TV is starting off its new decade with “Little Fires,” primetime karaoke and the one-and-only Al Pacino.
Broadcast networks, cable channels and streaming services are debuting new TV shows to try to start the year off right, and in the glut of content, 10 rose to the top right away. Some have A-list stars (Pacino, Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Washington, Daniel Radcliffe), while others feature young kids you’ve never heard of before. Some are comedies with elaborate musical numbers, and another focuses on the trauma incurred by the Holocaust.
Their common theme: Even remakes or adaptations feel like something we haven’t seen before. And considering that the new decade will bring us more TV than ever, it’s always refreshing to find something that genuinely surprises.
‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist’
NBC, preview Jan. 7 (10 EST/PST), premiere Feb. 16 (Sundays, 9 EST/PST)
This sweet musical comedy has a slightly out-there premise that somehow works. Zoey (Jane Levy, “Suburgatory”) weathers an earthquake in an MRI machine and comes out the other end with the ability to hear other people’s thoughts through song. Someone who needs help? He or she sings The Beatles’ “Help,” complete with coordinating dance moves and instrumentals that only Zoey can see and hear. Levy’s charm – with help from an angelically-voiced supporting cast including Skylar Astin, Mary Steenburgen, Lauren Graham and Peter Gallagher – helps sell the concept, and there’s plenty of potential for the series to grow.
‘Sanditon’
PBS, Jan. 12 (Sundays, 9 EST/PST)
Jane Austen’s final, unfinished novel is brought to life in this miniseries, created by Andrew Davies, who brought us Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in the 1995 TV version of “Pride and Prejudice.” Based on just a few dozen pages of the author’s writing, “Sanditon” introduces a new Austen heroine, Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams). Miss Heywood learns her own naïveté after arriving at the burgeoning seaside resort of Sanditon, a place full of capitalist intrigue and romantic scheming. As usual in an Austen story, Charlotte has a male foil worthy of her wits in Sidney Parker (Theo James), and a trusted female confidante, Miss Lambe (Crystal Clarke), Austen’s only black character.
‘The Outsider’
HBO, Jan. 12 (Sundays, 9 EST/PST)
Stephen King’s 2018 novel is the basis for this horror murder mystery series starring Ben Mendelsohn as a detective investigating the horrific murder of a young boy in a small Georgia town. All signs point to high school baseball coach Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman) as the killer, but other evidence indicates he might have been miles away during the attack. The traditional detective/murderer narrative quickly gives way to a much creepier, more layered supernatural story. The cast also features the great Cynthia Erivo (“Harriet”), whose character offers a more nuanced take on the case.
‘Little America’
Apple TV+, Jan. 17
This episodic anthology series from the husband and wife duo behind “The Big Sick” (Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon) revolves around the lives of American immigrants. Each episode tells a different immigrant story, all based on real people featured in articles in Epic magazine. The short, subtle installments cover issues surrounding immigration, from deportation to undocumented status, but it’s not just about political buzzwords. The series paints deeper portraits of its subjects’ lives, which include the world of competitive squash, baking chocolate chip cookies and taking an Alaskan cruise. That all the episodes are based on true stories lends the series an emotional punch that only sometimes borders on mawkish.
‘Awkwafina is Nora from Queens’
Comedy Central, Jan. 22 (Wednesdays, 10:30 EST/PST)
If you’re missing “Broad City,” Comedy Central has found another millennial-themed series to fill the hole in your heart. Awkwafina, a standout in comedic films like “Crazy Rich Asians” who earned rave reviews for her more dramatic turn in last year’s “The Farewell,” brings her considerable talents to this sitcom about a listless woman in her late 20s living at home. If you’re not a fan of Awkwafina’s comic style, this isn’t the show for you. But her brash, raucous humor feels like a natural fit for Comedy Central.
‘Miracle Workers: Dark Ages’
TBS, Jan. 28 (Tuesdays, 10:30 EST/PST)
Swapping a corporate version of heaven for the stink and swords of the Dark Ages, this sequel to last year’s “Miracle Workers” puts the same cast in new roles and a new setting. There’s not much relating “Dark Ages” to the original series other than the sly comedic tone (period and modern jokes about medieval executions, nuns and worthless college education abound). But the actors, including Steve Buscemi, Daniel Radcliffe and Geraldine Viswanathan (“Blockers”), are so good together that it doesn’t matter.
‘Locke and Key’
Netflix, Feb. 7
Despite its roots in many different fantasy and horror stories, “Locke and Key” – based on the comic books by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez – is its own distinct beast. Three siblings move to their family’s creepy, ancestral house after their father is murdered, only to find it filled with supernaturally powered keys and a malevolent force. Part haunted house story, part family drama and part murder mystery, “Locke” is instantly gripping, with a downright deliciously cackling villain and compelling kid actors trying to be heroes.
‘High Fidelity’
Hulu, Feb. 14
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Hulu offers a gender-flipped adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel (previously made into a 2000 movie starring John Cusack) starring Zoë Kravitz as Rob, a New York record-store owner who recounts her top five heartbreaks. The series retains the film’s narration, but spins things forward to expand the story. Changing Rob’s gender and making her bisexual also gives the series more relationship dynamics to explore and drama to chew on so it doesn’t feel like simply a rehash of a perfectly good movie.
‘Hunters’
Amazon, Feb. 21
Al Pacino comes to the small screen for this hugely ambitious series executive produced by Jordan Peele. “Hunters” follows a diverse group of Nazi hunters in 1970s New York City as they uncover a network of hundreds of the war criminals living in the U.S. who are conspiring to bring about a Fourth Reich. Also starring Logan Lerman, the series is gorgeously and evocatively wrought and devastating to watch. “Hunters” swings between thriller and horror show, and is as gruesomely violent as its concept would indicate. But it also doesn’t get lost in that violence, and finds emotional truths in its depiction of the long tail of trauma from the Holocaust.
‘Little Fires Everywhere’
Hulu, March 18
Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington anchor this series based on Celeste Ng’s best-selling novel about two families in 1997 Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio. Witherspoon is perfectly cast as Elena, the ultimate 1990s-era working mom, with rigid, conservative ideas about what she wants from her kids, her husband (Joshua Jackson) and her seemingly idyllic community. When wandering artist Mia (Washington) and her daughter Pearl (Lexi Underwood), move into Elena’s rental property, the two women’s lives (and their children’s) intertwine. Their cultural values clash instantly, and the audience is left wondering how they might relate to a crime committed in the very first scene. The series brings its picket-fence world to life in excruciating detail, and pits two heavy-hitting actresses against each other, to great effect.
