10 Binge-Worthy TV Series With Conscious Themes

By Trina Wyatt

As the Founding Director of the Tribeca Film Festival, former Head of Content for GAIAMTV (Gaia), and now Founder and CEO of Conscious Good, I’ve always been on the pulse of consciousness elevating entertainment.

Within each of these positions there has been one constant: the privilege of getting to watch thousands of hours of the best conscious content the world has to offer annually. In hopes of saving you the time of having to put in those same hours, in December of 2019 I put together a list of 10 of the best conscious films from 2019 that I personally believe you need to watch in 2020.

I’d now like to present 10 of the best TV Series with conscious themes, a list my colleagues and I crafted.  We believe you should make the time to watch these series over the course of this year.

While some of these titles may seem surprising, we encourage you to both read in full detail the conscious themes we found and, in some cases, to push through the initial episodes to get to what we truly believe to be binge-worthy.

1. Game of Thrones

Contributed by Mark Allan Kaplan
WHERE TO WATCH IT: HBO

Undoubtedly one of the most infamous and celebrated series of all-time, Game of Thrones is also quite groundbreaking in terms of the valuable conscious lessons it offers its viewers. Including how the series represents the largest scale attempt to capture a specific stage of human development with the intent of taking us not only deep inside it, but ultimately through it.

While the dark, violent and overtly sexual nature to a great deal of the series may seem counterproductive to some, it can also be seen, at some level, as necessary to connect with the masses and ultimately wake us up. Honestly, I struggled to watch the first four seasons, but thereafter, the storylines and characters slowly begin to ascend. With the series now officially concluded after 8 very successful seasons, it is fully available for us all to view from start to finish through the lens of conscious messaging.

2. Messiah

Contributed by Mark Allan Kaplan
WHERE TO WATCH IT: Netflix

Freshly released on January 1^st, 2020 the new Netflix original series Messiah is an integral informed exploration of the messiah archetype. Starring Mehdi Dehbi (Tyrant, London Has Fallen) and Michelle Monaghan (The Path, True Detective), the entire first season of the show is filled with clear and profound examples of how to capture deep shifts in our consciousness as well as our paradigms of the self, others, and the world.

While the series is still likely in its infancy, it is a complex and layered work that unpacks the interrelationship of religion, consciousness, culture and society. It is also deeply reflective of what is seemingly happening in the world right now by elegantly journeying into and through multiple dimensions of the culture war and civilization-wide paradigm shift we’re facing..

3. The Good Place

Contributed by Betsy Chasse
WHERE TO WATCH IT: NBC, Hulu, Netflix

Having recently wrapped up airing its fourth successful season, The Good Place, starring Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and the infamous Ted Danson (Cheers, Becker), is an easy to watch dramatic comedy with deeper messaging than one would anticipate. The show regularly explores the existential questions that many humans face, including but not limited to: why are we the way that we are, is change/growth possible, and can we heal/forgive past trauma? Best of all, it does it in a very accessible, and often hilarious, way through relatable and down to earth characters.

4. Undone

Contributed by Betsy Chasse
WHERE TO WATCH IT: Amazon

With its eight episode first season coming to a close in September of 2019, the relatively new animated fantasy series Undone starring Rosa Salazar (Alita, Bird Box) and Angelique Cabral (Life in Pieces) is must-see TV. The series explores what many millennials are facing: struggles with life, their family relationships, a desire for a deeper connection to themselves, and their belief that there is something more to life.

With the show officially being renewed for a second season, now is your perfect chance to begin immersing yourself in what should be a long and unique ride.

5. Cheer

Contributed by John O’Callahan
WHERE TO WATCH IT: Netflix

I have never liked cheerleading. Like beauty pageants, it seemed like a weird, unnecessary and sexist vestige of a bygone era. So, Cheer, a Netflix documentary that chronicles the 2019 season of Navarro College’s competitive cheer team, is not a show I’d normally add to my queue.

In the end, though, like any good story it’s the characters that make Cheer great television. The backstories of the featured cheerleaders and their coaches are heartbreaking, elevating, illuminating and inspiring. What seemed a pointless exercise to me, cheerleading, becomes a vehicle for self-redemption, reflection and fulfillment. Cheer is almost a metaphor for life itself. Yes, we are all going to die. But don’t you want to make it “on mat” before you (pun intended) graduate?

6. The Kindness Diaries

WHERE TO WATCH IT: Netflix

What do you do when you’ve hit the pinnacle of your career, but realize that financial success isn’t everything? If you are Leon Logothetis, you pack a bag, buy a motorcycle and travel across the world surviving on the kindness of strangers. And you make a TV series out of it, of course.

Everywhere Leon travels, he connects with kind and generous people, renewing both his and our faith as the viewer that, at our core, human beings are inherently good and eager to make a positive contribution. The cherry on top of each episode is that Leon repays people’s kindness in unexpected and inspiring ways.

7. Green Frontier

WHERE TO WATCH IT: Netflix

Green Frontier is a beautifully shot, sexy and supernatural thriller (from Columbia) that celebrates indigenous cultures and spiritual beliefs. Yes, believe it or not, all of these elements are successfully rolled into one series.

From the opening scene of the series we are immersed into a world that we rarely see portrayed authentically in American television. The underlying theme is that we have lost our connection –our interconnection –with nature, and for that we are suffering greatly.

8. Running Wild

WHERE TO WATCH IT: Hulu

For the past decade I’ve been a huge Bear Grylls fan. I admire how he is in love with the natural world and how he honors and respects nature and our planet to the highest degree.

In Running Wild, he shares that love with well-known public figures such as President Barack Obama while he was in office. In every episode, Bear celebrates how we are all interconnected, including every plant, animal and mineral, and always manages to offer at least one surprise that often makes me crack up, be in disbelief, or be filled with gratitude for his offering.

9. Little America

WHERE TO WATCH IT: Apple TV+

Little America is a beautiful collection of true stories of immigrants coming to the United States from all different parts of the globe and walks of life. In each episode, the main character overcomes a challenging situation – most often a lack of belief in themselves – in order to realize their own version of the American dream.

The show has an innate ability to make me laugh and cry in under thirty minutes, all while providing a realization of what I’ve personally taken for granted as being born Caucasian in the United States – the privilege of never knowing life without freedom or liberty or a belief that I can make my dreams come true.

10. The Politician

Contributed by John O’Callahan
WHERE TO WATCH IT: Netflix

The first season of the Netflix series The Politician is an acerbic study of emptiness, ambition and the search for validation. In this initial season, the main character, played by Ben Platt (Pitch Perfect), has assembled a trusted team of friends to win his high school student body election for president, presumably the first step on their road to the White House.

The Politician is acidly funny and, at times, quite touching. The show exists in a kind of hyper reality; the stakes are absurdly high, the characters broadly drawn, the plot lines wildly over the top. In this surreal landscape, the characters thrash about and try to “win” and, in the process, hold up a funhouse mirror to our own travails.

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Originally written for and published by Collective Evolution.