New TV Shows: A Guide to All the Latest Releases

And Where to Watch Them

TV Lists New Series
New TV Shows: A Guide to All the Latest Releases

Keeping up with new TV shows can be daunting. Just when we’d thought we’d reached the crest of Peak TV, a half a dozen more streamers came along, each with their own new original series, making us realize we were still in the foothills. Now, every week feels like Sweeps Week with a host of entertainment megacorporations battling for your precious couch time. We thought it’d be helpful to keep a running list of all the latest TV series worth consideration—primarily new scripted TV shows with a couple notable documentaries included. We’ll keep updating this guide to the latest TV as long as Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, Starz, Showtime, FX, AMC+, Freevee and all the networks keep churning out the content.

1. The IdolRelease Date: June 2, 2023
Creator: Sam Levinson, Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye
Stars: Lily-Rose Depp, Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, Suzanna Son, Troye Sivan, Jane Adams
Genre: Drama
Paste Review Rating: 4.8


Watch on Max

Most things that get touted as controversial end up being dull. The Idol, Sam Levinson’s six-episode collaboration with The Weeknd starring Abel Tesfaye and Lily-Rose Depp, could not have arrived with more noise—not just for its lurid and copious depictions of nudity, sex, and distresses both emotional and physical in LA’s music industry, but for the fact that, reportedly, the production was an unhinged nightmare. Levinson stepped in to write and direct the whole show after original director Amy Seimetz was ousted from the project after key creatives thought it was leaning too hard into “a female perspective.” From the two episodes made available to critics (given that they were willing to relocate to the south of France to get them), The Idol makes its intentions clear: It wants to shock, yes, to relish in the spectacle and traumas of a perilous, punishing, but always bewitching industry. But it also wants desperately to be liked, to be considered current, cutting, and empathetic. It’s not that Episodes 1 and 2 are outright failures, but they are always transparent; the show wants to be regarded with a certain kind of prestige, to trigger specific, calculated provocations, with all the character work and visual language reverse-engineered to support this goal. —Rory Doherty


2. FUBARRelease Date: May 24, 2023
Creator: Nick Santora
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Monica Barbaro, Milan Carter, Gabriel Luna, Jay Baruchel
Genre: Action comedy
Rating: TV-MA

Watch on Netflix

There’s a sort of appealing finality in that both of the biggest action stars of ‘80s cinema eventually found their way into television (in their mid-70s!) to ride out the sunset days of the rest of their careers. But while Sylvester Stallone was lucky enough to get a tailor-made (pun fully intended) show that emphasized his strengths with Taylor Sheridan’s Tulsa King, Arnold Schwarzenegger caught the wrong end of the deal with Netflix’s horrendous action-comedy FUBAR. And it makes one wonder how much of his famous competitiveness went into saying yes to this project after seeing the amount of success his good friend has found making the Paramount+ series. In defense of Schwarzenegger, FUBAR’s concept sounds very much like his shtick. A slight throwback to his beloved ’90s spy-comedy True Lies, the show’s plot follows Luke Brunner (Schwarzenegger), a CIA operative in his 60s, who is one last mission away from retiring and dedicating all of his time to his big, loving family. However, the job (which he kept secret for decades) cost him his marriage, and made him a little estranged from his son and daughter. Although as we know, for a skilled professional like him, there’s always another “final assignment” he has to do to keep the country safe. Naturally, after his alleged last mission, he’s called back to the field when an undercover operative’s life is in great danger in Guyana, South America. When he finds out that the agent is none other than his own daughter, Emma (Monica Barbaro), shit hits the fan as they’re confronted with decades of lies (blaming one another for betraying each other’s trust and breaking up the family). As the head of the paramilitary organization she’s infiltrated (Gabriel Luna) finds out their true identity, too, bloody chaos ensues. Unfortunately whatever little ’90s charm (the Austrian’s trademark accent, some funny wordplay, and a macho bravado) FUBAR has in its pilot quickly gets murdered by the awful writing, mediocre acting and embarrassingly outdated action sequences. —Akos Peterbencze


3. PlatonicRelease Date: May 24, 2023
Creators: Nick Stoller, Francesca Delbanco
Stars: Rose Byrne, Seth Rogen, Luke Macfarlane, Tre Hale, Carla Gallo, Andrew Lopez
Genre: Comedy
Paste Review Rating: 6.6


Watch on Apple TV+

The new Apple TV+ comedy series, Platonic, seems to be adhering to the Judd Apatow model meltdown age of 40, and uses Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen—playing formerly estranged best friends—to reflect on the turmoil of life, love, and pent-up rage. The result is an uneven modern screwball comedy that often gets too big and too repetitive for its own good. Luckily, the rapport of its leads carries it through to make it a relatively pleasing watch. You might remember that Byrne and Rogen played old marrieds in Neighbors and its sequel. Both were directed by Nicholas Stoller, who has co-created Platonic with his wife, Francesca Delbanco. They’ve reunited Byrne and Rogen once more to play Sylvia and Will, former college besties who five years ago parted on terrible terms when she warned him against marrying his fiancée, Audrey (Alisha Wainwright). He did anyway and they went radio silent with one another. It’s only when Sylvia finds out via social media that Will is recently divorced that her husband, Charlie (Luke Macfarlane), suggests she take the opportunity to reconnect and mend fences. Long story short, they do, and quickly become one another’s emotional crutches and chaos instigators. The push and pull between Sylvia and Will is written in such a way that even when they screw up so colossally with their partners, their work, or their social circles, you’re compelled to know where it’s all gonna end up. Will the extremely patient and supportive Charlie eventually implode on Sylvia for her antics? Is it possible for Will to grow up and get out of his own way to a happier life? To the show’s credit, it succeeds in making you want to know the answers to those questions, and more. So Platonic works best as a character study of two people who just get one another, major flaws and all. But as a great comedic series, it’s ultimately less satisfying or thought-provoking than one would hope. —Tara Bennett


4. High DesertRelease Date: May 24, 2023
Creators: Nancy Fichman, Katie Ford, Jennifer Hoppe-House
Stars: Patricia Arquette, Brad Garrett, Weruche Opia, Bernadette Peters, Rupert Friend
Genre: Comedy
Paste Review Rating: 7.8


Watch on Apple TV+

It’s not often you can say that a new show offers something unique, but Apple TV+’s High Desert may be that rare unicorn. I’ve certainly never seen anything like it, and this is one of those deals where a nuts-and-bolts description—Peggy, played by Patricia Arquette, is a recovering drug addict who responds to her mother’s death and her imminent eviction by attempting to become a private investigator—tells you almost nothing. Gun to head, the nearest point of comparison is Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice, which has the same seedy neo-Western aesthetic and the same manic energy emanating from the lead, mixed with a little Elmore Leonard on his urban scruff kick. And Arquette, at 55, is like a sharper Jennifer Coolidge (same eyes, nearly the same voice), every bit as funny but a little more cutthroat, a little more intimidating. High Desert begins and ends with Arquette. Everyone else is along for the ride, and whether they’re solid or just functional, they’re like the light-up pieces in a pinball machine; interesting on their own, to a degree, but mostly there to give the ball a few obstacles to careen against. Arquette is the ball, and careen she does, barely staying afloat in her messy life by means of pure inertia, never quite comfortable unless she’s teetering on the brink of total chaos and trying to make disparate parts fit together in some haphazard, nonsensical symphony that never quite works. Arquette is remarkable as this vulnerable con artist, simultaneously orchestrating all parts of her surroundings and at the total mercy of the gods. To watch her try to pull one over on a world that rewards sensibility is extraordinarily fun, and the rest of the show keeps pace one perfect half-step behind the viewer. This is a desert world of hidden energies and dark influences, and once you settle in for the ride, you find that you don’t just root for Peggy… you need her. She’s the roman candle Kerouac worshiped, in the modern flesh, and there’s comfort in the fact that she’s never going to burn out. —Shane Ryan


5. PrimoRelease Date: May 19, 2023
Creators: Shea Serrano, Michael Schur
Stars: gnacio Diaz-Silverio, Johnny Rey Diaz, Christina Vidal, Henri Esteve, Martin Martinez, Jonathan Medina, Carlos Santos, Nigel Siwabessy, Efrain Villa, Stakiah Lynn Washington
Genre: Comedy


Watch on Amazon Prime

From executive producers Shea Serrano and Michael Schur (The Good Place, Parks and Recreation), this comedy series is inspired by Serrano’s life growing up in San Antonio with five very involved uncles. Sixteen-year-old Rafa Gonzales (Ignacio Diaz-Silverio) must balance the love of his overprotective mother (Christina Vidal) and his uncles with his impending graduation from high school, his burgeoning love life and the real possibility that he may be the first in his family to go to college. “Our life is like a Jenga tower, we make one wrong move and it all comes tumbling down,” he tells his mother. —Amy Amatangelo


6. City on FireRelease Date: May 17, 2023
Creators: Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage
Stars: Wyatt Oleff, Chase Sui Wonders, Jemima Kirke, Nico Tortorella, Ashley Zukerman
Genre: Crime Drama
Paste Review Rating: 2.0


Watch on Apple TV+

Just as Gareth Risk Hallberg’s 2015 novel City on Fire came out with incredible fanfare and then disappeared with shocking rapidity from the broader cultural conversation, so now the serialized adaptation on Apple TV+ promises high-octane human drama and, within minutes, collapses in on itself and leaves us with a product that tries extremely hard not to be boring in the most boring way possible. Here’s the deal: A bunch of no-good punk kids are setting fires all around the city, but it’s for intellectual aesthetic reasons, or something. A manic pixie dream girl takes photographs of everyone and everything, a troubled youth who goes to therapy in the city finds himself in the center of an underground social scene—largely because literally everyone he meets decides he needs to be taken under their wing, often after little more than a glance—everyone is kind of horrible, and at the end someone dies. The acting is abysmal and cliched, but I don’t want to pick on anyone individually because the writing is so bad that I’m not sure they had a chance. Dialogue is reduced to familiar cliches, the plot is nonsensical, the characters are one-dimensional. Beyond Jemima Kirke, and a few adult turns by her unfaithful husband (Ashley Zukerman, who plays Nate on Succession), there’s really nothing redeeming here. There’s not even very much that’s human here, and I couldn’t find any heart. All that’s left is something slick, and it’s the kind of glib slickness that makes you more upset, like when a talentless rich kid gets to make a movie and all his friends tell him it’s great. You can hire the best of the best, and you can fool the least discerning, but there’s an enormous chasm where the soul should be —Shane Ryan


7. Black Knightblack knightNetflix Release Date: May 12, 2023
Creators: Lee Yun-kyun
Stars: Kim Woo-bin, Song Seung-heon, Kang Yoo-seok, Esom
Genre: Sci-fi
Rating: TV-14

Watch on Netflix

In the aftermath of a comet colliding with Earth, most continents have been covered by the ocean, and Korea has become a desert. With only 1% of the population left on the planet, survivors have been divided up into tiers, and those on the bottom are forced to scratch out a living in the desolate ruins. This Korean dystopian sci-fi series has Mad Max K-drama vibes.


8. Class of ’09Release Date: May 10, 2023
Creator: Tom Rob Smith
Stars: Brian Tyree Henry, Kate Mara, Sepideh Moafi
Genre: Sci-fi, thriller

Watch on Hulu

Kate Mara, Brian Tyree Henry, Sepideh Moafi: Take a bow. Those three, with an extra emphatic nod to Henry (the brilliant “Paper Boi” from Atlanta) are the saving graces of Class of ’09, an otherwise serviceable but occasionally disoriented FBI thriller from FX (streaming on Hulu). Without them, this could have been an outright failure, and was guaranteed to be forgettable; with them, it’s a solid eight-episode miniseries that won’t go down as one of the greats, but will absolutely grab and hold your attention. The story here, from creator Tom Rob Smith (London Spy), is deceptively simple: The FBI class of ’09, many of them recruited from outside law enforcement, are considered a special group destined for greatness until certain fissures emerge that set them against each other. The action jumps from three set time periods: ’09 itself, when they’re all undergoing training, the “present,” as they try to infiltrate and dismantle a white supremacist group in the face of terroristic threats, and the “future,” circa 2034, when an all-seeing surveillance network designed for noble purposes (haha!) is either manipulated by humans or becomes self-aware to the point that it makes pre-emptive arrests based on thoughts, or something. All of this? It’s fine. A little cluttered, a little nonsensical, a little philosophically out of whack, but not totally risible, either. Squint your eyes a little, and it’s almost timely. —Shane Ryan


9. The Muppets MayhemRelease Date: May 10, 2023
Creators: Jim Henson, Bill Barretta, Adam F. Goldberg, Jeff Yorkes
Stars: Lilly Singh, Bill Barretta, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, Dave Goelz, Eric Jacobson, Peter Linz, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, Saara Chaudry, Tahj Mowry
Genre: Comedy
Paste Review Rating: 7.7

Watch on Disney+

For over 50 years, The Electric Mayhem––Dr. Teeth (Bill Barretta), Animal (Eric Jacobson), Floyd (Matt Vogel), Janice (David Rudman), Zoot (Dave Goelz), and Lips (Peter Linz)—delighted fans with their rock music and groovy positivity. But, as Disney+’s The Muppets Mayhem explores, despite their legendary status, the band never produced a complete album. Enter Nora Singh (Lily Singh), an ambitious yet low-ranking music exec at struggling record label Wax Records. When she learns that Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem owe Wax an album, Nora uses that as her ticket to success. In this 10-episode season, creators Goldberg, Yorkes, and Barretta cleverly use a simple premise as a foundation to finally add depth to each member’s personas, and also satirize the music industry in the goofiest way imaginable. As part of the journey to get the band back in the public’s eyes and ears, each episodic plot riffs on various facets of music culture: toxic fanbases, popularization of music documentary films, the music production process—you name it. Whatever’s relevant, they hit it via silly gags, celebrity cameos, and inside-baseball references that might leave adults laughing hysterically more than their kids. At its best, The Muppets Mayhem is like a family-friendly version of Spinal Tap or Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, minus the mockumentary format. Who knew that the Muppet magic Disney has been missing needed a little bit of mayhem to reinvigorate the franchise again? —Rendy Jones


10. SiloRelease Date: May 5, 2023
Creator: Graham Yost
Stars: Rebecca Ferguson, Common, Harriet Walter, Chinaza Uche, Avi Nash, David Oyelowo, Rashida Jones, Tim Robbins
Genre: Sci-fi


Watch on Apple TV+

Hugh Howey became the face of the self-publishing movement when his 2011 dystopian novella Wool became an enormous hit on Amazon’s Kindle platform. It was the first of the three books in the Silo trilogy and became the basis for the first season of the new Apple TV+ series, developed by Justified creator Graham Yost. Like the book, the series is set in a self-contained world of a 144-story silo surrounded by a dead earth and begins with an IT worker (Rashida Jones) and her sheriff husband (David Oyelowo) digging into the secrets of the their strange anachronistic world (there are computers but no photographs) before shifting focus to an engineer (Rebecca Ferguson), who’s thrown into the center of silo’s power struggles. The mysteries and shifting alliances unfold at a brisk pace with mostly satisfying results, as Yost stays true to the story that unexpectedly captivated millions, and the cast is strong, with additional support from Common, Tim Robbins and Geraldine James. Alongside Severance, Foundation and Hello Tomorrow!, Apple continues to establish itself as the home for smart, enjoyable sci-fi shows. —Josh Jackson


11. BupkisRelease Date: May 4, 2023
Creator: Pete Davidson, Judah Miller, Dave Sirus
Stars: Pete Davidson, Edie Falco, Joe Pesci
Genre: Comedy, drama
Paste Review Rating: 7.5


Watch on Peacock

One wonders how many times a comedian/actor/writer can sell the same semi-autobiographical story successfully in a slightly different wrapping. But with Peacock’s latest 8-episode comedy series Bupkis, Pete Davidson is two for two so far. After 2020’s The King of Staten Island, the comedian doubles down on his “fictionalized” life in a meta approach that’s stuffed with Hollywood stars playing either one of his relatives or themselves. And in doing so, we’ll forever owe him for bringing back Joe Pesci to play his foul-mouthed Italian-American grandpa, that’s for sure. Bupkis‘s plot is loosely defined with vague character arcs that barely classify as a continuous narrative, but are just enough to keep the ball rolling. We follow Davidson (apparently playing a “heightened” version of himself) in Staten Island, living with his mother (Edie Falco) who’s generally worried about him. Pete’s just doing what the Pete Davidsons of the world do on a regular basis: hanging out with his boys, smoking weed, jerking off, taking pills, and having fun in between gigs. His worry-free lifestyle is somewhat interrupted when he learns that his street-wise grandfather, Joe (Pesci), is dying of cancer. This unfolds in a heartfelt conversation between the two, where Joe says that all he wants is to spend more time with his grandson and get to know him better. This serves as a sort of wake-up call for Davidson to change his life, stop being a joke, and act like a man instead of a child. Bupkis generally nails a well-balanced mix of humor, self-awareness, and drama stemming from both reality and fiction, giving us a multi-flavored comedy that goes down easy.—Akos Peterbencze


12. Queen CharlotteNetflix Release Date: May 4, 2023
Creator: Chris Coelen
Stars: India Amarteifio, Adjoa Andoh, Michelle Fairley, Ruth Gemmell, Corey Mylchreest, Golda Rosheuvel
Genre: Historical romance
Rating: TV-MA

Watch on Netflix

When the news first broke that Netflix would be expanding the onscreen world of its mega-popular period drama Bridgerton, many people (read: me) were likely more than a bit apprehensive. Sure, Golda Rosheuvel’s Queen Charlotte has always been an entertaining standout in the series’ first two seasons, but was that enough reason to focus an entirely separate show on her story? Particularly when we already know some of the broad strokes of tragedy that will come to touch her life by the time the main series takes place? Could a seemingly throwaway origin story really have anything all that meaningful to say? Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, starring India Amarteifio as the young Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, not only provides a resoundingly confident yes to all those questions, the prequel series actually manages to provide an important narrative and emotional context for the larger world in which it is set. Deftly weaving an origin story for its titular fan-favorite character through and alongside a present-day tale of love and duty, in which Rosheuvel’s Charlotte attempts to convince her squad of offspring to produce a royal heir, this is a delightful, frothy romp with a deceptively bittersweet center. And unlike the rest of the Bridgerton onscreen universe, this is a story that is willing to wrestle with larger issues than just romance. Here, love isn’t something you feel, or fall into. It’s something you do. —Lacy Baugher Milas


13. Unicorn: Warriors EternalRelease Date: May 4, 2023
Creator: Genndy Tartakovsky
Stars: Hazel Doupe, Grey DeLisle, Jacob Dudman, Alain Uy, Tom Milligan, Demari Hunte, Paul Tylak
Genre: Animated fantasy
Paste Review Rating: 7.8


Watch on Max

Genndy Tartakovsky’s past cartoon hits have excelled at the art of simplicity, with the sort of easily understood high-concept pitches that allow for infinite creative variation. Unicorn: Warriors Eternal, Tartakovsky’s newest series, is not like that. After one episode, you’ll probably have more questions about what’s happening than answers. The pilot starts in ancient Egypt, where three warriors—elf swordsman Eldred (Jacob Dudman), astral-projecting mystic Seng (Alain Uy), and sorceress Melinda (Grey DeLisle)—are fighting some evil glowy dragon thing. After a battle that leaves Melinda injured, suddenly Merlin of Arthurian legend (Jeremy Crutchley) and a steampunk robot from the future named Copernicus appear through a portal and announce to these three warriors that their spirits will have to return throughout time to fight this mysterious evil. We’ll see how the second half of the season goes, but Unicorn: Warriors Eternal could very well become something great. —Reuben Baron


14. White House PlumbersRelease Date: May 1, 2023
Creators: Alex Gregory, Peter Huyck
Stars: Woody Harrelson, Justin Theroux, Lena Headey, Domhnall Gleeson, Judy Greer, Kim Coates
Genre: Political comedy
Paste Review Rating: 7.9


Watch on Max

In the opening scene of HBO’s star-studded limited series White House Plumbers, audiences are treated to a group of men trying (and failing) to break into the Democratic National Committee offices in Washington D.C.’s Watergate Office Building; their aim being to help secure a 1972 win for Republican incumbent Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign. A chyron appears to alert audiences that we are, however, not watching a reenactment of the infamously blundered June 1972 break-in documented in history books and elsewhere. In fact, the first moments of Plumbers tells us, there were four attempted break-ins. What is being shown here is a reenactment of attempt two. The folks behind White House Plumbers want you to know that they know that you think you know this story—and that you’re wrong. This group of government employees and others did many stupid things. The acting in this series, starting from those playing the two geniuses overseeing this fiasco—Woody Harrelson’s mouth-breathing and guttural CIA-trained E. Howard Hunt and Justin Theroux’s self-mutilating and maniacally smiling FBI agent G. Gordon Liddy—is frequently ham-handed and distracting. This is all a shame because Plumbers does tie in a lot of details that make this story even more insane. —Whitney Friedlander


15. A Small LightRelease Date: May 1, 2023
Creators: Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, William Harper, Ben Esler
Stars: Bel Powley, Liev Schreiber, Joe Cole, Amira Casar, Billie Boullet, Ashley Brooke
Genre: Historical Drama
Paste Review Rating: 9.5

Watch on Disney+

While Anne Frank’s stirring story is well known, few are aware of the actions of those that helped her, her family, and four friends stay hidden in a Secret Annex for 761 days. That’s the compelling and emotionally jarring tale at the heart of A Small Light, a limited series based on the real-life of Miep Gies, who played a vital role in keeping the Franks safe. Full of drama, deception, heartbreak, and love, the series is sure to make audiences view a familiar story with even greater appreciation. And it all starts with the unlikeliest of heroes. –Terry Terrones


16. Fatal AttractionRelease Date: April 30, 2023
Creators: Alexandra Cunningham, Kevin J. Hynes
Stars: Joshua Jackson, Lizzy Caplan, Amanda Peet, Toby Huss
Genre: Thriller
Paste Review Rating: 4.5


Watch on Paramount+

In an entertainment landscape that’s obsessed with mining existing intellectual property for reboots, remakes, and spinoffs, it’s honestly kind of amazing that no one has attempted to take another run at Fatal Attraction before right now. But as Omar Little once said on The Wire, if you come at the king, you best not miss. And Paramount+’s new eight-part Fatal Attraction is a miss on almost every level: It’s a modern-day update that has shockingly little that’s new to say about its characters, an erotic thriller that’s often painfully unsexy, a bland murder mystery that never feels particularly urgent, and features an all-time clanger of an ending. (Its final twist is, no joke, so wildly dumb that it almost completely undoes any good work the rest of the series manages to do in terms of centering mental health and female agency.) To its credit, ​this Fatal Attraction at least makes a nominal attempt ​​to expand and complicate the world of the original film, casting Dan Gallagher (Joshua Jackson) and Alex Forrest (Lizzy Caplan) as professional colleagues in the Los Angeles criminal justice system and attempting to tease out their stories across a pair of dual timelines that encompass both the lead up to their affair and the fallout that’s still taking place 15 years later. But in a television landscape that’s full to bursting with other prequels, spinoffs, and reboots of famous and familiar properties, you’ve got to give viewers something better than this tepid take that doesn’t seem to understand what made the original film so memorable in the first place. —Lacy Baugher Milas


17. CitadelRelease Date: April 28, 2023
Creators: Josh Appelbaum, Bryan Oh, David Weil
Stars: Richard Madden, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Stanley Tucci, Olegar Fedoro, Lesley Manville
Genre: Spy thriller
Paste Review Rating: 8.0

Watch on Amazon Prime

Citadel, the new spy fare from David Weil (Hunters) on Prime Video (with the Russo brothers serving as EPs), is completely bereft of pretension and bullshit. This is James Bond, but for TV and with both a male and female Bond, and they absolutely kill it. “Citadel” is the namesake global spy agency at the heart of the drama, and in the opening scene—a train ride through the Italian Alps, of course—we meet Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) and Mason Kane (Richard Madden), Citadel’s star agents. Bad news follows quickly when it becomes clear that a rival organization, called Manticore, is out to eliminate the entire Citadel organization, and having a pretty successful time of it. A wild shootout ensues, ending in a spectacular derailment, and after a cut to credits, we race ahead eight years to see if the Citadel survivors can somehow get their act together and take a bite out of Manticore, which at this point apparently controls most of the known world. As you can tell from words like “Manticore,” there’s a knowing garishness here, and it works marvelously. Stanley Tucci, who plays the head of Citadel, Bernard Orlick, is laugh-out-loud funny in his matter-of-fact, almost cheery approach to the doomed task of trying to rebuild his group in the face of incredible odds. What we’re dealing with here is pure entertainment, dealt with smartly in a show that doesn’t strive to be especially smart on a global/political scale. —Shane Ryan


18. Love & DeathRelease Date: April 27, 2023
Creator: David E. Kelley
Stars: Elizabeth Olsen, Jesse Plemons, Lily Rabe, Patrick Fugit, Krysten Ritter
Genre: Crime drama
Paste Review Rating: 6.2


Watch on Max

Elizabeth Olsen is the primary reason anyone is going to bother to watch the new Max (née HBO) drama Love & Death, a prestige true-crime piece based on a grisly real-life murder in a small Texas town in 1980 that has already seen several onscreen adaptations (one of which, Candy, aired just last year on Hulu). And, to be fair, her performance as Candace “Candy” Montgomery, the housewife who was charged with killing her friend Betty Gore (Lily Rabe) by striking her 41 times with an ax, is mesmerizing from start to finish, a master class in restraint and emotional complexity. Unfortunately, the rest of the show isn’t nearly on her level. Love & Death doesn’t seem to quite know what it wants to be—a paint-by-numbers crime drama, a courtroom procedural, a tale of the sublimated rage of American housewives—and as a result often finds itself absolutely nowhere. —Lacy Baugher Milas


19. Saint XRelease Date: April 26, 2023
Creator: Leila Gerstein
Stars: Alycia Debnam-Carey, Josh Bonzie, West Duchovny, Jayden Elijah, Michael Park, Betsy Brandt
Genre: Thriller

Watch on Hulu

Split among three different time periods, Saint X follows the events leading up to and following the death of Alison Thomas, a college freshman who went missing on her family’s winter break vacation to the Indigo Bay resort in the Caribbean. Across eight episodes, we jump between the Thomas Family’s trip in the early 2000s, the childhoods of the men who worked at Indigo Bay who are suspected to be Alison’s murderers, and the life of her younger sister two decades after her death, in the present day. Non-linear storytelling is generally something that works well when it comes to mysteries, but Saint X just isn’t able to get a grip on the format. The present-day storyline following Alison’s sister, Emily (Alycia Debnam-Carey), is the most even of the three if only because it has us following the fewest people at once. After moving to Flatbush’s Little Caribbean neighborhood with her boyfriend, Emily ends up in a cab driven by Clive (Josh Bonzie), one of the men suspected of raping and murdering her late sister. Triggered by this event, Emily decides to slowly insert herself into Clive’s life for the sake of finally figuring out the truth of what happened to Alison. Her life slowly starts to unravel as she becomes more and more obsessed with him and her craving for the truth, and while that may sound interesting, Debnam-Carey and Bonzie are wholly unable to carry what little they’re given to work with. A more focused set of scripts would have undoubtedly helped the actors out with their performances but instead, we got a limited series that is the poster child for why ensemble casts are a hit-or-miss kind of asset. No show should have an eight-episode run and feel too long, but Saint X does, and we can only hope that the next time Hulu adapts something similar, it actually gives us something sturdy to grip onto. —Kathryn Porter


20. Dead RingersRelease Date: April 21, 2023
Creator: Alice Birch
Stars: Rachel Weisz, Britne Oldford, Poppy Liu, Jennifer Ehle, Michael Chernus
Genre: Psychological thriller
Paste Review Rating: 8.4

Watch on Amazon Prime

Alice Birch’s Dead Ringers, the second adaptation of Bari Wood and Jack Geasland’s novel Twins, bares all. Sharing its name with David Cronenberg’s 1988 iteration, Birch’s take on the haunting story of twin Drs. Mantle is a gripping work of art, beautiful and grotesque at every turn. Rachel Weisz stars in the new Prime Video series as both Elliot and Beverly Mantle, obstetricians determined to redefine women’s reproductive healthcare by whatever means necessary. Driven by obsession and competition, the sisters share every part of their lives—patients and partners included. The show is by no means an easy watch. In the first episode, we’re inundated with brutal sequences of the Mantles’ patients—natural births, cesareans, examinations—all in brief, indelible images. These are very minute parts of the doctors’ lives, just another day in the office. Desensitization is the key to survival, the key to their thriving in such a highly traumatic field. And why are we expected to be so squeamish when it comes to witnessing birth? As the sisters spend the first two episodes seeking out funding from Rebecca Parker (Jennifer Ehle), a mega-millionaire whose obscene family funds come from their essential role in the opioid epidemic, the social and economic realities of our country are unavoidable. The series raises moral and ethical considerations of pregnancy, while still maintaining an objectively pro-choice point of view. It’s a brutal watch—one often that had me reflexively gripping my stomach—but Birch’s Dead Ringers has proven an essential update to the classic Cronenberg film. —Kristen Reid


21. Mrs. DavisRelease Date: April 20, 2023
Creators: Tara Hernandez, Damon Lindelof
Stars: Betty Gilpin, Jake McDorman, Andy McQueen
Genre: Sci-fi, fantasy
Paste Review Rating: 8.8


Watch on Peacock

Peacock’s Mrs. Davis, from Lost alum Damon Lindelof and starring Betty Gilpin as Sister Simone, is a complicated exploration of faith, belief, and the love that passeth understanding all wrapped up in a story that includes everything from jaded magicians, a ship-wrecked scientist, and jam-making nuns to a quest for the Holy Grail and a very literal relationship with Jesus Christ—this show is, no joke, like nothing you’ve ever seen before. In a television landscape fully stocked with procedurals and reboots of familiar IPs, it’s rare to find something that’s genuinely ambitious, a show that feels so bonkers you can’t actually believe a network somewhere actually greenlit it, that you know from the jump won’t be for everyone but that will deeply impact the people it connects with in unexpectedly meaningful ways. Mrs. Davis is absolutely that show—its heavy religious themes, non-linear timeline, and genre-defying narrative swerves are the definition of “high concept” and also “extremely extra” depending on who you’re asking. While the plot of this series is almost impossible to explain, its simultaneous ridiculousness and earnestness make for an incredibly fun, global romp that believes in faith, love, and humanity more than anything else. —Lacy Baugher Milas


22. The DiplomatNetflix Release Date: April 20, 2023
Creator: Deborah Cahn
Stars: Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, David Syasi, Ato Essandoh, Ali Ahn, Michael McKean
Genre: Political drama
Rating: TV-MA

Watch on Netflix

The Diplomat stars Keri Russell as ambassador Kate Wyler, and Rufus Sewell as Hal Wyler, a disgraced ambassador who also happens to be her husband. Kate is on the verge of a career posting to Kabul, charged with picking up the pieces from the Afghanistan mess, when fate intervenes with a terrorist attack on a British warship that results in over 40 dead. The general belief is that it’s an Iranian attack designed to send a message to the United States, and as rhetoric escalates on the U.S. and U.K. side, she’s sent to London as a peacemaker. Hal comes along, and things quickly get complicated as it emerges that Iran is likely not behind the attack, but that diplomatic momentum may be propelling the two sides into a war anyway. If misinterpreted intelligence leading to a war in the Middle East sounds familiar, The Diplomat is also aware, and references Iraq with some frequency. But deep down, this show isn’t about Iraq, Iran, or really even global politics at all. It’s about the strange interplay between husband and wife, which has become complex enough that divorce seems imminent. Russell’s Kate Wyler is perpetually frazzled, seems to hate the public-facing parts of her job, but maintains a sincerity even as she juggles the superficialities of life in the semi-spotlight. Sewell, on the other hand, has that perfect amount of irresistible sleaze/charm required of a political figure, but also has the unfortunate trait of being unable to resist massive risks that can become huge coups or huge disasters, and which ran him out of favor with everyone that mattered in D.C. Watching the two is a pleasure, particularly Kate’s inability to extricate herself from her husband’s dark maneuvering, even as she realizes—and tells anyone who will listen—that he’s a shark. Russell and Sewell are worth the price of admission, and if you treat The Diplomat as the story of a really screwed up marriage, rather than a tale of international intrigue, you’ll come away pleased. —Shane Ryan


23. The Last Thing He Told MeRelease Date: April 14, 2023
Creators: Laura Dave, Josh Singer
Stars: Jennifer Garner, Angourie Rice, Aisha Tyler, Augusto Aguilera, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Genre: Thriller
Paste Review Rating: 6.6


Watch on Apple TV+

Those of us who loved Jennifer Garner’s butt-kicking Sydney Bristow on the popular ABC drama Alias have spent the better part of the past two decades desperately waiting for the actress to make her return to the small screen. After all, her grounded and emotional central performance as a relentlessly normal woman who just happened to also be an international super spy was the glue that held that series together through five years of crazy plots. To be clear: Garner is once again the best part of her latest project, the glossy new Apple TV+ drama The Last Thing He Told Me. Playing another everywoman-type shot through with steel, her quiet heart and steadfast determination are the emotional engines that make this show work. And there are even moments that will, at times, make viewers fondly remember her Alias days, as her character races down hotel hallways or crafts quick cover stories to hide her identity while she searches for new information. But despite its tense trailer, The Last Thing He Told Me is ultimately a fairly bland thriller, and its threats never seem as dire as the show wants us all to believe they are. It’s got some solid performances, picturesque sets, and zips briskly through episodes that max out at around 40 minutes each (the dream in the era of Peak TV!). But it’s also probably not what you thought you were going to get either. And while that’s not bad, per se, it’s still pretty disappointing. —Lacy Baugher Milas


24. Tiny Beautiful ThingsRelease Date: April 7, 2023
Creator: Liz Tigelaar
Stars: Kathryn Hahn, Sarah Pidgeon, Quentin Plair, Tanzyn Crawford
Genre: Comedy, drama
Paste Review Rating: 9.2

Watch on Hulu

Tiny Beautiful Things isn’t the show you think it will be. While the series certainly touches on weighty topics—its eight episodes wrestle with love, death, divorce, forgiveness, loss, adultery, disappointment, and rage—it’s not particularly interested in directing how we, as viewers, feel about them. Instead, much like the prickly advice column on which the series is based, the show is raw, messy, and stingingly direct, choosing to embrace uncomfortable honesty over saccharine sentiment. Adapted from Cheryl Strayed’s best-selling essay collection compiled from her “Dear Sugar” advice column, the show follows the story of Clare Pierce (Kathryn Hahn), a wife, mother, and writer, whose life is falling apart. Her marriage is in trouble thanks to her decision to give her ne’er do well brother Lucas (Nick Stahl) $15,000 from her daughter Rae’s (Tanzyn Crawford) college fund to save their family home, a choice she made without consulting husband Danny (Quentin Plair). Her day job is in jeopardy after she’s discovered sleeping at the retirement community where she works, and her writing career is stalled. Danny’s bitterly nursing his resentment toward her, Rae is struggling to find her identity with her friends and acting out as a result, and even their marriage counselor seems as though she’s not really on Clare’s side. So when an old writer friend offers her the opportunity to take over a female-skewing advice column that he, as a middle-aged white male, doesn’t have the range to handle, Clare balks. Her life is in shambles, so how in the world is she in a position to offer advice to anyone else, even ensconced safely behind the column’s anonymous “Sugar” handle? But sometimes the only way out really is through, and it’s ultimately by becoming Sugar that Clare can begin to find a way to answer some of the lingering questions in her own life. The brilliance of the show isn’t just that it knows there aren’t really any easy answers to these sorts of existential mysteries, but also that figuring them out is the work of every human lifetime. The show offers this strange-but-true comfort: That this, too, is just another step in a journey of many, and it’s okay if we don’t know where it’s all going in the end. Everyone else is just figuring it out along the way too. —Lacy Baugher Milas


25. BeefNetflix Release Date: April 6, 2023
Creator: Lee Sung Jin
Stars: Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Joseph Lee, Young Mazino, David Choe, Patti Yasutake, Ashley Park, Mia Serafino, Bernard White, Maria Bello, Remy Holt
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Rating: TV-MA

Watch on Netflix

There’s an argument to be made that struggle and conflict is at the heart of the human condition, perhaps more so for someone born to a hard life, but still fundamental and even necessary for fulfillment. At the end of the first episode of the new Netflix series Beef, the brilliant Ali Wong, playing the well-off boutique entrepreneur Amy Lau, has become engaged in a feud with the suicidal contractor Danny Cho, played by Steven Yeun. It’s not healthy, it’s going to harm them both, but you know beyond any doubt that they are going to chase this high as long as they can. A raw thrill brought them both back to life, from a chance encounter in a parking lot, and through it they’ll even come to depend on each other. As far as premise-setting, you just can’t do it any better, and there’s very little that you need to know about the show beyond that. They fight, and fight, and fight, and as the stifling atmosphere of modern lives continues to let them down, to leave them unhappy and confused, they’ll seek solace in each other, but that solace will come in the form of violence, because what they both require is the thrumming, hot conflict that can be waged between two people without the restrictions that society and the dual strictures of wealth and poverty have put in place. The direction and acting are superb, and it’s nice to know that even when Netflix seeks the path of least resistance, something brilliant can still slip through the cracks. —Shane Ryan


26. Grease: Rise of the Pink LadesRelease Date: April 6, 2023
Creator: Annabel Oakes
Stars: Marisa Davila, Cheyenne Isabel Wells, Ari Notartomaso, Tricia Fukuhara, Shanel Bailey
Genre: Musical romantic comedy
Paste Review Rating: 5.1


Watch on Paramount+

This musical prequel series takes place four years before the original film, and follows Jane (Marisa Davila) as she attempts to save her reputation after it was besmirched by the rumor mill surrounding her and her boyfriend Buddy’s (Jason Schmidt) after school activities. She eventually links up with other social outcasts like ascot-wearing Olivia (Cheyenne Isabel Wells), fashion-guru Nancy (Tricia Fukuhara), and tomboy Cynthia (Ari Notartomaso) to try to change life at Rydell High School for the better for everyone. Featuring social commentary sometimes missing from the original movie and a few musical numbers per episode, this series from Atypical and Transparent’s Annabel Oakes reimagines the original film, the characters, and storylines within it for the modern day—with little success. Like most attempts at prequels these days, Rise of the Pink Ladies would have been much better off if it had been allowed to just be its own separate thing. Because, just on its own as a ’50-set musical series that chronicles outcasts attempting to change the status quo, it’s not all bad; without the shadow of Grease hanging over it, the music is fine and sometimes even good, the characters are interesting, and the series’ attempt at engagement with the era is admirable. However, it’s just not Grease, and it’s worse for being attached to it —Anna Govert


27. The PowerRelease Date: March 31, 2023
Creators: Raelle Tucker, Naomi Alderman, Claire Wilson, Sarah Quintrell
Stars: Toni Collette, Auliʻi Cravalho, John Leguizamo
Genre: Sci-fi
Paste Review Rating: 6.5

Watch on Amazon Prime

It’s a challenging time to be a woman in America, as a certain segment of the population seems all too eager to roll back the hard-fought gains of the women’s rights movement. Sadly, The Power isn’t quite the show this moment requires. It’s pretty clear that Prime Video was hoping to create something akin to its own version of The Handmaid’s Tale, with its unflinchingly feminist point of view, uber-detailed depictions of oppression and violence, and simmering rage. But while it’s easy to see Margaret Atwood’s influence in Alderman’s original novel, the two television series have little in common, most notably because The Power almost goes out of its way to avoid having to commit to a specific point of view about what sort of story it’s telling. The basic premise of the series is simple: What if, one day, teenage girls all over the world suddenly developed the power to emit electric shocks from their hands, like an electric eel? If those girls could then transfer that same power to older women? If a group that had long been oppressed in many parts of the world suddenly gained the ability to fight back? If women no longer had to be afraid of the threat of physical violence from men? What would the world look like then? The answers to these questions are both varied and complicated, and The Power addresses them through a sprawling story that’s spread across a half dozen major characters and almost as many countries. —Lacy Baugher Milas


28. Unstable
Netflix Release Date: March 30, 2023
Creator: Rob Lowe, John Owen Lowe, Victor Fresco
Stars: Rob Lowe, John Owen Lowe, Sian Clifford, Aaron Branch, Rachel Marsh, Emma Ferreira
Genre: Comedy

Watch on Netflix

Rob Lowe stars alongside his son John Owen Lowe as a father-son duo in this workplace comedy they co-created. The elder Lowe plays Ellis Dragon, a brilliant and eccentric biotech CEO in the middle of a nervous breakdown after the death of his wife. The younger Lowe plays an equally brilliant biochemist whose left the world of science to pursue his dreams of playing the flute but gets pulled back into his father’s orbit. Keeping the company together in the wake of Dragon’s erratic behavior is Anna, played by Fleabag‘s Sian Clifford. It’s a fun if not groundbreaking eight episodes of a father and son learning to overcome their differences alongside budding office romance and guests like Fred Armisen as Dragon’s psychiatrist who may be more unstable than his would-be patient. —Josh Jackson


29. The Big Door PrizeRelease Date: March 29, 2023
Creator: David West Read
Stars: Chris O’Dowd, Gabrielle Dennis, Ally Maki, Josh Segarra, Damon Gupton, Crystal Fox, Sammy Fourlas, Djouliet Amara
Genre: Comedy


Watch on Apple TV+

Based on M.O. Walsh’s novel of the same name, this 10-episode comedy from David West Read (Schitt’s Creek) looks at what happens to the small town of Deerfield when something called the Morpho machine reveals everyone’s true life potential. This series begins on Dusty Hubbard’s (Chris O’Dowd) 40th birthday. He thinks he’s happy with his life, but will the machine begin to convince him and the residents of Deerfield otherwise? —Amy Amatangelo


30. Great ExpectationsRelease Date: March 26, 2023
Creator: Steven Knight
Stars: Olivia Colman, Fionn Whitehead, Shalom Brune-Franklin
Genre: Historical fiction
Paste Review Rating: 5.3

Watch on Hulu

With Dickens adaptations always comes great expectations. Those expectations are not unfounded—one of the most popular writers of the Victorian era, Charles Dickens is responsible for a number of culture-defining stories, each with their own attempts at being brought to both the big and small screens. This time, FX and BBC have taken their swing at Dickens’ 1861 coming of age novel Great Expectations (which is streaming on Hulu), and sadly, this six-part limited series simply cannot live up to the, well, expectations. Created by Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight, the series follows Pip (Fionn Whitehead) as he attempts to become a gentleman and move far away from the impoverished life he leads as an orphan in the care of his sister. On the whims of an eccentric and cruel Miss Havisham (Olivia Colman), he is swept into the world of polite society in exchange for spending time with her adopted daughter Estella (Shalom Brune-Franklin). As Pip shoulders the weight of the expectations placed upon him, becoming entrenched in the seedy world of London’s infamous lawyer Jaggers (Ashley Thomas), he wonders if becoming a gentleman is truly worth the price he will have to pay to get there. That might all sound familiar, but so many changes were made when bringing this series to the small screen that it is nigh unrecognizable. The lack of centering of Pip’s youth leaves him much less endearing to the audience, especially in the later episodes. The heartless nature of this series is a running theme, with both Jaggers and Miss Havisham also suffering the same fate; these two characters become evil in a laughably cartoonish sense, only elevated from that state through outstanding performances by Thomas and Colman. This version remains just another unsuccessful Dickens adaptation at best, and a lackluster period drama at worst. Great Expectations touts a talented cast and a broken and bent version of a classic, that, unfortunately, does not equal a better shape. —Anna Govert


31. Rabbit HoleRelease Date: March 26, 2023
Creators: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Stars: Kiefer Sutherland, Meta Golding, Enid Graham, Rob Yang, Walt Klink, Charles Dance
Genre: Thriller
Paste Review Rating: 7.5


Watch on Paramount+

It’s hard to resist a clever and fast-paced espionage narrative led by Kiefer Sutherland, who ruled this genre for nearly a decade on 24. Here, Sutherland plays John Weir, a highly-skilled middle-aged man in corporate espionage, who runs his own firm with clients that hire him and his team to manipulate people and situations to influence markets for client advantage. He just calls it “consulting,” though. But soon John finds himself framed for murder, with police and FBI agents breathing down his neck. He goes into hiding and begins investigating why his friend would betray him, who’s behind all this, and who so desperately wants him arrested or dead. Rabbit Hole’s efficacy comes down to a mastery of essential components: A sharp script, focused execution, and a well-picked cast led by Sutherland’s commanding and charismatic protagonist. Paramount+ might have a winner on its hands. —Akos Peterbencze


32. Up HereRelease Date: March 24, 2023
Creator: Steven Levenson, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Danielle Sanchez-Witzel
Stars: Mae Whitman, Carlos Valdes, Katie Finneran, John Hodgman, Andréa Burns, Sophia Hammons
Genre: Musical romantic comedy
Paste Review Rating: 6.8

Watch on Hulu

What Hulu’s Up Here, the latest romantic-comedy-musical about a writer in New York City, may lack in terms of originality, it has an annoying tendency to counterbalance with undeniable charm. It’s hard to imagine the show wouldn’t meet this standard based on the creative team behind the production alone. Tony-winner Steven Levenson of Dear Evan Hansenlore (the musical, not the movie; don’t worry) co-creates with Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the duo behind the 2015 musical adapted into Up Here, with Hamilton’s stage director Thomas Kail taking on executive producing and pilot-directing duties. It’s one of the most impressive teams you’d find on Broadway, but in spite of this, not all of their talents consistently harmonize. Up Here’s premise is knowingly bromidic: After years of aimlessness in her sleepy suburban hometown with her sleepy suburban husband, Lindsay (Mae Whitman) upends her life as a dental office assistant and grabs a one-way ticket to the Big Apple, where she begins to realize that her aspirations to make it as a novelist are not beholden to whims of the singing, maddening voices inside her head that have since dictated every moment of her life: her mother (Tony-winner Katie Finneran), father (Jon Hodgman), and sixth-grade frenemy Celeste (Sophie Hammons). Her dreams to make it as a modern single woman are interrupted when she meets Miguel (Carlos Valdes), a junior investment banker with suffocating imaginary naysayers of his own to circumnavigate: his overly adoring mother (Andréa Burns), a catty ex (Emilia Suárez), and an alpha male coworker (Scott Porter, who snags some of the show’s biggest laughs). Up Here still has a long journey if it wants to stand among the ranks of its clear forebears Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Schmigadoon!, and even Smash. The joke writing, song memorability, and poignant character work of those shows remain far superior, firmly nudging Up Here across 8th Avenue and relegating it to the purgatorial realm of Off-Broadway at best. At the same time, there’s something inherently winsome about the whole enterprise. —Michael Savio


33. The Night AgentNetflix Release Date: March 23, 2023
Creator: Shawn Ryan
Stars: Gabriel Basso, Luciane Buchanan, Hong Chau, D.B. Woodside
Genre: Thriller
Rating: TV-MA

Watch on Netflix

Based on the novel of the same name by Matthew Quirk, this 10-episode series follows Peter Sutherland (Gabriell Basso), an FBI agent working in the White House basement. His job is pretty boring until one night the phone that never rings actually rings—sending Peter head-first into a dangerous conspiracy that goes all the way up to the Oval Office (the best political thrillers always do!). The series comes from executive producer Shawn Ryan, the man behind The Shield, Terriers, and Timeless, among others. —Amy Amatangelo


34. ExtrapolationsRelease Date: March 17, 2023
Creator: Scott Z. Burns
Stars: Meryl Streep, Sienna Miller, Kit Harington, Edward Norton, Diane Lane, Daveed Diggs, Tahar Rahim, Yara Shahidi, Matthew Rhys, Gemma Chan, David Schwimmer, Adarsh Gourav, Keri Russell, Marion Cotillard, Forest Whitaker
Genre: Drama anthology
Paste Review Rating: 5.2


Watch on Apple TV+

Of all the new series polluting a crowded television landscape, the speculative climate change anthology Extrapolations should know that our time is precious, and shouldn’t be wasted. Scott Z. Burns, who previously asked a much more urgent and anxiety-inducing “what if?” with Contagion, leads Apple TV+’s eight-episode foray into the future of the 21st century, where new technology exploits and humankind’s worsening fears of the planet boiling. Sometimes, we see poignant reflections on people fighting isolation; often, we’re treated to diatribes about how everybody is on their phones these days. The series’ writers have collected between them an enviable list of credits, not limited to The Handmaid’s Tale, Bly Manor, The Americans, and Little America. But an impressive combined portfolio doesn’t stop Extrapolations from feeling too similar to other predictive dystopia series, specifically the ones from Brit writers Charlie Brooker and Russell T. Davies. Extrapolations stands out by not featuring the twisted cruelty of Black Mirror or the warmth of Years and Years, but that doesn’t do it any favors—in trying to encapsulate the scope of humanity, the show too often feels devoid of its own identity. Its best episodes feel indebted to more talented storytellers, its worst ones feel created by a Chatbot. It’s noteworthy as a collective effort in arguing that hope will survive in humanity’s darkest days, but by playing straight some pretty silly material (Matthew Rhys gets gouged by a walrus! Meryl Streep voices a whale! Tahar Rahim has a comical fake beard!), we’re left with a show that seems engineered to make its audience go, “Hmm…” reflectively. Unlike climate change, we can probably ignore this one. —Rory Doherty


35. Agent ElvisNetflix Release Date: March 17, 2023
Creators: Priscilla Presley, John Eddie
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Kaitlin Olson, Johnny Knoxville, Niecy Nash, Tom Kenny, Don Cheadle
Genre: Spy comedy

Watch on Netflix

Agent Elvis is yet another adult cartoon desperate to prove its “adult” nature by throwing in all the graphic violence, sex, nudity, drugs, and foul language it can at any given moment. It might set records for the numbers of both bones tearing through skin and barely obscured boners on TV. Sometimes the excess of immature “mature” content is funny, particularly where it involves Elvis’ depraved pet chimp Scatter. Much of the time, it’s just excessive. The show’s other main go-to source of humor is through playing around with historical events of the late ’60s and early ’70s. This 10-episode first season spans the period from 1968 to 1973, essentially a “best of” of the era’s pop culture with various twists. The voice cast is solid—with the exception of one big miscast role. That exception is unfortunately Elvis Presley himself, played by Matthew McConaughey. Kaitlin Olson is well-suited for the part of Elvis’s obnoxious wannabe-hippie spy partner, and Don Cheadle has fun as the suspicious Commander of the organization. The clear standout of the ensemble is easily Jason Matzoukas as Howard Hughes, the funniest and most out-there of the show’s celebrity caricatures. The best thing about Agent Elvis is easily the animation. Character designer Robert Valley is the perfect artist for translating rock ‘n roll iconography into comic-book action, and the teams at Sony Pictures Animation and Titmouse make the most of the excellent designs with vibrant compositions and exciting action sequences. It’s a pretty good time despite some cringy gags. —Reuben Baron


36. UnprisonedRelease Date: March 10, 2023
Creator: Tracy McMillan
Stars: Kerry Washington, Jordyn McIntosh, Delroy Lindo, Marque Richardson, Faly Rakotohavana
Genre: Comedy

Watch on Hulu

This eight-episode comedy series, part of Hulu’s Onyx Collective, is based on series creator Tracy McMillan’s real life. After 17 years in federal prison, Edwin Alexander (Delroy Lindo) is getting out of jail. His daughter Paige (Kerry Washington), now a family therapist, must reconcile her complicated feelings about her (very charming) dad while raising her teenage son Finn (Faly Rakotohavana), navigating the purchase of her first home and pursuing a romantic relationship with guest star Tim Daly. Paige is great at helping others sort out their lives. But how is she at helping herself? —Amy Amatangelo


37. History of the World, Part IIRelease Date: March 6, 2023
Creators: Mel Brooks, Nick Kroll
Stars: Wanda Sykes, Nick Kroll, Ike Barinholtz, Mel Brooks
Genre: Comedy
Paste Review Rating: 7.0

Watch on Hulu

Mel Brooks is a comedic genius. Admired and respected for decades, the 96-year-old multi-hyphenate is universally beloved. If you love comedy, you love Mel Brooks. So when comedian Nick Kroll was personally chosen by Brooks to make the TV series History of the World Part II, a continuation of the classic film History of the World Part I, it was an offer he couldn’t refuse. But while History of the World Part II certainly works as a loving homage to a comedy icon, with Brooks’ influence easy to see wherever you look, much like the 42-year-old film it’s based on, at times the show’s humor feels like it was written in 1981. To be sure, there are several moments in History of the World Part II, which is narrated by Brooks, that are laugh out loud funny. Alexander Graham Bell being the victim of the first prank phone call, a Normandy Beach invasion barf-o-rama, and the Yalta Conference turning into an America’s Next Top Model-style photoshoot set to the song “Finally” by CeCe Peniston are all hilarious. You may only see Jack Black, Taika Waititi, Quinta Brunson, Kumail Nanjiani, J.B. Smoove, Pamela Adlon, Danny DeVito, and other familiar faces in one or two skits, but when they are ALL IN for a joke, no matter how silly, it’s engrossing and helps sell the material. That level of commitment, including from producers and series regulars Kroll, Ike Barinholtz, and Wanda Sykes, is impressive. The use of quick skits, which range from a few minutes to the length of an average commercial, is also a clever way to keep audiences engaged. Yet the show struggles because too often its humor feels so dated that anyone under the age of 45 (and many over it) will find most of the comedy too kitsch. Everyone involved in the series is clearly a fan of Mel Brooks. And while imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, when imitating something iconic from 42 years ago, more of an update than the one that was given to this series is required. The new Hulu series also makes clear that the comedy road in 2023 actually is harder to navigate than most people thought, especially when creating a program that’s ingrained with the DNA of a comedic titan. —Terry Terrones


38. Daisy Jones & the SixRelease Date: March 3, 2023
Creators: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber
Stars: Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, Camila Morrone, Suki Waterhouse
Genre: Musical drama
Paste Review Rating: 8.5

Watch on Amazon Prime

In the third episode of Daisy Jones & The Six, during the recording of the band’s first hit single “Look At Us Now (Honeycomb),” you can’t help but feel like you really are watching musical magic happen. Despite Daisy and Billy (Riley Keough and Sam Claflin, a match made in heaven) engaging in songwriting warfare and the rest of the band already getting caught in the crossfire, it truly feels like fictional band Daisy Jones & The Six are something special. Based on the novel of the same name by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and brought to the small screen by co-showrunners Scott Neustadter and Will Graham, Prime Video’s Daisy Jones & The Six catalogs the cosmic collision of homegrown band The Six (which only consists of five members, it’s a thing) and magnetic songwriter Daisy Jones, beginning with the end of the line—in October of 1977, Daisy Jones & The Six played a sold out Soldier Field in Chicago, only to never set foot on stage together again. Rewinding from there to The Six’s humble beginnings, the series follows frontman Billy Dunne, his wife and photographer Camila (Camila Morrone), guitarist Graham (Will Harrison), pianist Karen (Suki Waterhouse), bassist Eddie (Josh Whitehouse), and drummer Warren (Sebastion Chacon) as they follow their dreams all the way out to Los Angeles, where music producer Teddy Price (Tom Wright) links them with Daisy to create one of the most legendary bands of the ‘70s. In a mix of documentary-style interviews and narrative dramatization, Daisy Jones & The Six follows the band as they build themselves from the ground up, only to tear themselves down piece by piece. —Anna Govert


39. The ConsultantRelease Date: February 24, 2023
Creator: Bentley Little
Stars: Christoph Waltz, Nat Wolff, Brittany O’Grady, Aimee Carrero
Genre: Thriller
Paste Review Rating: 6.0

Watch on Amazon Prime

I’ll say this for Amazon Prime Video’s The Consultant—it keeps you watching for longer than you should because you really want to know exactly what the hell is going on. Sitting squarely in the “dark workplace comedy” genre, this is the story of CompWare, a game design company whose CEO, a reclusive South Korean genius, is shot and killed in the opening minutes by a child who blames/credits the devil. As the company begins to disintegrate, a mysterious consultant who calls himself Regus Patoff (“it’s Crimean,” he says) enters, occupying the main office and insisting that the show will go on. Played by Christoph Waltz, Patoff is a deeply disturbing character, and the chief pleasure of this show is watching Waltz let his creep flag fly. He is very good, and by “very good” I mean “very disturbing,” in some very fun ways. The Consultant is notable for its lack of prominent characters, and the rest of the action mostly revolves around Elaine (Brittany O’Grady), the self-appointed “creative liaison” to the CEO and then Patoff, and Craig (Nat Wolff), a frustrated designer who is at first annoyed, then taken in, and finally terrified by the new consultant. Unfortunately, the story here is not exceptional. Impressively claustrophobic, dystopian, and discomfiting? Yes, absolutely. But that’s about all it’s got, and that’s not enough. —Shane Ryan


40. Hello Tomorrow!Release Date: February 17, 2023
Creator: Amit Bhalla, Lucas Jansen
Stars: Billy Crudup, Hank Azaria, Haneefah Wood, Alison Pill, Nicholas Podany, Dewshane Williams
Genre: Sci-fi drama
Paste Review Rating: 7.3


Watch on Apple TV+

Hello Tomorrow! is set in a time and place that is accurately described in its own literature as “retro-future.” In practice, that means the most idealized, catalogue-perfect version of the ’50s, plus robots and other gadgets that are technologically advanced, but only as imagined by someone living in that age (picture The Jetsons, but on Earth and not animated). The dresses and the cars are vintage, but the ennui and desperation of the people is modern. The man to cure that dread, we learn in the first episode, is Jack Billings, a salesman (played by Billy Crudup) who is hawking literal condos on the moon. The myth of escape is the prevailing impulse of the suckers in this show, and though Jack can be heard to admit in a candid moment that our problems will be waiting for us on the lunar surface, for the most part he’s a smiling paragon of the fervent hope that maybe, just maybe, they won’t be. Crudup is spectacular in the role, and while there are surface similarities to the executive Cory Ellison he plays in The Morning Show, what’s hiding behind Ellison is a menacing readiness to kill, while here, what lies beneath the facade of Billings is something sadder, and more hopeless. Nevertheless, we only see the barest glimpses of that, and where Crudup really shines in his thorough embodiment of a man who truly, truly sells the dream. Even though we the viewers understand that he’s full of shit, his performance is so unflinching we want to believe him—we want to believe that the world of promise he prophesies actually exists, and we want to believe that we can seize it and possess some of his unshakeable optimism. We want our place on the moon, yes, but we also want to be him. We seem to be living in a time when the hope for escape feels bygone and even quaint, and when the weight of the future has erased the fantasy of freedom for all but a few billionaires building rockets and buying land in New Zealand. But by setting this theater of desire in a time when the cult of the individual was just beginning to spring to life in America, the creators have successfully crafted a space where we can slip in, gaze in wonder, and believe in the unfailing smile of a man like Jack Billings. —Shane Ryan

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