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Compared to last year, 2023 feels like we may have passed the peak of new streaming content. A year that will be remembered for both writers and actors going on strike, it's unclear whether the strikes caused a decline in new tv, or vice versa. Some industry analysts have suggested that the strikes were a response to the inevitable contractions in new programming to correct for the unsustainable amount of new streaming services and content created over the past 5 years.
Nevertheless, while there are fewer high quality new series this year, I still managed to watch 25 seasons of new and limited series, enough to meet my quota to put together my list for the best 23 of 2023...
About this list
As with all my annual "Best New Shows" lists, a series is included if:
Its first (or only) season aired this year
It has more than 1 episode (i.e. no TV Movies)
I watched every episode of the season
SIMILAR POSTS
Annual "Best New Shows"
23. Platonic
Apple TV+ | Francesca Delbanco & Nicholas Stoller
Former childhood best friends reconnect as adults and try to get past the rift that led to their falling out.
Genre: Comedy
Time Investment: 10 episodes x 30 min
Continuation: Renewed for 2nd season
Must-watch if you like: Seth Rogen
22. Stonehouse
ITV | John Preston
A biographical drama of disgraced Labour politician John Stonehouse, who vanished from the beach of Miami, Florida in November 1974, leaving a neatly-folded pile of clothes as he swam into the sea, intent on faking his own death.
Genre: Comedy / Biographical Drama
Time Investment: 3 episodes x 1 hr
Continuation: Limited series
Must-watch if you like: Matthew Macfadyen, A Very English Scandal
21. Poker Face
Peacock | Rian Johnson
Charlie has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She hits the road with her Plymouth Barracuda and with every stop encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can't help but investigate and solve.
Genre: Murder mystery
Time Investment: 10 episodes x 1 hr
Continuation: Renewed for a 2nd season.
Must-watch if you like: Columbo, Natasha Lyonne, Monk, Psych
20. The Traitors
BBC / Peacock | Studio Lambert
Contestants in the game move into a majestic castle and work as a team to complete a series of dramatic and challenging missions to earn money for the prize pot. Some contestants are traitors some are loyal.
Genre: Reality competition
Time Investment: 12 episodes x 50 min
Continuation: Both US and UK versions renewed for Season 2.
Must-watch if you like: "Mafia", Among Us, the UK version of The Circle, the US version of Big Brother
*Highly recommend the first UK season, which technically aired in 2022. One of the best and most dramatic seasons of any reality competition show.
19. A Murder at the End of the World
FX on Hulu | Brit Marling & Zal Batmanglij
Darby, an amateur detective, is invited along with 8 other guests to participate in a retreat with a reclusive billionaire at a remote and dazzling location.
Genre: Psychological thriller / Murder mystery
Time Investment: 7 episodes x 1 hr
Continuation: Limited series
Must-watch if you like: True crime, Mare of Easttown, The Sinner, Top of the Lake
18. Full Circle
HBO Max | Ed Solomon & Steven Soderbergh
An investigation into a botched kidnapping uncovers long-held secrets connecting multiple characters and cultures in present-day New York City.
Genre: Drama
Time Investment: 6 episodes x 50 min
Continuation: Limited series
Must-watch if you like: Soderbergh, Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes
17. Lucky Hank
AMC | Paul Lieberstein & Aaron Zelman
An English department chairman at an underfunded college, Professor Hank Devereaux toes the line between midlife crisis and full-blown meltdown, navigating the offbeat chaos in his personal and professional life.
Genre: Dark Comedy
Time Investment: 8 episodes x 45 min
Continuation: Cancelled
Must-watch if you like: Bob Odenkirk
16. I'm a Virgo
Amazon Prime Video | Boots Riley
The coming-of-age joyride of Cootie, a 13-foot-tall man who escapes to experience the beauty and contradictions of the real world. He forms friendships, finds love, navigates awkward situations, and encounters his idol, The Hero.
Genre: Comedic Drama
Time Investment: 7 episodes x 30 min
Continuation: Limited series
Must-watch if you like: Atlanta, The Boys, When They See Us, Walton Goggins
15. The Curse
Showtime | Nathan Fielder & Benny Safdie
Whitney and Asher Siegel are a newlywed couple struggling to bring their vision for eco-conscious housing to the small community of Española, New Mexico.
Genre: Satire Comedy
Time Investment: 10 episodes x 50 min
Continuation: Unknown
Must-watch if you like: Nathan Fielder (The Rehearsal, Nathan For You), Emma Stone
14. Cunk on Earth
BBC | Charlie Brooker
Follows Philomena Cunk as she comically tells the story of our greatest inventions and asks experts hard-hitting questions about humanity's progress.
Genre: Comedy Mockumentary
Time Investment: 5 episodes x 30 min
Continuation: Limited series
Must-watch if you like: An Idiot Abroad, Nathan For You, previous Philomena Cunk series: Cunk on Britain and Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe
13. Extraordinary
Hulu | Emma Moran
Ten years ago, everyone over age 18 got superpowers, but Jen, a painfully self-aware 25-year-old woman, is still waiting to get hers.
Genre: Comedy
Time Investment: 8 episodes x 30 min
Continuation: Renewed for a 2nd season
Must-watch if you like: British comedy
12. Dead Ringers
Amazon Prime Video | Alice Birch
The Mantle twins, identical from head to toe, are on a mission to change the way women give birth.
Genre: Psychological thriller
Time Investment: 6 episodes x 1 hr
Continuation: Limited series
Must-watch if you like: Rachel Weisz, David Cronenberg (the father of the "body horror" genre)
11. Bodies
Netflix | Paul Tomalin
Four different detectives are trying to solve the same murder in Whitechapel in different time periods: 1890, 1941, 2023, and a post-apocalyptic 2053.
Genre: Sci-fi Mystery Drama
Time Investment: 8 episodes x 1 hr
Continuation: Limited series
Must-watch if you like: Dark, Westworld, 1899, Predestination
10. Jury Duty
Amazon Freevee | Lee Eisenberg & Gene Stupnitsky
It follows the workings of an American jury trial through the eyes of Ronald Gladden, a juror who is unaware the entire case is fake. Everyone except him is an actor, and everything that happens is carefully planned.
Genre: Comedy / Documentary
Time Investment: 8 episodes x 30 min
Continuation: Limited series
Must-watch if you like: Nathan For You, The Office, The Truman Show
Jury Duty is an incredible achievement in tv production. The series successfully inserted a normal American man into a cast of characters as cringey and ridiculous as The Office, and proceeds to one-up itself in getting more unbelievable every episode without the bubble ever bursting.
9. Hijack
Apple TV+ | George Kay
A tense thriller that follows the journey of a hijacked plane as it makes its way to London over a seven-hour flight, while authorities on the ground scramble for answers.
Genre: Thriller
Time Investment: 7 episodes x 45 min
Continuation: Limited series
Must-watch if you like: 24, Homeland, Slow Horses
Hijack brought me back to the joys of watching Jack Bauer in 24, without bringing me back to the horrible writing necessitated to pump out 24 episodes of television per season. The story is told in near real-time over 7 episodes, switching back and forth between what's happening on the plane and various plotlines on the ground in both London and Dubai. Hijack has been called "Idris Elba's audition for James Bond" and I'd say give him the job.
8. The Diplomat
Netflix | Debora Cahn
In the midst of an international crisis, Kate Wyler, a career diplomat, lands in a high-profile job for which she is not suited, with tectonic implications for her marriage and her political future.
Genre: Drama, Political thriller
Time Investment: 8 episodes x 50 min
Continuation: Renewed for a 2nd season.
Must-watch if you like: Homeland, The Americans, The West Wing
Keri Russell is back in her first major tv role since the end of The Americans in 2018, alongside The Man in the High Castle's Rufus Sewell. The Diplomat does a fairly good job of replicating the fast pace thrills of a spy thriller, but from the perspective of The State Department instead of your usual "shoot first and get away on motorcycle" protagonists.
7. Lessons in Chemistry
Apple TV+ | Lee Eisenberg
A woman's dream of being a scientist is challenged by a society that says women belong only in the domestic sphere. She accepts a job on a TV cooking show and sets out to teach a nation of overlooked housewives way more than recipes.
Genre: Drama
Time Investment: 8 episodes x 45 min
Continuation: Limited series
Must-watch if you like: Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Queen's Gambit, Brie Larson
I think everything this show is advertised as is wrong. If you want to watch a show about 60s era cooking tv shows, you can watch last year's Julia Child bio-drama on HBO. If you want to watch badass women in STEM, you can watch Halt and Catch Fire or For All Mankind. Lessons in Chemistry is about the other definition of "chemistry" and the tragedy of life getting in the way of it.
6. The Big Door Prize
Apple TV+ | David West Read
About the residents of a small town called Deerfield, who one day discover a magical, destiny-predicting machine in their grocery store.
Genre: Comedic Drama
Time Investment: 10 episodes x 30 min
Continuation: Renewed for a 2nd season.
Must-watch if you like: Black Mirror, Schitt's Creek, The Leftovers
It's no secret that "minimalist sci-fi" is one of my favourite qualities of a television show. The art of taking a small plot element of sci-fi (or even fantasy) and using it as the starter kindling to ignite a more human-centred story is what makes The Leftovers my all time favourite series. The Big Door Prize is not a perfect show, but it is extremely unique in that it feels like it could be an episode of Black Mirror, but with a complete 180 degree turn toward the optimistic tone and quirky characters of Schitt's Creek, which the series creator also worked on as a writer.
5. Beef
Netflix | Lee Sung Jin
A road rage incident ignites a bitter feud between two people. The lengths they'll go to to avenge themselves on the other spirals out of control, jeopardising everything and everyone in their lives.
Genre: Drama / Tragic Comedy
Time Investment: 10 episodes x 35 min
Continuation: Limited series
Must-watch if you like: Fargo, Parasite, Barry
Beef is the answer to the question no one asked: What would happen if the 2019 Oscar winner Parasite did a crossover special with Emmy award winning TV series Fargo? Although no one involved in either of those worked on Beef, it captures the darkly comic tone of both flawlessly.
4. Mrs. Davis
Peacock | Tara Hernandez & Damon Lindelof
Sister Simone partners with her ex-boyfriend Wiley on a globe-spanning journey to destroy Mrs. Davis, a powerful artificial intelligence.
Genre: Sci-fi Comedic Drama
Time Investment: 8 episodes x 60 min
Continuation: Limited series
Must-watch if you like: Watchmen, Monty Python
I don't really know how to explain Mrs. Davis other than it is Damon Lindelof dialing up the absurdism to 11. All of the standard themes of a classic Lindelof series are there: religion, rocky parental relationships, excellent needle drops, etc, but it just fully leaned in to the unconventional "WTF" moments that made Watchmen so fun.
3. Silo
Apple TV+ | Graham Yost
In a dystopian future, humanity clings to survival deep underground in the silo. Juliette, an engineer investigating the death of a colleague, uncovers startling secrets that threaten the very fabric of their enclosed world.
Genre: Sci-fi Drama
Time Investment: 10 episodes x 50 min
Continuation: Renewed for a 2nd season.
Must-watch if you like: Severance, Westworld
Aside from Apple's other recent sci-fi mystery box series that starts with an S, Silo is one of the shows I cannot wait to find out what happens next. Except, I clearly can wait because I intentionally am avoiding spoilers from Hugh Howey's series of novels this show is based on. Silo does everything right for a sci-fi mystery: a good balance of world building with character-centric storytelling, a central mystery with fun twists along the way, and a sufficiently coherent plot that doesn't try to become so clever that it gets in the way of the story.
2. A Small Light
National Geographic | Joan Rater & Tony Phelan
Follows the remarkable story of Miep Gies, a Dutch woman who risked her life to shelter Anne Frank's family from the Nazis for more than two years during World War II.
Genre: Historical Drama
Time Investment: 8 episodes x 50 min
Continuation: Limited series
Must-watch if you like: The Plot Against America, Schindler's List, Life is Beautiful
This exceptionally well made Nat Geo miniseries (available to stream on Hulu and Disney+) tells a story that has admittedly been told many times before. What sets A Small Light apart is the story is told from the perspective of characters who are not targets of the Nazis, but instead must choose whether or not to fight back on behalf of those who are. I assume many know how the story of Anne Frank ends, but until this series I never heard the name of Miep Gies, an ordinary Dutch secretary who put herself in extraordinary danger to stand up to evil.
1. The Last of Us
HBO | Craig Mazin & Neil Druckmann
20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed, Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone.
Genre: Post-apocalyptic Drama
Time Investment: 9 episodes x 50 min
Continuation: Renewed for a 2nd season.
Must-watch if you like: Chernobyl, The Walking Dead, The Leftovers
HBO's adaptation of the acclaimed video game is the perfect example of using an overdone concept (zombies, in this instance) as a backdrop for a more compelling and intimate character drama. Many of this initial season's nine episodes did not even feature the infected, allowing ordinary humans to play the antagonists. Masterwork performances by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey drive the emotional backbone of the story, but the standout 3rd episode puts the spotlight on Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett. Craig Mazin also brought along his production design team from Chernobyl, who have truly proven themselves to be the best in the industry- the environment of The Last of Us is the most beautiful and immersive work I have seen in television.
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