1. ‘Bridgerton’ (2020)
The string quartet covers of pop songs all over “Bridgerton” set the tone for how the Netflix series approaches romance: it’s equal parts winkingly modern and in love with the trappings of its Regency period; what are gazebos for, if not for hooking up in just out of view of an estate full of gossips? In this, fans of the Bridgerton family always get to have their cake and eat it, too. The show relishes all the little moments of intimacy that mean more amid the restrictive society rules, but then — whether it’s Simon (Rene-Jean Page) and Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) or Antony (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate (Simone Ashley) or, gentle viewers can hope, Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin (Luke Newton) — the payoff is more than a 19th-century heart could take. —SS