TV came back in 2021 with a vengeance, and this time it was different. The networks had finally gotten the memo: People want shows that focused on storytelling and if a show is going to be funny, it better be funny.
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While some (many) shows missed the mark, our list of the best new TV shows and limited series did not. And we only have one season, we are hesitating by crowning these shows some of the best-scripted series has to offer. Check out the 25 best new tv shows and limited series of 2021 below.
BMF
Synopsis: BMF is inspired by the true story of two brothers who rose from the decaying streets of southwest Detroit in the late 1980s and gave birth to one of the most influential crime families in this country. … This is a story about love, betrayal, and thug-capitalism in the pursuit of the American dream.
Stream: Starz
Yellowjackets
Review: It tells the narrative of a team of wildly talented high-school girls soccer players who survive a plane crash deep in the Ontario wilderness. The series chronicles their descent from a complicated but thriving team to warring, cannibalistic clans, while also tracking the lives they have attempted to piece back together. Sophie Nélisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher and Sammi Hanratty star as the teenagers, while Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Christina Ricci and Juliette Lewis portray their adult counterparts as they reveal the truth about their survival 25 years later.
Stream: Showtime
Blindspotting
Synopsis: Six months after the events in the film of the same name, Miles, Ashley’s partner of 12 years and father of their son, is suddenly incarcerated, and the situation leaves her to navigate a chaotic and humorous existential crisis when she and her son Sean are forced to move in with Miles’ mother and half-sister.
Stream: Starz
Nine Perfect Strangers
Synopsis: Based on the novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers follows a group of people who go to a mysterious wellness retreat to heal from their personal demons. But once they learn they’ve been drugged as part of an experimental treatment plan, this retreat goes from heaven to hell.
Stream: Hulu
Power Book III: Raising Kanan
Synopsis: In 1991 in South Jamaica, Queens, 15-year-old Kanan Stark is eager to join his family’s growing drug business that is led by his mother, Raquel Raq Thomas. After a rival crewmember is killed, Raq does whatever is necessary to get the target off Kanan’s back.
Stream: Starz
Colin in Black & White
Synopsis: This drama series from Colin Kaepernick and Ava DuVernay explores Kaepernick’s high school years and the experiences that led him to become an activist. This drama series from Colin Kaepernick and Ava DuVernay explores Kaepernick’s high school years and the experiences that led him to become an activist.
Stream: Netflix
Harlem
Synopsis: A group of four friends follows their dreams after graduating from college together. A group of four friends follows their dreams after graduating from college together. A group of four friends follows their dreams after graduating from college together.
Stream: Amazon
The Sex Lives of College Girls
Synopsis: Four 18-year-old freshman roommates at Essex College in Vermont. A bundle of contradictions and hormones, these sexually active college girls are equal parts lovable and infuriating. Four 18-year-old freshman roommates at Essex College in Vermont.
Stream: HBOMax
Loki
Synopsis: In Marvel Studios’ Loki, the mercurial villain Loki resumes his role as the God of Mischief in a new series that takes place after the events of Avengers: Endgame.
Stream: Disney+
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Squid Game
Synopsis: The series revolves around a contest where 456 players, all of whom are in deep financial debt, risk their lives to play a series of deadly children’s games for the chance to win a $45.6 billion.
Stream: Netflix
4400
Synopsis: A group of 4,400 people who vanished over the past 100 years suddenly reappear in a city park. The returnees, who haven’t aged a day, come from around the world and from different past time periods but have no memory of what happened to them.
Stream: The CW
MAID
Synopsis: “Single mother Alex turns to housecleaning to make ends meet as she escapes an abusive relationship and overcomes homelessness to create a better life for her daughter, Maddy.”
Stream: Netflix
Run the World
Synopsis: Run the World is the story of a group of Black women – vibrant, fiercely loyal best friends – who work, live and play in Harlem as they strive for world domination. At its core, it’s an unapologetically female show about enviable friendship and not only surviving – but thriving together.
Stream: Starz
Dr. Death
Synopsis: Based on a hit podcast and inspired by the terrifying true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a young and charismatic star in the Texas medical community. After building a flourishing neurosurgery practice, everything suddenly changes when patients enter Dr. Duntsch’s operating room for complex but routine spinal surgeries start leaving permanently disabled or dead. As his victims pile up, two fellow physicians and Dallas prosecutor Michelle Shughart set out to stop him.
Stream: Peacock
The Underground Railroad
Synopsis: After escaping a Georgia plantation, Cora boards a train embarking on a harrowing trip as she seeks true freedom while being hunted by a notorious slave catcher.
Stream: Amazon
Reservation Dogs
Synopsis: A half-hour comedy that follows the exploits of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma who steal, rob and save in order to get to the exotic, mysterious and faraway land of California.
Stream: FX on Hulu
Clickbait
Synopsis: The crime drama follows Pia (Zoe Kazan) and Sophie (Betty Gabriel), as they rush to try and save Nick (Adrian Grenier), Pia’s brother and Sophie’s husband, after he was kidnapped. Nick is a loving partner and sibling, and yet the person who has kidnapped him has accused him of being abusive to women.
Stream: Netflix
High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
Synopsis: High on the Hog released on 26 May 2021 on Netflix. The show is a documentary that comprises four episodes, each of nearly 52 mins. It is a food travelogue series based on the concept of showing the rich culture behind African-American cuisine. High on the Hog imparts knowledge on how greatly African food contributed to American cuisine. The documentary is based on the book High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America, written by Jessica B Harris and published in 2011.
Stream: Netflix
Johnson
Synopsis: Four Black men, Omar, Greg, Keith and Jarvis met in grade school and have been best friends ever since, and they all just so happened to have the same last name, Johnson…no relation. After 25 years of friendship, they are finding themselves in vastly different places in their lives, threatening the unity that has always been so strong. They confront and find humor in the most current controversial social issues from the Black Man’s perspective, ranging from love, marriage, business, politics and religion.
Stream: Bounce
The Upshaws
Synopsis: A blended family full of different personalities and different light-hearted struggles. Trying to avoid mistakes of the past, the family’s patriarch steps up to the plate by becoming a better husband and father to his beautiful family. There may be a couple of bumps and bruises along the way, but this dad and his family will overcome them all.
Stream: Netflix
Swagger
Synopsis: Basketball players, their families and their coaches get swept up into the youth-sports economy. They all must walk a fine line between dreams and ambition, and opportunism and corruption.
Stream: Apple TV+
The Ms. Pat Show
Synopsis: A formerly incarcerated comedian, Ms. Pat tries to figure out how to survive suburban America with her husband, kids and sister.
Stream: BET+
With Love
Synopsis: Follows the Diaz siblings, Lily and Jorge, who are on a mission to find love and purpose. The Diaz siblings cross paths with seemingly unrelated residents during some of the most heightened days of the year -the holidays.
Stream: Amazon
Abbott Elementary
Synopsis: A group of dedicated, passionate teachers — and a slightly tone-deaf principal — find themselves thrown together in a Philadelphia public school where, despite the odds stacked against them, they are determined to help their students succeed in life. Though these incredible public servants may be outnumbered and underfunded, they love what they do — even if they don’t love the school district’s less-than-stellar attitude toward educating children.
Stream: ABC
The Wonder Years
Synopsis: The Wonder Years is set in the late 1960s and takes a nostalgic look at the Williams family, Black middle-class residents of Montgomery, Alabama, through the point of view of imaginative 12-year-old Dean.
Stream: ABC