I flipped on the 80th Annual Golden Globes for a bit since I’m a big fan of entertaining TV. Lots of streaming shows took home awards, which made me think about some of the best shows my wife and I have binged over the last year…and specifically over the holiday break.
Some of these were us catching up on older shows that we missed the first time around and others were newer shows just released this year. With that, I present some of the best shows (in no particular order) you should put in your queue.
"Succession" (HBO Max, 3 seasons so far)
Succession follows the Roy family, owners of media conglomerate Waystar RoyCo. The family patriarch, Logan Roy (Brian Cox), has experienced a decline in health. His four children – removed oldest son Connor (Alan Ruck), power-hungry Kendall (Jeremy Strong), irreverent Roman (Kieran Culkin), and politically savvy Shiv (Sarah Snook) – all with varying degrees of connection to the company, begin to prepare for a future without their father, and each begins vying for prominence within the company.
This is a show where you despise all the characters, yet somehow you find yourself rooting for them. It’s quite a twist. The writing, acting and production on “Succession” are top notch and have been critically acclaimed.
"Yellowjackets" (Showtime, 1 season so far)
In 1996, a team of New Jersey high school soccer players travel to Seattle for a national tournament. While flying over Canada, their plane crashes deep in the wilderness and the remaining team members are left to survive for nineteen months. The series chronicles their attempts to survive while also tracking their current lives in 2021.
The cast is terrific, there’s a bit of a “Lord of the Flies” element to this series and even before the second season begins this coming March, “Yellowjackets” has already been renewed for a third season. Bzzz bzzz!
"The White Lotus" (HBO Max, 2 seasons so far)
The series details “a week in the life of vacationers as they relax and rejuvenate in paradise. With each passing day, a darker complexity emerges in these picture-perfect travelers, the hotel’s cheerful employees, and the locale itself.
The first season takes place in Hawaii while the second season (with a whole new cast aside from Jennifer Coolidge) takes place in Italy. This show is beyond addictive and while that description is vague, it’s worth picking up because you might finish both seasons in less than a week like we did.
"Kaleidoscope" (Netflix, 1 season)
The eight-part series centers around master thief Leo Pap (Giancarlo Esposito, Gus Fring of “Breaking Bad” fame) and his crew attempting an epic heist worth $7 billion, but betrayal, greed and other threats undermine their plans.
The gimmick of “Kaleidoscope” is that you can watch all 8 episodes in any order and still get to the finale understanding how the series unfolds. Each episode has a color coded title and takes place in a specific timeframe leading up to the eventual heist episode (titled “White.”)
"Wednesday" (Netflix, 1 season so far)
Tim Burton’s take on “The Addams Family” franchise has taken the internet by storm. “Wednesday” focuses on the Addams’ daughter.
Wednesday Addams is expelled from her school after dumping live piranhas into the school’s pool in retaliation for the boys’ water polo team bullying her brother, Pugsley. Consequently, her parents, Gomez and Morticia Addams, enroll her at their high school alma mater, Nevermore Academy, a private school for monstrous outcasts, in the town of Jericho, Vermont. Wednesday’s cold, emotionless personality and her defiant nature make it difficult for her to connect with her schoolmates and cause her to run afoul of the school’s principal. However, she discovers she has inherited her mother’s psychic abilities which allow her to solve a local murder mystery.
"House of the Dragon" (HBO Max, 1 season so far)
A prequel to Game of Thrones and based on Martin’s 2018 novel Fire & Blood, the series is set about 100 years after the Seven Kingdoms are united by the Targaryen Conquest, nearly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, and 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen.
If you’re a GOT fan, this one is a no brainer.
"Reservation Dogs" (Hulu, 2 seasons so far)
The dark-comedy series follows the lives of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma, as they spend their days committing crime and fighting it. After the death of their friend Daniel one year prior to the events of the series, the gang wrestles with a desire to move to California, the way Daniel dreamed of doing. But first they need to tie up loose ends in their lives and community and make preparations to leave.
It is the first series to feature all Indigenous writers and directors, along with an almost entirely Indigenous North American cast and production team. It is also the first series to be filmed entirely in Oklahoma.
"Yellowstone" (Paramount Network, 5 seasons so far)
The series follows the Dutton family, owners of the largest ranch in Montana, the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, commonly called “the Yellowstone”. The plot revolves around family drama at the ranch and the bordering Broken Rock Indian Reservation, Yellowstone National Park, and developers. (Beth Dutton is one of the best new characters around, by the way.)