This year has been weird but strong one for TV, despite the numerous problems in the industry that have impacted release schedules and the visibility of some shows. The year has provided some of the best slate of brand-new shows that paint a picture of a very diverse TV landscape.
That is if you even know where to look, which is a big problem in this age of streaming. Here is a list of the must-see new shows in 2023 and where to watch them.
The Last of Us
One of the biggest shows of the year, the video game adaptation The Last of Us, delivered a very well-done big-budget series that, from week to week, was a must-watch TV. The series is set in a post-apocalyptic United States where a fungal infarction has ravaged the world’s population, shuttering humans into various colonies run by semi-fascistic vestiges of the U.S. government. It’s familiar territory. We have seen post-apocalyptic TV before, but never quite like this.
The story follows Joeal (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they trek across the U.S. to deliver Ellie, who is immune to the fungal virus, to a group that can hopefully use her to find a cure. The week-to-week story structure meant we were always moving, always finding out more about the world but, more importantly, developing the bond between Joel and Ellie, and that is why the show worked so well.
The Last of Us is available to stream on HBO and Max
Hijack
One of the shows of the summer, Hijack, was just another example of Apple throwing money at a star-driven series, and it worked out better than anyone would have expected. Anticipating the series, you might have thought it would be a trashy airplane action series with Idris Elba fighting his way through terrorists to save the day, but what we got is a very serious and tense British drama with a star whose superpower is that he is a people person.
The tension steadily ramped up each week as we followed Elba’s Sam Nelson and the various passengers of importance on Kingdom Airlines flight KA29. It may have stretched itself a little outside of its capabilities briefly, but it was an entertaining thriller with a subdued and internal performance from Idris Elba that is still a must-watch show of the year.
Hijack is available to stream on Apple TV+
BEEF
Anger, stress, and a healthy dose of repression are surging throughout BEEF. Lee Sung Jin’s series starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun is the actualization of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. Two L.A. drivers get into a road rage incident that goes entirely too far, escalating into increasingly mean and dangerous pranks that put both their livelihoods and careers in danger.
Wong plays Ali, a woman on the cusp of selling her plant company who is married to a privileged artist with no talent. Yeun plays Danny, a contractor with an airheaded younger brother, trying to scratch and survive and afford to bring his parents back from Korea. The show is unlike any other series this year and goes for it in every frame of the show. You basically are watching two individuals destroy themselves on a dark, funny, and sad back and forth, not knowing if they will be able to put themselves back together in the end or if they will just burn everything down with them out of spite.
Beef is available to stream on Netflix
Poker Face
Poker Face was a star-driven, case-of-the-week wonder of early 2023. The Columbo-styled series from Rian Johnson followed Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie Cale on a journey across the United States, dropping in on small towns and solving murders while fleeing from mobsters.
It may not have been groundbreaking television, but it was a weekly treat and a detour to a simpler time of television. Its highs were very high, and even if an episode wasn’t a 10 out of 10, there was always the promise of next week and the novelty of seeing what famous actor would be the guest star. It’s a show that you wouldn’t mind having around yearly, ready to jump in and see what incredibly elaborate murder mystery Charlie stumbles upon next.
Poker Face is available to stream on Peacock
Mrs. Davis
Mrs. Davis is a true modern epic about a nun on a journey to find the Holy Grail at the behest of a powerful artificial intelligence that has benevolently taken over the world. Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez’s series is an adventure with a quick-witted sense of humor and a real heart. The show was made for people to get deep into its mystery and world. It’s about faith, storytelling, family, and grief, and it’s all thrown at you scattered around its plot that increasingly escalates and fascinates.
Betty Gilpin’s performance as a nun, who hates A.I. and is married to Jesus is one of the best of the year. Mrs. Davis is a show that may be on a different network other than Peacock. It would have been a real phenomenon, but it’s still one of the year’s best new shows despite not reaching those heights of popularity.
Mrs. Davis is available to stream on Peacock
I’m a Virgo
This year saw unprecedented labor movements in the United States, including Hollywood shutting down as actors and writers went on strike against the studios. One of the biggest companies and a studio with seemingly unlimited funds dropped I’m a Virgo, a fervent and incredibly creative anticapitalist folktale about a 13-foot-tall black teen in Oakland.
The surrealist superhero fable from the radical filmmaker, outspoken activist, and communist Boots Riley has so much creativity behind its filmmaking that it’s genuinely magical. Jharrel Jerome stars as Cootie, a giant sheltered from the world out of fear for what the world would do to him, on a coming-of-age journey of realization about the ailments of American society. With themes that are important and relevant to the world today, comedy, and heart at the center of the series, I’m a Virgo is one of the boldest shows of the year.
I’m a Virgo is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video
Blue Eye Samurai
Netflix’s animation game is strong, and you should get familiar with it. Blue Eye Samurai is another groundbreaking animated epic created by Michael Green and Amber Noizumi, with beautiful animation, impressive and bloody action sequences, and a surprisingly fresh take on a revenge story.
The series follows Mizu, voiced by Maya Erskine, a half-Japanese and half-white samurai, on a journey to kill four white men who reside in Japan illegally despite the ban on foreigners and the closing of the country’s borders. Revenge stories are well-trodden ground, but Blue Eye Samurai remains fresh in its ideas with an emotional and mature story with unexpected depth. It boasts some incredible voice performances from some well-known names like George Takei and Randall Park. It is a gory, action-packed adventure with a dose of political intrigue and is the best animated show of the year.
Blue Eye Samurai is available to stream on Netflix
Gen V
Gen V is a spinoff of The Boys, with all the irony of being a spinoff of a show that is commenting on our collective obsession with superheroes and connecting worlds of intellectual properties. Luckily, Gen V beats the “superhero fatigue” allegations by being similar to its source series but with a fresher, more Gen Z attitude.
The series follows young superheroes led by Jaz Sinclair’s Marie Moreau at a superhero university, trying to vault themselves into the shoes of the twisted heroes we see in The Boys. It’s an angsty and raunchy story about all the worries these burgeoning adults have mixed with the hyper-violent and unforgiving world of The Boys. It is like an X-rated X-Men with social commentary that feels more relevant and less heavy-handed than The Boys, and it might be a better show overall.
Gen V is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video
Full Circle
Steven Soderbergh’s Full Circle is one of the best mystery box shows of the year. The miniseries follows a botched kidnapping of a teen from a wealthy family by a Guyanese crime family whose patriarch has recently passed away, but it’s about so much more. Full Circle tackles family secrets, corruption, colonialism, and the immigrant experience in America.
It is a dense series that goes to some unexpected places with a star-studded cast featuring Zazie Beetz, Dennis Quaid, Claire Danes, Timothy Olyphant, Jharrel Jerome, and newcomers Sheyi Cole, Gerald Jones, and Adia. The sereis doesn’t attempt to be infallible or clean. Its gritty and on-the-street direction indicates real-life messiness, making its mystery all the more authentic yet somewhat fantastical. It might have gotten lost in the TV conversation since its release, but it has stood out in a year with a lot of shows doing much of the same.
Full Circle is available to stream on Max
The Curse
Nathan Fielder is very skilled at making audiences uncomfortable. The Rehearsal blended reality and Fielder’s awkwardness and sense of humor into one of the wildest shows of last year, and The Curse seems like it’s on a completely different level.
Oscar Winner Emma Stone and Fielder star as a couple and a parody of HGTV home renovators/gentrifiers who have descended upon the town of Espanola, New Mexico. A curse gets put upon them, and their lives start unraveling. It blends reality with a scripted drama, mixing all the uncomfortable awkwardness of Fielder’s previous works with a wild story and incredibly unsettling filmmaking behind it. The series is halfway through its season, and it’s still difficult to pinpoint exactly its intentions, and it’s endlessly fascinating because of it. The Curse is the wildest show on TV right now and one of the most unique series of the year.
The Curse is available to stream on Showtime and Paramount+
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
