The Best New TV Shows of 2021

It's time to take that old favorite show of yours behind the shed, because the best new shows of 2021 are here. Sure, it's late in the year and we're almost ready to start the best shows of 2022 list, but with so many streaming services out there, there are going to be about two billion more new shows coming out this year, and we're collecting the best of the best right here.

Whether it's on Netflix, Hulu, or even on a dinosaur like CBS, as long as it's good and new, you'll find it on the list below. We'll also tell you where to watch it, link up a TV Guide review (if there is one), and show off a trailer so you can get a taste for yourself. Enjoy!

Check back often, as this story will be updated throughout the year.

OCTOBER

Dopesick

Premiered October 8 | Watch on Hulu
Michael Keaton, Rosario Dawson, and Kaitlyn Dever star in this devastating miniseries adaptation of Beth Macy's Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America, which looks at the beginning of the opioid crisis in America from the push of OxyContin by one company to its spread through the working class, to the DEA's pursuit of the truth. Is it a feel-good story? Not really, but it's a fascinating look at the audacity of Big Pharma to put profits over life. [TRAILER]

Acapulco

Premiered October 8 | Watch on Apple TV+
If you need to wash the day away, you can't do much better than checking into the Las Colinas resort in Acapulco, the setting for this comedy about a young man who gets a dream job working at a high-end resort in Mexico. The 1980s-set bilingual comedy -- it's about 50/50 English and Spanish -- is like Jane the Virgin meets The White Lotus meets How I Met Your Mother, as Maximo (Enrique Arrizon) works his way up from pool boy in 1984 to wealthy hotelier in the present-day timeline. It's charming, it's sunny, and it's got a pair of lounge singers who belt out '80s classics in Spanish. [TRAILER]

Ghosts

Premiered October 7 | Watch on CBS, Paramount+
Rose McIver stars as a woman who inherits a fixer-upper mansion in the countryside, so she decides to turn it into a bed and breakfast. The only problem? It's lousy with ghosts! Ghosts who are funny! This CBS remake of the BBC original (streaming on HBO Max) probably wasn't necessary, but thankfully it retains much of the charm of the source material, making it one of the best new broadcast shows of the season. [TRAILER]

Maid

Premiered October 1 | Watch on Netflix
You won't often end an episode of Maid -- adapted from Stephanie Land's memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother's Will to Survive -- feeling overjoyed with the world, because the miniseries isn't afraid to focus on the difficulties single mothers escaping abusive relationships face. But stick around and you'll be inspired by the perseverance of Alex (Margaret Qualley in a star-making performance) as she becomes a housecleaner in Washington to make ends barely meet. Even though it's a little longer than it needs to be, you won't complain as long as Qualley is on the screen. [TRAILER]

SEPTEMBER

Ten-Year-Old Tom

Premiered September 30 | Watch on HBO Max
Not many remember The Life & Times of Tim, an awkwardly drawn and deliriously funny animated series on HBO (three seasons, 2008-2012) that followed a sheepish 20-year-old adult-in-training and the wild cast of characters orbiting his life, but I sure do because it's gosh darn hilarious (and because I like his name). Creator Steve Dildarian finally returns to show biz with a new series, and he's really not changing much except a letter here and a generation there. Ten-Year-Old Tom retains Tim's unique animation and perspective, but I'm guessing there will be less hookers in this one. UPDATE: I was wrong! [TRAILER]

Midnight Mass

Premiered September 24 | Watch on Netflix
After The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, creator Mike Flanagan is sticking with what he does best with another winning horror miniseries, only this time he's passing on the haunted house and going for a whole haunted island. The seven-episode series takes place in a fishing community 30 miles off the mainland and puts religion in the spotlight when a charismatic new priest (Hamish Linklater) arrives on the island with promises to lead his growing flock to salvation. As you can guess, it doesn't quite work out that way. Telling you any more would be a disservice to the storytelling. [TRAILER]

Squid Game

Premiered September 17 | Watch on Netflix
It may not be quite as good as all the hype surrounding it, but Squid Game is still worth a watch for its take on classism and socio-economic warfare. The Korean drama is most famous for becoming a surprise pop culture sensation that spent several unexpected weeks atop Netflix's Top 10 list, telling the story of debtors pulled into a competition of childhood games with deadly twists to win a ton of cash. [TRAILER]

LuLaRich

Premiered September 10 | Watch on Amazon Prime Video
If you're Facebook friends with a certain type of person, you may already be familiar with LuLaRoe, and if you aren't, this four-part docuseries is here to break down one of the internet's most pervasive pyramid schemes. The show explores how this multilevel-marketing company (which is known for selling, among other types of women's clothing, very colorful leggings) hooked its target demographic of stay at home moms into becoming sellers, and how it exploited those same people out of money as many of them worked around the clock to try to get rid of their inventory. The lure of MLMs will never stop being fascinating, and this one is no exception — plus, the filmmakers conducted interviews with the company's kooky founders, husband and wife scammer duo DeAnne and Mark Stidham. -Allison Picurro [TRAILER]

Dug Days

Premiered September 1 | Watch on Disney+
Best known as the scene-stealing dog with a voice box from the film Up, Dug gets his own series of shorts in Dug Days, a perfect family-friendly diversion that teaches wholesomeness, responsibility, and squirrel hunting. The five shorts, which run between eight and 11 minutes long, don't have much time to dig deep into Dug, but Dug has the immediate, simple charm that doesn't need anything more than to plop him into a zany situation. "Flowers," in which Dug experiences fireworks for the first time, is a particular highlight. [TRAILER]

AUGUST

Only Murders in the Building

Premiered August 31 | Watch on Hulu
Only Murders in the Building is at the center of a strange and wonderful Venn Diagram. It's got sleuthing, Steve Martin and Martin Short, Selena Gomez, jokes about podcasts, fake Broadway musical flops, and Sting. The comedy-crime-farce hybrid follows a trio of neighbors — an egotistical actor with one TV hit (Martin), a washed-up Broadway director (Short), and an enigmatic artist (Gomez) — who come together to investigate a murder in their building. It's a cozy, old-school mystery about three lonely people with secrets that gets both sadder and sillier as it goes. -Kelly Connolly [TRAILER]

Heels

Premiered August 15 | Watch on Starz
In Starz's new drama series, Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig play brothers, which is a piece of news that should delight a very specific group of people, who come from a wrestling family. After the death of their father, they're left in charge of his wrestling promotion business, and as you can imagine, their fractured relationship really gets in the way of their ability to do that. Critics are saying it has a Friday Night Lights vibe, both in its emotional heft and the fact that you don't have to be a wrestling fan in order to enjoy the show. -Allison Picurro [TRAILER]

Reservation Dogs

Premiered August 9 | Watch on Hulu
Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo co-created this comedy about four teenagers living on a reservation in Oklahoma who, after the death of their friend, turn to petty crime in order to make money in the hopes of getting out of their hometown. The series is a laid-back good time that sparkles because of Waititi's signature comedic style, and in her review for TV Guide, Candice Frederick described it as "the chillest time you'll spend watching TV." I can't think of a better endorsement than that. -Allison Picurro [REVIEW | TRAILER]

JULY

The Pursuit of Love

Premiered July 30 | Watch on Amazon Prime Video
The BBC One import follows the recent trend of taking British period pieces, dusting off the cobwebs, and making them fun for a change. Created by Emily Mortimer, The Pursuit of Love bursts with energy, telling a coming-of-age story of two boy-crazy cousins and besties (Lily James and Emily Beecham) in the early 1900s as they pursue love, obviously, but more importantly, stay friends through their ups and downs. One look at Andrew Scott's artsy character being introduced as the second coming of Ziggy Stardust to a thumping T. Rex tune is all you need to know this is fun stuff. [TRAILER]

Dr. Death

Premiered July 15 | Watch on Peacock
You should already be scared to death of going to the doctor -- the only good news they can give you is "you're normal," gee, thanks, Doc -- but Peacock's new true-crime drama will add more fuel to your hospital nightmares. Joshua Jackson stars as Christopher Duntch, a spinal surgeon who left many patients permanently injured or dead after botching, perhaps purposefully, relatively routine surgeries, and Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin play a pair of doctors hacking through the red tape of the treacherous medical complex that didn't do enough to stop Duntch until it was far too late. [TRAILER]

The White Lotus

Premiered July 11 | Watch on HBO, HBO Max
Mike White's riveting dramedy is set at an exclusive billion-star Hawaiian resort, but it's hardly relaxing for any of its characters, whether they're there for vacation or working to meet the needy needs of the resort's wealthy clients. White is happy to let his well-written and truly diverse characters pinball off each other in passing while wrapping them up their own drama, making for a dark comedy that is a joy to watch even when it seems as though the stakes are low. Easily one of the year's very best, The White Lotus is the vacation we needed. [REVIEW | TRAILER]

JUNE

Blindspotting

Premiered June 13 | Watch on Starz
Blindspotting the series acts as a continuation of Blindspotting the movie, turning its focus on Miles' (Rafael Casal) girlfriend, Ashley (Jasmine Cephas Jones), who is left to care for their young son by herself after Miles goes to prison. Experiencing a sudden existential crisis without her partner, Ashley ends up moving in with Miles' mother, Rainey (Helen Hunt), and half-sister, Trish (Jaylen Barron), with who she frequently clashes. On her own for the first time, Ashley ruminates on her place in the world, all while the strength of her relationship with Miles is tested. The excellent news is Blindspotting hasn't lost any of the film's singularly funny perspective or its direct-to-camera rap interludes where the characters express how they're really feeling. -Allison Picurro [TRAILER]

Starstruck

Premiered June 10 | Watch on HBO Max
The rom-com isn't dead; it just moved to television. Like a reverse Notting Hill, the endearing new series Starstruck follows Jessie (played by creator Rose Matafeo), a New Zealander living in London who spends a boozy New Year's Eve with a guy named Tom (Nikesh Patel), only to wake up to the realization that he's a famous movie star. The whole thing -- Season 1 zips by in six half-hour episodes -- plays like an old-school screwball comedy. They just can't quit each other. -Kelly Connolly [TRAILER]

Loki

Premiered June 9 | Watch on Disney+
Tom Hiddleston's God of Mischief is back, and free from that pesky conscience, in Marvel's latest Disney+ series. This one is a crime thriller that follows the alternate version of Loki who stole the Tesseract in Avengers: Endgame, an event that basically broke reality. Now he has to fix it. He's recruited by Owen Wilson's Mobius M. Mobius at the mysterious Time Variance Authority (TVA) to travel through history and correct the timeline he messed up. Sure, it's not as good as WandaVision, but it's certainly better than The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. -Kelly Connolly [TRAILER]

Sweet Tooth

Premiered June 4 | Watch on Netflix
Set in the aftermath of a catastrophic global virus, the comic book adaptation Sweet Tooth is a show for our times. The series follows a "very special boy" named Gus (Christian Convery), a human-deer hybrid on a journey across the American West, accompanied by an unexpected group of friends. It's just the right blend of strange, dark, and hopeful, with a resonance no one involved in the show originally could have planned. -Kelly Connolly [REVIEW | TRAILER]

MAY

Flatbush Misdemeanors

Premiered May 23 | Watch on Showtime
The struggle is real for artist Kevin (Kevin Iso) and teacher Dan (Dan Perlman) in this charming low-profile comedy about two lifelong friends just trying to make it to tomorrow in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Flatbush in Brooklyn, New York. Juggling relationships with getting paychecks and avoiding a local angry drug dealer (Hassan Johnson), Flatbush Misdemeanors plays like a show that exists in the same universe as Broad City and could be cousins with Atlanta. It's old Brooklyn through and through, yet still feels like it speaks for this generation. [TRAILER]

The Underground Railroad

Premiered May 14 | Watch on Amazon Prime Video
Barry Jenkins made his first big foray into TV with this miniseries based on the Colson Whitehead novel about an alternate reality that imagines the Underground Railroad as an actual railroad with trains, conductors, and engineers. Cora (Thuso Mbedu), an enslaved woman, boards the train in effort to secure her freedom, all while being pursued by a vicious slave owner (Joel Edgerton). William Jackson Harper and Lily Rabe co-star. -Allison Picurro [TRAILER]

Hacks

Premiered May 13 | Watch on HBO Max
Jean Smart is a living legend, and we owe it to human civilization to do everything we can to protect her, starting with watching everything she's in. Smart stars in what's easily HBO Max's best original comedy so far as Deborah Vance, an aging Las Vegas comedian whose time at the top is nearing its end, so circumstance teams her up with an entitled young comedian (Hannah Einbinder) recently canceled for a joke she made on Twitter. Watch this to cackle at Smart dropping delicious one-liners and chucking iPads into a pool. The cast also includes Kaitlin Olson and co-creator Paul W. Downs.  [TRAILER]

Ziwe

Premiered May 9 | Watch on Showtime
Ziwe Fumudoh rose to internet fame in 2020 thanks to her Instagram series, Baited, in which she interviewed people like Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan and asked them questions such as, "How many Black friends do you have?" Her new show doesn't sacrifice that signature irreverent, provocative style. Part talk show, part variety show, part surrealist fever dream, Ziwe mixes interviews with songs, sketches, and woman-on-the-street segments, as Fumudoh challenges her guests and her audience on cultural issues. -Allison Picurro [TRAILER]

Girls5eva

Premiered May 6 | Watch on Peacock
Tina Fey and Robert Carlock -- the minds behind 30 Rock -- collab once again on this Peacock original comedy about a girl group who reunite 20 years after they were almost famous. It's got that trademark Tina Fey zing to its jokes, mashing pop culture references and cutaway gags into its zaniness, as the women -- not nearly as limber as they used to be -- chase success for a second time with frequently disastrous results. Sara Bareilles, Busy Phillips, Reneé Elise Goldsberry, and Paula Pell star, with many SNL vets stopping by for cameos. [TRAILER]

APRIL

Shadow and Bone

Premiered April 23 | Watch on Netflix
Based on Leigh Bardugo's dueling Grishaverse novel series, Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows, the big-budget series follows a young woman who discovers she's in possession of a power that can save the kingdom, natch. The tone is somewhere between Game of Thrones and something you'd find on Freeform, with a dark color scheme and violence mixing it up with love triangles. If you liked The Witcher but could do without the occasional silliness of that show, you'll probably like this. Fair warning: the world-building of the first two episodes can get a little tedious, but it gets better after that. [REVIEW | TRAILER | MORE SHOWS LIKE SHADOW AND BONE]

Cruel Summer

Premiered April 20 | Watch on Freeform, Hulu
This end-of-innocence teen drama in the vein of Pretty Little Liars follows an awkward teen girl's transformation into a cool kid and then into one of the country's most hated people when she's suspected to be partly responsible for the disappearance of her town's most popular girl. It's an addictive, twisty tale told across three timelines -- three consecutive summers in the mid '90s -- that will have parents all over hoping their kids never grow up. And it has a kickass era-appropriate soundtrack, to boot. [REVIEW | TRAILER]

Mare of Easttown

Premiered April 18 | Watch on HBO Max
Kate Winslet! That should be enough to get you to watch HBO's latest high-profile prestige miniseries, which stars Winslet as Mare, a detective who returns to her hometown in blue-collar Pennsylvania to investigate a murder. Returning home means mixing it up with the family again, including her mother (played by Jean Smart), with whom she has many bridges to rebuild from the ashes. The seven-episode miniseries will trickle out weekly. [TRAILER]

Exterminate All the Brutes

Premiered April 7 | Watch on HBO Max
Sure, anyone can roll a camera, scream "cut," and call themselves a filmmaker, but Raoul Peck is a FILMMAKER. Peck (I Am Not Your Negro) re-edits the history books in this stunning four-episode series that dances between dramatized history and documentary, exploring colonialism, racism, and exploitation in ways that spotlight the truth that America and the world has largely chosen to ignore. It's going to make you uncomfortable, and it should; growth and progress isn't always easy, but it is necessary. [TRAILER]

Kung Fu

Premiered April 7 | Watch on The CW
In The CW's Kung Fu — partially inspired by the early-'70s David Carradine series — Nicky Shen (Olivia Liang) takes the term "quarter-life crisis" to the next level when pressure from her mother to find a suitable husband and settle down pushes her to run away to a Shaolin monastery in China. But when Nicky's mentor is murdered by a mysterious assassin, she is forced to return to her family in San Francisco to put back together the pieces of the life she left behind. The show is the first broadcast hour-long drama with a majority Asian cast, which is extraordinary, but the most intriguing thing about Kung Fu is how the series blends a lot of genres together. -Megan Vick [TRAILER]

This Is a Robbery: The World's Biggest Art Heist

Premiered April 7 | Watch on Netflix
In 1990, two men posing as police officers robbed Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of $500 million in art. Over 30 years later, none of that work has been recovered, and the case remains unsolved. That infamous art theft is the subject of this gripping four-part true crime docuseries, which digs into the mystery of who took those paintings and where they are now. The series also promises some juicy mafia drama, because it's Boston. -Kelly Connolly [REVIEW | TRAILER]

Worn Stories

Premiered April 1 | Watch on Netflix
This heartwarming docuseries is all about clothes, but not necessarily from a fashion sense. Regular people talk about their connection to certain articles of clothing they own, usually ones that have a special significance in their lives. The stories of love, perseverance, and joy will feel as nice and comfy as your favorite pair of jeans. [TRAILER]

MARCH

Invincible

Premiered March 26 | Watch on Amazon Prime Video
Robert Kirkman's follow-up to The Walking Dead is this animated series based on another one of his comic books, the superhero coming-of-age story Invincible. The top-notch voice cast that includes Steven Yeun, J.K. Simmons, and Sandra Oh makes it easy to recommend, but it's the unique superhero origin story of a young man (Yeun) whose dad is the world's most famous superhero and the violent action that makes it great. [REVIEW | TRAILER]

John Wayne Gacy: The Devil in Disguise

Premiered March 25 | Watch on Peacock
Peacock's first foray into true crime is a good one, a comprehensive look at one of America's most famous serial killers that, thanks to a rarely seen interview he did from prison before he was executed, shows a side of the man that most people aren't familiar with. It might be a tad too long, but the revealing portrait of the man is worth it. [TRAILER]

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Premiered March 19 | Watch on Disney+
Let's get this out of the way real quick: It's not as good as WandaVision. But Disney+'s second Marvel TV series has the action you expect from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) as they do what they do, which is casually insult each other while beating up bad guys. It's Lethal Weapon with more lethal weapons. [TRAILER]

Waffles + Mochi

Premiered March 16 | Watch on Netflix
Every parent who needs help convincing their kid to eat something other than a plain plate of noodles with a little bit of butter or other non-nutritious food should serve this adorable series to their picky eaters immediately. The series, part of the Obamas production deal with Netflix, stars Michelle Obama and a could cute puppets in a mixed-media show that educates children on food and cooking from all over the world. [TRAILER]

Bloodlands

Premiered March 15 | Watch on Acorn TV
You do not mess with James Nesbitt. The intense Irish actor stars in the British police drama as a detective who digs into a cold case that opens up wounds from the violence in Northern Ireland decades earlier. Naturally, while pursuing a killer, the case connects personally to Nesbitt's character, who believes the culprit may be an assassin who murdered his wife years before. It's executive produced by Jed Mercurio (Line of Duty, Bodyguard), so expect the unexpected. [TRAILER]

Last Chance U: Basketball

Premiered March 10 | Watch on Netflix
Netflix's Emmy-winning docuseries goes all Charlie Ward on us by becoming a two-sport star. After a handful of seasons following football, the series goes to the hardcourt and doesn't miss a step with heartwarming and heart-wrenching stories of underprivileged kids working hard to overcome personal and systemic obstacles. In fact, it may be better than ever as it follows the East Los Angeles College Huskies on their quest for the California junior college championship, with their fiery coach and players desperate to move on to D1 programs providing motivational stories that even non-sports fans will enjoy. [TRAILER]

Murder Among the Mormons

Premiered March 3 | Watch on Netflix
Your next true crime obsession is this three-part series detailing murders that shook the Mormon community in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1985. Following a pair of pipe bombs that killed two people, a third victim was found with a trunk full of rare documents that include the notorious White Salamander Letter, which had the potential to destroy the very foundation of Mormonism. [REVIEW | TRAILER]

FEBRUARY

Ginny & Georgia

Premiered Feb. 24 | Watch on Netflix
"We're like the Gilmore girls but with bigger boobs," Georgia (Brianne Howey) says in the first episode of this high-energy series, and that about sums it up. The mother-daughter dramedy follows Georgia as she hauls her 15-year-old daughter Ginny (Antonia Gentry) and 9-year-old son Austin from Texas to a small town in Massachusetts for two reasons: to start over after Georgia's husband suddenly dies, and to run away from a closet full of skeletons. It's part teen drama as Ginny explores a new high school and part mystery thriller as Georgia's dangerous secrets come to chase her down. [REVIEW | TRAILER | SHOWS LIKE GINNY & GEORGIA]

Superman & Lois

Premiered Feb. 23 | Watch on The CW
Superman & Lois is the first new superhero show to premiere on The CW since Arrow ended, and it begins an important new chapter for the network. Helmed by former Flash showrunner Todd Helbing, Superman & Lois doesn't look anything like any of the Arrowverse shows, despite its titular characters being introduced on Supergirl years ago. It's a more grounded take on the Man of Steel (Tyler Hoechlin), as he and Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) move with their teenage twin boys to Smallville to give their family a chance to be closer. While there's still plenty of superhero action to keep Superman busy, the new series is just as much a family drama as it is an action show, and that's to its benefit. There's plenty of Krypton lore to keep Superman fans satiated, but this is also a great chance for non-superhero fans to jump in and get invested in the Kent family dynamics, which are the real heart of this ambitious drama. -Megan Vick [REVIEW | TRAILER]

Beartown

Premiered Feb. 22 | Watch on HBO/HBO Max
Fredrik Backman's best-selling 2016 novel about the pressures faced by a small-town Swedish hockey team gets adapted into a five-episode series as HBO continues to go back to the beautifully gloomy atmosphere of Scandinavian noir. A former NHL player returns to his hometown to coach the youth hockey team and build around its bright star, but things quickly go south when scandal hits the community. Seeing as it is Scandi-noir, of course it opens up with two figures chasing each other through the snow and a gunshot. Things move fast in the five episodes -- maybe even too fast, as characters' actions aren't always given the time to breathe -- but underneath the hockey and crime is a damning story about the pressures parents put on their children. [TRAILER]

It's a Sin

Premiered Feb. 18 | Watch on HBO/HBO Max
Russell T Davies follows up his dystopian future family drama Years and Years (available on HBO Max; I loved it) by going in the opposite direction on the timeline in this visit to early-'80s London. In the five-episode miniseries, a group of young gay friends find strength in each other at the advent of a movement, not knowing they're about to be thrust into the HIV and AIDS epidemic. In true Davies fashion, It's a Sin -- a smash hit in its native England -- is alternately funny, powerful, and incredibly devastating. You will be reduced to a blubbering mess. [TRAILER]

Clarice

Premiered Feb. 11 | Watch on CBS/Paramount+
A lot of Hannibal fans seem pretty disappointed that Clarice is not actually Hannibal Season 4 in a trench coat, but listen: Hannibal ended perfectly. It's Clarice Starling's turn in the spotlight. This new CBS procedural, set a year after the events of The Silence of the Lambs, legally can't mention Hannibal Lecter at all due to some confusing rights issues with Thomas Harris' books, which leaves the show with no choice but to put its focus where it should be anyway: on one of the coolest heroines of all time. Australian actress Rebecca Breeds makes it look easy to take over a role made famous by Jodie Foster, slipping into Clarice's West Virginia accent as she gets to work chasing new creeps while unpacking her own trauma. The show doesn't match the horror of the film, but it isn't trying to; it's just a sharp, well-executed procedural about a very cool woman. Pairs great with a nice Chianti. -Kelly Connolly [REVIEW | TRAILER]

Firefly Lane

Premiered Feb. 3 | Watch on Netflix
I am going to be very upfront about this: I watched the whole first season in an embarrassing binge. I couldn't stop myself. Is it good? No. But between the multiple timelines, soapy storylines, peculiar fashion choices, and aging makeup, I couldn't get enough. Sarah Chalke and Katherine Heigl star as lifelong friends who go through myriad professional and romantic entanglements, (almost) always by each other's sides to lend love and support. It's gal pal time that's as addictive for its questionable choices as it is its delicious drama. [REVIEW | TRAILER | SHOWS LIKE FIREFLY LANE]

JANUARY

Resident Alien

Premiered Jan. 27 | Watch on Syfy, Peacock
The comic book series Resident Alien comes to the screen as an incredibly fun combination of the alien invasion miniseries V and misanthropic medical drama House, but with a lot more laughs. Sci-fi mainstay Alan Tudyk plays an alien who crash lands on Earth and disguises himself as a small-town doctor in snowy Patience, Colorado, taking on medical oddities and solving murders, all while executing his grand plan of learning about human behavior and plotting how to destroy them all. Tudyk is wonderful in the role, as is scene-stealer Corey Reynolds as the no-nonsense sheriff who sniffs something suspicious is going on. This is classic light-hearted sci-fi. [TRAILER]

Losing Alice

Premiered Jan. 22 | Watch on Apple TV+
This Israeli psychological drama is lathered up in erotically charged mystery that takes cues from the greats of the film world. Writer-director Sigal Avin leans on Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, and more for influences in her story about an aging female director (Ayelet Zurer) who becomes obsessed with a young, seductive screenwriter (Lihi Kornowski) and the film that might save her career but destroy her marriage. It's wonderfully shot and loaded with beautiful people, if that's your thing. [TRAILER]

Miss Scarlet and the Duke

Premiered Jan. 17 | Watch on PBS
Peaky Blinders' Kate Phillips provides the necessary fire behind London's first female private investigator in PBS's Miss Scarlet and the Duke, the latest Masterpiece series to wash up on American shores. Following the death of her P.I. father, a penniless Eliza Scarlet (Phillips) opts to continue her father's services rather than go the traditional route of marrying for financial security, and as you can imagine, her headstrong move has Londoners dropping their monocles into their tea. Her new line of work also sees her frequently cross paths with a fellow inspector nicknamed The Duke (Stuart Martin), and, yep, you got it, their clashes bubble with romantic tension. Will she solve the case of... looooooove? [TRAILER]

WandaVision

Premiered Jan. 15 | Watch on Disney+
Better late than never, WandaVision is the first television show from the MCU, and represents the future of Disney+, which is kind of a big deal. For fans of Marvel, it's a must-see, soft-launching Phase 4 of the MCU and affecting the events of the upcoming movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. As for the show itself, it adds comedic dimension to stars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany while a slowly unfolding mystery keeps things captivating. [REVIEW | TRAILER]

Trickster

Premiered Jan. 12 | Watch on CWTV.com
The supernatural coming-of-age story takes the tried-and-true formula that so many YA shows use, but filters it through the eyes of Indigenous people, following a teen from a broken family who slings drugs part-time working the drive-thru window of a fast-food joint. But things start to get more complicated when the young man begins to experience strange things, like seeing his doppleganger at parties and encountering talking crows. On the surface it seems like something that would fit right at home on The CW, but it has the vibe of a supernatural indie film from an up-and-coming first-time director — there's some clumsiness, but that's far outweighed by the positives — as it explores Indigenous folklore via a teen show. Disclaimer: The series was renewed for a second season but was later canceled when creator Michelle Latimer, who had previously maintained that she had Indigenous ancestry, was found to not be of Indigenous descent. [TRAILER]

All Creatures Great and Small

Premiered January 10 | Watch on PBS
The popular novels written by James Harriot/"Alf" Wright get a loving adaptation that stays true to the source material while also forging its own path. The six-episode first season follows Harriot as he joins a veterinary practice in 1930s Yorkshire, England, fixing animals with warmth and sensitivity... and doctor stuff. It's a comfort-show for those in need of positivity. [TRAILER]

Tiger

Premiered Jan. 10 | Watch on HBO Max
The story of Tiger Woods has always been ripe for documentation, but there's never been a better time for it than now. HBO's two-part, three-hour look at Woods' phenomenal rise, incredible fall, uncertain future, and recent comeback is more than just about an athlete, it's about the machine that makes heroes and sets up traps for them to fall into. It's all here: a Black man crashing a white-dominated sport, a company (Nike) building a brand around race, a father pushing his child too far, and the inevitable scandal of extra-marital affairs and substance abuse. Featuring never-before-seen footage of Woods and interviews with those closest to him (but none with Tiger himself), Tiger -- more general public-friendly and unbiased than ESPN's sporty and fawning The Last Dance -- will be loved by golfers and appreciated by anyone fascinated with the life of a groundbreaking icon. [TRAILER]

Lupin

Premiered Jan. 8 | Watch on Netflix
 Omar Sy stars as Assans Diop, a man who is essentially a French Bruce Wayne if Batman was more of a cat burglar than dark knight. Inspired by the classic French character Arsène Lupin, known as the "gentleman burglar," Diop starts the series off trying to steal a valuable necklace from the Louvre with a grand heist as part of a revenge plot against the wealthy family responsible for the death of father several years prior. Sy is a charming dude, and the heists and trickery are fun, complicated acts, performed under the guise of being the good guy. It isn't the greatest show Netflix ever put out, but it is a very entertaining distraction that's easy to get through. Five episodes air in this run, with more to come later. [TRAILER]

History of Swear Words

Premiered Jan. 5 | Watch on Netflix
Nicolas Cage hosting a docuseries about the roots of the most famous swear words? Well gosh golly dagnabbit gee willikers, pardon my French, but this sounds flippin' wonderful! Seriously, listening to Cage unleash the F-word through reciting famous movie lines or just running the F-bomb gamut with different inflections to demonstrate its myriad meanings is great. In each 20-minute episode that's focused around one swear word, Cage is joined by comedian talking heads discussing what they love about each curse, as well as lexicon experts who break down the etymology of the words we don't say around our mothers. [TRAILER]

30 Coins

Premiered Jan. 4 | Watch on HBO Max
This Spanish horror series starts off with a bank robber somehow surviving a wave of bullets to snatch a mysterious coin and continues with a small Spanish town witnessing a baby being born out of a cow. Then things get weird. The town's mayor (Sense8's Miguel Angel Silvestre) and local vet (Megan Montenar) team up to figure out what the heck is going on, and whether a local priest (Eduard Fernández), who spends his free time delivering haymakers on a punching bag and hiding guns, has anything to do with the unusual activity. It's freaky, gory horror centered on biblical roots that cribs from the classics like The Omen and The Exorcist with just a touch of camp to keep things a wee bit fun. [TRAILER]