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!

Idina Menzel, who flawlessly belted out the Star Spangled Banner at last night’s Superbowl XLIX, is coming to the small screen.

The Frozen actress will lead Ellen DeGeneres’s comedy, Happy Time, as a high profile woman who wants to stop pretending she’s happy…. all. the.time.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is going to be facing off with some aliens! 

The Greys Anatomy alum is joining Halle Berry on Extant. 

He will play JD Richter, a “roguish…free-wheeling, hard-drinking” bounty hunter who is fearless and reckless. He thought he saw everything until he meets Molly and hears about her supernatural encounters.

The cast is getting a little makeover for the second season as well. Molly’s husband, played by Goran Visnjic, and her friend Sam, played by Camryn Manheim, will only return as guest stars on a few episodes. Seems a little weird considering their the two closes people in her life. But, season 2 was said to be focusing on Molly’s journey for her alien baby and she’s not taking those she loves for a ride. Yasumoto and Alan Sparks, will not be returning at all.

Morgan joins a cast that differs greatly from that of Season 1; Goran Visnjic, who plays Molly’s husband John, and Camryn Manheim, who plays her friend Sam, will return for a few episodes. Hiroyuki Sanada and Michael O’Neill, who played Yasumoto and Alan Sparks respectively, will not be back at all.

What do you think about the casting news for both Happy Time and Extant? Sound off in the comments! 

Photo Credit: CBS/Extant

This series finale gave me major anxiety. Hands down, the best episode of Extant to date. I’m not sure if the show will get renewed, from the looks of it, probably no, but thankfully, there was a satisfying season finale that kind of gave us the answers we were looking for, while also leaving room for a season 2 if necessary.

Ascension was the root of it all. Would Molly save the world? Would she be able to fight the alien spores and the hallucinations? Would she die in space and become one with earth? The probability of success was unlike, as Ben mentioned several times throughout her mission. What a negative nancy. Despite the risk, the ISEA sent Molly up to the seraphim. After all, there were two lives (or so we thought) up there. And if the seraphim made it’s way to the atmosphere and exploded, all those spores would infect earth, which is exactly what the alien-life forms wanted. Humans? We don’t want that.

So Molly went on the most dangerous mission of all, leaving behind John and Ethan, who had some trouble of their own. Julie downloaded the video from Odin’s computer and showed John and Charlie. If what they were watching was factual, Odin planted a bomb inside Ethan. The only way to find out would be to shut him down and open him up. Of course, that was risky, cause if there really was a bomb, who knows if it would detonate or not. Charlie and Julie were against doing it themselves, opting to call in a bomb-squad, but John was against that knowing damn well that they wouldn’t do anything to help Ethan, just shut him down for good and destroy him. Ethan of course, was brainwashed by Odin to fear getting shut down because he thought his dad would want to shut him down for good, as he was afraid of his vast developments. John promised Ethan that he would never turn him off for good, and that’s when they all learned about “the phone” Odin gave him. You know, the phone that’s actually a bomb. Homie really thought this through didn’t he? John was able to talk Ethan out of pressing that button and blowing everyone to smithereens and eventually, Ethan agreed to shut down.

Meanwhile, Molly docked into the seraphim, equipped to fight any alien-formation and the hallucination it brings with a suit that would detect if the person she was seeing was real, or made up of spores. The seraphim was deserted, so Molly knew something was off. She found Sean, locked inside a room, banging on the door for help. After scanning to make sure Sean was okay, she injected him with some nutrients, let him in on the plan and found out that Katie, wasn’t real at all. The aliens hallucinations were just getting really good. She continued on to complete plan A and restore a battery, to raise the antenna. Unfortunately, she was met there by Katie, still pretending to be real. Obviously Molly came all this way, and she wasn’t going to let this thing stand in her way. She knocked her out and locked her in the room, compromising herself in the process. This is where things got tricky. As Molly went to complete the mission, Sean almost let the alien out of the room because she appeared as Molly now, instead of Katie. When Molly tried to contact him again, she got no signal. Making her way to their meeting point, she saw that the wires had been cut.  Plan B was now out of the picture.She was losing consciousness, so she went to get some injections before continuing on with Plan C. That’s when she was taken into her “hallucination” world, but knowing better, injected the Marcus-look alike, who was really Sean, and knocked him out. She didn’t need the disturbances– she only had 11 minutes to compete the mission.

Back on earth, John informed Ethan of the bomb in his body. Unfortunately they couldn’t move it, or remove it, in fear of setting it off and blowing him up. The fact that they couldn’t get into his system to control him, meant they couldn’t back up Ethan’s program. Thus loosing him forever if anything went wrong. He was then informed by the ISEA that they had to evacuate the building as Molly’s child had breached and they could not continue guiding her without his manipulations. He wanted to stop his mother, because that’s what the alien spores were telling him to do. Ethan realized he could go help her since he didn’t have the biology the aliens used to control people. Duh, he was a robot. It was risky, but something he felt he needed to do.

He made his way into the building on a scooter– brilliant– and wasn’t phased at all by the other “son” who was blowing up glass doorways with his mind. Anger issues much? I don’t know why Molly ever cared about this “second son” more than Ethan. He sucks. By this time in space, Molly had placed bombs all over the seraphim and moved Sean’s body into the shuttle, ready for blast off. Except that, as she tried to detach, Ben informed Molly that it was too dangerous. Both of them had been compromised by the spores, and going to earth would mean the spread of infection. Ben couldn’t allow her to do that. Molly tried to manually override the system, but to no avail.

That’s when she heard Ethan’s voice over the P.A. He was there to help. Molly informed him and John, who was also listening, that she couldn’t detach. Someone would have to override the system at the headquarters and it would involve a human to place their heat over the glass. Ethan said he would do it by raising his heat warmers to 96 degrees, but John said no. Raising his temperature could cause him to start an internal fire and kill him. Ethan didn’t care. First off, he’d learned that he could do it through Odin. He might have been trying to make Ethan do bad things, but he actually taught him a thing or two. Plus, he felt that this was his purpose. And we all know this kid had a hard time finding one… especially as a robot trying to be a human.

Ethan’s plan worked, and Molly’s ship detached and took off, just as the seraphim blew up behind her. Ethan had helped her save earth, but killed himself in the process. Minutes later, his whole body began glowing. He told the alien-child to run and save himself, before we’re told the ISEA blew up.

Five days later, Molly, John, Julie and Charlie were mourning the loss of their son and friend. It was a bittersweet moment. This whole episode, we weren’t sure who would survive and who would die. We got sweet and heartbreaking goodbyes between Molly and John, and John and Ethan. As a robot, Ethan proved to be more human than most humans, even Odin. He proved that despite negative manipulation, a robot is still able to chose right from wrong, make a decision, trust people, even if their hurting him, and ultimately, sacrifice himself for the greater good. Ethan taught to love, but he also taught the human experience. Much is to be learned from this little boy, so I’m not ashamed to admit, I shed a few tears when Ethan died… when his 3-d model shut down on the screen.

I also squealed with excitement when his system turned back on. How? I’m not really sure. But Ethan was everywhere. His program had saved somehow, somewhere. John didn’t need to do it, Ethan was advanced enough to do it himself. He lost his human body, but that’s nothing dad can’t rebuild again. But this way, he was more like Ben, everywhere all the time. It was a touching moment to know that while us humans, did so much evil to try to bring back the dead and preserve our time on earth/stop aging, a young humatic sacrificed himself, and returned from the dead anyways. Robots can’t die!

The last scene was there only in case the show gets renewed. Molly’s son never died. He was part human, part alien walking the streets of the earth. Was he angry that Molly didn’t listen to him? Stopped whatever his alien superiors were trying to do? Was he mad she didn’t come looking for him? Had another son who saved her? Some random nice family picked him up, so are they now in complete danger? Is anything ever really over? Who knows. If the show doesn’t return for season 2, it’s left up to your interpretation. But at least, everyone got a happy ending. And we can just pretend that Odin got what was coming to him, Julie and Charlie ended up together and Molly and John finally appreciated their humatic son a lot more.