This is the place for you to recommend to people shows they should be watching but are not that popular or known.
Here’s a one of mine:
You should be watching Superstore. It’s on NBC on Thursdays and is extremely funny. Really well drawn funny characters. Some episodes have a subtle message without being preachy. If you like light workplace comedy it is one of the funniest current ones.
Hmmmm…
Preacher?
I know there are threads on this board about it, but I certainly had waited to watch it and had it on low priority. It ended up being my favorite new show of the year. I laughed a lot more than I expected, which was the real surprise. It was hilarious at times. Total surprise. I’ve not read the comic.
Stranger Things
Really, it was as good people said. I loved it.
I just recently discovered “Black Mirror” – which is genius in all kinds of ways. It’s an anthology series that leans heavily into thriller and science fiction territory a la “the Twilight Zone” or “the Outer Limits”, although with decidedly modern sensibilities. It’s also more pointedly focused on technology and the way it shapes our lives and society.
Much like the TZ or OL too, this series is very smartly written and there’s a level of realism at the heart of the show that really elevates it. It’s science fiction to be sure (or absurdist black humor in the case of “National Anthem”), but the premises for the stories aren’t so far removed from what could happen, and the characters behave like real people making real-world decisions, rather than ciphers who exist to illustrate a moral.
I think the best episodes IMO are “Fifteen Million Merits” and “White Bear”. The latter in particular is one of the most frightening and morally complex things I think I’ve ever seen on a TV show.
So, I’d definitely recommend it but with a fair warning that the show can sometimes leave you creeped out, and not in the most pleasant way.
The Good Place. Probably the smarted comedy on TV today. What’s especially great about it is that the show has an overaching plot (each episode is listed as a Chapter) – and is not afraid to change the status quo. Several times, when you thought the show would settle into a pattern, they break the pattern and go where you never expected from a sitcom. The characters also show facets to their personalities that aren’t obvious at first. It also has surprising depth.
And it is very funny. Ten Danson and Kristin Bell are just great. William Jackson Harper gets most of the best lines (responding to Bell’s character) and Jameela Jamil does very well in a complex role.
I’ll second Black Mirror, though it has been getting a lot of buzz these days. “White Bear” is so memorable; I get a chill everytime someone says, “Have fun!” I haven’t started on the third season, though: I have to be in the right mood to watch it, and it’s not a show you can binge on.
I’m also a big fan of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The musical numbers are always fantastic.
This Is Us
Great storyline and a very unique spin on traditional family drama.
Black Mirror’s episode “White Christmas” is haunting enough that I’ve never re-watched it. I shudder thinking of…I won’t spoil it.
Black Mirror is a great show.
This is one of the very few of the new shows I’m watching. And it seems designed to appeal to fans of Parenthood. But it’s not from Jason Katims (who was behind Parenthood and the television adaption of Friday Night Lights).
The Leftovers. Despite not being part of the target audience I find the plot very engaging and am looking forward to season 3. Also the opening sequence for season 1 is just plain epic.
Hmmm… there are no shows I’m “probably not watching.”
My favorite new show of the season is Pitch on Fox, about the first female pitcher in Major League Baseball. The premise is interesting, the story doesn’t always go where you think it will go, and the acting is absolutely superb.
Set in Montreal. I watch it on AcornTV(Roku) along with lots of other great British and Australian shows. Not sure where else it’s available to stream.
An IMDB review:
I said it here. Season 3 is now available on AcornTV.
I just caught this for the first time last night, never having heard of it before. It was funny, and interesting, and I think I’ll go back and start from the beginning. But when I saw the title of the thread, that’s the first show I thought of. You beat me to it.
Good choice. The twist at the end of the first show hooked me.
The new show I’ve found myself looking forward to the most is Better Things, with Pamela Adlon and with Louis CK as producer. It’s got some funny stuff and some really sweet moments between the mother and her daughters. It shows a realistic world where a single mother has problems with time management, guilt, and misunderstandings. But it’s all good.
Detectorists on Netflix. It’s understated, funny, and heartwarming in a way that the British seem so good at pulling off.
I have no idea which networks these are on, I torrent them all.
Brooklyn Nine Nine. Consistently funny sitcom, kind of like if Scrubs was set in a police station. (Sirens was good too, but that’s already been cancelled)
Hooten and the Lady. A Romancing The Stone kind of adventure comedy series. Way better than I anticipated, with apparently quite a location budget.
Blunt Talk. This season has been focused on a lot of weird sex themes, but it’s an otherwise unpredictable quirky comedy with very likeable characters.
People Of Earth looks like it’s going to be good, but we’re only a few episodes in so far. Alien abductee sitcom.
Lucifer. It’s in its second season now, and it just keeps getting better and better. They just ordered more episodes, so season 2 will be 22 instead of 13.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend! It won two emmys in its freshman year, it was Vulture’s best TV show of 2016 and it’s currently sitting at a 0.2 in the ratings.
A lot of people are put off by the title or by it being a musical but it’s one of the most slyly feminist, inclusive and insightfully empathetic shows about mental illness while also being hilariously funny and emotionally affecting.
The second season is currently airing on Fridays on the CW and the first season is streaming on Netflix.
I very strongly second The Good Place and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
Black Mirror is good, although not quite consistent enough to be truly great.
The other best new show I’ve recently seen is Happy Valley, another British production that is on Netflix in the US. It’s a BBC show about a tough-as-nails female cop in a depressed area of England… but more about her and her relationships than about solving crime, although there’s a fair bit of that. Absolutely top-notch, particularly the lead actress (Sarah Lancashire), who’s giving the best TV performance since Walter White. (Two seasons already streamable, third has been confirmed upcoming.)
I also recommend Lucifer and the Good Place. The Good Place consistently surprises me and makes me laugh. I’m always pleasantly surprised by how well all the sets are carried out, the level of details in the backgrounds that enhance the story, and the use of light and shadow and reflection int he filming.
Those are the only two shows I’m watching anymore, so Im glad to see these recommendations.