We recommend the best – and longest – television series to watch this holiday weekend.
As the Easter holiday weekend descends and the weather turns a little grim, many of us will turn to the trusty old television for comfort and entertainment. If you’re lucky, you’ll have some time over the holiday weekend to rest and relax, so we’ve hand-picked a selection of the best shows that will take anywhere from a few precious hours to several days to watch from start to finish. From Scrabble fiends to comedians trying not to laugh, we’ve got your long weekend viewing well and truly covered.
The Pitt (Neon)
The latest hospital drama to take over the internet is The Pitt, set in a Pittsburgh emergency department and told through a fun real-time format. Episode one opens on Dr Robbie, our lead protagonist, walking to the hospital for his 12-hour day shift as ED chief. Each episode is an hour long and covers exactly an hour of his shift. The fact that there are 15 episodes in the season is a solid hint as to the unpredictable nature of both the job and the show. Because every episode picks up literally the minute after the previous episode ended, it’s the perfect show to binge.
The Pitt has been lauded as the “most realistic” hospital drama ever, so be prepared to see a lot of scalpels entering bloody flesh, and a birth scene that looks straight out of year nine science class. But what makes it shine is the ensemble of idiosyncratic doctors and nurses who are all conveniently very good at their jobs.
If you have no kids, I’d challenge you to watch the entire thing in real time (7am-10pm) for the full, immersive, stressful experience. / Madeleine Chapman
Girls (Neon)
Chronically misunderstood when it first arrived in the mid 2000s, this is genius, surprising television that takes aim at spoiled millennials trying to navigate the life they think they deserve in New York City. Whatever you think of Lena Dunham, the woman is a brilliant writer. Her leading character Hannah Horvath is by turns ridiculous, hilarious and never not riveting. Six glorious seasons of the antics and terrible decision-making of Hannah and her friends will keep you glued to the screen all Easter long. / Claire Mabey
Dying for Sex (Disney+)
If I had time, I would be strenuously arguing the case for letting me write a 3000-word essay about Dying for Sex. Based loosely on the real-life experiences of Molly Kochan, it tackles death, sex and expectation in such truthful, transgressive, and joyful ways that “sniffing out fellow fans of the show to fall into deep conversation with” has become my whole personality. The luminous Michelle Williams, back from a career hiatus and still as masterful as ever at portraying pathos, plays Molly. After being diagnosed with incurable cancer, Molly leaves her husband, asks her best friend if she can die with her and spends the time she has left exploring her sexual pleasure in search of an orgasm. Jenny Slate plays her best friend, Nikki Boyer. Rob Delaney, managing to be gross and wildly attractive at the same time, is the “neighbour guy” who likes to get kicked in the dick, Sissy Spacek plays Molly’s mother and Esco Jouléy dazzles as Sonia, Molly’s palliative care specialist. Paula Pell appears near the end as a hospice nurse, and delivers what might be one of the best monologues about death I’ve ever heard. Kochan died in 2019, but made a podcast with Boyer, so once you’re done with the show, you can return to the source material. / Anna Rawhiti-Connell
Gilmore Girls (Disney+, Netflix)
It’s hard to find a show that my 12-year-old daughter and I can watch together that isn’t full of violence or “smexy times”, but we hit the jackpot with The Gilmore Girls. The American drama is still as heartwarming and charming as it was back in the early 2000s, when it first introduced us to mother and daughter Rory and Lorelai Gilmore and their small community of Stars Hollow. We’re only up to season three, but the show’s fast and funny banter still works, the storylines feature a refreshing number of smart, competent women, and Stars Hollow is full of quirky but loveable characters. It’s simple, nostalgic TV, and there’s a cozy kind of joy that comes with that. With seven seasons, 153 episodes and a four-part 2016 special on Netflix, that’s a whole lot of comfort TV to enjoy this Easter. / Tara Ward
Last One Laughing UK (Prime Video)
The premise is simple. Ten comedians are locked up for six hours, and the only thing they can not do is laugh. Jimmy Carr is a perfectly kind sadist, hosting alongside Roisin Conaty as they monitor video feeds for signs of laughter, hit big red and green buttons and set tasks designed to break the comedians. The cast is packed with Taskmaster UK, 8 Out of 10 Cats and Would I Lie to You favourites like Lou Sanders, Bob Mortimer, Joe Wilkinson and Rob Beckett. I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time studying people’s mouths or watching for shaking shoulders. The physical discomfort of trying not to laugh surrounded by your funniest mates and mentors, while also trying to make them laugh, produces some previously untelevised facial contortions and magical comedy. Enjoy the relief when they finally crack and spend Easter laughing loud and long. / ARC
The Last of Us (Neon)
The post-apocalyptic zombie series returned this week for a second season, but if you haven’t discovered the award-winning Pedro Pascal drama yet, you’ll only need about 13 hours to catch up on season one. Pascal plays a smuggler tasked with escorting teenager Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across a dystopian wasteland to safety, and Anna Rawhiti-Connell’s review of season two suggests it will be just as gripping as the first. “Season two looks like it will maintain a narrower focus on the consequences of terrible decisions, moral ambiguity, and the weight unimaginable trade-offs add to human existence,” Rawhiti-Connell writes. “That, and some critics say, sentimentality, has always been at this show’s heart. There are still zombies to shoot, and peril is everywhere, but bubbling away beneath it is the cost to the living when survival is the name of the game.” / TW
Vintage Shortland Street (YouTube)
Hear me out: vintage Shorty Street is really good, and 1995 was a cracker of a year for our favourite fictional hospital. The drama kicks off with some big storylines involving some of the show’s most iconic characters: Hone Ropata kills a man with a single punch, receptionist Jenny is both perimenopausal and pregnant, and a lovesick Stuart Neilson interrupts Kirsty’s wedding to muffin man Lionel Skeggins (you’d never get that on The Pitt). Watch the entire year – hell, watch every episode from 1992 to 1995 if you want – or just dip in and out of different episodes, but I guarantee you’ll have a nice time watching this uniquely New Zealand trip down memory lane. Also, the 1995 cast includes a who’s who of Aotearoa acting talent, including Robyn Malcolm, Temuera Morrison, Martin Henderson, Craig Parker, Theresa Healey, Elizabeth McRae and Michael Galvin. / TW
The 2025 NZ Scrabble Masters (YouTube)
One of the most prestigious events on the New Zealand Scrabble calendar is this weekend, with 24 of the country’s highest-rated players coming together to battle it out across three days of intense tile-shuffling. One game each round will be streamed live on YouTube, or you can find it right here on The Spinoff – so if you’re at a loose end, drop in any time from 9.30 Friday morning and catch some dazzling bingos and devastating triple word scores, with expert commentary from some international Scrabble luminaries. / Calum Henderson
