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The 15 Best TV Shows of 2024 So Far
Reimagined thrillers, rebooted franchises, long-awaited returns, and a few originals so singular they almost defy description — here are the series that have had us glued to the small screen so far this year
By Alan Sepinwall
July 5, 2024
Hacks, True Detective, The Bear, Shogun, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Baby Reindeer, John Mulaney
Illustration by Matthew Cooley. Images used in illustration: Max; HBO, Prime Video,2 ;FX, 2, Netflix, 2
Is originality overrated?
Of the 15 entries on our list of the best shows of the year so far — arranged in alphabetical order — four are based on books, several of which have already been turned into movies or TV shows. One is adapted from a stage play. Another takes its title and a few plot points from a mid-2000s blockbuster film. And two are new entries in long-running franchises (one dating back to 1963!) that frequently start from scratch with new lead actors.
Sure, there are series on this list that are wildly original in almost every sense. But a look at the standouts of the past six months is a reminder that being new is far from a prerequisite for being great.
Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
Ed Miller/Netflix
Richard Gadd’s miniseries adaptation of his acclaimed one-man show about an obsessive female stalker hasn’t lacked for controversy, including a lawsuit against Netflix filed by the woman claiming to be its real-life inspiration. But however much of this is fact versus fiction, Gadd tells a version of his own story in riveting fashion.
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The Bear (Hulu)
“THE BEAR” — “Tomorrow” — Season 3, Episode 1 (Airs Thursday, June 27th) — Pictured: Jeremy Allen White as Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto. CR: FX.
FX
The Emmy-winning restaurant drama had more aspirations — and more plot — than it could contain within its third season, and as a result felt incomplete at times, overly pretentious at others. But in its best moments — a flashback to the first meeting between Mikey and Tina, or Carmy confronting an abusive figure from his past — it offered potent reminders of why this incredibly stressful series has become so beloved.
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Diarra from Detroit (BET+)
Diarra From Detroit: Season 1. Photo Credit: Vanessa Clifton/BET+
Vanessa Clifton/BET+
This mashup of hard-boiled detective fiction, romantic comedy, and interpersonal drama made for an impressive, if under-the-radar, showcase for creator-star Diarra Kilpatrick, playing a Motor City teacher going to extreme lengths to find the Tinder hookup who apparently ghosted her.
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Doctor Who (Disney+)
BBC/Disney +
The British sci-fi institution reinvented itself yet again, with Ncuti Gatwa as the first Black actor, and the first openly queer actor, to play the iconic time-traveling Doctor. Gatwa and showrunner Russell T. Davies — at the controls of the TARDIS for the first time since the late 2000s — crafted a Doctor who feels both very much of a moment and like a desperately needed throwback. The plotting is as wobbly as it was in Davies’ first stint, but with a hero who’s this much fun, who cares?
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Fantasmas (HBO)
Monica Lek/Max
Another delightful burst of surreality from writer-star Julio Torres (Los Espookys, Problemista). This series finds the SNL alum navigating a parallel reality where everyone requires an official Proof of Existence, intercut with eccentric sketches where corporate call center employees wage spiritual war on one another, a woman designs dresses for toilets, and the Real Housewives are all part of a disturbing psychological experiment. Don’t try to explain it; just laugh with it.
Hacks (Max)
Jake Giles Netter/Max
Hacks Season Two ended on a note that felt appropriate for a series finale. Thank goodness that wasn’t the end, though. Season Three was another triumph, giving Deborah and Ava a good excuse to reteam through Deborah’s quest to finally get her own late-night talk show, decades after that dream was crushed. Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder continue to play off each other beautifully. And unlike last time, this season concluded in a place where we can’t wait to see what happens next.
John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in L.A. (Netflix)
Adam Rose/Netflix
Speaking of late-night talk shows, the Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival gave John Mulaney an excuse to gather as many of his famous friends as possible in one place for a weeklong live stunt. At once a throwback to the freewheeling Seventies incarnation of The Tonight Show and a very post-modern animal — including hilarious sidekick Richard Kind getting into an ongoing feud with a delivery robot — Everybody’s in L.A. was such a joy, here’s hoping Netflix can talk Mulaney into making more.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Prime Video)
David Lee/Prime Video
When first announced, this reboot of the 2005 film that birthed Brangelina seemed to have no purpose outside of an excuse to team up multihyphenate superstars Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. But the final version was made sans Waller-Bridge, who left over creative differences, replaced by Francesca Sloan as Glover’s co-creator and Maya Erskine as his co-star. Regardless of its origins, this Smith — in which Glover and Pen15 alum Erskine play strangers hired to pose as spouses by a shady espionage-for-hire company — was an impressive blend of thrills, slapstick, and potent relationship drama. Amazon has already ordered another season, though rumor has it Glover and Erskine will not be back in the title roles. At this point, Mr. & Mrs. Smith has earned the right to show what it can do, regardless of the attached talent.
Queenie (Hulu)
Latoya Okuneye/Lionsgate/Hulu
Not every novelist is well equipped to adapt their work into another medium, but Candice Carty-Williams did a terrific job turning her acclaimed 2019 novel — about a young British-Jamaican woman (Dionne Brown) grappling with the trauma of her past and the difficulties of her present — into a smart, winning, poignant limited series.
Ripley (Netflix)
Lorenzo Sisti/Netflix
The 1999 movie version of The Talented Mr. Ripley, starring Matt Damon and Jude Law, is so wonderful, another take on the Patricia Highsmith novel seemed besides the point. Then writer-director Steve Zaillian turned the material into a riveting step-by-step procedural on how to be a sociopath, hired Andrew Scott to play an older, colder Tom Ripley, and recruited Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Elswit to craft one stunning black-and-white image after another. Gorgeous, chilling, great.
Shōgun (Hulu)
Katie Yu/FX
James Clavell’s epic doorstop novel about feudal Japan was already made for television back in 1980, in a take that was concerned almost exclusively with the white English sailor who got caught up in a Japanese civil war. This new version still has plenty of this foreign interloper (Cosmo Jarvis), but its heart is clearly with the local players, spectacularly portrayed by Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai, and Tadanobu Asano. Showrunners Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks combined grand sweep (that earthquake!) with intimate character moments and fascinating strategy in a way that evoked the good old days of Game of Thrones.
The Sympathizer (HBO)
Hopper Stone/SMPSP/HBO
Robert Downey Jr., fresh off his Oppenheimer Oscar win, got a lot of the early Sympathizer publicity for playing multiple roles (under multiple types of makeup and wigs) in this story of a North Vietnamese spy (played by Hoa Xuande) living among South Vietnamese expats in post-war California. But the real star was the work that the creative team, led by writer-director Park Chan-wook, did in capturing the satirical tone of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, and in using cinematic language to find a new way to look at a conflict that’s been chronicled many times on film, but never quite like this.
True Detective: Night Country (HBO)
Michele K. Short/HBO
Time is a flat circle, which means HBO’s dormant mystery franchise had to eventually return to life, this time with a new showrunner (horror writer-director Issa López), new stars (Jodie Foster and Kali Reis), and a very different locale (a small Alaska town at the start of a stretch of perpetual winter darkness) from any of the seasons made by True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto. López deftly balanced visceral earthly violence with the supernatural kind, resolving her story in a more satisfying fashion than any of the previous installments.
We Are Lady Parts (Peacock)
Saima Khalid/WTTV LIMITED/Peacock
This Britcom about an all-female Muslim punk band received critical acclaim but little attention otherwise when it debuted back in 2021. Despite an early renewal, Season Two often felt like it would never come. But the wait was worth it. Season Two offered some new clever earworms with titles like “Malala Made Me Do It,” leaned more heavily on its ensemble while still taking advantage of the comic gifts of star Anjana Vasan, and even smartly interrogated the question of whether a show about women who make “funny Muslim songs” is saying enough about this particular moment in time. Just don’t make us wait so long next time, please.
Welcome to Wrexham (FX)
FX
The only possible complaint about the third season of the hugely charming docuseries about Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds owning a Welsh football club is that there wasn’t more of it, with far fewer episodes than in previous years. But even with that limited time, Welcome to Wrexham remains a feel-good winner.
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