Feeling a little restless and bored at home during your self-quarantine? It’s understandable. You didn’t expect to be living and working from home a month or so.

While you’re doing your part to flatten the curve and help prevent the spread of coronavirus, if you don’t have something to keep you occupied, your mind begins to wander just a little bit.

That’s honestly the only explanation I can think of for all the conspiracy theories I’ve been reading. While there’s absolutely no basis to them, it made me think that maybe there’s something there entertainment wise– people are craving a specific genre of television to help them through this tough time.

So, I’ve put together a list of shows surrounding government conspiracies that you might enjoy while you are cooped up inside.

Manifest (two seasons – currently airing)

Manifest is a mystery inside of a riddle that focuses on the return of Flight 828 five years after its initial disappearance. The plane’s re-emergence shocks everyone because they assumed their loved ones were dead. As the passengers begin looking for the truth, they stumble upon a government conspiracy that’s dangerous and frightening.

Emergence (one season so far)

Manifest made way for Emergence, a drama about a small-town cop who takes in a young girl at the site of a mysterious plane crash. The young girl begins exhibiting certain supernatural powers, and as high-ranking officials develop an interest in the girl, Jo realizes she’s entangled in a mystery larger than she ever imagined.

Stranger Things (preparing for season 4)

When Will Byers goes missing, three best friends in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana begin their search for him along with his mother and police chief Hopper. The investigation leads them to unraveling a series of supernatural mysteries that lead to secret government experiments with an alternate universe.

The Bodyguard (one season)

The British police thriller follows Police Sergeant David Budd, who is a war veteran suffering from PTSD. He currently works for the  Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch of London’s Metropolitan Police Service and is assigned as security for Homeland Secretary, Julia Montague, who is rather controversial in the political landscape. It keeps you guessing until the very end over who did what and who knew what.

The Passage (one season)

The series, based on a trilogy of the same name, focuses on Project Noah, a secret medical facility where scientists test dangerous viruses that could potentially be a cure-all. However, there’s a chance they could potentially wipe out the whole human race if they get into the wrong hands (this might be a little too on the nose). A federal agent grows to love a young girl who becomes a test subject and attempts to protect her at all costs… even human destruction.

Timeless

What’s better than a show that combines time traveling to relevant, pivotal, and iconic moments in history with a government conspiracy? Timeless is an adventure series that places you in the middle fo all the actions as Lucy, a historian, Wyatt, a soldier, and Rufus, a scientist, get recruited to thwart a nefarious government institution that wants to change the world as we know it.

Prison Break (5 seasons)

Michael Scofield’s brother, Lincoln Burrows, is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and put on Death row. Michael holds up a bank to get arrested and begins his elaborate plan of breaking them both out, which eventually leads into the reason he was framed and yeah, you guessed it, it’s an intricate political conspiracy that’s really messy.

24 (9 seasons)

Jack Bauer, Director of Field Ops for the Counter-Terrorist Unit of Los Angeles,  thwarts assassination attempts,  torture, traitors, and nuclear attacks, while hoping to save his nation from ultimate disaster.

Designated Survivor (3 seasons)

In a similar vein and also starring Kiefer Sutherland, low-level cabinet member Tom Kirkman ascends to the role of President of the United States after a devastating attack on the night of the State of the Union blows up the Capitol and kills the President and most of the top-reigning officials. Soon, it’s revealed that Kirkman wasn’t the designated survivor on accident as a government conspiracy unfolds.

The Event (one season)

Extant (2 seasons)

After a year in space, Molly Watts (our girl Halle Berry) returns to Earth and reconnects with her husband, a gifted scientist, and her son, Ethan, who has skills and powers that make him incredibly special. However, she begins to realize something isn’t just right and the conspiracy that unfolds threatens her career and family. The thrilling drama hails from Steven Spielberg, so even if it’s slightly overcomplicated, you know it’s bound to be an adventure.

There’s likely plenty of other shows… which ones would you add to the list? Share them with us in the comments or on Twitter @CraveYouTV!

Netflix gave Designated Survivor a second chance and similarly, the American people are giving Tom Kirkman another one.

Before ABC pulled the plug on the Kiefer Sutherland fronted drama, President Kirkman decided to go against all odds and run for re-election.

I know Netflix dumped all episodes in one fell swoop, but I’ll be reviewing them individually for old time’s sake.

At the kickstart of Designated Survivor Season 3, Kirkman’s misstep during his State of the Union speech almost cost him his upcoming bid.

The nation assumed he was unhinged and though yelling at the American public may not have been the best approach, Kirkman has never pretended to be something he’s not.

The state of America was crumbling and the only way to get anyone to listen was to cause a scene.

As Emily Rhodes said: it was refreshing.

Kirkman, who is running as an Independent, against his former-friend-turned-nemesis, Moss, quickly learned that his unconventional campaigning tactics would be his secret to success.

His vice president Eleanor Darby also resigned and decided to run against Kirkman as President. Because of her decision, his infrastructure bill didn’t garner enough votes to pass.

There wasn’t much to rely on in terms of data or research for an Independent candidate. And the numbers weren’t there either.  Independent’s never had a chance of winning, yet Kirkman struck a chord with numerous voters who wanted, nay, needed a change.

They wanted someone to listen and hell, Kirkman wanted to listen.

Kirkman was uncertain of his own capabilities and gathered his old team for a dinner at the White House where he polled them on his odds of winning.

In true fashion, Emily was the beacon of hope that reframed the election in Kirkman’s mind.

“Why are you running,” she asked him.

At that moment, Kirkman knew he had a shot at winning if he followed his heart and approached it not for himself but for the American people.

By the end of the hour, Kirkman figured out his motive for running, found a uniting platform and hired his campaign manager.

Lorraine Zimmer was a spit-fire and though she initially seemed like a good addition to Kirkman’s unconventional team, I’m not so sure she has his best interests at heart.

Considering Zimmer once served on Moss’ team, I think she may have accepted to position simply to undermine Kirkman and help Moss get elected.

In order for Kirman’s campaign to succeed, he also needed to put the gang back together.

At the beginning of the episode, Emily had removed herself from DC politics and moved home to Florida to take care of her cancer-stricken mother.

Mars Harper replaced her as Kirkman’s Chief of Staff, and though he was damn good at his job, there was always something missing.

Seth, who scored a promotion to White House Communications Director by the end of the hour, lured Emily back to DC explaining that she was the missing key to Kirkman’s success.

Sure enough, when Kirkman saw her he admitted that he needed her back on his team as his moral compass.

Aaron Shore continued to be the eye-candy of the White House, but for all of you shipping his relationship with Emily, it doesn’t seem like it’s in the cards for them.

Shore is now dating Isabel, who I initially thought was his sister (you have to admit, they do look alike), an employee of the White House who really connects him to his Latino side.

While Shore’s romance with Isabel is new to us it’s seemingly been going strong as he just asked her to move in with him.

Although, his reaction to her “thinking about it” didn’t seem too promising.

While Netflix doesn’t ignore the previous narrative of Designated Survivor, it does a great job of wrapping up storylines and moving them ahead without lugging around the baggage.

Hannah Wells’ storyline was so complicated, it did her more harm than good.

Getting dismissed from the FBI closed a chapter for Wells and opened up her new opportunity: a gig with the CIA.

Truthfully, they’d be stupid to pass on a woman so skilled in her craft.

Wells is an absolute ninja and can handle whatever comes her way.

And it seems like that’s going to be bioterrorism; where is Dianne Lewis, CIA director, sending Wells on her next assignment?

And how will her storyline remain connected to President Kirkman?

There’s plenty of new additions to Designated Survivor that will undoubtedly strengthen an already strong cast and ensure enough there’s enough political drama to round out the season.

Dontae Evans, a black and openly gay man, is hired onto the team by Seth after introducing Kirkman’s team to the power of social media and generating a hashtag that successfully redefined his platform.

In addition to Evans, we also briefly met Mars’ wife, Lynn Harper, a woman suffering from opioid addiction.

Free from network constraints, Netflix now has the ability to elevate a series that reaches a broad spectrum of people and touch upon topics that were formerly taboo.

We’re looking forward to seeing what the streaming giant does with a show that never lived up to its full potential.

Also, Penny no longer wants to be referred to as Little P, and it’s heartbreaking because she’s grown up right before our eyes!

What did you think of the Designated Survivor premiere?

Is it a better fit for Netflix?

Will the streaming giant give the cast storylines that play to their strengths?

Does Kirkman have another traitor in his midst with Lorraine?

And just like that, Designated Survivor took its final bow.

It didn’t feel like a series finale and that lends itself to the fact that the writers didn’t know they were about to be yanked off air.

Still, something about Tom Kirkman choosing re-election after everything that’s transpired was a fitting end.

When the series kicked off, he was thrust into the role against his own free will after being marked a Designated Survivor. At that time, the Capitol bombing storyline was intriguing, head-spinning and had much promise. Since then, the series has spiraled a bit out of control and frankly, so has Kirkman.

And right before his re-election bid announcement, it all came back full-circle as he remembered why he’s doing this, why he should fight and why he’s different than any other president.

Many of Kirkman’s “issues” stemmed from other folks in government not accepting that he has a new way of doing things that aren’t corrupt or politically motivated. He doesn’t have an agenda. He’s inherently good and he makes the choices that he thinks are best for the people and the republic.

It was always a double-edged sword because while we knew his intentions were good, he was painted in such a negative light; incompetent, angry, mentally unstable, etc.

Yet, through it all, Kirkman stayed true to himself and never withered in his beliefs and eventually, even dangerous men like Ethan West realized that they’d been fighting the wrong side.

It was a nice wrap up on Michael J. Fox’s storyline — to have him finally understand that this whole time, he’s been seeking the truth that was right in front of him.

It’s a testament to the belief that if you stay on the righteous path long enough, people will begin to notice. And Moss’ actions revealed him for who he really was; an opportunist.

This was a very promising cast though, unfortunately, many of them never had a chance to shine.

Aaron was the most obvious of them all — he had promise but he always just bopped around appearing for a few minutes here and there to seem authoritative.

Emily was another one of those characters. She was Kirkman’s most trusted advisor but she got lost in all of this. She lost her way and began making sloppy decisions that hurt the administration rather than help it. Her decision to step away from it all and “refocus” is compelling, however, given that this is the finale episode, we won’t ever get to see what that means in her world.

And with the revelation that she was doing shady dealings or leaking intel to Valeria Poriskova, she’s more intriguing than she’s ever been. Can you imagine if this whole time, she was putting on the good girl act but in reality, she was the mole? That would be quite a twist, one that I might not fully believe given how out-of-character it is, but again, we’ll never know.

Hannah has been the spitfire, bringing even the toughest of men to justice. In fact, for quite awhile, the whole FBI rested solely on her toned shoulders. And she was the only one who could predict how someone would react before it even happened.

In recent weeks following Damian’s death, she was on the path of revenge, hoping to kill Valeria for killing her boyfriend-turned-traitor in an attempt to assassinate her. However, her revenge mission turned into a rescue mission when she found out he had a daughter in England that she needed to protect.

Obviously, Damian’s daughter was going to be just as quick and cunning as he was, I don’t know why Hannah assumed otherwise. Of course, a man like that would have taught her how to fend for herself.

His daughter led them to a secret vault with a list of names which we’ll never really know more about.

To honor Damian’s wishes, Hannah preyed on Valeria and then, when she realized she couldn’t take her down on foreign soil, shot her point-blank. I kind of hoped that she would fall over a bridge and into the water because it would be quite a poetic tribute to Damian but alas, she just left her on there and then hopped on a plane with her new accidentally adopted “step-daughter.”

I would have loved to see how that relationship played out. Think she’d ever tell her that she actually hated her father by the end?

If you look back at how all of this played out, both the daughter and the Russian spy behaved in ways that made no sense. Not to mention they were tremendously underutilized.

If Valeria really was so dangerous, since being a Russian spy seems like a career only a monster can uphold, I think she’d put up more of a fight and go about it smarter.

We didn’t get to see Chuck again nor did we get to see Kirkman’s brother or get any headway on his relationship with Kendra nor did we get any moments with his sweetheart Penny.

Leo’s appearance was refreshingly human, reminding us of the simpler days when Kirkman’s family was a strong unit that relied on each other. Not that Leo was ever much of a focal point, but following Alex’s death, we saw the children less and less.

Even though Kirkman is the President, he’s still immensely proud of his son for getting into Stanford. And Leo’s dilemma of choosing a school because he doesn’t want to leave his dad is also touching.

Seth and Lyor finally acknowledged that they care about each other. Unfortunately, it took a near-death experience like a tsunami for them to realize it. Though the bromance has always been one of my favorite things about the show.

Also, I really hope ABC gets better with CGI because that tsunami-effect was painful to watch and not believable in the slightest. And how did it not affect the luxurious hotel that they were staying at whilst everything else was swept away?

Even the storyline fell was just done so that Kirkman must, as always, make a choice that’s right but unconstitutional and pisses a lot of people off. And he does, then he proves everyone wrong and is hailed as the hero… for now.

We know Seth’s a hero since he apparently survived by climbing on the roof after saving some woman’s grandchildren, as for his relationship status with Emily, that still remains a big mystery.

Designated Survivor started off being one thing and though the show lost its way on multiple occasions and found itself knee-deep in messy plotholes lined with political jargon, there was heart in it. There was heart in Kirkman’s actions, the teams dynamic and the situations affecting the American people.

Now, the good news is that Netflix is considering picking up the political drama so all is not lost. We may get the answers we’ve wanted all along.

However, if that does come to pass, let’s hope that they find a formula that simplifies and works, all while keeping the touch of magic. And hopefully, they utilize the cast properly because again, they all have the potential if they are given good material.

Thoughts on the finale? Do you want Netflix to renew the series?