10 New TV Shows Not Enough People Are Watching
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TV is a huge part of my life. The end of day episode is a daily ritual I hold near and dear to my heart — AND it is a literal part of my job. And yet, even I can't keep up with everything worth streaming. In a world where Hulu and HBO Max seem to have a new (and usually fantastic) original series every single month, it's so easy for great shows like We Are Lady Parts to slip through those pesky cracks in our ever-shortening attention span.
20th Century Studios / Via Tenor
The recent cancellation of Kevin Can F**k Himself is evidence enough of the consequences that come with sleeping on a great show...
So now that you firmly understand what's at stake, here are 10 shows from 2021 that *definitely* deserve our attention (before it's too late):
1.Schmigadoon!
Lovers and haters of musical theater alike can find something to appreciate about Apple TV+'s musical comedy series, Schmigadoon! The show features a healthy balance of Broadway talent and comedic genius, with Key & Peele's Keegan Michael Key and Saturday Night Live's Cecily Strong at the show's center. When Melissa and Josh head out on a backpacking trip to work through their relationship roadblocks, they find themselves trapped in the magical town of Schmigadoon, which seems permanently stuck as a Golden Age-style musical. The couple is informed by a leprechaun (Martin Short) that they won't be allowed to leave this fever-dream locale where everyone is singing their emotions from the top of their lungs until the pair find "true love," a quest just vague enough that we could very well stay in the town of Schmigadoon for many seasons to come. The whole thing is a spoof of the 1947 musical Brigadoon and musical theater in general, and the show is just campy enough that that aspect has yet to grow tired. Season 1 of Schmigadoon! is comprised of just six episodes, making it an easy weekend binge, regardless of where you stand on musicals.
Watch it on Apple TV+.
2.Kevin Can F**k Himself
Don't hate me, but despite the recent and totally gutting announcement that Season 2 will be this show's last, I still think Kevin Can F**k Himself deserves your attention. For one thing, two seasons of an utterly fantastic show are better than none, and I think we'd all be lying if we said we weren't suffering from Annie Murphy withdrawals since that final episode of Schitt's Creek. But this show isn't anything like the heartwarming family comedy that introduced us to Murphy; it's an all new side of the actor that brought us "Ew, David." Kevin Can F**k Himself shifts between two worlds, that of a clinically lit multi-cam sitcom where the long-suffering wife struggles to laugh her way through her marriage to an absolute bozo of a husband, and the sinister single-cam world that shows like Breaking Bad tend to exist within. It's in that grungier, darker world where said wife decides she wants to kill the husband. Maybe it's the fact that it's on AMC+, a relative newcomer to the streaming arena, or it's fallen victim to the expletives-in-the-title curse, but don't let this show's tragic sophomore season cancellation keep you from experiencing the joy that is a rage-filled, all-grown-up Alexis Rose.
Watch it on Amazon Prime with AMC+.
3.The Great North
Parks and Recreation's Ron Swanson saunters into a cartoon Alaskan universe created by the producers of Bob's Burgers, and now we've got The Great North. This show has every beloved voice actor that you'll inevitably end up googling halfway through the first episode and exclaim, "Oh yeah, I knew it was them." Let me save you a little bit of the trouble: BEEF (voiced by the aforementioned Nick Offerman) is the single patriarch of the Tobin family, trying his best to keep his kids close after being abandoned by their mother, his ex-wife, whom he likes to pretend died tragically. His kids, Judy (Jenny Slate, Big Mouth), Wolf (Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth), Ham (Paul Rust, Love), and Moon (Aparna Nancherla, Mythic Quest) get into all kinds of adolescent antics up in The Great North, some of which involve Judy's imaginary friend, played by none other than Canadian American pop singer Alanis Morissette. Despite coming out this year, The Great North has nearly two (2!) complete seasons available to binge, with a third already in the works.
Watch it on Hulu.
4.Central Park
An animated musical comedy with Stanley Tucci, Tituss Burgess, Daveed Diggs, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kristen Bell, and more? It's an absolute travesty that this show isn't at the top of everyone's watch list. Once again, from the Bob's Burgers team, this series follows the Tillermans, an oddball family who reside in an old mansion inside New York’s Central Park because their father, Owen, is the park manager. When an elderly heiress attempts to girlboss her way to becoming the owner of Central Park, the Tillermans are tasked with thwarting her plans. The whole thing is told through a self-aware narrator voiced by co-creator and Frozen star Josh Gad. This show is exactly what it seems: a lot. But between elaborate musical numbers and some absolutely absurd voice-casting choices (Stanley Tucci is NOT playing who you think he is), Central Park definitely deserves (at least part of) your attention. And furthermore, while it technically premiered in 2020, the show really finds its stride in the second season, which came out earlier this year, so I've decided to count it anyway, for all our benefit.
Watch it on Apple TV+.
5.Ghosts
If you're a fan of semi-nonsensical but nonetheless good American adaptations of British television, then Ghosts might be the next show for you. Based off the BBC's 2019 original series, now on its (very impressive for the BBC) third season, the American take on Ghosts stars Rose McIver (The Lovely Bones, iZombie) as Samantha, and Utkarsh Ambudkar (Tick, Tick... Boom!, Never Have I Ever) as Jay, alongside a comedy-powerhouse-packed gaggle of ghosts who reside in the onscreen couple's recently inherited mansion. When the couple (unknowingly) announce their plans to transform the property into a hotel, their ghostly guests take it upon themselves to drive these new owners away. When Samantha falls and hits her head during a misguided haunting attempt, she gains the ability to see every one of the deceased hanging around the decrepit house. Give this CBS freshman show, just now finishing up Season 1, a shot, or if you're a TV show purist, try the British version first.
Watch the US Ghosts on Paramount+.
Watch the British Ghosts on HBO Max.
6.Reservation Dogs
In Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi's (Jojo Rabbit, Thor: Ragnarok) comedy series, four Indigenous teenagers, played by D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Creeped Out), Devery Jacobs (American Gods), Paulina Alexis (Ghostbusters: Afterlife) and newcomer Lane Factor decide to embark on a life of thievery so they can afford to escape their rural Oklahoma town and honor their late friend's dream of moving to California. But these reservation dogs first have to face some challenges to their crime-laden plans, including a rival gang and some pesky locals. This Critics Choice-nominated coming-of-age story, created by a team of predominantly Indigenous directors, writers, and actors, has an incredibly fresh feel and perspective. Reservation Dogs can induce many types of tears in the span of just a few moments, making it a must-watch (seriously watch this so it doesn't get canned, please).
Watch it on Hulu.
7.We Are Lady Parts
If you aren't yet familiar, let me introduce you to the epic highs and lows of punk rock. We Are Lady Parts follows the UK-based members of the all-female Muslim punk-rock band Lady Parts, who are trying to establish themselves in London's music scene. This show gets points for its unique premise, but swiftly loses some of its attention-grabbing value when it falls into the typical sitcom story pattern after the first episode. That being said, I'm not one to knock a solid sitcom, especially one filled with a supremely talented and diverse cast such as this one. We Are Lady Parts manages to deliver an authentically entertaining portrayal of a wide range of Muslim experiences, all while giving us punk-rock bangers like "Voldemort Under My Headscarf" to enjoy along the way.
Watch it on Peacock with a Premium membership.
8.Hacks
This generational comedy stars Jean Smart (Mare of Easttown, Watchmen) as Deborah Vance, a formerly legendary comedian who has been relegated to a regular show on the Las Vegas strip, and real-life comedian Hannah Einbinder as Ava, a newly unemployed TV writer under fire for some controversial tweets. The two form an odd couple-style partnership after being set up by their agent in common, and set out to revive Deborah's career. If the meta nature of this comedy show about comedy doesn't draw you in, perhaps Hacks' fresh and inherently female perspective on the comedian narrative will. And if you still need convincing, know that the chemistry between this dynamic duo, both on and offscreen, is electric, or as Einbinder put it in her interview on Late Night With Seth Meyers, "Jean and I have this awesome little joke where she's mean to me, and I'm in love with her."
Watch it on HBO Max.
9.Chucky
Your friend till the end is back once again. In a TV series continuation of the Child's Play horror series, Chucky brings his usual campy brand of chaos to a quaint suburban town after being picked up at a friendly neighborhood yard sale. Zackary Arthur (Transparent) stars alongside the murderous doll (voiced by Brad Dourif) as Jake Wheeler, a 14-year old gay artist who acquires Chucky to use in an art project, and ends up encouraged toward heinous violence by the serial killer-possessed doll. I know October is long gone, but as usual with Child's Play characters, Chucky matches its every jump-scare with a joke, making this show a gory but good binge option all year long.
Watch it on Peacock with a Premium membership.
10.Made for Love
Finally, Cristin Milioti is getting the attention she so rightfully deserves (I'm looking at you, How I Met Your Mother — you should be ashamed!). The thoroughly underrated Palm Springs actor stars as Hazel, the wife of tech billionaire Byron, played by Billy Magnussen (Game Night, No Time to Die) in Made for Love. After emerging from a 10-year stint living in a VR paradise of Byron's making, the tech mogul determines the best course of action to keep his marriage healthy is to, in Stepford wife-style, implant a chip into his wife's brain that will allow him to track her, see through her eyes, and study her emotional data. After Hazel escapes from her husband's villainous clutches (don't worry, it's really not a spoiler), she runs off to hide out at her estranged father's place (Ray Romano). Nobody does trapped-in-some-scary-sci-fi-scenario quite like Milioti, and she definitely doesn't disappoint in this horrifyingly hilarious series, which (thankfully) is slated to see a Season 2.
Watch it on HBO Max.
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