If you're not sick of crime drama series yet, then this British show is worth a watch. Three seasons have been released so far, but the fourth season has been announced for release next year. Dear White People expands creator Justin Simien's 2014 indie film into an incisive, insightful series that plumbs complex issues of race and culture with wit and verve. Set at a fictional Ivy League school, the show centers around Samantha White , who launches a combative radio program to enlighten the white folks on campus.
Meanwhile, the rich ensemble of characters around her lets the show explore various perspectives and personal and political issues. Smart, satirical, and timely, Dear White People is an ideal binge right now — and it's the perfect time to catch up before the fourth and final season arrives. A show inspired by the true story of the first pro female wrestling syndicate in the '80s? GLOW's purely fun comedy, packed with eccentric female characters, teams campiness with underdog triumph and soars. Season 3 progresses deeper into the lives of its diverse ensemble, shifting the series to Las Vegas. A fourth and final season was in the works, but sadly production fell victim to the pandemic and Netflix cancelled the show.
Plus,Gillian Andersonco-stars as Otis' eccentric divorcée mom, who is an actual sex therapist and has a house full of phallic statues, which is just a lot of fun. "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" was a television series credited with reviving the story of one of the now-iconic personalities of cowboy culture, according to Courtney Campbell in Wide Open Country. Airing in 1955, premiering just four days before "Gunsmoke," it is the very first television Western that was written for adults.
For six seasons, the 30-minute program told the story of Wyatt's adult life, from his role of town marshal in Kansas to the final episodes based in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. Ashton Kutcher's Netflix series was Western cowboy comedy, with a few surprising threads of serious drama. The series followed the story of Colt, a washed-up football star who returns to his hometown in Colorado, where he lived with his father and brother. One of the best coming-of-age book series of all time, "Little House on the Prairie" captured the attention of generations of women readers across the country. It was made into a TV film before evolving into the long-running television series, according to Mentalfloss. Set in the village of Walnut Grove, Minnesota, during the second half of the 19th century, the heartwarming series followed the coming of age of second daughter Laura Ingalls.
If you've already seen every zombie movie Netflix has to offer, why not find a nice zombie-related TV series to binge watch, as well? Although there are plenty of scary, flesh-tearing zombies in shows like The Walking Dead,many shows within the genre offer a cocktail of horror, comedy, historical drama, and crime investigation. Life comes at you fast in Deadwood, South Dakota, a brutal frontier mining encampment with aspirations of becoming cosmopolitan. History buffs will love this to death as the narrative is woven around actual historic events with most of the main characters based on real people (Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickok and E.B. Farnham to name but a few). Studios and content producers license their titles to streaming services on a per-country basis, meaning Netflix pays a sum for each country a movie or TV series should be available in.
Since audiences in different countries have different preferences it doesn't always make sense for Netflix to buy the global rights to a title. After all, a Turkish crime drama series would probably work great in Turkey, but maybe won't be as popular in Australia or Canada. It is a David and Goliath story of a family struggling against a mining corporation post civil war. The focus is on the acting, the scenery, and the plot rather than any action sequences. This is a movie you will likely want to watch twice to understand and appreciate the clues that are delivered throughout. 'Longmire' is an American modern Western crime show which was developed by John Coveny and Hunt Baldwin.
It is based on the 'Walt Longmire Mysteries,' a series of novels by the best-selling author, Craig Johnson. Walt Longmire, a sheriff of the fictional Absaroka County, Wyoming, is the titular character, and the plot revolves around him investigating major crimes within his jurisdiction. The first three seasons of the show premiered on 'A&E', eventually becoming their highest-rated television series. However, when the network decided against renewing it, Netflix swooped in to salvage season four. Episodes of all six seasons are available for streaming online on the aforementioned platform.
Did you know that this Hallmark production, which now has 7 seasons under its belt, actually aired as a two-hour movie pilot in 2013? The story follows a young teacher, Elizabeth Thatcher, as she leaves her high-society life to teach in the mining town of Coal Valley. She must now step out of her comfort zone and learn the mannerisms of the small town. After all, the Royal Northwest Mounted Police Constable, Jack Thornton, is not Elizabeth's biggest fan since her father has assigned him to protect his daughter. Drama series was actually inspired by a book of the same name by Canadian author, Janette Oke. Given Hallmark's penchant for overly cheesy and exaggerated stories, it may be simple to brush this series aside.
This adventure miniseries told the story of a small Colorado town and the mishmash of people who live there, from criminals and fortune seekers to those who just wanted freedom. A star-studded cast took on the task of diving into the 200-year history of the west. The role of French fur trapper, Pasquinel, was played by Robert Conrad, who told the SF Gate that his audition involved carrying 200 pounds of furs on his back somewhere along the Platte River. Sex Educationmight seem like just another comedy series about a group of teenagers obsessing about sex, but it manages to tackle formative fornication without fudging things – it's a tender and wise show with smarts. We meet Otis , the son of a sex therapist , and his gang of friends, including GBF Eric and Maeve , who Otis starts a sex therapy clinic with at school. What results is a surprisingly aware show about sex that more than a few grown-ups could learn from.
However, this miniseries starring an on-form Toni Collette, Merritt Wever and Kaitlyn Dever is not your typical sensationalist true crime drama. Based on ProPublic/The Marshall Project's 2015 Pulitzer-winning article, 'An Unbelievable Story of Rape,' this sensitive drama about a series of rape cases in the states of Washington and Colorado doesn't focus on the perpetrator. Instead, this is a story about the survivors of sexual violence, one that's handled with empathy and without melodrama. It doesn't shy away from the trauma these survivors live with, but it never feels gratuitous, even if it is, at times, difficult to watch. While trying to figure out the time loop, she meets a fellow constant perisher, Charlie Barnett as Alan Zavery. Originality has earned Lyonne critical praise, TV award show recognition and lots of love from us.
Sunrise Inc.DistributorNetflixReleaseOriginal networkNetflixCowboy Bebop is an upcoming American science fiction streaming television series. It is a live-action adaptation of the Japanese anime series of the same name. The series is set to be developed by André Nemec, written by Christopher Yost, and stars John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, Daniella Pineda, Elena Satine, and Alex Hassell. BBC Two's Giri / Haji, available in the U.S. via Netflix, is already one of the year's best surprises.
The hope is that bringing Yuto back will stop a sprawling war that he helped kickstart among the Yakuza factions. But like Kenzo's investigation into Yuto's disappearance and faked death, Giri /Haji is full of unexpected twists, not just in its narrative but in its form. At the center of the story is the tale of two brothers, yet it's also about forged family and discovering the truth about one's self. The gang war is the framework for the story, which plays out in many ways like Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels ; and yet, one of its most moving scenes takes place during a quiet, makeshift Yom Kippur dinner regarding atonement.
Comedy vets Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin headline this superbly bingeable sitcom about two women whose ongoing rivalry comes to a head when their husbands reveal they're in love and want divorces. While Grace and Frankie try to navigate this life-changing revelation alone, they fast become frenemies who wind up sharing a beach house. Throw in their four kids and their newly-married husbands, and what you're left with is a modern living situation.
What starts as an amusing premise over the seasons sprawls into a ripe comedy setup that's all about figuring out life, love, career, health, no matter your age, and how our friends are the one thing we can always rely on. Mike Wiluan's imaginative Western blends cultures and fighting styles to give fans a unique take on the genre. The film follows brothers Jamar and Suwo , as they leave America after helping complete the Transcontinental Railroad and return home to Indonesia. While riding a train home, they come against a group of white gangsters before arriving to their village and discovering Dutch administrator named Captain Van Trach has enslaved their people for profit. The duo takes on Trach's outfit to help free their village and while the storytelling falls a bit flat, the action is worth watching. Sneed," is set in the old west and tells the story of Maddie Hawkins, a young woman who, after meeting outlaw JJ Sneed, trades in an arranged marriage for a life as an outlaw.
During the course of the episode, we see Maddie join JJ in his outlaw ways by robbing trains, banks, and anything else they can get their hands on. But after JJ is injured during one of their robberies he shows his true colors leaving Maddie no choice but to turn him in. That is not so much the case for Netflix which, while harboring a plentiful selection of superhero films and TV series, it is outweighed by content more appealing to a fan of the western genre at an unusually high margin.
Tom Selleck plays Matthew Quigley, a 19th-century cowboy sharpshooter who answers a newspaper ad seeking the best shooter to come to Australia. He takes the boat to the country down under and shows off his rifle skills to a ranch owner, played by Alan Rickman. However, Quigley soon learns the job he's been hired to do, and he wants no part of it. Named as one of the ten best TV series of the year by major publications, the Emmy-winning 'Godless' is a Netflix original production created by the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, Scott Frank. This seven-episode series began production in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in September 2016. Hosting a star cast of Jack O' Connell, Michelle Dockery, Scoot McNairy, Merrit Wever, Thomas Brodie Sangster, and Sam Waterston, the miniseries received positive reviews.
The plot follows Roy Coode, an injured outlaw on the run from his former boss, the notorious criminal Frank Griffin, who takes refuge in an isolated mining town primarily governed by women. This series is packed with action and makes for one compelling watch. 'Breaking Bad' is the neo-western crime drama television series which, since its release in 2008, has been globally accoladed as one of the best shows ever made in television history.
Created by the maverick genius Vince Gilligan, it originally aired on AMC for five seasons. Its inclusion on this list is because the premise is a one of a kind, modern take on the American 'Wild West'. The show is a spin-off and prequel of the extremely popular crime drama series and is equally as good to watch. If you're new to the show, keep watching until season 1's action extravaganza 'Modern Warfare', which firmly establishes Community's identity for later years. Some seasons are fantastic , some are just quite good and one is worth avoiding entirely . Even if you have mixed feelings about the royal family in real life, this honest-feeling show is well worth watching.
The Crown season 4 – exploring Charles and Diana's relationship, and featuring Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher – is available now, and it's as juicy and compelling as ever. Two more seasons featuring Imelda Staunton as the Queen are planned, too, with The Crown season 5 expected in 2022. Adult CG animated anthology Love, Death and Robots just returned for its second, shorter season of episodes. Like all anthologies, the quality varies between episodes, but taken as a larger work, this show has a lot to give.
The ideas vary wildly between comedy and drama, with a dark touch at the heart of the series – what happens if a home-cleaning unit starts trying to kill its owner? Sometimes, an episode is as simple as a woman being on the run from a killer after witnessing a horrible murder. In October 2019, Cho sustained a knee injury, which set back production by about eight months.
On April 17, 2020, further news was provided about the project, that episodes would be one-hour in length allowing for more in-depth storytelling, and second season script has been noted as a possibility. On May 19, 2020, while doing an interview with SyFy Wire, Adelstein revealed that there are currently three finished episodes and that they shot at least six episodes before Cho's knee injury. During the same interview it was revealed that Shinichirō Watanabe, the director of the anime series, would be involved with the series as a creative consultant. Watanabe, however, would later state, "I read the initial concept and provided my opinions, but I'm not sure if they will be reflected in the final product. In August 2021, it was revealed that original show creator Hajime Yatate, actually a pseudonym for the collective Sunrise animation staff, were interested in writing episodes of the series. If you only watch one more gritty, morally murky crime drama, it should probably be Ozark.
The Netflix series stars Jason Bateman as Marty Byrde, a Chicago financial planner who relocates his family to Missouri after a money-laundering scheme goes wrong. There, he embarks on an even bigger operation, laundering millions for a Mexican drug lord with the help of fierce local criminal Ruth and his savvy wife, Wendy . Darkly comedic and twistily thrilling, Ozark is the perfect binge — and a showcase for the erstwhile Michael Bluth both in front of and behind the camera. After Life mixes sweet and bitter flavors in a way that feels perfectly suited to our time, as creator-star Ricky Gervais leavens his signature comic brutality with a moving story of grief and growth. Gervais plays Tony, a newspaperman who has become a miserably pessimistic, insult-hurling misanthrope after losing his wife Lisa to cancer.
This provocatively titled show delivers a timely look at modern race relations through the eyes of a different character each episode. Following several Black students at Winchester, an Ivy League institution, Dear White People manages to blend its social commentary with a sharp sense of humor. The fourth and final season is set to arrive this year, capping off this powerful eye-opener. One of Netflix's longest running original series , Grace and Frankie follows the two titular women, played by Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, as they embark on new lives when their husbands come out as gay and couple up together. There's an Odd Couple vibe as Grace is a no-nonsense cosmetics mogul and Frankie is a hippie artist, which only cements their friendship beyond the sitcom-setup bond. Netflix released the first four episodes of the final season, with the remaining 12 coming in 2022.
Genuinely, aside from a few single-episode cameos of side characters from Hope and Alaric's TVD/Originals past, the only thing you need to watch to make sense of Legacies is this official promo for the first season. Orange Is the New Black is perfectly suited for the Netflix delivery system, if only because it would be agonizing to wait a week for each new episode. The story is based on the real-life events of Piper Kerman, whose book of the same title was the inspiration, but the truth is that the screen version is miles better. Schilling is the engine that drives the plot, and her odd combination of natural serenity mixed with the increasing anger and desperation at the late turn her life has taken strikes the perfect tone for life inside the women's prison. "Joyful" is an underused and underrated term when it comes to TV dramas. Too many series conflate "prestige" with sorrow, violence, and horror when it can also mean happiness and splendor.
Legends of Tomorrow, though, is a drama that truly understands the meaning of joy. The series—which follows a rag-tag bunch of misfits through space and time trying to "fix" historical anomalies caused by villains and supernatural beings—can be flippant and glib, but it can also be devastatingly emotional. For those who were turned off by its first episodes or even first season, dive in to Season Two (or even Season Three, if you're really strapped for time) and go from there. Legends is the rare series that learns from its mistakes, always ready to grow and innovate to bring us the most bonkers but wonderful television.
And unlike most other series , it isn't afraid to change out its cast members when things aren't working, which keeps each season feeling fresh while the stakes remain high. This seven-episode limited series hails from Ocean's Eleven director Steven Soderbergh and Logan screenwriter Scott Frank. A gritty western set in a small mining town, Godless stars Jeff Daniels as notorious crook Frank Griffin, the leader of a bunch of outlaws desperate to locate defector Roy Goode, played by Jack O'Connell. Following a mine accident that killed most of its male residents, the women including Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery who won't take any shit from Griffin, are doing just dandy on their own. The Netflix western series Godless follows the story of a ruthless outlaw (played by the award-winning Jeff Daniels) as he searches for a former member of his gang who he had taken in as a young child and considered a son. Jack O'Connell plays Roy Goode, the son-like outlaw on the run who split to start a new life in La Belle, a small town populated only by women.
Two retired Texas Rangers set out on a cattle drive to the Montana Territory. Along the way they found their sense of adventure, and met a cast of characters as they go. The cast of this eight-hour series was star-studded, from Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones to Anjelica Huston.
Westerns were pretty much dead by the time "Lonesome Dove" aired in the 1980s, but according to Walter Goodman in The New York Times, the creators paid considerable homage to the iconic genre. Set on a ranch in California in the mid-late 1800s, the one-hour episodes followed the lives of the Barkley family as they worked to defend their home. Unlike other Westerns at the time, what set "The Big Valley" apart was that the family was led by a woman, Victoria Barkley, played by Barbara Stanwyck. This, wrote David Browne in the New York Times, made the 1965 series ahead of its time. FromThe Raidcreator Gareth Evans,Gangs of Londonis a British action crime drama that follows the struggles between rival gangs and other criminal organizations in present-day London. The show initially premiered on Sky Atlantic in April to largely positive reviews.
Since then, the series has made its way to streaming service AMC+, but will be debuting on linear basic cable network AMC in early 2021. I wasn't going to include this show because it isn't available on Netflix or Amazon Prime…but I loved it so much it is worth buying the season for $15. His fascination with space and those who have had the privilege to explore it is what initially drew me to this show.
Just to be clear, we did not allow our kids to watch this show , but as someone who is much more relational, it helped me develop more of an enthusiasm for learning more about the astronauts. It is a true account of the lives of the first astronauts' wives, although I'm sure highly dramatized for TV. While Making a Murdererbecame a world-wide phenomenon and Tiger Kingis the one that had people compulsively tweeting, it's The Keepersthat feels the most essential. Centered around the unsolved murder of nun Catherine Cesik in 1969, this seven-part docu-series follows the efforts of her former students from Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore to crack the case.
