Shorter days and darkened skies mean the sesh must move indoors—specifically, to the couch. But a riches of choice can lead to indecision, especially with a bowl packed nearby.

So we streamlined your viewing experience with 8 new seasons and shows paired with the strain that will bring out the best in them, from wilderness survival to anime to murder mystery.

Outlast Season 2

For Survivor fans who want higher stakes. Sixteen strangers dropped off in the Alaskan wilderness without food or water must form four teams. The goal? Outlast each other in this harsh landscape before racing to the end in the hopes of winning $1 million dollars. Season 1 saw some of the most tactical, emotionless game-playing I’ve ever seen from any of these wilderness reality shows. Season 2 returns with competitors who are already familiar with how the game is played and come armed with strategy. This is some popcorn-worthy reality television. 

Pair with: Duct Tape. Regarded as one of the best strains to shut down your brain and when we’re talking about reality TV, which often repeats itself throughout an episode, you could use some forgetfulness and wonder.

All episodes streaming now on Netflix

Chimp Crazy

A story of obsession, kidnapping, and subterfuge from Eric Goode, the producer who brought you Tiger King. This time he returns with a limited docu-series about people’s obsessions with owning Chimpanzees. A gripping ride that keeps you watching with a mix of surprise and confusion, this is more than just a rehashing of the theme. This time, you’ll follow Goode, a fake filmmaker and a real crew as they ride along with the self-proclaimed ‘Dolly Parton of the Chimp World.’ A second rare chance to see and hear what it’s like trying to raise exotic animals and the bizarre lengths people will go to keep them.  

Pair with: Kush Mints. There are moments of movie suspense mixed with real-life danger to some of the people and animals featured in the movie. This helps you take in both sides to appreciate this documentary/heist movie.

All episodes streaming now on HBO MAX

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

Featuring dope magic battles, this suggestion is one that comes to us from Ted over at Alien Labs. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is the 2023 anime adaptation of a popular Japanese manga series that has 22 million copies in circulation. The elven mage Frieren was part of an adventuring party that embarked on a 10-year quest to slay the Demon King. After their success, she’s left to deal with the vast years of life she has left to live during this era of peace. Upon the death of one of her companions, she’s struck by how short human lives are and sets out on a new quest to meet old and new companions and reunite with her fallen comrade at the resting place of souls.

Pair with: Papaya Punch to get the creativity going through the introduction and the body high to relax as you watch the whole thing. Back in 2021, Leafly recommended this for anime and 3 years later we stand by this choice.

Streaming now on Amazon Prime or Crunchyroll

Only Murders in the Building

Season 3 of this quirky Hulu murder mystery/comedy builds on the previous two seasons while only catching a mild case of callback fever. This time Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez are joined by another cast of big stars in a budget that will leave you wondering how this is on Hulu. Wholesome and easy to watch, this is an easy binge for people who are getting ripped around their family and need to draw attention away from themselves while still enjoying their high.

Pair with:Cap Junky, for a social high that gets you into the show and won’t leave the people around you wondering why you’re giggling to yourself in the corner.

Episodes 1-4 now streaming on Hulu

Dimension 20

Dropout TV is one of the best monthly subscriptions I have. A content hub for nerds and the nerdy-at-heart, one of their most popular programs is the live Dungeons & Dragons adventure Dimension 20. Comedian, Actor, and Gamemaster Brennan Lee Mulligan, along with a hilarious cast of comedians and improv actors create campaigns that seem as much fun to watch as they are to play. Beloved by a vast core group of fans, this year the show got even bigger when they sat down for a season with RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni, traveled for a live UK tour, and were mentioned in TIME magazine in an article on the rise of live D&D’s popularity. 

Streaming now on Dropout TV

Pair with:Permanent Marker, which should keep you laughing through the brilliant improvisations but also give you the mental awareness to keep up with the actual gameplay if you’re a fan of tabletop gaming.

Into The Badlands

Originally an AMC show, Into The Badlands  is set in a post-apocalyptic land where guns have disappeared and life is ruled by five cruel Barons who share the power in an uneasy alliance. The fighting is straight out of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. As with any TV show there are those filler episodes as they move the story along but just like Game of Thrones, this is a show that isn’t afraid to kill off major characters. There are three seasons to binge, and while the last one does start to go a little off the rails, it was canceled before they could start the fourth season so you’ll let it slide while you watch Nick Frost pummel bad guys using the martial arts he learned from monks who’ve learned to control a secret power.

Pair with:Blue Dream. You’ll have all the mental energy to understand this new world but be happy and relaxed enough to not realize you already flew through the whole first season.

All episodes currently available to stream on Netflix

The Penguin

Colin Farrell is damn near unrecognizable as small-time member of Gotham’s Falconi mob, Oz Cobb (we know, but DC Comics president Jim Lee himself signed off on the change). A character with less than 13 minutes on-screen in the 2022 Batman film, Farrell gives depth to the life of a gritty, mid-level mobster dipping his crooked toes into the comical darkness often found in the Gotham universe TV show. Tony Soprano comparisons aside, the acting here is great (especially from Cristin Milioti), and paints Farrell’s Penguin as a true anti-hero.

Episode 1 and 2 streaming now on HBO Max

Pair with:OG Kush for the perfect relaxing body buzz to turn off the lights and enjoy the gritty streets of Gotham. Plus, stay in the moment when it gets a little comedic.

Uzumaki: Spiral Into Horror

After 5 years of delays, Uzumaki premieres with 4 episodes on September 28— you can guarantee people will be on the edge of their seats. Japanese horror master Junji Ito’s series gets an adaptation that follows the lives of two high schoolers living in the town of Kurouzu-cho. After a strange spiral curse starts affecting the town, they must find a way to make it out alive as things begin to take a turn towards the strange and horrible. Some hardcore fans are worried that the small number of episodes won’t fully convey the 600 page story but the trailer released by Adult Swim has everyone ready to turn off the lights and welcome October with an epic horror story.

Pair with: Purple Push Pop, to help keep you stuck to the couch throughout the insane imagery and possible jump scares.

Airs September 28 on Adult Swim

Coming Soon 

SECRET LEVEL

From the creators of Love and Robots comes a whole new series inspired by the worlds of beloved video game franchises like Armored Core, Mega Man, and Warhammer. Fifteen different episodes based on original short stories will be available through Amazon starting in December.

ASIA by BBC

Who doesn’t love to lis ten to David Attenborough, especially when you’re high. Sir David & the BBC make history yet again with its first nature documentary focused solely on Asia. Seven, one-hour episodes will have you following Rhinos in Nepal, Elephants in Sri Lanka, and sea snakes swimming along the Pacific Ocean. 

Holy shinobi, Batman! Leafly HighLight has entered Year Three of celebrating all-star strains of American dispensaries. The Leafly HighLight Hall of Flame now boasts 24 entries!

So, where we do take it from here? Well, we run it back, and find another Top 200 strain on dispensary shelves you have to know about. Just in time to begin anew, we start with the undisputed champion of sales that’s also perfect for easing back into the work year: Blue Dream.

First timers—explore Blue Dream’s balanced hybrid effects that won’t make you loopy. Experienced smokers—don’t even hate. Respect the scoreboard. It’s the No. 1 most-ordered strain on Leafly in December for a reason. A population larger than the island of Guam has favorited Blue Dream on Leafly.

This classic ‘90s cross of DJ Short’s Blueberry x Haze mellows anxiety without sapping your energy or focus. Coming out of Santa Cruz, CA, Blue Dream offers the Cali Sober solution to Dry January’s stressors.

Leafly reviewers report getting creative, uplifted, and energetic on the Haze cross. Exemplars of the strain smell like an actual blueberry when you grind them—which is the damnedest thing.

One reviewer writes: “All of a sudden, I felt as if I was briskly cruising on a warm cloud, which was followed by an amazing burst of energy. Folks let me tell you, if you’d ever like to find out how an eagle feels when it spreads its majestic wings and takes to the air at 80 mph., this strain is a kickass tool to take you there.”

Who’s got Blue Dreams? Best Blue Dreams in the US

Blue Dream’s an undisputed beast in the garden and blankets the country in soft, grassy blueberry smells. But quality varies—which explains why Blue Dream sports an average score of 4.3 out of 5 after more than 14,500 ratings. 

You see Blue Dream a lot in vape cartridges and commodity crops that don’t always showcase the classic. Growing top-shelf Blue Dream is a labor of love at California brands like Ember Valley and Korova. 

In December, we bought superb Blue Dream in California grown by Seven Leaves at Moe Greens in San Francisco. Defying critics, the brand Dream exhibited at The Ego Clash 2023 with phenomenal jars of Blue Dream sitting right alongside hype cultivars Uva and Cherry Gas.

Pax sells it in a live rosin pod, while Raw Garden sells it in live resin. 

Portlanders in Oregon have 353 Blue Dream options with grams hitting $3. In Seattle, there are 656 options, and Have a Heart alone sells 34 Blue Dream SKUs. 
Denverites in Colorado have 313 options, including joints starting at $5 and edible aphrodisiac Love Beans. Chicagoans have 249 Blue Dream choices—nearly all carts. Detroiters have 126 options—mostly carts. Even newly legal New Yorkers have 103 Blue Dream options, including the gold standard Pax Live Rosin pod.

Blue Dream seeds

The Blue Dream seed game is a global free-for-all, and gardeners have their pick from outlets all across the reputability spectrum. 

We’d look into DJ Short’s Blueberry work on SeedsHereNow, or Humboldt Seed Company’s feminized or auto Blue Dream. We grew Equilibrium Genetics’ Blue Dream Bx and it threw down!

See also: Blue Dream seeds from North Atlantic, Blimburn, and Fast Buds. For crosses, look at this Lemon Trance, and this Andorian.

Blue Dream awards

Like a weed Lebron James, King Blue Dream keeps putting up wins in the roaring 2020s. A Blue Dream took bronze in Maryland in 2023. A Blue Dream live rosin pod with diamonds from PAX took home a gold in 2022. A Blue Dream HHC pen from 3CHI took a first in 2022. Blue Dream live resin gummies from Kiva/Camino/Lost Farm took gold in 2020, and silver in 2021. The wins stretch back for decades: 2014, 2017 and on.

Blue Dream terpenes

Where does the smell of Blue Dream come from? The average results from lab samples labeled ‘Blue Dream’ indicate a lot of myrcene plus pinene and caryophyllene. We see the same top three terps in Blueberry and its cousins and vape juice formulations.

Other highlights this January

Bored of Blue Dream already? Here are three more go-to flavors for sticking to fitness goals in 2024.

Lemon Thai

Kick it even more old school and energetic with some Lemon Thai—a citrusy sativa with a similarly mild taste as Blue Dream. A cross of Thai and Hawaiian.

Mimosa

Keep it Cali Sober with the balanced Sunday morning strain Mimosa—the perfect mix of orangey and effervescent. A cross of Clementine and Purple Punch.

Animal Face

Attention all gas lovers—smoke this before you crush a strength training workout. So goodbye to boredom when you put on your minty, diesely, potent Animal Face. A cross of Face-off OG and Animal Mints.

And that’s the January 2024 Leafly HighLight. We’re stoked for a huge year of celebrating the all-stars of the cannabis cosmos, so download the app, and put the weed in the basket.

Like Leafly HighLight? Fave this post, leave a nice comment, and order some trees on Leafly.

In a sea of nearly 6,000 strains, what merits the best? If you flip through an old copy of High Times, or ask an OG smoker about their favorite strains of yesteryear, you’ll get a much different answer than from a 2023 member of Leafly nation. Weed is like wine, fashion, and food—every region has their preferences, their unique styles, their legacies and trends. And what might be called Michelin-starred or haute couture isn’t necessarily what keeps the people puffing.

We’ve named Permanent Marker our 2023 Strain of the Year for pushing the envelope of Gelato-family genetics and its national, titanic wave in popularity. But that doesn’t mean weed tastemakers and hype beasts have forgotten the stalwart classics of cannabis creation and culture. The best-selling strains of 2023, based on a review of a lot (a lot) of dispensary sales data, indicate that Leafly nation has a fondness for both the old and the new.

Blue Dream

Blueberry x Haze

• Creative • Uplifted •Energetic
• Blueberry •Berry •Sweet
• THC 18% •CBD 0%

There are some universal truths we must accept. Everyone, at some point in their life, has bought a pair of Air Force 1s, has eaten at Cheesecake Factory, and has smoked Blue Dream. Created in 2003 in Santa Cruz, CA, this Blueberry x Haze cross is nearly old enough to buy an eighth of itself at the local dispo, though its heyday winning cannabis cup titles has passed. It endures because it offers growers of the medical industry solid returns, and soothed a large spectrum of patients’ symptoms. 

As former Leafly contributor and EIC of High Times Ellen Holland wrote in our Blue Dream strain history in 2021, “New cultivars quickly rise and fall, but, whether you like it or not, Blue Dream will rip eternal.”

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Wedding Cake

Triangle Kush x Animal Mints

• Relaxed • Hungry •Happy
• Vanilla •Pepper • Sweet
• THC 24% •CBD 0%

Not to toot our own horn, but do we not know how to pick em? Wedding Cake, the first Seed of Junky Genetics’ creations that we crowned Strain of the Year back in 2019, remains beloved by cannabis lovers for its striking balance of flavor and effect. Its genetics of Animal Mints x Triangle Kush created the winning blueprint for 2022 and 2023 SOTY winners Jealousy and Permanent Marker—big healthy buds that ooze that mix of sweet and sharp terps coupled with effects that offer euphoria without paranoia. We wrote back in 2019 that Wedding Cake.

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Gelato

Sunset Sherbet x Thin Mint GSC

• Euphoric • Aroused •Happy
• Sweet • Vanilla • Mint
• THC 21% •CBD 0%

I think former Leafly Subject Matter Expert Danté Jordan said it best: “The smell? Loud. The taste? Sweet. Gassy. The smoke? Smooth. Wondrous. It’s a combination of everything good that comes from cannabis, all in one strain, like a cannabis Captain Planet.” You can’t have a cannabis sesh, let alone a cannabis conversation, without Gelato coming up; Sherbinksi was in his bag when he crossed Thin Mint GSC x Sunset Sherbet all those years ago. At this point, our 2018 Strain of the Year winner has so many cup trophies, rap song name drops, and progeny strains that it has nothing more to prove. 

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Granddaddy Purple

Mendo Purps x Skunk x Afghanistan

• Relaxed • Hungry •Happy
• Dizzy •Dry Mouthiest
• THC 18% •CBD 0%

Trends are cyclical, just like cannabis cultivation. Purple weed in all its forms, from Lavender to Mendocino Purps, were in high demand given their unique pigment, grape flavors, and bone-deep pain relief. In a landscape dominated by Cookies crosses and whatever Seed Junky comes up with next, Grandaddy Purple, or just GDP, keeps the love for the purp alive. It’s a deeply indica strain with generations of history; here’s to hoping it stays en vogue for the next generation. 

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Apple Fritter

Sour Apple xAnimal Cookies

• Relaxed • Tingly •Giggly
• Apple •Cheese •Butter
• THC 24% •CBD 0%

Surprised? As the “youngest” strain on this list, Lumpy’s Sour Apple x Animal Cookies cross Apple Fritter has taken its place among the people’s favorite buy. It’s a unique pick—apple tartness mingles with the gassy dough of Cookies and even notes of cheese to create a brain-tingling hybrid. We noted its dominance last fall in a HighLight column, and it’s clear that 2023 has been a strong year even as more and more boutique strains hit dispensary shelves.  

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Sour Diesel

Chemdog x Super Skunk

• Energetic • Talkative •Creative
• Diesel •Pungent • Skunk
• THC 22% •CBD 0%

At our recent New York City linkup with Sour progenitor Asshole Joe, the classic strain beloved on the East Coast is actually more a hybrid than straight sativa—and we moved with the quickness to make sure our strain database reflects this. Sour Diesel offers consumers a profile seldom seen in cannabis—turpentine sour funk. And it seems poised for a revival, with new collaborations and competition showings telling us that the more terps change, the more they stay the same. 

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Pineapple Express

Trainwreck x Hawaiian

• Energetic • Happy •Talkative
• Pineapple •Tropical•Mango
• THC 20% •CBG 1%

We’re not talking about the mid-aughts Seth Rogen stoner comedy, but there’s plenty of overlap with fans of this tropical sativa strain. Sativas are tricky—not everyone likes a cerebral headrush, and they tend towards more sour, citrus, or chem-like flavors. Pineapple Express wins because it offers energy without anxiety, and a tang that soothes the sting of a straight Trainwreck. And probably, because it reminds us of a movie with plenty of laughs.

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Ice Cream Cake

Wedding Cake x Gelato #33

• Relaxed • Hungry •Sleepy
• Vanilla •Butter •Sweet
• THC 22% •CBG 1%

Call it a weed nepo baby. Ice Cream Cake combines Wedding Cake and Gelato #33, a pheno also referred to as Larry Bird, for a generational Cup winner bursting with vanilla, berry, and diesel goodness that put its consumer at immediate ease. This is another Seed Junky homerun, proving that the legendary breeders can create strains that appeal to in-industry tastemakers and the everyday consumer.

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