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The best TV shows of 2024—so far, anyway—span an exciting array of genres and networks: a good old-fashioned network sitcom; a deliciously devious streaming reality hit; a sweeping, cinematic epic about real(ish) people, with no dragons or magic in sight. Sure, the year is barely three months long—but these eight series have already made the grade.
By Gilles Mingasson/ABC.
Abbott Elementary
This warm comedy has been consistently excellent since it began, and has the Emmys to prove it. But a third season can be a critical moment for any show that’s already cranked out a lot of episodes. Will the writers run out of ideas? Will the cast start phoning it in? Neither of those things is happening on Abbott, where Janine’s new job has been the source of fresh dilemmas (she can’t complain so much about the pencil pushers at school district headquarters if she’s now one of them). On top of that, the Abbott creative team, led by Quinta Brunson (who also plays Janine), now knows the strengths of its ensemble so well that the spotlight moments each actor gets work like gangbusters. Few things on the small screen are as much fun as a well-crafted network sitcom reveling in the groove it’s settled into. —Maureen Ryan
By Jupiter Wong/Amazon Prime.
Expats
This stunning limited series from filmmaker Lulu Wang (The Farewell) is only six episodes long, but it takes its languorous time. Based on Janice Y.K. Lee’s novel The Expatriates and adapted by an all-female writers room, Expats Braids together the tales of three American women—Margaret (Nicole Kidman), Mercy (Ji-young Yoo), and Hilary (Sarayu Blue)—connected by a traumatic event. “I want to know about the people who cause the tragedies—people like me” says Mercy, a 20-something adrift in the city. “Are they ever forgiven? Do they ever move on?” Expats is moody and cinematic, steeped in grief and cultural dislocation. In this waning golden age of challenging streaming television, it takes surprising narrative risks, including a gorgeous, movie-length episode that pans out beyond Margaret and Hilary to follow the Filipino servants who keep their luxurious lives running smoothly. —Joy Press
By Laura Radford/Disney+.
Extraordinary
Wouldn’t it be awesome if almost everybody had a superpower? The UK import Extraordinary is laugh-out-loud funny—and subtly wise—as it explores a range of unexpected answers to that question. Jen (the fantastic Máiréad Tyers) and her 20-something mates live in a nonaspirational flat and work unfulfilling jobs. The powers most people they know have aren’t that impressive; one woman stuck looking like a preteen forever seems more cursed than blessed. This comedy, however, has a superpower of its own: not only making viewers chuckle at its world-building, which embraces both the silly and the subversive, but also effortlessly having the audience fall in love with its confused, conflicted, deeply relatable characters. Even Jizzlord. Especially Jizzlord! —MR
Emily V. Aragones/ Netflix
Girls5eva
In their third season—and the first on their new streaming home, Netflix—the early ’00s pop girls turned sincere middle-aged pop women find out how hard it is to tour without any kind of music-industry apparatus behind them. They’re relying on Gloria (Paula Pell) to finance their accommodations at Marriott Divorced Dad Suitelets; pacifying the sensibilities of a conservative Texas state politician (John Early), who also happen to be a third-generation music-venue mogul; and confronting their own legacy when they’re hired to play the birthday party of a trophy wife (Catherine Cohen), who may have been inspired by their song to find her own “Sweet’N Low Daddy.” An impetuous premiere decision by Wickie (Renée Elise Goldsberry) creates outlandish yet plausible stakes for the season, as does the ticking clock of Dawn’s (Sara Bareilles) pregnancy. And while the season is two episodes shorter than its first two were on Peacock, that just means you get all the jokes in 75% of the time. Particularly in the post–Other Two era, Girls5eva remains one of the sharpest satires of the music industry, past and present. And most importantly, the songs still slap. —Tara Ariano
Courtesy of David Lee/Amazon Prime.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
It wasn’t immediately obvious that they could pull this off. A televisual reimagining of the 2005 spy caper movie, with the roles of professionally glamorous Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt filled by purveyors of eccentrically edgy comedy Donald Glover and Maya Erskine—how would that even work? (Especially after Glover’s original costar, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, pulled out?) It’s a testament to the duo’s skill and charm that they make Mr. & Mrs. Smith both lightly watchable and screwball witty—an espionage rom-com. The set-up is that two fledgling spies agree to work for a mysterious entity known as Hihi, which has them posing as married couple John and Jane Smith. They pull off high-risk missions, trailing and sometimes murdering strangers for reasons unknown to them. The show dangles cameos from the likes of Parker Posey, John Turturro, Alexander Skarsgard, and Michaela Coel in front of us, but Glover and Erskine remain the main act, their characters’ fake intimacy growing realer—and thornier—by the episode. —JP
© 2022 Netflix, Inc.
One Day
You don’t need to have read the David Nicholls novel this limited series is based on, or to have seen the 2011 movie version, to enjoy One Day. In fact, it’s much better if you haven’t, so you can fully immerse yourself in this British rom-drama’s whirl of emotions. Dexter (The White Lotus’s Leo Woodall) and Emma (Ambika Mod, who made a splash in This Is Going to Hurt) meet in the spring of 1988, on the day of their college graduation. He’s a careless rich kid; she’s an awkward theater nerd. They don’t seem to have anything in common, but their failed one-night stand launches them into a deep, messy friendship that is occasionally ruptured by unrequited romantic longing. Each of the 14 short episodes drops in on the couple on the same day every year as they muddle through adulthood, struggling with careers and loss and love affairs with other people. Dex and Emma’s own relationship is often excruciating, in both funny-cringe and sad-cringe ways. One Day is propulsive and visceral—and the stars’ luminous chemistry is a thing to behold. —JP
“SHOGUN” — “Servants of Two Masters” — Episode 2 (Airs February 27) Pictured: Hiroyuki Sanada as Yoshii Toranaga, Anna Sawai as Toda Mariko. CR: Katie Yu/FXCopyright 2024, FX. All Rights Reserved.
Shōgun
Based on James Clavell’s (dauntingly enormous) novel, Shōgun revolves around John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), the first Englishman to set foot in Japan, in an era when trade between Japan and Portugal is robust enough for missionaries to have converted many nobles to Catholicism and taught them the Portuguese language. Blackthorne soon becomes entangled with Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), a member of the Council of Regents, and with his vassal Mariko (Anna Sawai); through them, Blackthorne develops a deeper understanding and respect of Japanese culture, as all three figure out how they may be of use to each other in Toranaga’s march toward war against his fellow regents. Few shows in our era execute this sort of epic sweep, stunning landscapes, sumptuous costumes, thrilling action scenes, and genuinely affecting human emotion if they don’t also involve pointy-eared elf warriors and dragon mothers. I didn’t know anyone was making TV like this about real people anymore, and I’m ecstatic to be proven wrong. —TA
Courtesy of Peacock
The Traitors and The Traitors UK
It’s my contention that the UK (and original) version of this whodunnit reality show is the superior one. I prefer the mellower stylings of its host, Claudia Winkleman (possessor of the best bangs on TV), and it’s more fun that everyone on the show is a civilian, rather than a C-tier celebrity of some kind. The second season, which is twisty and terrific, just dropped on Peacock and I implore you to watch. But I also will lay my Anglophilia aside and concede that season two of the US edition, hosted by a plenty winning Alan Cumming, delivered its own merry punch. Just when the season seemed headed for obvious and boring results—mostly due to cast members’ poor gameplay—some last-minute scrambling livened things up in thrilling fashion. The Traitors is an ingenious format that seems destined for a long life, and for good reason: It’s the most exhilarating (if silly) competition show since Survivor. —Richard Lawson
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