My Favorite New Netflix Show Is Dramatic, Heartbreaking & I Binged It All in a Week

When it comes to reality TV, I've binged it all. I'm talking Fboy Island, The Circle, The Bachelorette, The Traitors...the list goes on and on. And now, I've found a new reality show that hearkens back to the "good old days" of The Real World, only with more heart, more heartbreak and more honesty. I'm talking about The Boyfriend on Netflix.

The Boyfriend is a show about dating and friendship, where the emotions are real and the drama is particularly raw. In the Japanese series (I highly recommend watching with subtitles rather than dubbing if you don't speak Japanese), nine gay and bisexual men move into a seaside house together to try to find love, friendship and themselves. And you guys, this show is really great. That's why I was able to binge it all in a single week.

Unlike your typical dating reality show (I'm looking at you Too Hot to Handle...), The Boyfriend doesn't feature a cast of the loudest, most drama-prone camera hogs (harsh, but true). In fact, the men in this show are shy, nervous and real in a way that is wildly refreshing for a series in this genre. They wear their hearts on their sleeves and are more concerned with making genuine connections than just getting the most camera time.

But that only makes the drama that much more heartbreaking. When one of the shy men professes his feelings for his housemate and is rebuffed, it's impossible not to start tearing up.

The show's executive producer Dai Ota told Tudum, “We started out wanting to highlight the young men’s friendships and personalities. Our focus wasn’t just on romance but also on spending time together and experiencing personal growth.”

And unlike The Bachelor, where I often wonder if anyone has grown at all, the cast of The Boyfriend truly grows over the course of the ten episodes, whether grappling with their past trauma, their sexuality or their fear of opening up. Also unlike The Bachelor, these guys are all clearly here for the right reasons.

One element of the show that I wasn't expecting? It's also hosted by five TV personalities who comment on the action and drama along the way. At first it was a bit jarring to cut away to a studio where these commentators gave their hot takes. But it quickly became clear that these recap moments are just as important in tracking the journey of these young men. The commentators add humor, insight and their own personal stories as well.

While there are plenty of reality shows to choose from right now, I can't recommend The Boyfriend enough, if for no other reason than that it provides more reality in a single episode than I've seen all season on The Bachelorette.

The first episodes of The Boyfriend hit Netflix in early July, but all 10 episodes are out now and available to stream.