24 New Shows (and Six Old Shows) I Watched in 2024, Ranked

I still think this is a golden era of streaming shows. There has been an avalanche of new content to watch, new shows binge. But 2024 definitely didn't hit quite the same highs that 2022 and 2023. And obviously I don't have time to watch every single major release. There are plenty of popular shows that have zero appeal to me. Still, there were only a few absolute must-see shows that were total bangers. Having said that, 2024 still was a strong year due, in large part, to the few absolute sleeper hits and surprises that totally worked for me. There was a good mix of brand new one-offs, continuations of ongoing streaming originals, and a few IP franchises that churned out a few solid outings for the silver screen.

Here are the 24 best new shows I watched in 2024:

24) The Comeback—Netflix

This was a guilty pleasure watch. I wasn’t super into baseball at the time, but I knew all about the hate everyone had for the Yankees. And I knew the stakes and significance of what the Red Sox pulled off, so it was fun to relive all the crucial moments while gaining far more perspective of the context and build-up to that moment.

23) Laid—Peacock

It’s an embarrassing premise for sure. All the men who slept with this one woman, no matter how long ago, all of a sudden start dying. The character—Ruby—goes on a journey of self-reflection that, honestly, never really convinced me that true heart change ever took place. But she did convince me she found true love and actually appreciated it, which mostly was the point. The best part of this show, though, was Zosia Mamet. She played the perfect best friend, maybe better than any actress I’ve watched play the best friend in any show or movie in a long time, if not ever.

22) Skeleton Crew—Disney+

I had much higher hopes for this than what Disney spit out, but at least this show didn’t take a dump on the rest of the franchise (like, say, the way the sequel trilogy did). It’s a Star Wars show for kids. That’s all I need to say. It’s fine. I wasn’t fully invested in their story. The kid actors were mostly terrible, and only one time was there enough focus on character development to make me care about what they were going through (it was when the girl split off from the rest of the group halfway through the season, give or take an episode). Skeleton Crew didn’t tie into any pre-existing story in all of Star Wars, but that was okay. There were still plenty of Easter eggs and nuggets that tied into the bigger universe in a way that wasn’t at all overwhelming or too suggestive. It was just a fun romp through the Star Wars universe. The ending was a huge letdown, though (the fact the droid was that person was so stupid). Eh, whatever, at least it wasn’t bad. This is where Star Wars are at right now, unfortunately.  

21) Death and Other Details—Hulu

This show was a great way to execute a murder mystery…if it was a movie, or even a show that released all at once. But the fact that this was a 10-episode marathon (with long episodes) that released weekly just killed any momentum it gained during any one episode. It was way too convoluted and nuanced to make me care enough to keep track of all the subtle hints and reveals along the way. While the story’s thread never got so thin that I completely lost interest, it was not a fun way to watch an old-timer solve a crime.

20) Fool Me Once—Netflix

One of many mystery shows in 2024 that kept me wanting to watch the next episode, Fool Me Once had an interesting hook from the opening scenes. We see a crazy out-of-context hazing-type scene at a school, and the season slowly unravels the truth and impact of that moment. It had some fun twists along the way, but I won’t say it was the most memorable story ever.

19) Tracker—Paramount+

There is absolutely nothing remarkable about this show, but Tracker is pure comfort food. You never think they won’t find the missing person by the end of the episode. You never question how conveniently they find all the correct clues in such a timely manner. It’s easy to overlook the cringe acting; Justin Hartley has mastered the “puzzled” look and the serious, no-swing-in-the-arms powerwalk. Despite all that, it’s fun to guess what’s going on (my wife and I have honed our skills quite well).

18) It’s in The Game: Madden NFL—Prime Video

I definitely was hoping this documentary show looked more at the impact on the video game industry (I should’ve known better), but this still fascinated me. Seeing how John Madden himself ensured the integrity of the sports revealed another reason why Madden was such a great coach, too. The way the world flipped when the game started using real names is never to be underestimated. The Madden curse And I loved the emphasis on Michael Vick’s time in the spotlight (like Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl). I will say, I didn’t want to watch this show for the backstory of the people telling their journey about Madden (one guy’s personal story was quite disorienting for me and obviously forced). Great show, though. It didn’t hurt that this year’s cover had CMC on it (The best player in the league in 2023; too bad he doesn’t have black-and-white striped sponsorships to win real hardware, but that’s for another discussion).

17) Apples Never Fall—Peacock

I don’t know what our fascination is with watching dysfunctional families, but for some reason, we are highly entertained by it. I certainly was with Apples Never Fall. The disappearance mystery was fun, and thankfully the pacing was good enough to not drag that out too much. And it was mind boggling to watch the mother just hanging out the way she way; I didn’t like how the other woman just waltzed into their life, but her twist justified that quite nicely. 

16) The Bad Batch S3—Disney+

The series finale was a somber, reflective moment that seemed to represent the end of an era for Star Wars fans, particularly fans of the prequels and cartoons. While there’s still a lot of newer content in this era of Star Wars (in between Episode III and Episode IV), Disney seems to be shifting to post-Episode VI content, leaving this era mostly behind. There was a cool cameo and a couple of other background stories that were cool in this final season, but also a bit distracting from the main attraction. But overall, The Bad Batch had a great run and a strong finish.

15) The Perfect Couple—Netflix

I love a good whodunit murder mystery, especially one that actually keeps me guessing incorrectly the entire show (okay, I my first serious prediction was absolute correct, but I switched predictions several times). Nicole Kidman carries this show strongly, and she is involved in some of the wildest, most chaotic scenes that almost ruin the show for me, but somehow thread that line well enough.

14) That 90s Show S2—Netflix

This is one of those shows that is sort of a guilty pleasure. There is a lot of cringey acting, some cheap nostalgia plays, and some bad jokes, but underneath it all is just a fun, light-hearted show. The twist of the weird relationships that developed and intertwined with each other added a fun tension to it all. Such a fun binge.

13) Bel-Aire S3—Peacock

Bel-Aire got back on track this season by focusing on the characters and their relationship and struggles more than the politics (I’m not saying take out the politics, but S2 was awful for how prevalent they were). Carlton and his girlfriend had such a touching, raw relationship. Geoffrey’s son ticked me off at times, but I felt empathetic at other times. Vivian actually upset me at times, but was inspirational at other times. And of course, Hillary’s marriage story was just incredible. I just love how we see all sides of these characters (sometimes just for the sake of drama, but still). The stories were great across the board, as well.

12) Sugar—Apple+

Colin Ferrell continues to surprise me as an actor. He effortlessly convinces you he is the right choice for the role. He and the disappearance of a young girl and the mystery that unfolds around that event were compelling enough through the first half (maybe two-thirds) of this show. But then there’s a major twist that comes out of absolutely nowhere that completely turns the show on its head in a way that didn’t even feel necessary—it’s not there way any build-up to this twist whatsoever, but I was totally down with it. One of the sleeper hits of the year for me and my wife.

11) Based on a True Story S2—Peacock

The cliffhanger in Season 1 left me dying to watch Season 2, but of course, the way they “finished” filling in the gaps of what happened since that moment was a bit unsatisfying. The twist at the end of Season 2 was just okay. But the bulk of the show in the middle was so fun. While one twist with Ava’s new cop friend was super predictable, another twist came along to shock me quite a bit, and it made the situation quite humorous. There were a couple of moments that reminded me that this show is not for kids, and I don’t think they were totally necessary, but other than that, it was a fun binge.

10) No Good Deed—Netflix

A late-in-the-year hit, No Good Deed tells the tough story of grieving parents dealing with the difficult challenge of protecting what they have left in their lives after the tragic death of their son. I really enjoyed watching Ray Romano and Lisa Kudrow play off each other. Both known more for their days on their respective long-running sitcoms, it was refreshing to see them engrossed in such a heavy drama that demanded physical and emotional believability (I didn’t know Romano had it in him! I’ve always known that Kudrow is that good an actress). This was another good mystery that didn’t quite unravel the way I expected it to.

9) Presumed Innocent—Apple+

This was a good murder-mystery court case show led by strong acting from Jake Gyllenhaal. The pieces unravel bit by bit, which convinced me to change my prediction every other episode as any good whodunit-style story should. For a while, I was most impressed by the Barbara character (the wife of Gyllenhaal’s Rusty character). She stuck by her husband’s side even when he was forced to defend himself in a case involving a woman with whom Rusty had an affair. The tension that brought was heavy throughout. I got further invested when she started making similarly poor decisions (why is dysfunction like that so mesmerizing to watch on TV?!). The stories of the other lawyers—both Rusty’s attorney and the prosecutor with whom Rusty was a colleague—both had plenty of intrigue without deterring too much from the main event.

8) Dark Matter—Apple+

I don’t think I’ve ever watched a show or movie that so perfectly matched exactly how I imagined the visual aesthetics to look just from reading the book. The dark hallways with the infinite number of doors, the stark differences from one parallel universe to another while still maintaining the feel that the characters were in the same physical location every time, all of that was incredibly well translated to the silver screen.

Mild spoilers for the ending of the show and book: After finishing the book, I remember thinking how the rules of time-travel-like parallel-universe hopping actually could’ve opened the door to multiple versions of the Jason character crossing paths, which would’ve elevated the craziness, but the book took the boring, safer path and avoided that. The show, however, did not. All I’ll say is I’m glad the book did what it did, because the show got pretty silly at the end; the ending didn’t ruin the story or anything like that, but it just didn’t pay off the character journey or fit the previously established tone and pacing the way the book neatly did, which turned out to be kind of a bummer.

7) Fallout—Prime Video

Video-game adaptations are here to stay, I think. We’ve already had the critically-acclaimed The Last of Us (though I’d argue that was critically acclaimed for the wrong reason) and not-so-fortunate Halo show. While a lot needs to go right, I think movies and/or shows based on video games will become more and more common, especially if they are anywhere near the high standard that the Fallout show was. The world, the aesthetic, the dialogue, everything was perfectly replicated to make you feel like you were in the same world as the video game. What made Fallout infinitely better than The Last of Us, however, was its willingness to take the risk of telling a completely different story that felt additive and complementary to the already established lore (Star Wars writers, please take note). Fleshing out the different factions in the vaults was a brilliant way to introduce a large group of characters while clearly drawing lines for whom we should be rooting as we went through the story. The flashback scenes to before the world became what it was perfectly disguised the setup to some great twists in the final couple of episodes that led to some great showdowns.

6) Only Murders in the Building S4—Hulu

Season 4 of Only Murders was another home run. There was plenty of meta/fourth-wall-breaking moments going on. Forget about podcasts about podcasts about shows, this time around we got a full-on movie! With real actors and everything—Eugene Levy, Zach Galifianakis, and Eva Longoria were the perfect casting for our murder-solving trio, and they played themselves up as spoiled actors with zero inhibitions. Watching Martin Short act nervously and overreact to every little hiccup about his Oliver character’s relationship with Meryl Streep’s Loretta really makes you want to root for him endearingly, almost sympathetically. Charles’ coping story was a touching reminder that you never truly know what someone else is going through, but it’s still worth trying to help them through it. The murder story itself—the death of Charles’ longtime stand-in and friend Sazz—took some crazy turns and involved crazy side characters whose side story was a little too crazy and distracting for my liking.  

5) X-Men ’97—Disney+

I wasn’t super dedicated to the X-Men cartoon as a kid, so I didn’t go into this with nearly as much as nostalgia as I’m sure some of my friends and co-workers did. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying every bit of this wild ride full of classically outlandish cartoon storylines and action scenes. Multi-dimensions seem to be the meta for all things Marvel right now, so what’s one more of those stories, right? It was still fun, though. And the idea of a scenario in which it made sense for good guys and bad guys to team up was a touch of great writing. Also, Gambit had the most awesome moment in the season; like, what the heck even happened?! It was crazy cool.

4) Dune: Prophecy—Max

As I mentioned in my Best Movies of 2024 blog, I am all in on the Dune franchise. This prequel series may require a second watch, because so much happens and, like with the movies, there are a lot of people, families, and alliances to keep track of. Despite it being confusing at times, this show was pure chaos in the best possible way. Practically every episode ended with a huge twist, reveal, or crazy event that always made me want to know what happened next. The pacing felt weird while watching it, but looking back, it was actually done very well. For example, in one episode we got taken on a journey to one of the sister’s younger days, and while I thought it was good backstory, I couldn’t help feel like it was a waste of time; it was only at the very end when they revealed shocking truths that drastically impacted the current day’s stories. Although some characters were familiar (from the movies), the knowledge of the biggest connections to the movies still eluded me for most of the season. But the ending definitely gave concrete answers to some of that while asking more questions that undoubtedly will be answered in Season 2 (the finale didn’t give enough closure to Season 1, but I guess that’s how streaming shows always go these days).

3) Rings of Power S2—Prime Video

This is what I wanted more of from Season 1. Learning about young Sauron’s past, seeing how he started to become who we know he’ll turn into by the end of the series, and getting angry at how successfully he brings out the worst in everyone as he lays out his deceptive plans all turned Sauron into such a nuanced, but still totally evil and corrupt, character with such satisfaction. Hopefully in a fashion that would’ve please Tolkien himself, Sauron truly behaved like the devil; he plays to Lord Celebrimbor’s ego by convincing him to puff himself up and question the motives of those who were important to him. Sauron is good at putting doubt in everyone’s minds. He was the personification of the manipulative voice we hear every time the ring tries to speak to Frodo in the movie trilogy.

The rest of the storylines didn’t quite measure up to Sauron’s quality, but that’s okay. The Harfoots’ story was corny and had a weird love story on the side, but it eventually got where it needed to. Gandolf’s revelatory climax when he finally gets his name and his staff was incredibly forced, but still fitting and compelling even though we (mostly) knew how things were going to turn out. Having sympathy for the orc leader was something I did not expect to be as convincing as it was. The penultimate episode had some of the best action of the season. The finale left a lot to be desired, and it was cringy how it set up things to come, but I couldn’t help but excited for the idea of seeing more of Rivendell in Season 3.

2) Nobody Wants This—Netflix

The surprise of the year for me, Nobody Wants This was the most fun I had while watching a show all year. It hooked me from beginning to end as a binge-worthy show, but not in the cheap plot-twist-at-every-turn kind of way. I was enamored and completely invested in these characters from beginning to end. It felt like a blast from the past and gave me hope that romantic comedies can still be great the way they used to be. Modern rom coms are full of such pretentiousness and weird ideas of love, flirting, and how relationships develop. Nobody Wants This outclasses all of those shows. The humor and dialogue were witty. The pacing was perfect. The characters were endearing and engaging. It does have more language than it needed, and I didn’t appreciate how weak they made religious standards out to be. Still, I can’t stop gushing about this show. Kristen Bell and Adam Brody are absolutely perfect together, and the sparks fly throughout the season, both during that fun, early stage of romance, then through those grimy, cringy moments when they start to see the gunk behind the new-love sparkle and discover the challenges their relationship will face. The season ends with a cliched, yet surprising, ending and a perfect jumping-off point for Season 2.

1) Cobra Kai S6—Netflix

Oh man, does this show always deliver in every facet. This last season was split up into two parts, which gave the show a structure and a build-up that’s so befitting of this style of show. Part 1 was all about the young characters we’ve grown attached to trying to compete with each other for coveted spots on the team that will travel to world-famous Sekai Taikai tournament. The competition temporarily brought out the worst of our beloved high schoolers, who risked their friendships and their futures at college before coming around and being besties again (mostly) in the way kids do. Part 2 was just incredible karate contests with unique twists and drama galore; the cliffhanger at the end of Part 1, when Tory showed up with Cobra Kai after Miyagi-Do didn’t select her—oh my goodness, one of the best moments of the series! The high-octane tournament was intense, dramatic, shocking at times, poignant at others, and just a thrill ride from start to the literal finish that included a shocking death! Oh yeah, and the whole secret backstory Danny learned about his late great sensei was wild (if not a little contrived). I can’t wait for the final part, supposedly coming in just a few weeks.

Dishonorable mentions:

Echo—Disney+

Oh my gosh, this was the most boring show and not at all what I was promised at the end of Hawkeye. The Kingpin tie-in went in a lame direction. The story of the mystical power passed down for generations was poorly executed. The only “good” thing is that Kingpin returned to New York City, which was made cooler with announcement and new trailer for Daredevil: Born Again.

The Acolyte—Disney+

As a die-hard Star Wars fan, I try to find the good parts of every Star Wars project and focus on those. Disney makes that really hard, and The Acolyte was no exception. What’s most maddening about The Acolyte is the fact that there was plenty of good Star Wars stuff in there. Differences between the Jedi and Sith, catching a glimpse during the height of their power in the debut of the High Republic Era. The lightsaber fights were some of the best during the entire Disney era.

But the story was trash, the twin characters were flimsy and changed back and forth way too much without any consequence, and once again, there were attempts to show why the Jedi are bad people. It totally takes a dump on what George Lucas created, particularly in the prequels. Oh, and The Acolyte paid messed up a couple huge pieces of Star Wars lore. Oh yeah, and Disney shoved more of their agenda garbage in a Star Wars show where is doesn’t belong; hopefully the upcoming era of Star Wars content (with Bob Iger back in the picture) gets back to the good times.

The Boys S4—Amazon Prime

This show hit an all-time low in cheap tricks. The story had a couple of serious emotional beats that were nice payoffs for one or two characters, but otherwise, the conflicts felt recycled, the twists weren’t surprising whatsoever, and the action wasn’t all that spectacular. The new smart superhero woman was cool, but underutilized and ultimately undermined by the show (to some extent). This was my least favorite season by far.

The best old shows I watched in 2024

For the purposes of this blog, I consider anything released prior to 2024 old enough to be eligible to make this list. I caught up on a few recent streaming shows as well as some classic sitcoms whose runs have long been finished. Here are six old shows I watched in 2024, ranked:

6) Defending Jacob—Apple+

Chris Evans plays a cool dad whose son is on trial for murder. Watching how far parents go to protect their kids is always compelling and realistic, and this show did a good job of zooming out just enough to show how difficult that would be and how much pressure everyone would feel in that situation.

5) Parks and Rec—Peacock

I’ve been told this is The Office in a different setting, and that’s pretty much all this show ever is. The show was…fine. Ron is easily my favorite character. The juxtaposition of his job and his beliefs and principles always bring—and simultaneously ease—a fun tension. Amy Poehler isn’t the greatest actress, but it seems she was born for this role. She and Rashida Jones so perfectly complement each other; I like that they go through fights at times to truly round out their relationship. Chris is the dumbest character on the show and maybe one of my absolutely least favorites characters ever. Andy is also dumb, but at least he’s funny in the way Phil Dunphy is accidentally funny when he says puns that mean bad things. Tom is a ridiculous character, but I like him anyway; he produced the second-funniest moment on the show for me when he’s man-splaining the different shades of black to Ron. The funniest moment needed no words. Ron being disgusted by peeling a banana (to balance out all the red meat he eats) is just a brilliant piece of acting. That moment is like one of the many Steve Carrell moments on The Office that made people laugh just because of how silly his mannerisms were. It’s too bad Parks and Rec never elevated to an all-timer for me. Also, it went one season too long; that finale with the concert in the park with incredible! They should’ve ended there.

4) Foundation—Apple+

Foundation hooked me from the very beginning the way most interesting sci-fi/fantasy (or other genres) movies/shows hook you: the writers give just enough glimpses of the universe to make me want to see more, but still set the parameters of their world to make you understand the stakes of what’s happening in the story. Both of these are accomplished from the outset, and the scope just gets grander from there. There’s even a huge twist with the main character (Gaal); it’s one of those twists that was alluded to, yet there’s still that “ah ha” moment that puts everything into place. There’s definitely a MacGuffin that cheapens the build-up, but sometimes that’s okay (and sometimes it isn’t. You listening, JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson?). The sci-fi elements of this show stand out quite a bit to me. Sure, I’ve seen time manipulation stuff before, but this world is far more clever and thorough; in a sense, it reminds me of Star Trek. I’ve only watched Season 1, but I’ll definitely keep going with this one.

3) Ted Lasso—Apple+

I’m way late to the game (no pun intended) on this one, so when my wife and I took the plunge to watch Ted Lasso, I was certainly leery that it wouldn’t live up to the hype. And I’m still convinced that the show is more hyped for people I know in Kansas purely because the character is from Kansas. But still, this is an outstanding show. Perhaps ironically, the only character I didn’t super care for was Lasso himself. He just seemed so fake, which is partly the point (since he doesn’t process real emotions and issues in a healthy way). But he reminds me of those annoying people who think they’ve got a grand story to relate to everyone in every way (like, it’s okay for people not to have an “answer” for everything), but really that makes people come across as fake. Ted was certainly funny, and watching his life lessons translate into the play of his team is rewarding, no matter how cliched it is (as a sportswriter, I can attest to the fact that most things in sports are cliches).

What really kept me invest in the show was every other character. Roy is my favorite; the tough guy who painstakingly avoids showing emotion at all costs, but knows when to let down his rough-and-tough exterior for the special intimate moments. I loved Jamie’s arc. He started as the super cliched, self-centered superstar bad boy who knew he was the best player on his team. But he eventually turns into the great team player we all root for. I still contend that his transformation was way too quick and not really earned, but I still liked where he ended up (seeing him want to visit his parents when Richmond plays at Man U was an insight we could’ve used much earlier in the show). Rebecca was fun as her character got more involved (and actually started rooting for her own team!). The show is rich with character development, touching moments, comedy, and drama; the soccer almost become too secondary.

2) Brooklyn 99—Peacock

There was a moment early in Season 1 where Jake, a cop, is in trouble for arresting a suspect with no evidence to drum up a charge or keep him detained. He’s pleading his case with his co-workers and trying to convince them he did it for the right reasons, but then in the cutaway, we see that the suspect makes a crack at Jake’s expense, and Jake immediately says “That’s it, you’re under arrest.” Jake spends the rest of the episode puzzle-solving the case to justify the arrest, and he figures it out just in the nick of time. It was then that I realized I not only enjoyed every single time Jake did something stupid in a field that has no room for error, but I also rooted for him to out-think everyone anyway. His fast-paced dialogue wizardry kept me on my toes every episode. To top it off, his relationship with Amy was fascinating. It’s a sign of great writing when two characters who have the same job, share the same ideals, and are both highly motivated could not be more opposite of each other, yet are the perfect match for each other. As for the other characters, Gina was larger than life in all the best ways, Charlie was that annoying little brother to Jake, and Rosa got more interesting when she wasn’t always the tough one (it was fine that she was tough! But it got old after a while. I don’t like the forced, politically driven story line she got later in the series; that ruined her character for me).

A lot of sitcoms have that one recurring thematic episode once a year, but Brooklyn 99 had several. The Halloween Heists were so much fun (the proposal episode was my favorite). The episodes when Doug Judy returned led to spectacular failures time after time. The contests with other precincts or the fire department were always spirited. Anytime one of those came up next in the queue, I had to watch. What a show.

1) Severance – Apple+

I am so glad I got caught up on this show right before Season 2 (currently underway!). I am hooked to find out what’s going at this place. Every time I thought the show was starting to slow down too much, they give us a big revelation or something crazy happens that immediately reinvigorates the story. I’m curious how interesting the show will be once the big reveal(s) happens, but until then, I am fully on board for this ride.

Dishonorable Mention: King of Queens—Peacock

I can’t believe how unfunny this show was. Kevin James’ comedy acting skills are pretty weak; he’s mainly just good at some fat-joke types of physical humor, being annoyingly loud, and blankly staring for long periods of time. Too often the show was about Doug and Carrie arguing over the lamest stuff, which, sure, can be a reflection of real marriages. The problem is the way they tried to make it funny was so shallow and obvious. The episodes rarely had good structure. And I thought watching Jerry Stiller play Carrie’s dad would be funny, but he turned out to be far too annoying (he played a similar character as George’s dad Frank on Seinfeld, but the sporadic appearances mask how tiresome his character could’ve been). Doug’s friends (particularly Deacon) were mostly the best part of King of Queens, which isn’t saying much.