your summer chores just a little more bearable, too.
When you’re folding laundry: ‘Monk’ (streaming on Amazon Prime)
Fresh off a Tony win for “The Band’s Visit” and with a new role on Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Tony Shalhoub has been getting noticed recently. He’s a great and versatile actor who has had a varied career, but for me he’ll always be Mr. Monk, the obsessivecompulsive and germaphobic detective, solving seemingly unsolvable crimes in San Francisco on USA Network’s 200209 series. If you want to pay attention, the mysteries are compelling enough to hold your interest, but you don’t have to sweat the details if you miss them while trying to fold a fitted sheet.
Many detective shows use some version of the “Monk” formula, in which a quirky genius is helped by a grounded partner, a variation on Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Any of those shows, including “Psych,” “Elementary,” “Castle” and “White Collar”, would work, but “Monk” is the pure original.
When you’re cooking: ‘Chopped’ (Food Network, streaming on Hulu)
If you’ve somehow managed to avoid at least one rerun of the omnipresent show, “Chopped” has a simple format: Four chefs compete in appetizer, entree and dessert rounds to create dishes that use the weird ingredients provided in a basket. At the end of each round, one chef is “chopped” until there’s only one remaining, who wins $10,000. It’s the ideal show to watch while you’re cooking, if only to be thankful you don’t have to mix eels with hard candy or any of the other ridiculous ingredient combinations the producers think up. That, plus the series’ (and its adorable “Jr.” version’s) reliable format and dramatic soundtrack make it comforting and rousing at the same time.
If you are sweeping, mopping or otherwise looking elsewhere: ‘Law & Order: SVU’ (NBC, streaming on Netflix)
You don’t need to see a single frame of an episode of “SVU” to get what’s going on. The gritty streets of New York are the same in every episode, the wondrous Mariska Hargitay is agelessly investigating, and while the district attorneys may change, their speechifying does not. The most stalwart member of the “Law & Order” franchise can turn into a podcast if you need to scrub the bathroom floor while the TV plays in the other room.
If you’re paying bills: ‘ The Office’ (streaming on Netflix)
I recommend only half-watching “The Office” if you’ve already seen NBC’s 2005-13 workplace comedy classic, based on a British series. But when you vaguely remember all the jokes and you fondly remember all the characters and romances, listening to Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Jim (John Krasinski) flirt is easy, and easy to tune out if you have to pay attention to what you’re doing. Just don’t be a Michael (Steve Carell) when it comes to procrastination.