88

Steven’s earnestness in his attempts to be one of the Gems, as well as his search for his mother, are some of the most compelling story arcs you can get from this show. The nature of story arcs, however, means that the show isn’t balls to the wall crazy or fast-paced, but its emotional foundation has certainly been cared for. Everything about this show points in a starry-eyed direction. Episode to episode, Steven Universe is about self discovery and protecting your friends, but anyone who makes it through a major story or season will be forever bonded with this series.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Deedee Magno, Estelle, Michaela Dietz, Rebecca Sugar, Tom Scharpling, Zach Callison

Rating: TV-PG

There’s a lot more to this show than what it packages itself as, which is a cute little show shot in the ‘90s/2000s about capable toddlers. We can assume the kids are safe and have adults offscreen with them, but anxious ol' me has too many questions (e.g. How many more guardians are there besides cameramen? This isn’t a nature docu, so do the cameramen step in a lot?) The flash forwards in later episodes are a warm and welcome wrinkle to the show that deepens a distant nostalgia into an instant connection with these people. This show maximizes its short runtime by packing cuteness, tension, and fascination, and even finding a way to hit you in the feels.

Genre: Documentary, Family, Kids, Reality

It’s cool that more and more people are drawing attention to the cleanup after the cinematic explosions — much more kaiju explosions. This series is balls to the wall action, giving us the monsters and the raining down of blood and guts right away. The details are graphic and satisfying like a perverse cooking show or a horror film. When it’s not about that, we’re looking at hardworking, disciplined laborers in this absurd setting. Like many kaiju films, it’s a pretty easy show to get into, shining with its punchy animations, high octane action, ever-present danger, and a surprisingly adorable factor.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Asami Seto, Fairouz Ai, Keisuke Komoto, Kengo Kawanishi, Masaya Fukunishi, Sayaka Senbongi, Shunsuke Takeuchi, Wataru Katoh, Yuuki Shin

Rating: TV-14

In certain aspects, it’s a premise straight out of Disney, but the acting feels a bit more charming. It also has some legitimately funny material in the writing, refusing to rest on the laurels of a tight premise and moving the show away from one trick pony territory. The ghost rules aren’t necessarily inconsistent, but it does take a while to establish the patterns, so they feel like they’re often broken. But as a show generally following the tropes of music-centered teen shows, it excels in just about every department, from the original songs, to its themes of grief and the healing power of music.

Genre: Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Booboo Stewart, Carlos Ponce, Charlie Gillespie, Cheyenne Jackson, Jadah Marie, Jeremy Shada, Madison Reyes, Owen Patrick Joyner, Sacha Carlson, Savannah Lee May, Sonny Bustamante

Director: Kenny Ortega

Rating: TV-G

Dark Side of the Ring is where the comfort of pro wrestling and the mystery of true crime meet. The very premise of the series is that the wrestling industry is rife with with sketchy and downright depressing stories; and while it continues the tradition of depicting pro wrestling tragically (to great results), the episodes are streamlined and very consistent with having an insightful and balanced pool of perspectives. There's a lot of details for wrestling fans to sink their teeth into, but for the true crime and mystery-loving crowd, expect baseline stories about drugs, self-destruction, and outlaw wrestling practices unless it's one of those transcendent stories.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Chris Jericho

Rating: TV-MA

It’s a show with existential questions from an idealistic kid presented in the most absurd way. Finn the human and Jake the dog navigate emotions and dilemmas packaged into journeys and battles of varying degrees of cuteness and danger. The show's colors are extremely bright and virtually every character is a unique creature, which can be overstimulating unless your brain is specifically ready for it. One of the benefits of having a big cast of characters per episode, though, is more chances to connect with something on the show, and a fairly large episode count means the show will have had so many quirky songs, recurring characters, nuggets of advice, and story arcs to dive into. Just like any other candy, Adventure Time should give you a boost if you don't choke on it.

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Dee Bradley Baker, Hynden Walch, Jeremy Shada, John DiMaggio, Maria Bamford, Niki Yang, Olivia Olson, Pendleton Ward, Polly Lou Livingston, Steve Little, Tom Kenny

Rating: TV-PG

We follow the daily adventures of 3 bears that are individually lovable but collectively iconic. They rotate around as the centerpiece of an episode, each offering different flavors of humor namely dopey, slapstick, cringe, absurd, and when all else fails, funny animal. Some episodes take us into flashbacks of the bears as lost babies looking for a home, and it was a mistake to turn that into its own show, but it is in perfect quantity here. The recurring characters never overstay their welcome, changing the 3-person dynamic into even numbers where no character ventures off alone, or the inevitable 3 against the world, where the bears unite to overcome something else.

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family, Kids

Actor: Bobby Moynihan, Demetri Martin, Eric Edelstein

Rating: TV-Y7

So this is what City of Ghosts feels like in live-action. This series is just as candid, but it definitely takes the piss more. Maudie (Anna Cook) has excellent timing, loads of charm, and is far and away the most consistent character and performer. The show’s choppiness—you’ll know when you see it—can feel repetitive, cycling around to being memorable, then cycling back around to being a challenge, ad infinitum. But generally, it’s an investigative mockumentary delivered like an over-the-top cartoon (complete with the 2-in-1 episodes). It's got its challenges, but the sarcasm and earnestness makes it worth seeking out.

Genre: Comedy, Crime, Kids