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Streaming in 2020: These Are the Shows We Watched on Netflix

During the COVID-19 quarantine, we watched a lot of Netflix—from 'Love Is Blind' (tops in March) to 'Virgin River' (December's favorite).

 & Chandra Steele Senior Features Writer

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There’s a good chance that for 2020, Netflix’s year in review looks a lot like your own year in review. And that’s because last year, the top activity for most of us was watching Netflix. Reviews.org put together the top shows and movies across the platform (see the full infographic below).

When most things were so isolated, there was camaraderie to be found in streaming some of the same shows as others. In March, we were adjusting to life indoors, and so it was just the right time for Love is Blind, a show where contestants looking for love get to know each other in their own little isolated pods. (We should have foreseen the premiere of The CircleThe Circle at the start of the year as a warning.)

By April, we realized that quarantine would last far longer than a few weeks, and we really started to get stir crazy. That’s when we took refuge in Tiger King. The internet bonded over the wild twists and turns and trading memes about Joe Exotic and Carol Baskin. 

The warm weather and plateauing of COVID-19 in many places made May and June pass by without too many shows of note, the top ones being teen drama Outer Banks and the too-real joke of Steve Carell-helmed Space Force

Things got weird in July with the return of Unsolved Mysteries. The biggest mystery was that many people did not realize that the episodes are unresolved because these mysteries are, uh, unsolved. 

By August, we were so tired of things that we were ready to go back in time, specifically to 1963 with The Umbrella Academy. The Hargreeves siblings proved that they were as screwed up as ever but even more popular. 

In September, we were ready to live out our 80s fantasies in the present day with a new season of Cobra Kai (which has just finished yet another season).

October is about comforting things, like long walks to see the changing leaves, pumpkin spice lattes, and Schitt’s Creek rewatches.

If you didn’t buy a chess set in November, did you even watch The Queen’s Gambit? It was such a popular show that sets were sold out all over the place. 

Finally, in December, presumably in between Hallmark movies, people watched romance-drama Virgin River

infographic with top shows by month

About Our Expert

Chandra Steele

Chandra Steele

Senior Features Writer

My Experience

My title is Senior Features Writer, which is a license to write about absolutely anything if I can connect it to technology (I can). I’ve been at PCMag since 2011 and have covered the surveillance state, vaccination cards, ghost guns, voting, ISIS, art, fashion, film, design, gender bias, and more. You might have seen me on TV talking about these topics or heard me on your commute home on the radio or a podcast. Or maybe you’ve just seen my Bernie meme

I strive to explain topics that you might come across in the news but not fully understand, such as NFTs and meme stocks. I’ve had the pleasure of talking tech with Jeff Goldblum, Ang Lee, and other celebrities who have brought a different perspective to it. I put great care into writing gift guides and am always touched by the notes I get from people who’ve used them to choose presents that have been well-received. Though I love that I get to write about the tech industry every day, it’s touched by gender, racial, and socioeconomic inequality and I try to bring these topics to light. 

Outside of PCMag, I write fiction, poetry, humor, and essays on culture.

My Areas of Expertise

  • Making incomprehensible tech news easy to understand
  • Expanding the boundaries of topics covered in the industry
  • Figuring out tips and tricks in apps and on devices and letting you know about them
  • Putting together gift guides for everyone in your life 

The Technology I Use

All that gadgets is gold for me: my iPhone 11 Pro, my fifth-generation iPad that I use only for streaming videos and music, my iPad mini 4 that I like to take with me whenever I carry a bag that can fit it, and my MacBook Pro. Why are they all different shades of gold, though? What’s going on, Apple? 

None of them quite live up to my two past loves: my LG Lotus LX600 phone and my Sony Walkman NW-E005 MP3 player. 

I've never given up wired earbuds so I was ahead of all those trend pieces. I use a Mangotek Lightning-to-3.5mm headphone jack adapter to connect them to my phone. 

I have had so many ebook readers, but I prefer paper to them all. Still, my Kindle Paperwhite is perfect for traveling or when I’m too impatient to wait for a book to be released in paperback.

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