Spring is sprung and winter seems to be properly over, but binge-watch weather is in the eye of the beholder.
Here are the buzziest new TV shows of the season to watch, try or avoid — based solely on trailers and descriptions (no spoilers here).
Watch
- “The First Lady,” April 17, Showtime
It’s hard to pass up this one: Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, Michelle Pfieffer as Betty Ford and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt. The Showtime anthology series seems interested in exploring the first ladies outside of their husbands (O-T Fagbenle, Aaron Eckhart and Kiefer Sutherland, respectively), including Roosevelt’s suspiciously close friendship with reporter Lorena Hickock (Lily Rabe).
- “Gaslit,” April 24, Starz
Cashing in on the podcast-to-TV-series pipeline is “Gaslit,” based on the first season of Slate’s “Slow Burn” series and starring Julia Roberts and Sean Penn. Rather than the Watergate story we all know, “Gaslit” goes behind the scenes with whistleblower Martha Mitchell, wife of Attorney General John Mitchell, and shows how Richard Nixon’s world came crumbling down around him.
- “We Own This City,” April 25, HBO
“The Wire” creator David Simon brings the true story of the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force to the small screen. Simon also appears to have brought back a decent chunk of the lesser-known “Wire” cast, since the 2020s are all about the reboots.
- “Under the Banner of Heaven,” April 28, Hulu
It’s unlikely that Andrew Garfield will be singing in this one, but we’ll survive. Instead, he’s playing a Mormon detective who finds his faith shaken as he investigates the 1984 murder of Brenda Wright Lafferty (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her baby daughter in a Salt Lake City suburb. Andrew Garfield, Super Sleuth, is intriguing enough, but now we’ve got religion? Tick tick, we’re waiting.
- “I Love That For You,” April 29, Showtime
Sure, “Search Party” already did the “faking cancer to get a job” angle, but there is just something so undeniably charming about Vanessa Bayer that you can’t even be mad at her, playing a desperate woman who dreams of hosting a show on a shopping channel to the point of pretending her childhood cancer is back. Throw in Molly Shannon and Jennifer Lewis, and we’d hire her, too.
“Based on disturbingly true events” could lead the trailer for any number of true crime series, but “Candy” seems to promise something more from suburban housewife Candy Montgomery (Jessica Biel) accused and then acquitted of the bloody murder of church friend Betty Gore (Melanie Lynskey) by hitting her 41 times with an ax.
- “Angelyne,” May 19, Peacock
It’s difficult to explain mysterious blond billboard model Angelyne, who was as well known as she was little understood around Los Angeles in the ’80s. Was she a singer? An actress? An alien? Star Emmy Rossum (you didn’t recognize her in the trailer, did you?) is going to find out, in all her pink glory.
- “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” May 25, Disney+
Here’s your Star Wars show. Have fun.
Try
- “Roar,” April 15, Apple TV+
The great thing about anthologies is that, theoretically, there’s always going to be something that catches your attention. The bad thing is that sometimes they get rushed or lazy; you only have 45 minutes with these characters, you don’t have to put that much work in. With “Roar,” the creators of “GLOW” have promised us “darkly comedic feminist fables.”
- “Anatomy of a Scandal,” April 15, Netflix
In a post-#MeToo world, stories about powerful men vehemently denying rape allegations feels a little overdone. On the other hand, done well, a show about a British politician, his alleged victim, his wife and the prosecutor determined to take him down could be a fascinating study of the consequences of the elite.
- “Shining Girls,” April 29, Apple TV+
Time-travel shows are almost impossible to pull off, but when they work, they can be magnetic. Elisabeth Moss as a newspaper archivist in early 1990s Chicago who finds herself linked to a serial killer through her own assault could be the definition of an unreliable narrator and with Moss, it could work.
- “Now and Then,” May 20, Apple TV+
Early descriptions of “Now and Then” sound an awful lot like “Yellowjackets” meets “The Afterparty,” minus the implied cannibalism: 20 years after a group of six college best friends celebrate a weekend that ended with one of them dead, they find themselves faced once again with their own actions. Of course, “Yellowjackets” and “The Afterparty” were great, but without something special, we’ve been there, done that.
Avoid
- “61st Street,” April 10, AMC
The TV industry has been accused of being too pro-cop, and it’s responded with a few shows that acknowledge that not all officers are always virtuous. “61st Street” appears to be yet another in that line. The effort is nice, but at some point one of them needs to actually say something.
- “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” April 24, Showtime
This is no offense to Chiwetel Ejiofor, but when you’ve already had David Bowie playing your alien who crashes onto your planet, you should probably just let that be.
- “The Offer,” April 28, Paramount+
You know the last thing anyone needs right now? Hollywood applauding itself for being so gosh darn good at its job. Sure, “The Offer” has a great cast and promises the behind-the-scenes story of the making of “The Godfather,” one of the most important movies in cinematic history, but weren’t all those Oscars enough?
