The 5 New and Under-the-Radar Shows You Can’t Miss In April
Photo Courtesy of Freevee TV Lists What to Watch
Spring has sprung! The birds are singing. The sun is shining. And television is in full bloom.
There’s so much TV to talk about this month. We here at Paste TV will be covering Apple TV+’s Big Door Prize when it returns for a second season on April 24th. Recent Oscar winner Robert Downey Jr. headlines HBO’s The Sympathizer, which premieres April 14th. The long-awaited The Spiderwick Chronicles finally debuts on April 19th on the Roku Channel. Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine are the title characters in Starz’s steamy historical drama Mary & George, which premieres on April 5th.
But, as always, we don’t want you to miss out on anything television has to offer this month. Here are the five new shows you can’t miss this April.
A Brief History of the Future
Star: Ari Wallach
Premiere Date: April 3rd at 9 p.m. on PBS
The age-old adage is “who knows what the future holds?” Ari Wallach might not know, but he has some ideas about what we can do about it. Wallach, who hosts this six-episode docuseries, is a futurist, someone who helps governments and corporations “better think about and plan for the future.” Among the people he talks to are French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, musician Grimes, architect Bjarke Ingels, climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, and soccer player Kylian Mbappé. First up, “Beyond the Now” where Wallach looks at how “our feelings about tomorrow have shifted from excitement to dread.”
Sight Unseen
Stars: Dolly Lewis, Agam Darshi, Jarod Joseph, and Daniel Gillies
Premiere Date: April 3rd at 9 p.m. on The CW
I had written off all the CW Canadian imported shows thinking it was just a way for the once-great network to fill their coffers without having to produce anything new. But then the utterly delightful Wild Cards came along and upended all of my expectations. So I’m giving Sight Unseen a chance. Tess Avery (Dolly Lewis) is a terrific homicide detective who is losing her sight. After she’s not able to stop a criminal, she quits the force, much to the chagrin of her partner (and possible love interest?), Jake Campbell (Daniel Gillies). But you know how it goes. Every time she thinks she’s out, they pull her back in. She uses Sunny Patel (Agam Darshi), who lives 3,000 miles away from her, as her eyes while keeping the true nature of her condition from those closest to her.
Dinosaur
Stars: Ashley Storrie, Kat Ronney, David Carlyle, Lorn Macdonald, and Danny Ashok
Premiere Date: All six episodes premiere April 5th on Hulu
Nina (Ashley Storrie) is a museum paleontologist (hence the title of the series) who lives with her sister and best friend Evie (Kat Ronney). Like Storrie herself, Nina is on the autism spectrum and her world is turned upside down when Evie announces that she’s engaged to a man she met on Tinder six weeks ago. Nina must deal with that shock while navigating a new relationship with Lee (Lorn Macdonald), the nice man who runs the coffee truck at her work. The six-episode comedy, which is produced by Two Brothers Pictures (the same team behind Fleabag) was filmed on location in Glasgow where the show is set.
Dinner with the Parents
Stars: Michaela Watkins, Dan Bakkedahl, Carol Kane, Henry Hall, Daniel Thrashe, and Jon Glaser
Premiere Date: The first four episodes premiere April 18th on Amazon Freevee in the U.S. Two additional episodes will be available each Thursday until the finale on May 9th
Every Friday night the Langer family—parents Jane (Michaela Watkins) and Harvey (Dan Bakkedahl), their sons David (Henry Hall) and Gregg (Daniel Thrasher), and wacky grandmother Rose (Carol Kane)—get together for dinner. And let’s just say these meals never go smoothly. In the premiere, David’s girlfriend dumps him minutes before she is supposed to meet his family and he must come up with a last minute replacement. Cringe worthy hilarity ensues. Fun fact: Henry Hall is the son of Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and Brad Hall.
Dead Boy Detectives
Stars: George Rexstrew, Jayden Revri, Kassius Nelson, Jenn Lyon, Briana Cuoco, Ruth Connell, Yuyu Kitamura, Lukas Gage, and David Iacono
Premiere Date: All eight episodes premiere April 25th on Netflix
What if the Winchester brothers were dead? In this Supernatural-like series, Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri) are two long-dead teenagers who have teamed up in the afterlife to solve crimes while also continuing to evade Death. The series is set in the Sandman universe and based on the comics by Neil Gaiman. The series also boasts Greg Berlanti—who knows a thing or two about creating compelling teen dramas—as one of its executive producers.
Amy Amatangelo, the TV Gal®, is a Boston-based freelance writer and a member of the Television Critics Association. She wasn’t allowed to watch much TV as a child and now her parents have to live with this as her career. You can follow her on Twitter (@AmyTVGal).
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