Last year, I wrote three ‘types’ of recommendation articles: book recommendations, documentary recommendations and series recommendations. This year, I am sharing only two: my book recommendations from 2024 and today an article about my series recommendations from 2024. Because honestly, I made no time in 2024 for documentaries. But since series are usually shorter and therefore easier to watch with little time, I did watch those. Today I am sharing my favorites with you. But note: I am also sharing a few series I have been watching for years now, but forgot to share last year.
1 | Maid
I never really planned on watching Maid. And yes, I normally plan watching a series. I read or hear about it and put it on my list. But Maid wasn’t planned. That’s because I watched it together with my boyfriend and we just randomly picked something together. Therefore, I had low expectations from Maid. But it turns out to be my number one series recommendation from 2024. Maid tells the story of a young single mother called Alex. In the beginning of the story, Alex is not a single mother yet. But due to her abusive partner, she decides to leave her home. Maid shows the story of Alex trying to built a life as a single parent with no parents, family or friends to rely on. Therefore, the story is aggravating. It shows how hard life can be for some single parents. Having no option for daycare, but needing to work to come by. Having a child which relies on you, but no home. It becomes painfully detailed how much we still need intersectional feminism and how the American social system is broken.
2 | 30 en nooit meer (Dutch)
The translation of this series is ’30 and never again’. It’s a Dutch series about ‘the millennial’. Millennials are people who are now in their 30’s. I don’t like the fact that the series generalizes an entire generation, because people are not all the same. However, I did like the subjects that were discussed. In 5 episodes the trends for people in their 30’s are discussed and the people in the episodes embody the extremes of this trend. The names of 5 episodes are ’30 and never again … 1. unhappy, 2. possession, 3. ugly, 4. a doctor, 5 a boss’. I especially found the episode about possessions very interesting, as the episode follows people who try to step out of capitalism and own very little to nothing.
3 | Floortje gaat mee (Dutch)
If you’re Dutch, you probably know Floortje Dessing. She’s iconic. She’s famous for making tv-shows about traveling. She goes to all kinds of remote places around the world. Today I want to share one of the series she’s made: Floortje gaat mee. This series is a bit different from what she normally does, because it’s centered around animals and how we treat them. In this series Dessing travels from Amsterdam all the way to Nepal by car (I love it!), together with the famous photographer Jasper Doest (also Dutch). Along the way they stop in different countries and every time they discover how people in that country see and treat animals. And they always visit a very special someone who dedicated their life to helping animals. Both sides of the medal are seen this way.
4 | Zembla (Dutch)
Another Dutch show, one that’s existed since 1995! I have been watching it for a few years already, but I never came to sharing it. Zembla is an investigative journalism tv-series. I would say it’s a series that showcases things in our society which aren’t as they should be yet. Therefore, the subjects of the episodes are extremely diverse. From the physical situation in the last dolphinarium in our country, to the lack of housing for immigrants or to the influence of the Kremlin in The Netherlands. Most subjects are about the Netherlands, but there are episodes about foreign countries as well. Every year they make a new season, but a season consists of about 12 episodes so it’s not on tv structurally. I personally like watching Zembla to learn about new problems in our society that we haven’t addressed properly yet.
5 | Keuringsdienst van Waarde (Dutch)
Another Dutch show that has existed for a long time (2003) and is an investigative journalism tv-series. But there’s something special about this one: it’s almost exclusively about food. It investigates claims made on food products, but it also investigates the obvious question’s that can arise around certain foods (or other products you buy in the supermarket). Questions like, what exactly is extra virgin olive oil, why is laurel so much more expensive in supermarkets than in Toko’s and what’s ecological about eco all purpose cleaner? Over the years I’ve learned a lot about the food I buy in the supermarket from this show. For example, that wraps made out vegetables are usually nonsense, that you don’t need to buy filtered water in The Netherlands or that Tagliatelle pasta is the exact same as what we in Dutch call ‘mie’, it’s only packaged differently and more expensive. Keuringsdienst van Waarde teaches you what you eat (or why you don’t eat it).
6 | VPRO Tegenlicht (Dutch)
Another investigative journalism tv-series! Can you tell those are my favorite haha? Where Zembla and Keuringsdienst van Waarde are rather negative (they usually investigate things that are wrong), VPRO Tegenlicht is really positive and exciting. Maybe I should call it a documentary series instead (as they do so themselves). I would say VPRO Tegenlicht gives a platform to people who want to change things in society as well, but they do so in a more positive way. They show interesting views on how to change things. They give the visions we want to head towards. Some episodes that come to mind are the ones about building with only wood and one about the donut economy. I usually feel very inspired when I’ve watched VPRO Tegenlicht, even though they do talk about changing our current society and so in fact, the things that are wrong today. The show is an oldie as well, it’s been on Dutch television since 2002.
7 | Kassa (Dutch)
I swear, this is the last investigative journalism series I’m sharing today. Kassa is just a little bit different again from the ones I shared above. Kassa is also a series that discusses things that are going wrong in society, just like Zembla and Keuringsdienst van Waarde. But Kassa addresses problems that may affect you on a personal level. They share stories from phishing victims for example, or stories from people who have paid way too high interest rates at a specific bank. Kassa therefore really helps you on a personal level. They discuss things I might have never thought about before, but am now aware of. Usually it’s centered about services, but sometimes around products (like what harmful substances you should watch for in suncream or which sweet chili sauce tastes best when people are blindfolded).
8 | BinnensteBuiten
BinnensteBuiten is a lifestyle program, but has a touch of sustainability in it. One episode is divided by segments and every segment is different. It always consists of two stable elements: people showing their houses and a chef cooking a dish. The third and last segment is usually something else and differs per episode, sometimes it’s a business (like a plant-based chocolate maker, or a seaweed farmer), sometimes it’s a historian telling about a specific city, sometimes it’s a sustainable garden expert at work. Like I said, there’s always a touch of sustainability. People who show their houses can tell about their secondhand furniture, sometimes the business that is shown is really sustainable. But it’s a touch. They still show dishes with meat or livestock farmers sometimes, unfortunately. What I really love about it is the fact that it is very slow and it shows real people and real stories.
Those were my 8 series recommendations from 2024. Do you watch any of these series?
Yours sincerely,
Romee