Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Science Fiction
Actor: Cara Gee, Dominique Tipper, Frankie Adams, Jasai Chase-Owens, Keon Alexander, Nadine Nicole, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Steven Strait, Wes Chatham
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Science Fiction
Actor: Cara Gee, Dominique Tipper, Frankie Adams, Jasai Chase-Owens, Keon Alexander, Nadine Nicole, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Steven Strait, Wes Chatham
With the deluge of hyper-stylized teen shows everywhere (but especially on Netflix), Teenage Bounty Hunters comes as a refreshing and welcome surprise. Sisters Blair and Sterling, played by Anjelica Bette Fellini and Maddie Phillips respectively, strike the perfect balance between spiky and endearing, creating a chemistry that’s rare to see among TV siblings. There’s friction but also love all around.
Their interactions alone make the series thoroughly enjoyable, but their coming-of-age hijinks and comedic timing, especially around their reluctant mentor Bowser (Kadeem Hardison), make it an absolute must-watch. If you enjoyed Booksmart but wished it was more action-packed, you'll surely love this show.
Genre: Action & Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Actor: Anjelica Bette Fellini, Charity Cervantes, Devon Hales, Eric Graise, Kadeem Hardison, Mackenzie Astin, Maddie Phillips, Method Man, Myles Evans, Shirley Rumierk, Spencer House, Virginia Williams, Wynn Everett
Created by Janine Nabers and Donald Glover (Atlanta), Swarm is a dark and bloody deep dive into fan culture. It follows Dre (Dominique Fishback), a young woman whose obsession with a Beyoncé stand-in takes a dark turn after the unexpected death of a loved one.
Artful, daring, and legitimately scary, Swarm is one of the bolder shows to come to streaming in a while. It doesn’t hold back, not with the commentary nor with the blood, which can be too much for some viewers, but if you were thrilled by films like Misery and The King of Comedy, then this mind-blowing take on celebrity mania will certainly have you hooked.
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Horror
Actor: Dominique Fishback
A Cuban-American revival of the Norman Lear series from the '70s and '80s, this relatively short-lived version of One Day at a Time was once the sweetest show on TV, especially in a landscape populated by prestige dramas and gritty genre fare. In its empathetic approach towards a wide range of subject matter—racism, mental illness, gender identity, unconventional family structures—the series places a premium on communication and acceptance. Which isn't to say that the show doesn't have its fair share of amusing misunderstandings and conflicts, mostly between independent single mom Penélope (Justina Machado) and the flamboyant abuela Lydia (Rita Moreno). But perhaps most impressive about One Day at a Time is how it breathes new life into the three-wall sitcom format with a live studio audience—enhancing the show's most emotional moments either through the live viewers' bated breath or their eruption of applause.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family
Actor: Isabella Gomez, Justina Machado, Marcel Ruiz, Rita Moreno, Stephen Tobolowsky, Todd Grinnell
Coming-of-age shows are not hard to come by these days. If anything, there might be too many, with a majority of them being hit-or-miss in terms of quality. But before all this, there was one show that tested the waters and bravely went where no teen show had gone: it was called My So-Called Life, and like anything ahead of its time, it was canceled almost from the get-go.
The show was one of the first to forgo happy endings and neat tie-ups in exchange for depicting the messy, complicated, and real. Fifteen-year-old Angela Chase (Claire Danes) was hardly likable, what with her bouts of angst and anger, but she was always relatable, and you could rely on her and the rest of the Three Rivers gang to deliver the unfiltered truth about teenhood. Even though the '90s series didn't attract enough eyeballs to warrant a second season, it's now getting its due among modern audiences who recognize its influence in every disaffected young lead trying their best to navigate the confusing waters of youth.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: A.J. Langer, Bess Armstrong, Claire Danes, Devon Gummersall, Devon Odessa, Jared Leto, Lisa Wilhoit, Tom Irwin, Wilson Cruz
This short-lived BBC series is premised on a simple but ingenious idea: what if zombies could be treated and welcomed back into society? In the Flesh posits that the battle between humans and the undead would be more political and social, rather than just fatal. It sees a return to the use of zombies as a more direct representation of alienation and societal divide, instead of having them just be soulless creatures to be feared and killed. So if you ever wished you could view a less gory Walking Dead, then the haunting and profound In the Flesh is your best bet.
Genre: Drama, Horror
Actor: Emmett Scanlan, Harriet Cains, Luke Newberry, Wunmi Mosaku
This is Breaking Bad meets The Social Network. Based on a true story that took place in Leipzig, Germany in 2015, this show is about Moritz, a high-schooler who starts Europe’s biggest drug market online. He initially does this to impress his ex-girlfriend, who had just come back from the States with new drug experiences.
The transformation of a nerd into a drug kingpin is fascinating. But because it is based on a true story, there is an important nuance to that transformation. Moritz is rarely portrayed as a hero, and his creepy side is always present. This makes for an interesting and exciting plot-heavy show.
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Actor: Bjarne Madel, Damian Hardung, Danilo Kamber, Danilo Kamperidis, Jolina Amely Trinks, Lena Klenke, Leonie Wesselow, Luna Schaller, Maximilian Mundt, Roland Riebeling
Three unassuming housewives team up with a violent street gang to make a little extra cash. What better TV show premise could you ask for?
Good Girls is the often hilarious, always thrilling show dubbed “Breaking Bad meets Thelma And Louise.” The three lead actresses are fun and have great chemistry together as they navigate a sometimes fast-paced show, and other times a family drama.
And that may be the only issue with this show, it doesn’t exactly pick a lane. However, if, like me, you don’t mind a little Detroit housewive drama mixed in with your thrilling scenes, you’ll have a great time.
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Christina Hendricks, David Hornsby, Isaiah Stannard, Izzy Stannard, James Lesure, Lidya Jewett, Mae Whitman, Manny Montana, Matthew Lillard, Reno Wilson, Retta, Zach Gilford
When life gets tough, especially without money or opportunities, it can be hard to cling onto life. There’s the real temptation to end it all, but what if Death is tired of this last resort? Death’s Game reimagines life after Choi’s suicide as a video game, whose limited lives function like reincarnation into different save points, and whose game over means eternal damnation in hell. With such an interesting premise from the popular webtoon, some of the best actors in Korea, and no way of being able to predict what would happen in Choi’s multiple, varied lives, Death’s Game reinvents plenty of today’s K-Drama tropes while possibly reconceptualizing how we feel about life and death… if it’s able to stick the landing when the second half drops this January.
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Actor: Choi Si-won, Go Youn-jung, Jang Seung-jo, Kim Jae-wook, Kim Ji-hun, Kim Kang-hoon, Kim Mi-kyeong, Lee Do-hyun, Lee Jae-wook, Nam Kyung-eup, Oh Jung-se, Park So-dam, Seo In-guk, Sung Hoon, Yoo In-soo
Director: Ha Byung-hoon
Imagine if Showtime’s survival epic Yellowjackets was a comedy, and being stranded with your high school friends resulted not only in ethical and moral dilemmas but a lot of witty banter and major bonding as well.
Then you’d have something like Class of ‘07, an apocalyptic series with the irreverent humor of many millennial shows out there. It's every bit as funny, addictive, and deep as you'd hope it would be, with the show excellently blending bleak circumstances with quirky jokes and hopeful epiphanies—kind of like how The Good Place manages to make a breezy comedy out of death and the afterlife. In fact, Class of '07 is reminiscent of many comedic gems, including Derry Girls in its all-girls setup and Bridesmaids in its female-forward crassness. And like both stories, Class of '07 offers heartwarming insights into the power and perplexity of female friendship.
Be that as it may, Class of '07 is a distinct charmer. This Aussie show is delightful, hilarious, and utterly watchable in its own right.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Caitlin Stasey, Claire Lovering, Emily Browning, Megan Smart, Sana'a Shaik
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Abbi Jacobson, Ilana Glazer
From Happy Valley and Line of Duty to Luther and Sherwood, the BBC has produced some of the finest police dramas in recent TV history, and Better is a worthy addition to the roster. It’s not as refined as the mentioned shows, but it’s grounded by a riveting, morally conflicted performance by Fazard. The breakdown of her conscience, the constant negotiation between obligation and survival, the road toward redemption—Fazard embodies it all with rugged grace. It’s not often we get the point of view of a corrupt cop, and when we do, we rarely see them with this much screen time and backstory. Better is an okay crime thriller, but it’s even better as a character study of the well-meaning, desperate, and brilliant Lou.
Genre: Crime, Drama
Actor: Andrew Buchan, Carolin Stoltz, Garry Cooper, Gavin Spokes, Leila Farzad, Lucy Black, Olivia Nakintu, Samuel Edward-Cook, Zak Ford-Williams
The first Norwegian series made by HBO is a crazy and fun detective thriller. People from three different centuries start washing up at our time in the Oslo bay: from the Stone Age, the Viking Age, and the 19th century. Before you know it, downtown Oslo is full of people drying up hunted animals and camping in the gardens of official buildings. And seven years later, one woman, from the Viking Age, becomes the first modern-day "multi-temporal" cop. Together with a modern-day detective, they try to solve new crimes which involve people from different time periods.
If all of this sounds silly, don't worry: Beforeigners pulls it all off. All the multi-century premise does is bring originality to the otherwise over-exploited buddy-cop show genre. It hits the perfect balance between familiar and different.
Genre: Drama
Actor: Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, Krista Kosonen, Nicolai Cleve Broch
It’s hard to shock viewers nowadays, with TV being saturated with every type of show imaginable. But Am I Being Unreasonable? succeeds at standing out with deceptive simplicity. The six-part series asks us to follow Nic (Daisy May Cooper) and Jen (Selin Hizli), seemingly ordinary mothers living seemingly ordinary lives. Predictably, it starts with their midlife malaise, but the more we learn about the pair, the more complex and fearsome they become, and the more it becomes clear how difficult it is to know (and much less trust) another person.
The show swerves from drama to comedy to romance to horror all in a flash, and in lesser hands these changes can be frustrating and jarring. But here they feel welcome and fresh, thanks in large part to confident direction, a whipsmart script, and the wonderful relationship that forms between Nic and Jen. Every twist feels justified and every genre shift feels ingenious. Like its leads, Am I Being Unreasonable? can seem simple at first, but it dives into unexpected depths with every new episode.
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Daisy May Cooper, Seline Hizli
Based on true events, A Spy Among Friends tells the story of Kim Philby (Guy Pearce) and Nicholas Elliot (Damian Lewis), best friends who worked for MI6, that is until Philby defected to the Soviet Union. Subject to inquisition and intense scrutiny, Philby and Elliot test the strength of their friendship against growing political turmoil.
The series starts slow and the dialogue, while smart, can get heavy-handed. But if you give it some time, the payoffs are rewarding. The sets are immersive as it spans different eras and countries; the actors are charismatic as they present enigmatic layers for us to unfold; and the particulars of espionage manage to feel freshly shocking in a story told many times before.
Artful, well-performed, and gripping, A Spy Among Friends is a great watch for fans of voluble but intelligent thrillers.
Genre: Drama, War & Politics
Actor: Adrian Edmondson, Anastasia Hille, Anna Maxwell Martin, Damian Lewis, Gershwyn Eustache Jnr, Gilly Gilchrist, Guy Pearce, Karel Roden, Lucy Akhurst, Lucy Russell, Monika Gossmann, Nicholas Rowe, Stephen Kunken, Steven Elder, Thomas Arnold
Director: Nick Murphy