By Izzy Whitaker

On March 17, Governor Ralph Northam released a statement to the citizens of Virginia, regarding the recent outbreak of COVID-19 in the state. Northam stated, “Everyone must play a role to help flatten the curve and mitigate the spread of this virus, and that starts with social distancing.” Virginians are to avoid non-essential gatherings of more than ten people. A few days later, Northam released another statement, closing all schools and non-essential businesses, including restaurants, stores, barber shops and hairdressers, and much more. For the majority of public schools, spring break was canceled. At Collegiate specifically, student trips to Mexico, China, Italy, and other locales were canceled. Engaged couples have postponed weddings, sports teams have canceled games, and bands have postponed concerts. Everyone nationwide has been told to stay in their homes and stay six feet apart from others at all times. 

It has been especially hard for us high schoolers to follow this rule of social distancing. Without being able to see our friends or leave the house, we have had to look for alternate forms of entertainment. Lillian Barnes (‘20) and her sister Lucy Barnes (‘22) have been spending some of their time dyeing their neighbor Dylan Lyons’ (‘20) hair a blonde shade. V Brooks (‘20) also attempted dyeing her hair pink, which lasted for a few days before too many rounds of shampoo washed away the $8.00 hair dye from Sally’s Beauty Supply.

While activities like dyeing and cutting hair are entertaining for an hour or two, many students agree on the most common way to waste time right now: binge-watching TV shows on Netflix and other streaming services. 

I sent a text to a large group of my friends asking what shows they were binging at the moment. Within nine minutes of sending the text, I had already gotten 13 responses. Brooks told me that she is watching Glee, and that by March 28, she had watched over 20 episodes. Glee is a situational musical comedy that ran for six seasons, from 2009 to 2015, on Fox. As described by IMDB, Glee is about “A group of ambitious misfits try to escape the harsh realities of high school by joining a glee club,” and, after watching the show when I was younger, I could not have said it better myself. Glee explores the insecurities and everyday problems that are faced by a group of teenagers. With members from every social group at the school, the glee club unites enemies and strengthens friendships. Brooks said that she likes that the show “is something I can watch that’s entertaining, and I don’t have to focus too much on it, I can just have it on. It’s fun because it shows high schoolers from all different backgrounds getting together to sing about the struggles in their lives, and they use their songs to overcome their troubles.”

Lilly Hall (‘20) and Grace Kinder (‘20) informed me that they were watching Gossip Girl, for their fifth and sixth times, respectively. Gossip Girl is a timeless TV show beloved by teenagers all over the world. Because it first aired in 2007, people such as my now 28-year old-sister, Janie Whitaker (‘10), even watched the show when they were in high school. As described by IMDB, Gossip Girl is about “Privileged teens living on the Upper East Side of New York [who] can hide no secret from the ruthless blogger who is always watching.” Gossip Girl explores the lives of a variety of wealthy teenagers living in New York, who face various privileged dilemmas. After watching the show myself, I found many flaws and disliked each of the characters, but still, for some reason, I could not stop watching. When asked why she has watched the whole series over five times, Hall said, “Because each time I watch Gossip Girl, I feel like I get to know the characters a little bit better and bond with them more. Right now, because we’re living through the coronavirus season, I don’t really have anything to do, so I like to live vicariously through Upper East Siders’ lives, because it’s very eventful.”

Thomas Lucy (‘20) and Griffin Alvis (‘20) have both been binge-watching the new Netflix TV show All American, the teen drama about a high school football team in Beverly Hills, California. Lucy describes the show by saying, “It’s about a high school kid who lives in Crenshaw, California and is recruited to play for Beverly Hills High. He has to choose to leave his neighborhood and his family to better his career and has to deal with racism and conflict. Also, past history comes back to haunt him, and he uncovers what happens to his dad, who left him as a kid.” Alvis commented, “All American is one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen, but I can’t stop watching it.” After asking why, he replied, “It’s very similar to Riverdale, where you can tell it’s very low budget, but the writers do a good job of keeping it entertaining, and the characters aren’t too hard to watch either.”

Many adults are also indulging in binge worthy TV shows to pass the time. My parents, Norvell and Charlie Whitaker, have been watching Unorthodox, the Netflix mini-series that follows the life of a Hasidic Jewish woman who escapes her community in New York to move to Berlin. Vlastik Svab, Upper School English teacher and Match adviser, has been watching Better Call Saul, and would “highly recommend it for any one who liked Breaking Bad.” And, of course, many adults and teenagers have been watching the infamous Netflix documentary, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness. 

Right now, the world is in shambles. Fear and worry are ever-present, and no one can quite remember a time when life was not like this. Most people want to transport to a time when life was completely different, and, thus, they are turning to the television to find escapism. Everyone with the luxury to stay home right now is taking full advantage of the wide variety of TV shows on streaming services and obsessing over them as an easy distraction. Fantasizing over simpler times is helping many people cope at the moment, and in a way, that is something that should be appreciated.

Featured image courtesy of Netflix.