Now more than ever, the world needs great TV. The bad news? A lot of your favorite shows won’t be able to produce new episodes for quite some time, given that the whole global pandemic situation has thrown off most shooting schedules. The good news? There’s never been a better time to binge the shows that have always been on your list, but slip your mind every time you hear the dreaded “what should we watch?” The truth is, there’s simply too much TV out there for one mind to handle, let alone actually watch. So, how do you know which series will be your next obsession and which you’re better off skipping? Simple: this list of all the must-see TV shows you need to be watching right now.
Before you roll your eyes, I’m not suggesting that I’m the ultimate authority on what makes Great Television (yet, anyway). But certain shows stand the test of time, and others don’t; certain shows start strong and end weak, while others are slow to start, then suddenly achieve brilliance. On this list, you won’t find any of the once-hot shows now considered flops, and you’ll definitely hear about a few gems that slid under the radar but are beloved by those who found it. Of course, there’s no accounting for taste — but each and every show on this list has a devoted, involved fan base that will tell you: this show is good.
The newest watch-this-right-now series, by the way, is HBO’s I May Destroy You, created by and starring the indomitable Micaela Coel. Following a young buzzy writer with a book deal to make good on, the series takes a turn when it follows her to a night out gone wrong — and turns into one of the most dazzling explorations of a woman’s experience of sex and sexual assault ever seen on TV. With critical acclaim only a few episodes in, I can’t say it strongly enough: this is one to watch.
Once you finish I Must Destroy You, here are 11 other shows you should be watching right now too.
‘I May Destroy You’
HBO’s I May Destroy You is a 2020 series created by and starring Micaela Coel as a young writer whose viral article lands her a book deal — one she’s behind on finishing. As she returns home to London to finish her manuscript, she gets caught up in a night of partying with long-reaching effects that unfold over the following days.
‘Killing Eve’
BBC America's very smart, heart-thumping cat-and-mouse mystery Killing Eve stars two kickass women, actors Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer. Oh plays MI-6 agent Eve Polastri, who picks up the case of an assassin she rightly guesses is a woman. Audiences follow her hunt for the killer as well as the killer herself, Villanelle (played by Comer).
Watch if… you love acerbic British wit, you miss Oh ever since she left Grey's Anatomy or you're dying for some modern-day James Bond thrills without the gloss and with way more grit.
‘Superstore’
NBC's Superstore is a comedic look at the lives of a group of big box store employees going through the motions at their minimum-wage gigs. Starring America Ferrera, Superstore is smart, generous and never condescending in how it portrays the characters, which range from a harried single mom trying to make ends meet to her love interest, who thinks this is just a temporary job, and a teen mom who dreams of more.
Watch if… you need a good laugh after a long day at work or you miss the nuances and absurdities of the workplace, as told by The Office.
‘The Letdown’
Imported from Australia and available on Netflix, fresh comedy The Letdown takes a deeper look at modern motherhood. Following new mom Audrey as she navigates the politics of a new moms support group, reconnecting with her husband and raising her daughter the best she can, The Letdown is unwavering in showing what it's like to be a new mom, through all its highs and lows.
Watch if… the idea of Bad Moms with Australian accents excites you or you're looking for digestible episodes of honesty about what it's like to be a new mom from two insightful female writers.
‘Silicon Valley’
Silicon Valley (currently available on HBO Go) is a gleeful cringefest. Starring Thomas Middleditch, Martin Starr, Kumail Nanjiani and Zach Woods (as well as T.J. Miller, who has a tumultuous exit after Season 4), Silicon Valley follows a group of tech bros whose path to success is filled with wild highs and even wilder lows; along the way, they have to grapple with the nonsense antics of their peers in the startup tech arena.
Watch if… you're a big fan of Curb Your Enthusiasm's absurd, dry humor or you like your comedies smart and quirky.
‘For the People’
The latest addition to the Shondaland lineup is so, so good. For the People follows a group of fresh-faced lawyers working at the prestigious "Mother Court," also known as the Southern District of New York. The show is truly about the cases these lawyers tackle. Yes, we do get to follow them in their personal lives, but this is really a law procedural you can get behind. Catch up on all the episodes that have hit the air on Hulu.
Watch if… you love the idea of sharp, pathos-driven Shondaland dialogue being spoken in a courtroom or you've always wondered what happens when hot lawyers go head-to-head.
‘Fleabag’
From breakout British actor and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime. The series follows an unnamed female protagonist (played by Waller-Bridge) who takes us into her complicated life. It quickly becomes apparent that she is suppressing something, but as she tries to push it down with sex, booze and pushing away the people she loves, she clearly can't run away from her past.
Watch if… you always wanted a bit more bite from Bridget Jones' Diary or you're dying for a complex female character living life on her own terms.
‘Dark’
Netflix's Dark is twisted and more twisted. Covering three time periods but set in one provincial German town, the series begins with the disappearance of one young boy and soon sucks in various members of the town as it is slowly revealed that the disappearances could have a connection to time travel and maybe a sinister serial killer.
Watch if… you miss Lost, you love moody foreign television or the idea of dramatic cliffhangers at the end of every episode sounds like fun.
‘Claws’
TBS' Claws is a female-led crime dramedy that will have you hootin', hollerin' and beggin' for more. Following one Miami woman's struggles to open her own nail salon, the story quickly finds her and her friends becoming inextricably tied up in the more criminal side of southern Florida life.
Watch if… you ever wanted to know what would happen if Tony Soprano retired in Miami, was a badass woman and could shake his old life.
‘One Mississippi’
Comedian Tig Notaro turns her personal tragedy into the bittersweet comedy One Mississippi, which ran for two seasons and is available on Amazon Prime. We follow Notaro, who plays a fictionalized version of herself, as she returns to her small Southern hometown to take care of her late mother's affairs but ends up sorting through the various family tensions that have built up over the years.
Watch if… you like the idea of a TV show that mixes Nicolas Sparks' gentle storytelling and Southern gothic stories, all with a good sense of humor.
‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’
From the creators of The Office and Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine stars Andy Samberg, Terry Crews, Andre Braugher and Chelsea Perretti and a talented cast of supporting actors who play NYPD officers, detectives and employees who have to deal with the wackier, weirder side of police work. Catch up on all five seasons on Hulu before Season 6 premieres on NBC in the fall.
Watch if… you really miss Parks and Rec's ability to turn the humdrum-but-kooky life of bureaucrats up to 11 or you love Samberg's comedic stylings from Saturday Night Live.
‘The Leftovers’
The Leftovers (currently available on HBO Go) ran for three seasons but packed in a lot of thought and emotion during its relatively short run. Beginning with the question of how humanity would carry on following the mysterious disappearance of half the world's population, the show became philosophical, trippy and altogether entrancing.
Watch if… you love Justin Theroux, pseudoreligious-yet-edgy television or apocalypse thought experiments.
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