Many great shows came to an end this year, from Succession to Reservation Dogs, but it also brought with it many exciting newcomers
So far this month we have named the 10 best TV shows of 2023, the 10 best episodes and the 10 best TV appearances. That's pretty exhausting, isn't it? But as discussed in the introduction to the first list, this was an unusual year, with many acclaimed, award-winning series such as Succession, Barry, Reservation Dogs and Ted Lasso coming to an end. At the same time, there was an influx of exciting new shows. Several of them, like The Last of Us and Poker Face, made it into the top 10 overall. But we didn't want to stop there. Below you will find ten other outstanding newcomers in alphabetical order:
Bupkis (peacock)
Image source: Heidi Gutman/PeacockIn our episode list, I mentioned Lucky Hank, a short-lived AMC show that didn't work in many ways, but produced one of the best hours of television of the year. Bupkis is, so to speak, the opposite of that. The first episode of the series, in which Pete Davidson plays a slightly fictionalized version of himself, was perhaps the worst thing I've seen this year. However, the rest was much more interesting and parts of it were really great. The episodes could be whimsical or sad, and almost all of them centered much more on Davidson's public persona – and his public and private struggles – than one might expect. If you haven't seen it yet, just skip the premiere and get to the good stuff.
The Curse (Showtime)
Image source: Richard Foreman Jr./A24/Paramount+Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie have teamed up to create the kind of unique discomfort you'd expect from the minds behind The Rehearsal and Uncut Gems, respectively, and other sweaty works of the past. The result – with Fielder and Emma Stone as a dysfunctional couple trying to get an HGTV show off the ground and Safdie as a producer desperate to shake up her marriage if it will help the show – was and seems uneven at times reveling in its characters' worst moments just because it can. But the highlights – the three main performances, the sense of creeping dread, the commentary on reality TV fakery – were high enough to mostly justify the moments where you'll burn your TV and never look back on one for the rest of your life Want to watch screen life.
The Diplomat (Netflix)
Image source: NetflixIn this alternately suspenseful and zany romantic comedy/political thriller, Keri Russell plays a veteran State Department employee who is unexpectedly thrust into the job of ambassador to Britain, with her dismayed unreliable husband (Rufus Sewell, a terrific villain) in tow is Find out that she is being groomed to replace the incumbent vice president. Think West Wing meets Scandal meets Katharine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy movie. The plot makes little sense, but Russell is so charming and adept at fulfilling the many demands of the role, and the supporting cast is so good, that you have no choice but to go along with it all.
Hijack (Apple TV+)
Photo credit: Aidan Monaghan/Apple TV+24 is gone, but the real-time action genre lives on! Idris Elba plays a masterful dealmaker who must find a way to take control when armed criminals take his transcontinental flight hostage. The plot down on terra firma was forgettable filler, but every minute up in the plane, with Elba using his brains far more often than his brawn, was quite riveting.
I am a virgin (Prime Video)
Image source: Prime VideoThe latest project from Sorry to Bother You writer/director Boots Riley is at various points a fable, a satire, a superhero origin story (Jharrel Jerome plays a 13-foot-tall black man trying to bring about change in his native Oakland), and an anti-capitalist manifesto that happens to be paid for by one of the largest corporations in the world. It's strange and sometimes confusing, but also funny and sad and unforgettable. There is nothing like it in the area.
Mrs. Davis (Peacock)
Image source: Sophie Kohler/PEACOCKWhere should you even start with this? Created by Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof, the film “Mrs. Davis,” in which an all-powerful AI recruits a nun (Betty Gilpin) to track down the Holy Grail, at times feels less like a TV show and more like a series of escalating dares. Scene after scene, episode after episode, there are completely insane plot twists and increasingly juvenile punchlines, each of which seems designed to test how much Peacock would let Hernandez and Lindelof get away with. Whatever the motivation, this is a rare case of weirdness for its own sake that works well because the individual ideas are just so inspired and Gilpin and co-star Jake McDorman are just so good at all the absurd things to accept what they are asked to do, say and react to. And in the end, you'll be surprised at how this unapologetically stupid show will make you feel feelings much deeper than disbelief.
A Murder at the End of the World (FX on Hulu)
Image source: Chris Saunders/FXAgatha Christie meets Lisbeth Salander in this locked room crime thriller set in a high-tech hotel in a remote corner of Iceland, created by a shady billionaire (Andy) who controls some of the most powerful and/or creative people in the world brought together in a retreat where the guests keep dying. The Crown's Emma Corrin delivers a great lead performance as the series' hacker heroine, and if the story falters a bit at the end, the chilly atmosphere and performances more than make up for it.
Primo (Prime Video)
Image source: Jeff Neumann/Amazon FreeveeMany of the shows on this and the other lists are highly conceptual and involve matters of life and death, sometimes even the world. Primo, a family comedy about a San Antonio teenager raised by his single mother and five overbearing uncles – all stupid in different and extremely specific ways – is the opposite of that. It's also incredibly sweet, genuinely silly at times, and all around extremely likeable. Sometimes small and simple can be quite good, especially when it's done so well.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (Netflix)
Image source: NetflixMost of the first episode of “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” suggests that it will be a faithful retelling of the story from Bryan Lee O'Malley's acclaimed 2000s comics – the same plot we saw in the wonderful film Know “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” from 2010, but in the anime instead of live action. That would look nice, but quickly feel unnecessary. Instead, the series (written by O'Malley and BenDavid Grabinski) tells a very different version of the story, focusing more on Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, reprising her role from the film, along with all of her co-stars ) than Scott (Michael Cera), who spends a lot of time with all of Ramona's evil exes, which makes the action bigger, the genre mixes weirder and the whole thing even more ridiculous. Oh, and the animation looks amazing.
Shrink (Apple TV+)
Photo credit: Apple TV+Ted Lasso co-creator Bill Lawrence skipped the final season of this series and instead focused on this comedy, co-created by Brett Goldstein and lead actor Jason Segel, about a psychiatrist (Segel) whose life falls apart after the death of his wife. Lawrence ended up working on the much better TV season, especially when Shrinking began to evolve beyond its dubious question, “What if a therapist started getting directly involved in his patient's life?” premise and morphed into a hangout comedy with a wonderful, winning ensemble that included Harrison Ford (enjoying the best new role of his career in ages), Jessica Williams, Christa Miller and more.
