The 15 Best New TV Shows of 2024

1. “A Man on the Inside” (Netflix)

For fans of Michael Schur’s pathos-informed comedy, you can’t do much better than “A Man on the Inside” (an IndieWire Critic’s Pick). Loosely based on the 2020 documentary “The Mole Agent,” the show follows recent widower Charles (Ted Danson), who responds to a newspaper ad seeking a retiree willing to go undercover at a nursing home to find the culprit behind some stolen jewelry. Things devolve from there.

The hijinks are fun, but it’s the melancholy center of the show when things get memorable. Schur and co. have painted a winning portrait about aging, and death, and what makes life worth living. The eight-episode first season sneaks up on you, but fans will quickly discover this care facility is full of people we’d happily spend seasons with. —ES

Read IndieWire’s interview with Michael Schur.

2. “Baby Reindeer” (Netflix)

Every few seasons, a TV show comes along that grips both audiences and critics like nothing else; a show that every person in every social interaction wants to talk about; that skyrockets on the streaming charts and is poised to sweep with awards. Sometimes it’s even a Netflix show, but it’s not one that looks like a crowd favorite on paper.

Enter “Baby Reindeer,” based on Richard Gadd’s one-man show of the same name, which covered his real-life experiences with stalking and sexual assault. Over the course of seven episodes, Donny (Gadd) meets, shows compassion for, and then rapidly tries to distance himself from Martha (Jessica Gunning), a troubled woman who fixates on him and refers to him fondly as “reindeer.” Martha’s attention forces Donny to look to his own past — specifically, a prior relationship that left him seeking comfort and validation, feelings he can’t help find in Martha despite wanting her to leave him alone. Gadd’s writing and mastery of the material provide a clear blueprint and north star for the series, which blooms spectacularly with Gunning’s scene work. The next “Baby Reindeer” won’t look like “Baby Reindeer,” but we’ll be thinking about this one for a long time. —PK*

Read IndieWire’s interview with “Baby Reindeer” breakout Jessica Gunning.

3. “Batman: Caped Crusader” (Prime Video)

Inviting Bruce Timm, the co-creator of “Batman: The Animated Series,” back into the batcave to develop another animated program about the Dark Knight was never going to be a bad idea. Frankly, his original work was too visually and thematically striking to expect future efforts to be anything less, and “Caped Crusader” lives up to the hype. While the Prime Video original can often feel like an echo of “BTAS,” its sound structure, beautiful design, and innovative ideas help distinguish the new show.

It’s also clearly in communication with many Bat-tales of yesteryear, be it Timm’s own or those told in live-action. Known characters are thoughtfully tweaked and repurposed, like Harvey Dent and Harley Quinn, to hone in on modern issues involving power and corruption, whether it’s the way billionaires’ put the squeeze on society or how the world can turn good men against their own ideals. Season 1 is an invigorating start. Season 2, surprise surprise, is set up to be even better. —BT

Read IndieWire’s interview with Bruce Timm.

4. “Clipped” (Hulu)

There are, of course, a number of seemingly obvious reasons to skip “Clipped.” Most notably, the limited series reexamines recent history — specifically, the 2013 “downfall” of Donald Sterling, as far as it pertains to his ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers. Plenty of viewers (especially sports fans) likely remember the recordings that revealed Sterling’s bigoted views, as well as the ensuing fallout (on and off the court), so maybe they don’t feel the need to revisit another story about a rich white racist.

But showrunner Gina Welch isn’t settling for a recap, nor does she lean on the salacious facts to sell her sharp satire. “Clipped” is thoroughly entertaining. It’s no true crime slog, and it isn’t interested in sanctimonious fan service. The series is funny — darkly, pointedly, and consistently funny. It’s acted with eye-catching enthusiasm by its stellar cast (including Ed O’Neill as Sterling and LeVar Burton as himself). And its ending takes an aptly big-picture point of view on why plainly corrupt American institutions just keep on ticking. Whether you know the history or not, “Clipped” still has plenty to offer. —BT

Read IndieWire’s review of “Clipped.”

5. “Disclaimer” (Apple TV+)

Right from the start, writer-director Alfonso Cuarón tells you exactly what you’re in for with his seven-part adaptation of Renée Knight’s novel, “Disclaimer.” “Beware of narrative and form,” a speaker cautions in the premiere’s opening minutes. “Their power can bring us closer to the truth, but they can also be a weapon with a great power to manipulate.” 

Cuarón, in other words, is out to trick you. The innovative, Oscar-winning filmmaker is going to use the tools of his trade to shape your vision of this story — about a prominent documentarian whose past comes back to haunt her — and even though you’ve been warned not to let your guard down, Cuarón thinks he can get his hooks in you anyway. 

While some viewers felt the storyteller’s guiding hand was too heavy, the mystery is sure to keep you guessing (for a few hours, at least, if not to the very end) and its drama keenly houses a layered examination of modern complicity. Throw in another tremendous performance by Cate Blanchett (walking a tightrope as thin as Cuarón’s), beautiful cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki and Bruno Delbonnel, and a pair of curious cats, and “Disclaimer” is so much more than a deft dance around the truth. Its power is manifold. —BT

Read IndieWire’s interview with Alfonso Cuarón on “Disclaimer.”

6. “Elsbeth” (CBS)

Robert and Michelle King make it three-for-three in the “Good” trilogy, albeit with an outside-the-box new addition. Starting with “The Good Wife” before shrewdly expanding to “The Good Fight,” the creators are back with “Elsbeth,” a CBS procedural following a recurring guest star from both shows: the plucky, colorful, whip-smart attorney Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston). But rather than install another lawyer in another legal drama (similar to the shows she once so boldly disrupted), the Kings follow Elsbeth’s lead and zig where everyone else zags. “Elsbeth” isn’t a courtroom procedural; it’s a howcatchem, like “Colombo,” with Elsbeth policing the police. Of course, that also means solving the case of the week, but the serialized narrative about police corruption keeps the show topical, progressive, and on its toes — right where the Kings like to be. —BT

Read IndieWire’s review of “Elsbeth” Season 1. 

7. “Expats” (Prime Video)

In its opening monologue, “Expats” centers the “perpetrators,” as Mercy calls them. Though we don’t yet know her, the young, forlorn woman played magnificently by Ji-young Yoo is fixated on understanding people who are often cast aside when disaster strikes. “[Tragic] stories always focus on the victim,” she says. “The person responsible for each calamity is never mentioned. No one wants to hear about the kid who paralyzed his own brother, or the driver who fell asleep at the wheel. […] But I want to know about the perpetrators. I want to know about the people who caused the tragedies — people like me. Are they ever forgiven? Do they ever move on?”

Soon, we come to learn what tragedy Mercy blames herself for: the disappearance of a three-year-old boy named Gus. But rather than focus on the search to find him (like in most shows), “Expats” focuses on his mother, Margaret (Nicole Kidman), who can’t move past her son’s abduction, even when her husband and remaining kids still need her. Then there’s Hilary (Sarayu Blue), Margaret’s neighbor, who blames herself for a failing marriage, despite her husband’s obvious flaws. And, of course, there’s Mercy. She was supposed to be watching Gus, and the guilt is steadily eroding her soul.

How these three women’s lives overlap (beyond the obvious) is striking. Writer-director Lulu Wang (“The Farewell”) builds from relatable archetypes and themes, making “Expats” easy to identify with, before pushing each character to make choices that aren’t so empathetic; to see things from another perspective, even when it seems impossible to look beyond something bigger than yourself; to acknowledge what it means to forgive and what really requires your forgiveness.

The answers are anything but trite, and each hourlong entry proves surprising — both in what takes place and whose perspective you’re pulled into. Episode 5, “Central,” expands the six-part series in ways that should be impossible for such a nimble, nuanced story, and the finale is a sly yet magnificent blend of ambiguity and catharsis. You may think you don’t need to hear about the perpetrators. But aren’t we all perpetrators of some crime? Haven’t we all contributed to another human’s hardship? And don’t we all deserve a bit of grace from others when we’re unable to give it to ourselves? —BT*

Read IndieWire’s full review of “Expats.”

8. “Nobody Wants This” (Netflix)

“Nobody Wants This” was the millennial rom-com fans have been waiting for. Starring Adam Brody as a rabbi and Kristen Bell as an agonistic podcaster, the 10-episode Netflix program was an instant smash when it debuted in September. The secret weapon? Beyond the earnest charms of Brody as a romantic lead once again, it was scene-stealers Tim Simons and Justine Lupe as the pair’s respective siblings (plus Jackie Tohn as Simons’ wife, Esther) that gave the show its electric energy.

A good rom-com has to nod to, and play with, the tropes of the genre, and “Nobody Wants This” has good fun with them all (misunderstandings, meeting the parents, mistaken identities). By skewing slightly older than Gen Z, it was also a refreshing change of pace for what the genre has offered lately. Most importantly though, it starred two people that you actually want to get together already. Brody and Bell do some of their best work selling a pair of opposites that fans will root for a happily ever after — in whatever form that takes. Bring on Season 2. —ES

Read IndieWire’s interview with creator Erin Foster.

9. “One Day” (Netflix)

Based on a beloved bestseller that then became a not-so-beloved movie, Netflix’s “One Day” limited series was a surprise hit when it debuted in February starring Leo Woodall (“The White Lotus”) and Ambika Mod as the star-crossed, would-be lovers. The smart conceit checks in on the duo on the same day every year, so fans can binge-watch them growing up, trying on new personas, and dealing with heartbreak and unrequited love. Romantic tragedies live and die by their central chemistry and Mod and Woodall had that in spades, finding a depth to the two that the 2011 movie adaptation couldn’t hold a candle to.

The limited series format is put to good use, allowing each moment time to breath and fans to really get to know the two’s individual worlds. It’ll put fans through the emotional wringer, but for my money, there’s no better cathartic cry to be had this year. It’s a moving delight that will stick with you long past the bittersweet final frames. —ES*

Read IndieWire’s full review of “One Day.“

10. “Ripley” (Netflix)

“I love it when a plan comes together” may be a line forever associated with “The A-Team,” but I wouldn’t be surprised if a few Netflix subscribers muttered it to themselves during Steven Zaillian’s “Ripley” adaptation. No, I don’t expect anyone was eager to give Andrew Scott’s ruthless killer additional credit for his less-than-meticulous trickery. This Tom Ripley may put the “confidence” in “confidence man,” but his continued scams succeed through assumed privilege and augmented confusion more than anything else. He’s barely smart enough to stay a step ahead of the law, so his plans don’t “come together” as much as they’re jammed into place just long enough for him to scurry out from under their collapse.

No, the credit for a brilliant plan, well-executed, belongs solely with Zaillian, the Oscar-winning screenwriter and four-time Emmy nominee whose second stab at serialized storytelling (after 2016’s “The Night Of”) proves just as arrestingly methodical as his first. Shot by shot, scene by scene, episode by episode, “Ripley” carries itself with an assuredness rarely seen in television. Robert Elswit’s black-and-white cinematography evolves from a period-appropriate evocation of Italian cinema into something more menacing and ethereal. As Tom falls deeper and deeper into a sinful perdition of his own making, so too do the streets and rooms that surround him. Mirroring the cat-and-mouse pursuit of the main plot, “Ripley’s” world is one that’s continually narrowing, muddying, and crumbling. It’s Zaillian who guides you through Tom’s dangerous getaway with the same self-confidence as his lead character — and far more skill. —BT*

Read IndieWire’s full review of “Ripley.”

11. “Say Nothing” (Hulu)

Coming out right after the election in the U.S., it’s understandable if this one didn’t immediately make the queue earlier this month. But the Hulu miniseries about the Troubles in Ireland, told through the true story of a murder of a single mom and based on Patrick Radden Keefe’s book of the same name, will stick with viewers long after they first dive in.

Starring relative newcomers Lola Petticrew, Hazel Doupe, Anthony Boyle, and Josh Finan as the young IRA (Irish Republican Army) leaders, the show takes a hard look at radical politics and the lengths and costs people will go to to support their beliefs.

“When we were writing the show, there were a lot of Black Lives Matter protests happening in America, and often the person holding the bullhorn was 17-years-old, and there were militarized police in the street,” creator Joshua Zetumer told IndieWire. “One of the goals was to kind of get under the skin of the 17-year-old who’s there taking up this cause. At the same time, we really wanted to make sure to show the cost of those decisions over 40 years.”

The nine-part show is riveting, haunting, and memorable — like nothing else on TV this year. —ES

Read IndieWire’s interview with breakout Lola Petticrew.

12. “Shōgun” (Hulu)

As far as sweeping historical epics go, perhaps the highest compliment they can hope to receive is something along the lines of, “Hot damn, that was fun!” OK, OK — “fun” may not be the perfect word to describe a wartime saga with so many betrayals and so many severed heads it’s consistently compared to “Game of Thrones,” but “Shōgun” is still way more entertaining than any subtitled 17th century drama has any right to be. Credit the incredible cast (especially affably humorous turns from Tadanobu Asano and Nestor Carbonell), exquisite scripts (which were translated from English to Japanese and back again to ensure both accuracy and clarity), and immersive craft work (with everything from the tactile costumes to the towering set design) for bringing it all together — all of which better get their due at this year’s Emmys. After gifting audiences with 10 weeks of awesome entertainment, these folks deserve their own night of pure fun. —BT*

Read IndieWire’s full review of “Shōgun.”

13. “The Acolyte” (Disney+)

If you had told me I’d care deeply about a new Star Wars series in 2024, that would be enough to garner disbelief. But if you told me that series would also star primarily queer actors and people of color, that it would have secret twins and space witches, and that it would pave the way for one of the hottest and horniest villain stories in the wider canon — nay, the wider galaxy — I’d tell you to ease off the blue milk for life.

So thank you, Leslye Headland — Star Wars’ first queer female showrunner — for “The Acolyte,” a superb confluence of all those story elements that also weaves in High Republic lore and some groovy lightsaber combat for viewers who prefer that sort of thing (as opposed to the lure of an enemies-to-lovers subplot, which really transfixed this writer). The series gives us some of Star Wars’ best performances in Jacinto, Lee Jung-jae, and dual roles from Amandla Stenberg, and a skillfully paced back-half helped increase momentum in the month leading up to the July 16 finale. Whether you’ve always loved Star Wars, grown tired of extended universes, or just need a good mystery-thriller with killer chemistry, “The Acolyte” is here to impart its wisdom. —PK*

Read IndieWire’s full review of “The Acolyte.”

14. “The Penguin” (HBO)

Bridging the gap between Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” (2022) and its upcoming sequel (expected in late 2026), “The Penguin” dug deep into Gotham’s reimagined underworld for HBO. In the process, the gritty comic book series unearthed an eerie take on the real America — as reflected in the eyes and actions of an unrecognizable Colin Farrell and the electric Cristin Milioti.Like most mob sagas, “The Penguin” opens with a crime family death (Mark Strong’s Carmine Falcone) creating a dangerous opportunity for reorganization. The costume design, production design, and particularly the hair and makeup departments deliver eight chapters of worthy artistry, even if the story about an illegal drug isn’t “Citizen Kane.”

Still, the comparison to Orson Welles’ greatest cinematic achievement is apt when you view the monotonous cruelty and mundane narcissism of Oz “The Penguin” Cobb as its own kind of Rosebud.Farrell reprises his role to tremendous effect, belly-sliding between bursts of total inhumanity and an infantile self-interest that reminds of “The Boys” Homelander. Recently released from Arkham Asylum, Sofia Falcone gifts Milioti the opportunity to do the same from a different angle. The duo’s intertwined interpretations hit close to home and sets up a latticework of narrative opportunity for when Reeves’ returns. —AF

Read IndieWire’s interview with Matt Reeves. 

15. “Under the Bridge” (Hulu)

Maybe it was too hot on the heels of “True Detective: Night Country,” but Samir Mehta and Quinn Shephard’s true crime series deserved the riveted week-to-week audience of a big-name drama (including some inferior ones which have gotten exactly that treatment, undeserved).

Reena Virk (Vritika Gupta) is a rebellious teen trying to fit in with her classmates in Canada, but when she doesn’t come home after a party, her parents (Ezra Faroque Khan and Archie Panjabi) begin to worry — and a police investigation led by Cam Bentland (Lily Gladstone) reveals the worst. Along with bringing the Virk family’s unimaginable personal journey to life, the series shows how bullying, peer pressure, and the actions of a few teens who feel invisible can ultimately change an entire town’s history and ripple far further. Riley Keough won an IndieWire Honors award for her work as co-star and executive producer, and the young cast not only look like actual teens but give phenomenal performances in bringing this tragic story to life. —PK

Read IndieWire’s chat with Quinn Shephard.