"In times like these..." is a cliche that's been overused to the point of meaninglessness over the last few years, but the undeniable fact is that especially in the last 15 months, television has become a welcome distraction or even a lifeline for so many.
These 20 shows, both new and returning, have made immeasurable impacts in our lives, whether they transported us to new worlds, exposed us to unknown histories, or simply made us giggle. The streaming age may mean that there's more content out there than any one person can conceivably watch, but it also means that when it comes to a list like this, there are so many great options available. We might now be closer than ever to the end of our pandemic year (fingers crossed, that is) but while it might be safe to go outside, TV is still giving us plenty of reasons to stay at home. Check out the list below for 20 of said reasons.
20. Cruel Summer
Freeform’s addictive mystery drama Cruel Summer might just be the surprise breakout series of the year. Set across three summers in the early-to-mid ‘90s, the series follows the disappearance and return of a local teenage girl and how it turns the life of two teenagers upside down. The addictive series centers on two young women; Jeanette Turner (Chiara Aurelia), a sweet and timid teen outsider who becomes the most hated person in America, and Kate Wallis (Olivia Holt), the victim of the kidnapping, who insists Jeanette could have saved her and didn’t, leading to a media firestorm. Bouncing back and forth between the years, Cruel Summer takes us through how they're both transformed by their trauma and builds a gripping mystery, not out of solving the crime, but deciphering which version of events is true.
Cruel Summer was a huge hit for Freeform, becoming the network’s most-watched series yet, and I imagine it will continue to find new audiences on streaming, because it also makes for one heck of a compulsive binge-watch. It’s a fascinating examination of truth that toys with viewer biases — you’ll find yourself firmly in Kate’s corner, only to find yourself fully believing Jeanette in the next episode, and the show cleverly plays with the audience’s preconceived notions of type and traditional teen thriller narrative to keep those twists and turns coming. But it’s also a show that’s interested in exploring trauma rather than exploiting it, letting moments of grief and healing breathe between the pulpier plot points, and highlighting how society chews up and spits out young women. On top of all that, it’s got some fantastic performances from Aurelia and Holt, excellent use of stylized cinematography to help keep the timelines straight, and while those intersecting nonlinear narratives may be a bit overly dense at the time, the series proves itself worth the extra attention, paying it back in the attention it gives to developing the characters and teasing the mystery. - Haleigh Foutch
19. Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (Season 2)
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist was one of the best new shows of 2020. In fact, I’m still hugely disappointed in myself for ever making the assumption that it was just some silly comedy with music numbers, based on its first trailers. Had I left it at that and not given the series a fair shot, I would have missed out on a slew of incredibly well-executed song and dance sequences designed to amplify character arcs and a hugely emotional story that’d often bring me to tears and fill my heart. However, Season 1 was so good, it did leave me wondering, how can creator Austin Winsberg and co. possibly keep this up while expanding the show’s high concept to justify a second season? Not only did the team behind the series do just that, but they well exceeded all of my expectations by adding layers to Zoey’s (Jane Levy) power that tested the characters in new ways while bolstering the show’s entertainment value and emotional core in the process. Season 2 concluded with a game-changing cliffhanger that leaves absolutely no doubt that the Zoey’s Playlist cast and crew can continue raising the bar with a third season. NBC’s loss better wind up being another network or streamer’s gain, because this series continues to show off sky-high quality work and more and more potential every step of the way. - Perri Nemiroff
18. The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers
I'll be honest, I was pretty skeptical about The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers heading into the premiere but I'll be damned if this show hasn't been the unexpected gem of 2021 thus far, much like fellow underdog sports comedy Ted Lasso last year. It was great to see Emilio Estevez back as a grumpy old Gordon Bombay, who finds the Don't Bothers melting the ice over his heart during the course of the season.
Like the original movie, Disney simply found a great group of kids here, especially young lead Brady Noon (Blockers) and his co-stars Maxwell Simkins and Swayam Bhatia, all of whom have bright futures ahead of them. But Lauren Graham completely won me over with her charming turn as a single mom who starts her own hockey team, just to ensure that her son can play the game he loves after being cut by the Ducks.
Her unorthodox coaching methods forced this gang of misfits to come together as a team, and the chemistry and trust they developed paid off against overwhelming odds in the season finale, in which the Don't Bothers went from game-changers to name-changers. I'm really glad I watched this and I hope it lives to quack another day, because I can't wait to see where Season 2 might take this lovable team. - Jeff Sneider
17. Dickinson (Season 2)
Dickinson has been one of the shining titles on Apple TV+ since the beginning of the streaming platform's launch — sharply witty, devastatingly funny, occasionally macabre and ultimately subversive, much like the famous poet herself. It's a show that hangs its responsibility heavily on the shoulders of its lead, Hailee Steinfeld, who infuses her portrayal of Emily Dickinson with a sense of unbridled whimsy and unapologetic aspiration. But it manages to be a successful ensemble show too, as Toby Huss, Anna Baryshnikov, Adrian Blake Enscoe, and Jane Krakowski complete the rest of the Dickinson family with complexity and humor. Dickinson as a series is not just about an artist who pushes against society's constraints on her gender, as Emily also longs to love openly with her true soulmate, Sue (rendered on-screen with heartbreaking vulnerability by Ella Hunt). You wouldn't think that a show like this could absolutely nail down the perfect combination of period drama sensibilities and millennial-era comedy, but Dickinson is a series that has only gotten stronger with every season to date. In the world helmed by showrunner Alena Smith, Emily Dickinson is more than merely the poet who possessed a morbid fascination with death (even if Death is also played with effortless cool by Wiz Khalifa); she's the woman whose life is still worth celebrating in riotous fashion. - Carly Lane
16. Girls5Eva
Certainly, one of the best new shows of 2021 is Girls5Eva, which debuted on Peacock this May. The series hails from the 30 Rock/Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt duo of Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, with Meredith Scardino serving as creator and showrunner, and it definitely scratches that Fey/Carlock itch for those who were maybe a little underwhelmed by their solid, if not spectacular, new broadcast series Mr. Mayor. But Girls5Eva takes a brilliant premise — picking up with members of an early 2000s girl group in present-day, now in their 40s and trying to mount a comeback — and elevates it to bingeworthy levels of entertainment. The casting is perfect, as Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell, and Busy Phillips each bring something unique to the table; the jokes come at 30 Rock-like speeds; and the songs are straight-up earworms. But the show also has a warm heart at its center that gives the whole thing a nice emotional core to latch onto. And with Season 2 already picked up, you can rest assured that these eight episodes are only the beginning. So what are you waiting five? - Adam Chitwood
15. Ziwe
I’m not sure if there is a purer 2021 television comedy than Ziwe. Created and hosted by the indomitable Ziwe Fumudoh, the series blends interviews, sketches, songs, and other well-trod variety show staples with shots of transparency, boldness, and the most pleasantly vicious satire you’ll ever see. Fumudoh is one of our great interviewers; watching her ask iconic guests (her words) like Fran Leibowitz, Gloria Steinem, and Stacey Abrams such cut-to-the-core questions without either an ounce of mean-spiritedness or an ounce of fluffiness is a masterclass in how to get the best out of a person, even if that means sprinting through the worst (and when the guest is oblivious, like one Mr. Andrew Yang, look the fuck out). The sketches are surprising and eviscerating, the remote segments burst with joy, the songs are bangin’, and Ziwe has arrived as one of our most fully-formed and confident debut shows. More of this, less people named Jimmy! - Gregory Lawrence
14. Resident Alien
What's fascinating about Resident Alien is how many different genres it encompasses. The premise is pure sci-fi: An alien (Alan Tudyk) crashes on Earth after a mission gone wrong, and so he assumes the identity of a local human to try to fit in while working to complete his assignment. And, naturally, "Harry"'s efforts to fit in with the folks living in the small Colorado town near his crash site are rife with classic fish-out-of-water comedy, especially thanks to Tudyk's dry and cynical voice-over (even the ever-changing opening titles are hilarious). But there's a depth of emotion beneath the surface of this series that makes it one of the more charming surprises of 2021, pushing the series more into dramedy territory but in very welcome ways. The strong supporting ensemble, including Sara Tomko, Corey Reynolds, Alice Wetterlund, Levi Fiehler, and Judah Prehn, might be easily reduced to cliche on the page but come alive as vibrant unique characters over the course of the first season, inviting comparisons to classic shows like Northern Exposure — but, of course, with aliens, not to mention its own very specific and fun charms. Make a point of checking this one out, as a second season has been greenlit and can't come soon enough. - Liz Shannon Miller
13. For All Mankind (Season 2)
What was perhaps most exciting about For All Mankind Season 2 was how much it built upon the promise of Season 1. In leaping from 1974 to the early 1980s, the series was able to follow through on its commitment to thoroughly explore this alternate reality, created by an American dedication to push the space program past playing tourist on the Moon. But the drama was dialed up to a boiling point due to the increasingly heated conflict between Russia and the United States, which led to the back half of the second season playing like a roller coaster ride, featuring some of the tensest space sequences ever seen on TV. (Never knew I wanted to see Die Hard on the moon, but now I've seen it and I love it.) Plus, the show also managed to grow past its reliance on Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) as a lead, with the incredible female ensemble, including Sarah Jones, Shantel VanSanten, Jodi Balfour, Wrenn Schmidt, Sonya Walger, Krys Marshall, Cynthy Wu, and Coral Peña, really taking center stage not out of some sense of tokenism, but because they're meant to be there. For All Mankind only seems to be getting better, and hopefully the in-production Season 3 continues that trend. - Liz Shannon Miller
12. Rutherford Falls
Small towns have been a classic television go-to since the early days of the medium, and Rutherford Falls does that tradition proud while also advancing the representation of Native people on TV in big ways. Plus it's the sort of lowkey charming funny that makes for great comfort viewing. The series stars Ed Helms as Nathan Rutherford, a descendent of the man who founded the titular town, who's forced to take a hard look at his family's legacy when the town considers moving its statue of the founder. In many ways, though, the real lead is Jana Schmieding as Reagan, Nathan's best friend, whose desire to celebrate the heritage of the Minishonka Nation is only one facet of her character. What makes the series so compelling is the bond between Nathan and Reagan, the sort of honest and authentic platonic relationship that you don't see often enough on screen; this is a show that sings thanks to every component, but most especially the writers' commitment to making Rutherford Falls a specific and unique little world. The only thing holding back this incredibly charming comedy is the fact that Peacock has yet to become an essential streaming service, and hopefully as more Office and Parks and Recreation fans migrate their way there, they'll get the chance to discover this true gem. - Liz Shannon Miller
11. Gangs of London
Smash! Crack! And often yikes! These are the noises of Gangs of London, the triumphantly brutal, ultraviolent, and ultimately soapy action-drama from action-drama maestro Gareth Evans. After the patriarch of a crime family (Colm Meaney) is suddenly, almost inadvertently killed, his chip-squarely-on-his-shoulder son (Joe Cole) declares open season on all the other London gangs until he finds his father’s killer. What results is some of the nastiest, most impressive, and truly buck-wild action choreography you’ll see in either television or film, bordering on horror in its blunt bloodshed and manipulations of the human body. Granted, you’ll get only one-ish of these types of sequences per episode, but in between, you will get blissfully entertaining, macho, and hardboiled criminal machinations and bluster; something like the chessboard structure of Game of Thrones done as a lowbrow grindhouse picture. But even then, these peerless crafters of punchy television can’t help but attain highbrow moments of panache and power among the mayhem — the glorious, gory, utterly watchable mayhem. - Gregory Lawrence
10. It's a Sin
Russell T. Davies has been making iconic television for over two decades now, with his credits including the original Queer as Folk, the Emmy-winning A Very English Scandal, and the haunting future-set miniseries Years and Years. (He's also responsible for launching the Doctor Who revival that turned the sci-fi classic into a modern-day juggernaut.) But while he's one of those writers where you can tell every project is personal for him on some level, It's a Sin might be his most intimate to date, focusing on a small group of young gay men coming of age in 1980s London, an exciting time but also one soaked with sadness and anger thanks to the AIDS crisis and the deep-seated prejudices of the era. The five-part miniseries features Neil Patrick Harris, Keeley Hawes, and Stephen Fry in appearances that Emmys voters are hopefully considering, but the young cast — including Olly Alexander, Omari Douglas, Callum Scott Howells, Lydia West, and Nathaniel Curtis — in particular, shines. It's a heartbreaking work that captures so much brutal detail about this period of time, with Davies' trademark optimism still finding ways to shine through. - Liz Shannon Miller
9. Lupin (Part 1)
Sometimes I think of movies as being wide and TV shows as being deep. A movie gets the room to splash widely across different ideas and set pieces; a TV show gets the room to burrow into one idea as deep and individualized as it would like.
Somehow, the five-episode first part of Lupin does both. And, like its main character’s various schemes, heists, capers, and tricks, it makes it look effortless and cool. Omar Sy stars (in the true sense of the word, as in “this man is a star”) as Assane Diop, a thief and confidence man inspired by classic literary character Arsène Lupin. Thus, this series functions as a sneaky, smart reboot of a classic bit of IP, giving its characters ample room for self-awareness while giving its creative team, shepherded by George Kay and François Uzan, ample room for experimentation. Episode 1 kicks off with a heist sequence for the ages, a feat of thriller filmmaking and storytelling that’ll leave you breathless. From there, these episodes alternate between and merge similarly wide, splashy set pieces with surprising, deepening character motivations and statements about race and class. A masterful spate of episodes. - Gregory Lawrence
8. Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet (Season 2)
Mythic Quest is one of the best shows of the last few years, hands down. While it got off to a solid start, the show’s first season eventually revealed itself to be not only a hilarious spin on the “workplace comedy” format, but also a surprisingly emotional and poignant show that touched on issues that hit close to home. The second season continues this streak, delivering laughs and tears in equal measure as it turns its focus to Poppy (Charlotte Nicado) after her promotion to co-creative director alongside egomaniacal Ian (Rob McElhenney, who also co-created, writers, and directs the series). Season 2 digs deep into the glass ceilings so many women face in the workplace but also brings a great deal of nuance to the subject, allowing its characters to live and breathe as dimensional and complex beings rather than mouthpieces for grand statements. But beyond all of that, Mythic Quest is also just really, really funny, and Season 2 shows that this series isn’t afraid of change, it embraces it. - Adam Chitwood
7.Marvel's M.O.D.O.K.
The character of M.O.D.O.K. made his first Marvel appearance in 1967, was immediately betrayed by his subordinates, and then died in an explosion, and the next five decades went about the same for the megalomaniacal supervillain with the monstrously large head. But there’s always been something really endearing about the grotesque evil genius, something co-creators Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum brilliantly tap into for Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. on Hulu. Over ten episodes of pure stop-motion pandemonium (featuring an actual cameo from Master Pandemonium) M.O.D.O.K. manages to humanize one of Marvel’s most grotesque creations. That meant giving him a family — wife Jodie (Aimee Garcia), daughter Melissa (Melissa Fumero), and son Lou (Ben Schwartz) – who act as the emotional counterweight to M.O.D.O.K.’s desire to rule all of humanity with an iron fist. Can a Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing truly have it all? Make no mistake, M.O.D.O.K. is as densely joke-packed an animated series this side of The Simpsons, one that understands the simple humorous pleasures of watching a levitating supervillain eat a child’s party-sized chili by himself. But there’s a shockingly moving heart at its center, all leading to a season finale with some profound things to say about a person’s capacity to change. I cannot believe a M.O.D.O.K. show exists in the first place, so it’s a wonderful surprise that it’s also this freaking good. - Vinnie Mancuso
6. Invincible
After years of superhero movies and TV shows deconstructing what a superhero story is, Invincible is at its best when it is allowed to simply be a good superhero origin story, free of cynicism or subversions. Showrunner Simon Racioppa takes Robert Kirkman's comic book of the same name and expands on the everyday life of a teenage boy who discovers he has powers to give us the best modern take on the original Spider-Man mythos. The show boasts a top-notch cast featuring every voice actor A-lister you can think of, from J.K. Simmons to Steven Yeun to Mark Hamill, and they do a fantastic job of populating the world of Invincible with a great variety of heroes and ordinary citizens to the point where you could lose yourself just imagining the stories we are not seeing in this world. Add in one of the best comic book villains in years, and genuinely shocking plot twists and you've got yourself one of the best superhero stories we've seen in a good while, as well as one of the best TV shows of the year yet. - Rafael Motamayor
5. Shadow and Bone
There have been a lot of shows dubbed the "new Game of Thrones", and the fact that not one of them has even come close to living up to that label just proves how difficult it is to pull off a sprawling fantasy epic on TV. But in its first season, Netflix's Shadow and Bone pulls off the feat of establishing a compelling fantasy world that feels lived in and distinct. Once again, "the new Game of Thrones" label is being tossed around, but Shadow and Bone is a fantasy epic all its own, and it thrives because it's not trying to play by another show's rule book. It's sexy, but it's not exploitative. It's dark and thrilling, but it's not nihilistic. It's not quite a traditional fantasy epic either though, paying sensitive attention to the often thorny power dynamics in fantasy tropes, a nuance that expands and enriches the dramatic heft. It might take an episode or two for the series to pull you in, but in its first eight episodes, Shadow and Bone establish itself as a unique presence in fantasy TV, with captivating characters and a fantastic ensemble, gorgeous costuming and set design, and one outstanding supporting goat. - Haleigh Foutch
4. The Underground Railroad
It's hard to recommend The Underground Railroad to people without a lot of disclaimers about the raw and unflinching look it takes at the brutal reality of slavery; even though there's an element of magical realism to the story, Barry Jenkins did not pull back on the truth of this time period. But once you dive in, there's no denying that it's some of the most compelling and beautifully made television of the year, with a strong ensemble cast and some unforgettable cinematography. We'll never know what kind of impact this show might have had if it had been released weekly (it honestly would have benefitted from a more deliberately paced rollout), but however you might watch it, it will remain a testament to Jenkins' skills as a filmmaker and the importance of telling stories like this. - Liz Shannon Miller
3. Hacks
Call it the Jean Smart-aissance — the legendary Designing Women actress is having a heck of a year or two. After turning heads on HBO’s Watchmen, Smart also recently served up a hilarious supporting role on HBO’s addictive murder mystery drama Mare of Easttown. But it’s the HBO Max series Hacks where she really, fully, truly shines, as she takes the lead and commands the whole dang thing. Created by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky, the premise of Hacks is familiar – a young up-and-coming comic and comedy writer is forced to pair up with a legendary diva who’s now performing in residency at Las Vegas and seemingly in the twilight of her career. The two clash over plenty of generational differences, but find they have more in common than they think. But it’s the execution and especially the performances that elevate Hacks to one of the best shows of 2021. Smart is fierce and vulnerable and confident all at once, while newcomer Hannah Einbinder serves as a perfect foil with her too-cool demeanor that hides a deep desire to be liked. Hilarious and emotional in equal measure, Hacks is tremendously satisfying. - Adam Chitwood
2. Mare of Easttown
Mare of Easttown is among the year's finest offerings in any medium, and seems destined for a slew of Emmy nominations. In between the many red herrings and assorted Pennsylvania accents, there was an excellent show about love, loss, grief, and what it means to be a mother. You know... real-life shit. There weren't any dragons or robots or mobsters or movie stars, just normal people, doing their best to get by in a cruel world.
Oscar-winner Kate Winslet delivered one of her very best performances as a tortured cop on the hunt for a murderer as she wrestles with her own past, including the son that she lost, the basketball game that she won, and a missing young girl whose disappearance has haunted her for the past year. Writer Brad Ingelsby and director Craig Zobel find the humanity in this collage of characters, from Mare's best friend (Julianne Nicholson) to the troubled mother of her grandson (Sosie Bacon) to her new, much younger partner (Evan Peters), who also doubles as one of her two love interests -- because hey, a lady's gotta have options these days.
The various hardships faced by the Easttown community are too great to count, but I hope HBO resists the urge to return for a second season, as this limited series boasted a really strong, emotionally affecting ending, and that's where this story should end. And if not there in the attic, then onstage at the Emmys, which would be a fitting epilogue to an excellent show. - Jeff Sneider
1.WandaVision
An examination of grief, an attempted plunge into problematic escapism, and the biggest pop cultural entry in the world being unapologetically unafraid to get weird. WandaVision is a new, and perhaps the peak for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We’ve seen the characters of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen, give her the Emmy already) and Vision (Paul Bettany, give him the Emmy already) begin and end a relationship through the MCU’s film titles. But in this television endgame, we learn who they are on such a deeper, purer, and more complicated level.
This level of depth is odd, given that so much of the show’s pleasures and intrigues come from its diegetic positioning as “a television sitcom that changes decades every episode.” As such, there are tons of superficial pleasures to enjoy, especially our lead performers’ committed, thorough but playful takes on some of the most well-known sitcom tropes and devices in television history. But as the show refracts these cheesy sitcom tropes to the point of corruption, the resulting points of conflict are anything but a simple laugh. Every episode found a new way to sock us in the gut, to itch at horror, despair, or hope with some courageous filmmaking and storytelling. And on top of all this reinvention of the multi-form MCU franchise, we still got an action-packed superhero narrative that features origins stories of a new hero (Teyonah Parris, Emmy) and a new villain (Kathryn Hahn, Emmy) while setting up Wanda’s next adventure succinctly. WandaVision is about love persevering through struggles, the struggles represented by all kinds of formal experimentations, the struggles being the point. - Gregory Lawrence