斯科特·貝格斯 譯/胡文明

Netflix is a cultural Rorschach test1. In addition to being a revolution of the way we watch movies and television， it’s a prestige factory that’s helping to bring Oscar-quality entertainment to your home.? Here are 8 of the best of them.

1. Russian Doll

Nadia （Natasha Lyonne， who also co-created the series） is a game developer stuck in a time loop that keeps killing her and depositing her back at her own birthday party. If you roll your eyes at Groundhog Day situations， roll them back， because this incredibly inventive take from Lyonne， Leslye Headland， and Amy Poehler is deeply funny， strange， sad， and celebratory all at once. One woman’s existential crisis is our binge-worthy2 content. As a bonus， Harry Nilsson’s “Gotta Get Up” will be permanently stuck in your brain.

2. Dear White People

Based on his （also excellent） 2014 feature， Justin Simien takes us back to prestigious Winchester University， where social justice bard3 Samantha White （Logan Browning） navigates the growing pains of collegiate romance and friendship while trying to make her classmates recognize the social div-isions at their school. The show has faithfully delivered outrageous humor with its singular4 blend of satire and soap opera.

3. GLOW

Anchored5 by Alison Brie， Betty Gilpin， and a stellar ensemble cast， GLOW follows a group of women who launch a wrestling show backed by a trust fund kid6 and a cranky cult7 horror director （brilliantly played by Marc Maron）. It scored laughs from how awkward everything was early on， but the show really sailed when Brie and her cohorts8 began to fully own the weird， wonderful spandex9 assault they were creating. Now it’s about keeping that show， their group， and their personal lives intact.

4. I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson

Tim Robinson is a Saturday Night Live alum whose sketch show couldn’t be further from that mainstay’s sens-ibilities. Where SNL is the McDonald’s of comedy， I Think You Should Leave is the hole-in-the-wall place only you and your friends love because it keeps changing the menu with new dishes you can’t get anywhere else. It’s fair to call the show outlandish10， but its comic brilliance stems from the simplicity of its setups and the deranged lengths that the characters go to in order to stick with that premise.

5. BoJack Horseman

It’s the silly cartoon show here to make you think about death and get sad and stuff. Like emo music for grownups， Raphael Bob-Waksberg and Lisa Hanawalt’s brilliant series focuses on the addiction， self-loathing， and career envy of its titular11 anti-hero as he attempts to crawl out of the cheesy ’80s sitcom stardom of his past and into something more respected. No other show can get away with this many animal puns while exploring the depths of despair that result from trying to fill a bottomless pit in your soul.

6. Sense8

Eight strangers living all over the world discover they are emotionally connected to each other. They can feel what others in their cluster are feeling and can communicate with each other despite physical separation. Teaming with comic book and screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski， the Wachowskis have pulled another big-think， sci-fi rabbit out of their hats with this globe-trotting12 thriller. When they’re not running from a mysterious entity bent on their destruction， the fascinatingly diverse crew of connected characters break down everything you’re not supposed to talk about at the dinner table. So maybe we should be talking about them around the dinner table？

7. Orange is the New Black

Jenji Kohan found a perfect follow-up to Weeds with this adaptation of Piper Kerman’s memoir about a young suburban woman going to a minimum-security prison. The fish-out-of-water comedy13 only lasts as long as it takes for the show to blossom into a gorgeous， emotional roller coaster that shines the spotlight on all of its women—from the surly cook Red （Kate Mulgrew） to the sweet/troubled Crazy Eyes （Uzo Aduba）—to humanize them beyond the personas they adopt to survive. The show is a hilarious self-peeling onion， tears and all.

8. Astronomy Club

Within the first two minutes of Astronomy Club， a talking garlic bulb shoots a gun at Dracula and shouts “Tryin’ get this money in 2020， baby！” Fortunately， it gets weirder. This sketch show from some Upright Citizens Brigade alums is framed around a fake reality show that wisely lets us get to know these new performers while mocking every Real World descendant and the cast themselves. The comedy ranges from self-aware and absurdist to straightforward and even socially-conscious， and it all blends together smoothly. A one-of-a-kind winner.

奈飛是一場文化層面的羅夏測驗。這家聲名卓著的公司不僅革新了我們觀影、觀劇的方式，同時還將如奧斯卡一般的高品質娛樂帶進了千家萬戶。如下為奈飛的八大原創(chuàng)神劇：

1. 《輪回派對》

納迪婭（飾演者娜塔莎·雷昂，同時是該劇集的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)作者）是一名游戲開發(fā)人員，陷入了在自己的生日派對被殺繼而重生的輪回之中。如果你對類似《土撥鼠之日》的情景翻白眼的話，把你的白眼翻回去，因為這部由雷昂、萊絲利·海德蘭德和艾米·波勒聯(lián)袂創(chuàng)作的劇集極具新意，集滑稽、荒誕、悲傷與喜慶于一體。這部劇集以女性生存危機為主題，讓人追起劇來欲罷不能。此外，哈里·尼爾森的《該起來了》也將永刻于你的腦海之中。

2. 《親愛的白人們》

本劇集改編自賈斯汀·西米恩（同樣優(yōu)秀的）2014年同名電影。他將我們帶回聲名顯赫的溫切斯特大學，在那里社會正義詩人薩曼莎·懷特（羅根·布朗寧飾）經(jīng)受了大學戀情和友誼的成長痛苦，并努力讓她的同學認識到他們學校的社會分化。該劇別具一格地將諷刺和肥皂劇融合在一起，忠實地傳遞了不同尋常的幽默。

3. 《美女摔角聯(lián)盟》

該劇由艾莉森·布里、貝蒂·吉爾平等一眾演繹大咖主演，講述了一群女性在一個富二代和一位古怪的邪典恐怖片導演（由馬克·馬龍出色飾演）的支持之下發(fā)起摔跤表演。劇集開始時角色遭遇的種種尷尬情節(jié)讓人捧腹大笑，但當布里和她的同伴開始完全主導她們創(chuàng)造的這項怪異而美妙的緊身服摔跤運動時，她們的演出大獲成功。她們眼下要做的便是保持節(jié)目、團隊與個人生活的完整性。

4. 《蒂姆·羅賓遜短?。哼€不快走》

蒂姆·羅賓遜是《周六夜現(xiàn)場》的嘉賓，他的喜劇小品與節(jié)目的格調相去甚遠。如果說《周六夜現(xiàn)場》是喜劇界的麥當勞，《蒂姆·羅賓遜短?。哼€不快走》則是只有你和三兩好友喜歡的簡陋小店，因為它不斷更新菜單，提供你在其他任何地方都吃不到的新菜。平心而論，該劇的確荒誕不經(jīng)，但它的喜劇魅力源于其情節(jié)安排的簡單、質樸，以及角色為了堅持這種核心理念的瘋狂努力。

5. 《馬男波杰克》

這是一部荒誕滑稽的卡通片，讓你思考死亡，并心生哀愁、五味雜陳。正如成人情緒搖滾一般，拉斐爾·鮑勃-瓦克斯伯格和莉薩·哈納沃特創(chuàng)作的這部精彩劇集，聚焦片名中的反式英雄馬男身上的成癮、自我厭惡和職業(yè)嫉妒;劇中，馬男試圖擺脫他過去1980年代俗氣情景喜劇明星的身份，變得更受尊重。人們在試圖填補靈魂深處的無底洞時往往會產(chǎn)生深深的絕望——在探索這種絕望時運用如此之多的動物雙關卻還能大受歡迎的，可能唯有此劇了。

6. 《超感獵殺》

生活在世界各地的八個陌生人發(fā)現(xiàn)他們在情感上相互聯(lián)系。他們可以感受到這群人中其他人的感受，雖然天各一方，卻心有靈犀。沃卓斯基姐妹與漫畫作者及編劇J. 邁克爾·斯特拉辛斯基聯(lián)袂，再次如變魔術一般制作出了這部思想宏大的環(huán)球冒險驚悚科幻片。當八人不再逃離一心想要摧毀他們的神秘組織時，這個令人著迷的多元互聯(lián)角色群體打破了所有餐桌之上的禁忌。也許我們應該在餐桌旁聊聊他們？

7. 《女子監(jiān)獄》

該劇是杰姬·科恩自《單身毒媽》之后的完美新劇。本劇改編自派珀·克爾曼的回憶錄，講述了一名年輕的郊區(qū)婦女被關進低度設防監(jiān)獄的故事。這部環(huán)境錯位喜劇最終發(fā)展成一趟精彩而跌宕的情感過山車之旅，將聚光燈投射到所有女性身上——從脾氣暴躁的廚師“紅媽”（凱特·穆格魯飾）到迷人卻神經(jīng)質的“瘋眼”（奧卓·阿杜巴飾）——刻畫出了她們在求生人格之外的人性光輝。該劇荒誕滑稽，卻又仿佛自剝洋蔥一般令人潸然淚下、百感交集。

8. 《天文俱樂部》

在《天文俱樂部》的前兩分鐘里，一個會說話的大蒜燈泡向德古拉開槍并喊道：“寶貝，試著在2020年拿到這筆錢！”所幸劇情變得愈發(fā)奇怪。這部由“正直公民組”劇院成員制作的幽默短劇圍繞一個虛假的真人秀節(jié)目展開，以巧妙的手法一邊嘲諷現(xiàn)實世界蕓蕓眾生和演員自身，一邊讓我們了解這些喜劇新人。這部喜劇表現(xiàn)元素眾多，有自知自覺、荒誕主義、簡單直率，甚至還有社會意識，并將這一切天衣無縫地融合在一起，是該類劇集獨一無二的贏家。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者）