2020 is underway, and you know what that means – more televised content than any human being could reasonably consume. Hey, they don’t our era “Peak TV” for nothing! Between the networks, cable channels and streamers (including new and emerging streamers like Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max, and NBC’s Peacock,) there are countless upcoming TV shows to put on your radar for the year, across all genres and featuring some of the most exciting talents in the game, in front of and behind the camera.
With that in mind, we’ve put together a handy guide of the upcoming titles we’re most excited about across the board. Some of them are high-profile continuations of ongoing franchises, some of them are prestige adaptations of celebrated novels, and some of them are a complete darn mystery beyond the creative talent on board. But all of them have something that’s got the team excited, and withWinter TCA officially behind us, we’ve got a wide-ranging look at the most exciting titles on the upcoming schedule. And if you’re wondering just how much TV these is these days – we had to whittle the list down to a robust 40. So break out your calendar and get ready to mark down some key dates with 40 upcoming new TV shows we can’t wait to watch.
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist
Premiere Date:January 7
Network:NBC
From show creatorAustin Winsbergand executive produced byPaul Feig, the NBC seriesZoey’s Extraordinary Playlistfollows Zoey Clarke (Jane Levy), a computer coder who suddenly finds herself with the ability to hear the innermost thoughts and desires of those around her – whether family, co-workers or complete strangers – in the form of popular songs that are often accompanied by full-on performance numbers. While the jury is still out on her ability being an unwanted curse or an incredible gift, Zoey finds herself connecting with the world in a way that can’t help but deeply affect her.
Anytime a family member is sick, it’s tough on everyone, especially when that loved one needs full-time care and can no longer verbally communicate. The discovery that Zoey’s ability also works as a way to communicate with her father is so deeply meaningful that it makes emotional breakdowns from strangers or declarations of love from a friend that you didn’t know felt that way more bearable. The series tells a beautiful, delightful, sweet, heartbreaking and magical story that is easy to get attached to. –Christina Radish
The Outsider
Premiere Date:January 12
Network:HBO
The Outsiderlooks, to me, to be television catnip. Er, television-watcher-nip. I’m not a cat, I swear! Anyway,The Outsider looks good. It’s a somber crime drama (check) based on aStephen Kingnovel (check) with episodes written by gritty screenwriters and novelists likeRichard PriceandDennis Lehane(check), directed by acclaimed filmmakers likeKaryn Kusama(check), and starring an unreal ensemble cast featuringBen Mendelsohn,Cynthia Erivo,Jason Bateman,Bill Camp, andPaddy Considine(a big ol’ check next to all these names, honey).
The story will feel familiar to those who’ve enjoyed previous prestige TV crime dramas likeBroadchurch– Police detective Ralph Anderson (Mendelsohn) is on the case of the death of an 11-year-old boy. His prime suspect? Terry Maitland (Bateman), a beloved Little League coach in the community – but the town isn’t having that accusation. So, with the help of private investigator Holly Gibney (Erivo), Anderson must sort through a litany of clues, false flags, biases, and purposeful obfuscations to find the truth. Trailers promise a much more grounded, human-scale King adaptation than the generally supernatural takes we’ve been getting in 2019 works likeIt Chapter Two orDoctor Sleep, and I am here for it. On a final note, I must reiterate, despite any vicious rumors you’re hearing, that I am not a human, I am a cat. Er, wait, reverse that, shit! –Gregory Lawrence
Seven Worlds, One Planet
Premiere Date:January 18
Networks:BBC America, AMC, IFC, Sundance TV
Blue Planet IIwas perhaps the best TV series of 2017, not just among mini-series or documentaries, but on all of television. So we have high hopes thatSeven Worlds, One Planetwill be up to the challenge of clearing the admittedly high bar set by the incredible nature series.David Attenboroughreturns, so this show’s already halfway there. And early indications from its BBC premiere last fall suggest that we Americans are in for a treat when it arrives on BBC America this January.
WhileBlue Planet IIdelved deep into the planet’s oceans and waterways, this series will visit each of the planet’s continents to explore their climates, terrain, and unique fauna. It aims to capture millions of years’ worth of not only tectonic activity and surface weathering but also how those landmass changes shaped the animal life that arose there. Documentaries likeSeven Worlds, One Planetare essential to understanding life on Earth, how different it can be, and ultimately how alike we all are. –Dave Trumbore
Premiere Date:January 19
From British politics to American politics to Russian politics to… outer space?Avenue 5is definitely a dramatic heighten forArmando Iannucci, the satirist responsible for pieces of vulgar, insult-driven, misanthropic brilliance likeThe Thick of It,In the Loop,The Death of Stalin, andVeep. Iannucci leftVeepbefore its run was over to work onAvenue 5, and he brought many of his core writers with him, includingSimon Blackwell,Tony Roche,Ian Martin, andWill Smith(not that one).
“Avenue 5” is the name of a near-future space cruise ship, where the richest folks can hobnob among the stars. The ship is captained byHugh Laurie(with a luxurious beard), assisted by crew members likeSuzy Nakamura,Zach Woods,Lenora Crichlow, andJosh Gadhaving the time of his life as the eccentric owner. However, what happens to the ship’s passengers when a malfunction sends the whole thing wildly off course, with a long trip back to Earth on the horizon and not enough resources to sustain everyone until then? If you’re a fan of any of Iannucci and company’s previous work, you can guess they’ll devolve into base human squabbles, conflicts, and creatively worded flights of swearing fancy.
WhileAvenue 5does promise to skewer late-stage capitalism and tech-bro venture capitalists with too much money and imagination to burn, trailers released thus far promise a slightly sillier affair than other Iannucci works. If neitherStar Trek: DiscoverynorThe Orvillehave scratched your small-screen sci-fi spaceship itch,Avenue 5may get you what you need – and not just becauseEthan Phillipsis around to poke fun at hisStar Trek: Voyagerrole.
9-1-1: Lone Star
Network:Fox
RyanMurphyjust can’t stop winning and one of his latest smash hits was the Fox series9-1-1, co-created withBrad FalchukandTim Minear, a soapy high-drama procedural about the first responders of L.A.. With9-1-1: Lone Star, the hit series gets a spinoff that takes the action to Austin, Texas, led by the impossibly charming duo ofRob LoweandLiv Tyler.Lowe stars as a fireman and 9/11 first-responder grappling with the long-term after-effects on his health when he and his son pick up and leave NYC for the Lone Star State. If you like the original series, you’ll probably like this one too, jam-packed with “stranger than fiction” stunts of heroism you just know have to be based on a true story and plenty of scripted drama that could only come from the mind of a writing team. Indulgent and over-the-top but with just enough heart, this one could turn out to be a success on par with the breakout series that launched it. –Haleigh Foutch
Aquafina Is Nora from Queens
Premiere Date:Jan 22
Network:Comedy Central
Fresh off her critically acclaimed, quieter than usual work inLulu Wang’s dramedyThe Farewell,Awkwafina’s next big project will feel more familiar – she’s literally playing herself.Awkwafina Is Nora from Queensrefers to her real name, Nora Lum. And the Comedy Central program, produced and written in part by Awkwafina, will tell a semi-fictionalized, louder-than-real-life story of her arrested development in her 20s, trying to figure out what to do with her life while living at home in Queens with several of her family members, all of whom are perfectly cast. Her dad?BD Wong, having fun playing with lower energy than usual. Her grandmother?Lori Tan Chinn, who recently crushed inOrange Is the New Black. And her cousin? The rising comedy superstarBowen Yang, currently scorching the earth onSaturday Night Live.
The show comes in part fromLucia Aniello,who serves as executive producer and directed the pilot. Her last Comedy Central show wasBroad City, and it’s not hard to see some of that influential show’s DNA in the first looks atNora from Queens– bright colors, loud voices, bold attitudes, and a light touch of the surreal. But Awkwafina’s work looks to be uniquely personal, an examination of her own life and family situation that’s about as one to one as a family sitcom can get (just look at the family members she name-checked in her Golden Globes speech and see how much they line up with who’s in this show). Awkwafina has been a relentlessly engaging, interesting voice in the comedy sphere since she first blew up, and I’m looking forward to seeing her drive her own vehicle. – Gregory Lawrence
Star Trek: Picard
Premiere Date:January 23
Network:CBS All Access
To be honest, I haven’t gotten much out of the post -J. J. Abramsera ofStar Trek. The recent reboot trilogy featured some delightful performances (in particular Karl Urban absolutely crushing a subtle DeForest Kelly impression to play Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy), but the shift of focus from traditional science fiction to Star Wars-style action really disappointed me. Star Trek was never an action franchise, and that’s not what I liked about the Original Series orThe Next Generation. I experienced the same lukewarm response toStar Trek Discovery, the first CBS All Access Star Trek series that sticks more closely to the Abrams formula of solving every conflict with epic space battles and phaser fights. Again, these things are objectively awesome, but they aren’t what I like about Star Trek (for example, inTOSandTNG, the phasers are rarely used and almost never effective against the episode’s threat).
Star Trek: Picardseems aimed more at curmudgeonly old Trek fans like myself; it’s a nostalgia grab on its face, and it’s peppered with cameos of popular characters fromTNGandVoyager, including Ryker (Jonathan Frakes), Troi (Marina Sirtis), Data (Brent Spiner), and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). ButPatrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard didn’t become one of the most beloved Star Trek characters of all time for no reason, and I’m genuinely pretty excited to see him return. Even though the trailers tease a very Star Wars story, in which Picard seems to be occupying an Obi-Wan Kenobi role mentoring a young “chosen one” warrior, I can’t wait to watch this goddamn show if for no other reason than to see Picard hang out on his sweet, sweet vineyard. –Thomas Reimann
Briarpatch
Premiere Date:February 6
Network:USA
I’m a sucker for limited series mysteries, so if you’ll excuse the phrase,Briarpatchis extremely my shit. It’s based on a novel byRoss Thomasthat I 100% refuse to read; nothing against Mr. Thomas, but it’s way more fun going into a mystery show knowing absolutely nothing about what is going on (Gillian Flynn received the same treatment from me when I started watchingSharp Objects, and I intend to give Stephen King the identical kiss-off whenThe Outsiderpremieres this month).Rosario Dawsonstars as Allegra Dill, a detective investigating the murder of her sister in the small Texas town where they grew up. Judging by the trailer, the show promises to be an appealingly bizarre pulpy thriller, and Dawson has historically kicked the shit out of every role she’s ever inhabited. I can’t wait to watch her sleuth her way through this grimy Texas town and blow the ten-gallon lid off of whatever conspiracy is hidden underneath. –Thomas Reimann
Mythic Quest
Premiere Date:February 7
Network:Apple TV+
FromIt’s Always Sunnycreator and starRob McElhenneyandCommunityandModern FamilyproducerMegan Ganz,Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquetis an absolutely hilarious workplace comedy about the insane world of game development. McElhenney stars as Ian, the brilliant but mercurial creator of a popular shared-world video game. Co-stars includeCharlotte Nicdao,Danny Pudi, the greatF. Murray Abraham, andDavid Hornsby(who also co-produces, as does fellowSunnystarCharlie Day), and with that arsenal of talent,Mythic Questpromises to be one of the best new comedies of the year. –Haleigh Foutch
Locke & Key
Network:Netflix
The Netflix original seriesLocke & Keyis the long-awaited adaptation of the best-selling comic book series byJoe HillandGabriel Rodriguezfor IDW comics. I first saw a TV adaptation ofLocke & Key backwhen I got my hands on the 2011 Fox pilot that was directedMark Romanek(which also happened to be one of the best pilots I’ve ever seen) but never picked up to series, and then the source material went into limbo for a bit while it was looked at for a possible multi-movie adaptation. That also didn’t work out, along with other networks that considered a TV version but eventually passed, before finally making its way to Netflix.
Now withCarlton Cuse(Lost, Bates Motel) andMeredith Averill(The Haunting of Hill House) spearheading it, this coming-of-age mystery about the unbreakable bonds of family follows the Locke siblings – Kinsey (Emilia Jones), Tyler (Connor Jessup) and Bode (Jackson Robert Scott) – and their mother, Nina (Darby Stanchfield), who move into their ancestral home, Keyhouse, after their family patriarch is gruesomely murdered under mysterious circumstances. When they discover the house is full of magical keys and they explore their unique powers, a demon awakens that will stop at nothing to get what it wants.
After waiting so long to finally see this material brought to the screen, I’m excited to see what this team, in front of and behind the camera, does with it, and I’m grateful that it’s in the longer form of TV series, as it’s not a story that can be told with one film. –Christina Radish
