YELLOWJACKETS
Sure, Showtime’s newest drama has only aired a handful of episodes, but that’s enough to make us feel confident giving it a spot on this list. The premise — a plane full of high school girls goes down in the mountains in the mid-1990s, and then we catch up with the survivors as adults — is enticing. The performances from heavy hitters like Juliette Lewis, Melanie Lynskey and Christina Ricci suck you in. And the mystery at the heart of the show (what, exactly, happened before the girls were rescued?) already has us hooked for the entire season.
I m upset Southside didn’t make the list It’s an awesome work blue collar comedy
Have you checked out Queens yet on ABC/Hulu? If you liked Girls5eva, you’ll love Queens!
Call The Midwife.
Absolutely CTM is fantastic!
La Brea should be there too. It was nice to see Ghosts, Evil, Yellowjackets, and Resident Alien.
LaBrea certainly has some entertainment value, but it is objectively not very high quality. From the writing to the acting to the special effects, it definitely doesn’t deserve any distinction on a “best of” list.
La Brea is not what one would call quality entertainment. The writing is trash and so is many acting choices. Network television has a problem.
Place 1 and 2: agree
Place 3: White Lotus
Loki in 3rd Place? Ridiculous….
Right? How is Loki not in 1st place? 😉
The Big Leap
YES YES YES
A million times yes!
Amen
My favorite new shows this season were The Big Leap, La Brea, and Ghosts. These were the shows I watched or streamed first. Great cast, Foley was amazing and Mallery/Monica Sullivan made me miss Galavant. I liked how they made her character more layered each episode.
+1
Yes The Big Leap!
I agree!!
Another +1 for Big Leap. Just wonderful – heartwarming, unique, great cast and premise!
I keep forgetting WandaVision was this year, January was so long ago. Loki was fun but WV remains my favorite Marvel show. It was a real love letter to television. And Agatha All Along is a bop.
Ted Lasso was probably my #1 this year. What a joy.
Totally agree. I enjoyed Loki but REALLY loved WV.
And same with the #1 – Football is life!
I’ve only gotten through two episodes of loki. I just don’t care about him. at all. I know i’ll need to eventually watch it, but i really don’t want to. I did like wanda vision and falcon and the winter soldier.
You’re making Loki sound way better than it actually was! A very dreadful show in my opinion… Anyway, I do agree on the #1 show ranking, it was the best show of the year when it aired and it still is 6 months later, no doubt.
Agreed on Loki, WandaVision was bad for it but Loki spent most of it’s run (IMO) throwing in easter eggs and fan service and all the while shouting “LOOK AT US, AREN’T WE CLEVER?”
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I watch very little of what’s on this list actually though, WWDITS continues to be excellent television though. PLANCHA!
Is it that people really hated The Underground Railroad, or they just didn’t see it? I feel like everyone I speak to or any reviews I read, they all skip this show or no one knows it. That was the best show of 2021, IMO.
And you know what’s sad? There is only one network show on this entire list.
Agree! I haven’t even heard of most of these shows since I don’t have all the niche streaming services…
I also wish the big networks cared about airing quality shows instead of the generic stuff that drives higher ad sales. What’s funny is that one of the shows on here started as a network show that was moved to a streaming service because of viewership numbers.
The white lotus at 19?? Over some of these other shows?… that’s certainly a choice. Anything outside of the top 5 or you’ve lost credibility lol
I never heard of any of these shows. I only watch plain Cable. Where do you find them? None of my favorites are listed! I only watch what comes on NBC, ABC, FOX, and CBS! My cable does not show these shows! If these come on those Streaming things, maybe that’s why I never heard of them. I understand NOTHING about those Streaming objects.
Sad.
um – i think it’s clear that the best shows are no longer on the mainstream cable networks. Have you watched an awards show in the last 5 years? Granted, I watch a lot of network tv but they just aren’t in the same class of quality.
No, it isn’t clear at all. What’s clear is that the perception of what you said is true, not that the statement is.
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Awards shows are rarely truly representative of what people watch or think. Critics rarely see a TV show or movie the same way the average person does, and that’s one reason I love this site because the contributors are unashamedly fans and NOT critics. Case in point, Michael Ausilello’s love of Jeopardy and his very personal reasons for it, or Matt Webb Mitovitch’s love of NCIS.
Ghosts is on CBS.
Big networks don’t care about quality – they care about ad sales, which means they will cancel anything of quality that doesn’t make them tons of money. Even one of the shows on this list started on CBS and was moved to streaming because of numbers. If you only watch the big networks, then unfortunately, you’re going to miss the actual quality material that is released every year.
Mythic Quest is better than half the comedies on this list. I wish it would get the appreciation it deserves.
Never saw any of these shows. Only heard about a handful of them. Other than Ghosts all the shows must be cable shows. I have basic TV and network TV.
Hightown is one of the best–never boring!
Agreed!
Ghosts
CSI: Vegas
La Brea
Ordinary Joe
I thought for some reason this article was 20 best *new* shows of 2021
No ‘Cruel Summer’ here?
yeah i kind of was on the fence when i first saw the trailer but got enthralled the more i watched it, plus it took me like halfway through to realize two things that one it was non-linear and two that it was dealing with one day or time period in 1993,1994,and 1995 as that’s how hooked i got and i liked olvia hoult already, as i was one of the few who watched cloak and dagger and sort of thought the 2nd season was better then the first as the finale established that the cop they were working with had a darkside mayhem, that was brought out by the roxcorp expolision, and they established who the bad guy was early on in season 2 and it moved faster, as season one it was 6 episodes in before they got to anything
Cruel Summer turned out to be my favorite show this year!
I don’t get most of these shows as I don’t have any of the streaming services. I find there are much better shows on network television so don’t waste my money on streaming services. It is really too bad they aren’t given the same consideration as the shows on the streaming services.
Network suits usually play it safe and are unwilling to take major risks with material. It’s not that the shows aren’t “given the same consideration”; it’s that they’re rarely willing to swing for the fences and reward the kind of ambitious writing that is critically acclaimed.
Never watched any of them. Never heard of any of them. Watc& TV all day.
You left off Dexter and Yellowstone.
i’ll have to check out ghosts, i guess … i didn’t because i watched and enjoyed the original and was annoyed that this was existed. I enjoy most of the shows on the list.
I didn’t bother starting Ghosts when it first started because so many network sitcoms are so awful. But gave it a shot a couple weeks ago after seeing one commercial that looked interesting and binged until I was caught up to the current episode. I love it.
The British original is perfection! I just finished it the other day and will have to rewatch it.
Maybe next year come up with different categories for streaming vs network vs cable and comedy vs drama.
That said, thanks for the list. I have lots to watch now!
I agree with Mimi. Most of the shows on this list are not on regular networks, but a lot of them are on HBO which was a cable network long before it was a streaming service, so there is that. A lot of the TV Line readers do not have the access to all TV options that the writers do. Your readers would be better served by 2 separate listings, one for network and one for streaming.
Yes to Ghosts and Ted Lasso
Other comedy gold has been
Home Economics
and United States of Al (most dramatic show all year Season 2 Episode 1)
“United States of Al” has been a pleasant little surprise for me this year. I really like the cast/characters, and the show’s had some rather heartwarming and touching moments and episodes thus far. I agree the second season premiere was great, too – very intense and moving.
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Glad to see “Ghosts” and “Evil” on TVLine’s list :). Excellent shows, the both of them.
Agree. United States of Al is a rare gem. Hoping to see some award nominations for the Season 2 premiere!
I adore Home Economics – I’m surprised that I never hear anyone talk about it.
Loki over WandaVision?
reallly? the later one was far superior in acting, story, script and pretty much everything
I think you missed The Big Leap which to me is a completely entertaining and very enjoyable show.