There have never been as many choices as there are now when it comes to television. You’ve got the four major networks, premium cable networks, streaming services and even Amazon is making original content now. Figuring out when each show “airs”, keeping up with all the new content, and making time to check them all out can be a full time job and apparently some people have “friends” and go “outside” sometimes so they can’t dedicate all their hours to bingeing TV.
We wanted to present a list of shows that are brand new-ish and that you should be watching because even though they aren’t making as much noise as Westworld or getting as many Golden Globe nominations as The Big Bang Theory, they are fantastic and deserve ALL the eyeballs on them.
Without further ado, here is a small list of shows that you can binge-watch in under a week!
Insecure (1 completed season, season 2 start date tbd)
- Created by & starring Issa Rae, Insecure gives you a glimpse into a life of a millennial Black woman. Her work, her relationship, her friendships & the societal pressures she faces all take centre stage.
- On the eve of her birthday, she realizes she is simply going through the motions and is unhappy, her actions that night and in the following weeks change her life to a perhaps irreparable extent.
- The show is beautifully written and will make you laugh and cry simultaneously. It features a supporting cast, including Yvonne Orji & Jay Ellis, that are not only extremely gorgeous, but that portray their characters with such grace and nuance.
- You can stream season 1 on HBO.
- Also be sure to check out Rae’s The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl book and {incredibly perfect} webseries while waiting for season 2.
Teachers (1 completed season, season 2 start date 2017)
- The Katydids are the comedy group behind this TVLand series about elementary school teachers. This ensemble comedy gives each woman’s unique comedic stylings a chance to shine in a setting we don’t often get to see.
- There’s always a crisis when kids are involved, from picture day to bullying prevention to teacher gifts and new students, something is always on the verge of going very wrong at this school. The women have such incredible chemistry together and all their scenes are so funny you actually have to pause and laugh.
- You can watch the first season of Teachers on TVLand’s website.
Life In Pieces (1 completed season, season 2 midseason premiere 01/5/17)
- I’m not one to recommend a CBS comedy, but Life In Pieces was an unexpected surprise. The show tells the story of a family through small vignette stories focusing on various members and pairs of members.
- They deal with engagements, breakups, newborns, teenagers, and so much more in a heartwarming, hilarious and real way. When this family gets together for brunch, you can feel the love they have and the support they genuinely want to give one another.
- Colin Hanks, Zoe Lister Jones, Thomas Sadoski & Diane Wiest are just some of the incredible performers in the ensemble.
- The second season of the show will return after the holiday hiatus and you can stream season 1 on Netflix/Hulu/CBS.
Loosely Exactly Nicole (1 completed season, cancelled *tear*)
- Nicole Byer of MTV’s Girl Code briefly had her own show and despite it’s cancellation after just one season, the show was really funny.
- The show followed Nicole the aspiring actress, through the good and the bad. Terrible auditions, awful dates, perfect hookups and more. The most revolutionary part of this series was that she was just a plus sized woman of color living her life, not being defined by her dress size or the color of her skin but showcasing them with pride and then some.
- There were no fat jokes or cracks about her size here, homegirl had a wild and colorful sex life and was painted as desirable in a way that only women who look like Blake Lively get to be.
- Find this show and watch it when you need a laugh – thank me later.
Schitt’s Creek (2 completed seasons, season 3 start date tbd)
- Created by Dan & Eugene Levy, Schitt is a Canadian series about a rich family who find out their money guy was stealing from them and are forced to relocate to Schitt’s Creek, a small town they had once bought because the name was funny.
- Eugene Levy plays the patriarch who built a video store empire, Catherine O’Hara plays Moira, the matriarch & soap star. The family is rounded out by the 2 spoiled kids who don’t know how to do anything, Alexis & David (Annie Murphy & Dan Levy).
- Seeing this family try to cope in such unusual surroundings is great but what’s greater is the relationships they start to form with the locals and the growth they experience.
- Available to stream on Netflix, airs on PopTV
The Carmichael Show (2 completed seasons, season 3 start date tbd)
- Jerod Carmichael created and stars in this NBC multicam sitcom. This is probably the only “filmed in front of a live studio audience” show I will EVER recommend to anyone (also Cristela, that was bomb & deserved better) but trust me.
- Everyone on the show is fantastic, they deal with some real deep and dark issues in an open and honest way while remaining funny. Honestly if this show were about a white family it would be the next Friends, but NBC keeps burning it off in the summer when no one is watching TV.
- Stream in on Hulu or the NBC app
The Awesomes (3 completed seasons, cancelled *tear*)
- Seth Meyers has an animated superhero show on Hulu and it’s perfect. With voices like Maya Rudolph, Paula Pell, Ike Barinholtz, Kenan Thompson & Josh Meyers (cough nepotism cough), you know it’s gotta be good.
- These are not your average superheroes, they’re more like the people that got rejected from the XMen, but they’re still helpful and great and omg just turn on Hulu and watch this show already.
- Stream it on Hulu, but you knew that
Queen Sugar (1 completed season, season 2 start date tbd)
- Directed by Ava Duvernay & produced by OPRAH, Queen Sugar is about grown-up sibling coming back to their fathers farm after his untimely passing.
- There’s also discussions of adultery and a brilliant take-down of rape culture; exposure of the unfairness of the prison system towards black men, and a platform for the Black Lives Matter movement.
- I know it sounds heavy, and at times it is, but it is absolutely necessary and the performances that these actors deliver are STELLAR!
- Queen Sugar was also inclusive behind the camera, EVERY episode was directed by a woman and the writers room was full of beautiful magical WOC.
- I’m not sure where this is streaming, BUT YOU NEED TO FIND IT ASAP
BrainDead (1 completed season, cancelled *tear*)
- No one believes me, but BrainDead was one of the best new shows of the past year. Created by Robert & Michelle King (The Good Wife), BrainDead takes place in Washington DC where space bugs are eating half of people’s brains and radicalizing them into crazy health obsessed extremists who only listen to one song. It was airing during peak US election times, making it extremely relevant. Honestly space bugs explain away a lot of what America has been doing to itself lately.
- Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Danny Pino & Aaron Tveit are fantastic in the show, as are Nikki James & Johnny Ray Gill.
- I can’t push for this show enough, please please pleeeeaaaaase just give it a chance. If you liked The Good Wife or any political dramas, if you like witty dialogue, if you like beautiful people, if you like satire, if you like good things, just…please!
If you noticed, I’m more of a comedy person, lots of them are overlooked and they’re much easier to binge-watch. I hope you check some of these shows out, make sure to tell me what you think and give us your recommendations in the comments!
