Every once in a while I smile and do a little step following those few-and-far-between moments when my faith in humanity is restored.

Had a few of those moments between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Believe it or not, they were driven by social media and the streaming service known as Netflix.

But before I get into the details of that story, I want to alert readers to a new online project upon which I will embark starting this month. As part of my cycle of online blogs, I’m starting a series called “5 Picks on Netflix.”

The other blogs in the cycle will include “Loewy Online,” “Beyond the Story” and “Stream It!”

“5 Picks on Netflix” will run once or twice a month and outline what I’m watching through the streaming service. As I move forward with the “5 Picks” blog I’ll ask readers, Facebook friends, and maybe random folks on the street what they’re watching on Netflix.

OK. Back to having my faith in humanity restored. I’ll start from the beginning.

Back on Dec. 18 I wasn’t feeling so hot. In fact, I was in throes of a five-week upper respiratory infection that had me feeling like if there ever was an omnipotent entity looking down on us it surely hated me.

So I was lying on my couch, feeling sorry for myself, and determined to watch something other than one of the exploit-teenage-athletes-for-millions bowl games. I turned over to Netflix, where I found the premier of a 10-part documentary series called “Making a Murderer.”

As most folks know, the discs-to-door service wisely morphed into a streaming service. More importantly for any human being starved for original content, Netflix has developed a number of its own programs that have — to varying degrees — made a splash in the mainstream.

I don’t watch all of them, but the viewing world is a better place with stuff like “Orange is the New Black,” “House of Cards,” “Bloodline,” and “Daredevil.”

Now comes “Making a Murderer” and anyone who knows me knows it is right up my wheelhouse: A Wisconsin man put behind bars 18 years for a rape he did not commit, finally exonerated, then accused, tried and found guilty of a horrific murder two years after his release.

It is a series nearly beyond description in its scope — the filmmakers spent 10 years on the story and it digs deep.

Avery’s story is sad and confusing and doesn’t have an ending. That alone is reason enough to watch it.

Yet “Making a Murderer” is far more than just Avery’s story. It is the story of a justice system weighed against one man and sheds some light on systemic problems in our country’s quest for justice.

Watching “Making a Murderer” is a harrowing experience. You will be saddened and angered and — hopefully — just a tad curious about how we can make things better.

The Netflix series definitely did not reaffirm my faith in humanity. What followed, however, did.

Within a few days of its Dec. 18 premier, I started to see mentions of it in my Facebook friends’ posts.

Those mentions snowballed. By the time New Year’s Eve rolled around, I saw at least three mentions of “Making a Murderer” every day. Folks were watching three, four, and five episodes in one siting.

One Facebook friend messaged to say she binged the entire 10-episode series, taking breaks only for meals and the bathroom. Another posted that the series so ensnared her that she stayed up most of the night and into the next morning, glued to the story as it unfolded.

It’s easy, and in many quarters still fashionable, to dismiss this country’s viewing populace as glassy-eyed lumps interested in nothing more than duck dynasties, dance competitions and highly profitable college bowl games played on the backs of unpaid labor.

Thankfully, nothing is further from the truth. Folks will watch compelling, complicated, true, and finely told stories. I would argue, in fact, Americans hunger for the kind of reporting and storytelling displayed by the likes of “Making a Murderer.”

We aren’t stupid. Add up the sum total of people watching the kind of prolonged, demanding stories told in series like “The Walking Dead,” “Better Call Saul,” “Fargo,” and countless other long-form fiction narratives presented as television dramas and I think you have just the tip of a very large iceberg.

The same is true for documentaries. If you’re looking for other finely crafted non-fiction work like “Making a Murderer,” I have a few recommendations:

“The Jinx”: This six-part series is available on-demand through HBO and VUDU streaming services and tells the almost-unbelievable story of Robert Durst. Besides “Making a Murderer” it is the best multi-episode crime doc of its era.

“Love & Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere”: This doc tells the story of a Chadron State College mathematics professor who disappears — and the writer, Poe Ballantine, who muses about the incident. Available through Amazon Prime.

“Soaked in Bleach”: I don’t know much about Kurt Cobain’s death or the conspiracy theories it has spawned, but this film takes the viewer on an engrossing journey through the eyes of a private detective who was hired to find him. You can find this doc on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime.

Those three were released in 2015. Here are a few lesser-known documentaries from my archive:

“Cropsey”: This 2009 film from Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio starts as a tale of the East Coast, urban-legend boogeyman named in the title. But the film transitions to the story of a child kidnapper on Staten Island. You can find it on Netflix and Hulu.

“Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles”: From 2011, this is a fascinating, almost-scary journey through one man’s obsession with strange tiles he finds embedded in some Philadelphia streets. You will not see another doc like it, ever. I promise. It was available for a long time through Netflix, but you can rent it on YouTube for the modest sum of $2.99.

My final message in this column? We all have our guilty pleasures — ducks and dynasties, celebrity dancing, not finding Bigfoot, sports of every variety, antiques, car restoration, whatever.

That stuff serves a purpose. But never be afraid of being smart. Never back away from being curious. Try “Making a Murderer.” Or one of the documentaries on the list. You will smile and do a little step when you discover you are far from alone in the quest to watch something intelligent, engrossing and challenging.

Tom Loewy: (309) 343-7181, ext. 256; tloewy@register-mail.com; @tomloewy