There are two types of great television shows: the kind millions of people are watching and talking about and the ones that never quite break into the larger cultural conversation. In the case of the latter, it’s not for lack of worthiness. It’s just that not every great TV series finds its fandom.
So you’d be forgiven for missing one—if not all—of the best series that premiered in the past year. After all, with countless networks in various formats (broadcast, cable, streaming, and otherwise) all looking to enter the original content game, there’s a lot of TV to sort through. Some of it worse than others; some of it much worse. Fortunately, we’ve done the heavy lifting and taken the guesswork out of it for you. Below are our picks for the best TV shows you might have missed in 2024.
After the Flood
Whatever you think After the Flood is, you’re probably wrong—or at least missing a big part of the series’ appeal. In the aftermath of a flash flood that leaves much of the Yorkshire town of Waterside underwater, police officer Jo Marshall (Peaky Blinders’ Sophie Rundle) is called to a parking garage, where the body of a man is found trapped in an elevator, presumably drowned. But when authorities learn that the unidentified man was killed three days before the flood, Jo will do whatever it takes to put a name to the body in the morgue. When she makes the very poor decision to enter his DNA into an ancestry database, she learns that the man who was most definitely breathing just 72 hours ago has supposedly been dead for years. For Jo, who is just weeks from giving birth, it’s a race to find the killer before motherhood arrives. And, in doing so, discovering that not everyone—even those closest to her—are who or what they say they are. Good news for those who do give it a watch: After the Flood has already been renewed for a second season.
Criminal Record
Peter Capaldi plays against type as Daniel Hegarty, a veteran detective nearing the end of an impressive career whose legacy could be on the line. When an anonymous tipster delivers some shocking information that casts doubt on the verdict in a high-profile, decades-old case Hegarty worked on, he’d rather imagine he got everything right the first time around. What he wasn’t counting on was detective June Lenker (Cush Jumbo) receiving the same information and setting out to retrace Hegarty’s steps, which puts the two at extreme odds. The ever-captivating Capaldi has found a wonderful sparring partner in Jumbo. A second season is already in the works.
Diarra From Detroit
Diarra Brickland (Diarra Kilpatrick) is a teacher coming out of a painful divorce who finally feels like she might be ready to reenter the dating scene—or at least have a little fun on Tinder. What she wasn’t expecting to find was Chris (Shannon Wallace), a man with serious soulmate potential. When she stops hearing from him altogether after one glorious night together, Diarra insists that he must have gone missing, as there’s no way he would ghost her … right? Her closest friends are skeptical, but Diarra goes all-in on finding her man—and soon finds herself entangled with Detroit’s extremely dangerous criminal underworld. Did we mention that it’s a comedy? Kilpatrick is a force of nature in this BET+ series, which she created and produces (alongside Kenya Barris).
Lost Boys & Fairies
We know that Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer isn’t the final word on quality. But it does say something that Lost Boys & Fairies has a perfect 100 percent score (based on just a half-dozen critics’ reviews, but still). After nearly a decade together, Gabriel (Sion Daniel Young) and Andy (Fra Fee) decide that they are ready to make the leap into parenthood. But as they officially begin the adoption process, Gabe—whose own childhood was marked by trauma due to the death of his mother and a strained relationship with his homophobic father—worries that he may not be capable, or worthy, of being a loving parent. It’s a powerful, poignant reminder that the ties that bind can also break us.
Manhunt
Even if you weren’t paying attention during your third-grade history class, you probably know the very basics about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln at the hands of John Wilkes Booth. But Manhunt is not about service-level history; quite the opposite. It reveals the lengths Lincoln’s close friend and secretary of war Edwin Stanton (Tobias Menzies) went to in order to capture Booth. Series creator Monica Beletsky, who has previously served as a writer-producer on Fargo, The Leftovers, Parenthood, and Friday Night Lights, is meticulous in her approach to getting the details just right (which is sure to please any presidential history buff).
MaryLand
Becca (Suranne Jones) and Rosaline (Eve Best) are once-close sisters who have grown apart over the years, as time, space, and circumstances have changed them both. When their mother is suddenly found dead on the Isle of Man, they must come together—however briefly—to identify her body and have it transported back to Great Britain, where their father is waiting for her. While both sisters are confused as to what their mother was doing on the island in the first place, they soon come to learn about the many buried chapters of their mother’s history that brought her to this place. Jones (Gentleman Jack) and Best (House of the Dragon) are never better than when it’s just the two of them, being sisters, for better or worse.
Monsieur Spade
Clive Owen joins the long list of formidable actors, from Humphrey Bogart to Tom Wilkinson, to inhabit the role of Sam Spade—Dashiell Hammett’s famed private detective. In this case, Monsieur Spade takes place in the early 1960s, two decades after the events of The Maltese Falcon, and Spade has made the decision to retire to the picturesque town of Bozouls in the South of France. But when a group of nuns are brutally murdered at a nearby convent, Spade will need to put his detective hat on once again in order to solve the crime.
My Lady Jane
With a tone that’s somewhat reminiscent of The Great, Gemma Burgess’ My Lady Jane reimagines the life of Lady Jane Grey (Emily Bader) through a somewhat supernatural lens. Yes, in this version of 16th century England, shapeshifters abound—which only ups the quirkiness. At its heart, however, My Lady Jane is about the budding romance between Jane and Lord Guildford Dudley (Edward Bluemel), whom Jane’s mother has arranged for her to marry. Sadly, eight episodes are all we’re going to get of this series, as Amazon announced its cancellation after just one fabulous season.
The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh
Lost star Naveen Andrews gets to make use of his stellar comedic chops in this darkly humorous tale of the American Dream gone wrong. When what seems like a stellar business opportunity arises, Pradeep family patriarch Mahesh (Andrews) moves his family from India to America, where culture shock is the least of their problems. By the time we meet the family, they’ve been living in Pittsburgh for two years—and are recounting their story to a pair of federal agents (Pete Holmes and Romy Rosemont) from the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, as they’re also suspected of possibly burning down the home of their snobby neighbors (Megan Hilty and Ethan Suplee). The most amazing part of all is that the story is partly based on the real life of creator Vijal Patel.
Sugar
The small screen has been good to Colin Farrell this year, most notably with the success of The Penguin. But five months before he resumed his role as Oz Cobb, the Oscar-nominated actor went neo-noir for Sugar. In the stylish crime-drama Farrell plays John Sugar, a private detective who is hired to investigate the disappearance of a big-time Hollywood producer’s granddaughter while battling some personal demons of his own. If you’ve heard anything about the show, you probably know that there’s a twist (more than one of them, really). A second season has already been confirmed.
Renegade Nell
Sally Wainwright has never been known as a creator of “family-friendly” fare—unless your kids think that binge-watching Happy Valley is an all-ages affair. But that she is the creative force behind Renegade Nell makes sense once you watch even just the first episode. After being framed for murder, Nell Jackson (Louisa Harland) becomes one of England’s most feared highwaywomen. It’s all a bluff, of course, but Nell comes to realize that the best way to clear her name is to lean into the notoriety surrounding her and have a little fun with it. Harland is a joy to watch (even when you know there’s no Season 2 on the menu).
