Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
It was hard to go even a week in 2016 without being bombarded with new TV shows. Between the erosion of the traditional “fall TV season” and Netflix’s aggressive programming strategies, new TV shows were constantly popping up, whether bingeable or week-to-week. Narrowing down even to a list of the 16 best new shows was not easy. The rise of cable and streaming platforms means there’s an unprecedented level of creativity happening in all corners of television, from blockbuster dramas down to personal, idiosyncratic comedic visions. The best new shows of the year offered something different, unique, exceptional, or just plain enjoyable to the TV viewer as we made our way through the year.
Here, then, are our picks for the 16 best new shows of 2016, presented in the order they premiered. 2017 would be very fortunate indeed to match the quality level of these shows.
'Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'
Premiere: February 8, 2016
Samantha Bee was the late-night comedian we needed in 2016. As the Trump-Clinton election barreled its way through false equivalencies and grabbed pussies, Bee’s righteous anger at a system that seemed almost willfully broken was exactly the right wavelength for a LOT of people. Shaking off any false pretense of detachment, Bee instead showed up every week freshly pummeled by the news, same as the rest of us. Only she was ready to pummel back.
'The Path'
Premiere: March 30, 2016
Cults were very much in style in 2016, and no show got up into the inner workings of cults better than The Path, which set up Aaron Paul as a questioning cult member against Hugh Dancy’s charismatic, dangerous, troubled leader. Hulu’s best drama of the year took chances and played with big imagery (that snake!) and fraught personal dynamics. We were hooked.
'Lady Dynamite'
Premiere: May 20, 2016
Maria Bamford’s Netflix series might just be the most creatively daring TV show of the whole year. Drawing upon her own life and her own history of mental illness, Bamford delivered a kaleidoscope of a show, at once a scathing portrait of the entertainment industry, a loony take on modern living, and a touchingly personal peek into her soul. It hangs together quite loosely, but it’s an enriching experience.
'Stranger Things'
Premiere: July 15, 2016
If any non-O.J.-Simpson-related show has a claim on being the TV Show of 2016, it’s Stranger Things. The unlikely summer sensation was an adventurous yarn of monsters and conspiracies and kids and moms and friendships and first crushes and bullies and Barb. The show’s purposeful nostalgia trip into the Spielberg-and-Stephen-King ’80s revealed, if nothing else, a massive, untended to yearning for this kind of programming within the viewing public. Stranger Things was the show none of us knew we needed until we got it.
'Fleabag'
Premiere: July 21, 2016
The six-part, London-set Fleabag grew out of the one-woman-show comedy material of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the show’s writer and star. Navigating modern life for the single British woman in a manner that seems universes apart from Bridget Jones, Waller-Bridge nails the black-comedy laugh-so-as-not-to-cry tone that’s so necessary for anything even attempting to tackle topics such as love, sex, and relationships.
'The Get Down'
Premiere: August 12, 2016
Baz Luhrmann’s hugely ambitious series about the dawn of hip-hop (and the twilight of disco) in late-’70s New York City was more miss than hit for a lot of people. But for every wayward subplot or overly-broad character, there was something wonderfully celebratory and life-affirmingly BIG about this series.
'Atlanta'
Premiere: September 6, 2016
Donald Glover’s FX comedy has been a fixture on so many year-end lists, it might as well be about O.J. Simpson. But that’s actually what’s so wonderful about Atlanta: it’s a thrillingly original comedy, one without any real peer on the TV landscape. Glover’s aimlessness is expertly realized and specific, and the comedy has a kind of wait-for-it quality that’s as sophisticated as anything on TV.
'The Good Place'
Premiere: September 19, 2016
NBC may still be struggling to re-establish its comedy credentials, but a great first step is giving Michael Schur — creator of Parks and Recreation — the space to be as creative as he wants to be. The Good Place started with a seriously high concept (Kristen Bell plays a rather shitty person who dies but gets admitted into heaven — or a version of it, at least — due to a clerical error) and then got to work fleshing its characters and its universe out. Both turned out to be creative and very funny.
'This Is Us'
Premiere: September 20, 2016
NBC’s hit drama was pitched directly to the old Parenthood audience. But while Parenthood was more of a straightforward story about a multigenerational NorCal family, This Is Us has been nimble and tricksy with its narrative, from plot twists to multiple timelines. This ambition — plus the performances of Sterling K. Brown and Mandy Moore, among others — has kept audiences hooked.
'Speechless'
Premiere: September 21, 2016
ABC built their stable of the best family sitcoms on TV even stronger this season with Speechless. The DiMeo family get by with enough scrappiness, loyalty, and sarcasm to steer the show well wide of any kind of self-pity over the fact of eldest son J.J.’s cerebral palsy. Minnie Driver and John Ross Bowie get to play one of TV’s true marriages of equals, and the kid actors are wildly likeable. There is a strong beating hard beneath that Speechless armor, and it’s a treat to see it shine through.
'Marvel's Luke Cage'
Premiere: September 30, 2016
After getting a featured role on last year’s Jessica Jones, indestructible Luke Cage took his business to Harlem for Marvel’s most uncompromising TV series to date. Featuring killer performances by Mike Colter, Alfre Woodard, and Mahershala Ali, Luke Cage has us more excited for the long-in-development Defenders series than ever before.
'Westworld'
Premiere: October 2, 2016
HBO had a lot riding on the success of Westworld, and one of the best things you can say about it is that its imperfections never sank it. The ambitions of Westworld‘s first season were as vast as the landscape of its title theme park, with storylines working on different levels and different timelines. Some parts worked better than others, but what did work was thrilling, and there is no denying that this was THE show to talk about this fall.
'Insecure'
Premiere: October 9, 2016
Issa Rae delivered one of the best comedies of the year with Insecure, doing much more than changing the face of HBO comedy but also doing relationship comedy, workplace comedy, and best-friend comedy better than pretty much any show out there. Rae’s comedy gets at a lot of the frustration of everything from jobs to boyfriends to racism, with everything blending together with some pitch-perfect comedy.
'The Crown'
Premiere: November 4, 2016
Netflix went at the costume-drama mantle hard in 2016 with The Crown, and they ended up with a show that was smart, stylish, complex, and captivating. Claire Foy shined as Queen Elizabeth II, but the show benefitted from A+ performances by Matt Smith, Jared Harris, Vanessa Kirby, Alex Jennings, and John Lithgow.
'High Maintenance'
Premiere: November 9, 2016
HBO’s transfer of the web series High Maintenance ended up being TV’s most unlikely source of touching, perfectly observed urban co-existence. Featuring brilliant guest-starring performances by the likes of Max Jenkins, Michael Cyril Creighton, Amy Ryan, Yael Stone, and Gaby Hoffmann, the show was perhaps TV’s most unexpected gift.
'Search Party'
Premiere: November 21, 2016
Just as the year was winding down, TBS came through with this series, part shaggy detective yarn, part acidic observational urban comedy, part modern daydream about loneliness and purposelessness. It all worked, with an ending that felt like a shock of cold water. Alia Shawkat finally got the lead role she’s been ready for all these years since Arrested Development, but scenes by the truckload were stolen by supporting players John Early and Meredith Hagner.
