Listmania: The Best New TV Shows of 2017

Every year there are a handful of new shows that come out and help to define the zeitgeist. In 2017, there were several shows that not only got the internet talking, but quickly assured themselves as the series that will define the next few years. In today's Listmania, there will be a look into the shows which premiered between January and December of this year and produced moments that proved why TV is still a viable medium. From high concept dramas to slapstick comedies, this year featured plenty of excellent programming worthy of giving a shot. These are the 20 that went above and beyond and may only continue to do so in years to come.


1. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)

From the creator of Gilmore Girls and Bunheads comes a new series about finding your voice in a male dominated society. The year was full of shows with empowered women, but few were as witty as Mrs. Midge Maisel as she navigated dive bars and networked with comedy agents to try and make herself standout. In an era where there's too many shows about biographical stand-up narratives, this one avoids sentimental cliches by exploring the inner life of a woman who hasn't known freedom like this before, whether from her family or husband. It helps that the writing is some of the sharpest and most exciting that 2017 managed to produce, and one can only hope that the show continues to be a shining star in Amazon's great line-up of original programming.

2. Feud: Bette and Joan (FX)

In the annuls of history, the feud between actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford has a certain notoriety, thanks in large part to the hagsploitation masterpiece What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?. However, their story is more tragic and intertwining than the stories of kicking and cursing at each other would suggest. It was the story of women trying to navigate Hollywood as they grew older, unable to capture the vitality that they once did. In a year that saw plenty of conversation around sexual harassment in the industry, the show feels prescient in its sad reality. These were great women, and Ryan Murphy lovingly recounts their lives with fascinating details and reenactments that may or may not be accurate (just ask the director), but the point is clear. There's so much that these two could've done, and the additional meta subtext of Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange's performances only add to the vibrant relevancy of the series.

3. Dear White People (Netflix)

The process of adapting a movie to a TV series is difficult, but Dear White People made it look easy as it took the events of the film and used it as a launchpad for a wider array of themes. It was a place that explored race relations, sexual orientation, and all things that make up a young person's identity. It was a show about activism, but managed to be so without being preachy either. In some ways, the show proved its vitality in the latter half of the season when a central conflict mirrored real life and created a poignant narrative around police relations. On the bright side, it's not always a harrowing show, and is often very, very funny. It's among the better shows that Netflix released in 2017, and one that will hopefully stick around for some time.

4. Riverdale (CW)

It didn't take long for the year to produce the best comic book series on TV this year. What's more shocking is that it doesn't involve caped crusaders, but instead a kid narrating from a laptop inside a diner. Riverdale updated the goody-goody Archie comics into a dark and gritty story with a surprising amount of success. The show manages to convey a high school drama that is full of pop culture references (and the complex ones, too) as well as some of the more shocking plot twists of the year. The show is currently in the middle of its second season, and the steam looks to still be building with another murder mystery. In an era where dark and gritty reboots are all too common, Riverdale is the one that justifies it wholeheartedly. It may be a remix of old ideas in a 21st century gaze, but that's not at all a bad thing.

5. The Mick (Fox)

The network comedy has largely become a barren wasteland where safe shows have staked their place amid shows like Young Sheldon. However, there was one show that reminded audiences that TV could be edgy and fun. The Mick is the new series from Kaitlin Olsen, who transitions from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia into a great leading lady in charge of a family who slowly become corrupted by her influence. The show's best feature is how unpredictable it is week to week, and how much mileage it gets out of a great cast of actors who play bad kids with enough charm to make the shameless moments funnier. It's the perfect new comedy for those who want something a little different in their TV comedy. It's demented in its colorfulness, and few shows could compete with its ability to be rude and charming at the same time.

6. Legion (FX)

Since David Lynch is considering Twin Peaks as a "movie" (spoiler alert, I'm counting it as TV), it's safe to say that Legion was the weirdest TV show of 2017. The adaptation of an obscure X-Men character managed to produce some of the wildest stories of the year, even breaking into ambitious tangents of surrealistic silent film techniques mixed with Tim Burton imagery. The show manages to warrant every last piece of oddity, which includes going inside characters' heads to listen to jazz music. From Fargo creator Noah Hawley, this show revolutionizes the medium by creating a more complicated form of story telling. It made TV fun in the process, and definitely warrants the belief that there's more to comic book adaptations than we're getting. Hopefully Legion will maintain its insanity in season two. For now, it can at least admit to having one of the best, craziest first seasons of any show ever.

7. The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu)

In some ways, The Handmaid's Tale was the most important series of the year. Its themes of oppression managed to parallel the important cultural events of 2017. The story may have been written 30 years ago, but its themes still feel unfortunately relevant. It helps that everything about the production also helped to finally make Hulu's first runaway hit, with a show that was beautiful to look at and featured iconography so immediate that protesters adapted Offred's outfit. This is another great moment for Elizabeth Moss's post-Mad Men career, producing a drama that's all the more powerful by what she doesn't say. This is the series that became part of the cultural lexicon more than any other show, and for that it deserves an extra layer of credit in how much it succeeds at being entertaining, shocking, and heartfelt.

8. The Deuce (HBO)

Creator David Simon is known for creating gritty neo-realistic dramas like The Wire and Show Me a Hero. However, his best show since his definitive Baltimore crime drama takes place in a very controversial setting: the adult film world. It's a seedy subject that may turn some off, but Simon is more interested in the production of the culture than about exploitation. As a result, it creates one of the most human and powerful dramas about doing what you have to just to get by. With great dual performances by James Franco, the show manages to take a niche subject and make it informative and engaging in ways that one wouldn't expect. It's his best work since The Wire, in large part because he finds sympathy for those who you didn't think would deserve it. That alone is an incredible feat.

9. Runaways (Hulu)

The show may have premiered a little later than the other entries here, but Hulu's first foray into comic book TV is pretty impressive. From the creator of The O.C. comes a show that focuses on the children of supervillains who discover their own whimsical powers. The show is incredibly entertaining and manages to avoid the droll origin story motifs by finding empathy in their personal struggles. These are kids with obnoxious tics, but they use them to great effect. Even if they don't always have the best stories, they do have one of the best superpowers of the year: a dinosaur that you can control. Now that's awesome. The show is still finishing up its first season, but its first seven episodes are massively entertaining, and one can hope that they maintain momentum going forward.

10. Alias Grace (Netflix)

Right as The Handmaid's Tale began winning awards, Netflix released another Margaret Atwood adaptation that was in many respects overlooked. This miniseries focuses on a woman who is convicted of murder, and must prove her innocent. It's another series that looks at the complicated patriarchy that has plagued women for centuries by arguing the impact of abuse and a class system that won't let them be right. Atwood's writing is slow and calculating, creating a powerful final act that manages to be satisfying in its ambiguity. Is Grace a hero or a villain? It's a question that is just as important as anything that was presented in the Hulu series. It also an incredible performance in Sarah Gadon, who is more than worth competing against Elizabeth Moss in the awards season. It's slow and calculating, but totally worth it.

11. G.L.O.W. (Netflix)

The most brilliant aspect of Jenji Kohan's new wrestling series is that you don't necessarily have to be a wrestling fan to enjoy it. G.L.O.W., or Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, is a great comedy series lead by Allison Brie as joins a team of female wrestlers. The story focuses on the first year as the team comes together and has to live out of a motel where they bond and make plans. Suddenly the ridiculous acts have a deeper and more emotional arc to them that includes complicated relationships with family and loved ones. Much like Kohan's other work, the show's best feature is its great ensemble who brings so much to even the smallest of scenes. If that's not enough, come for Brie doing fight choreography by herself. It's more entertaining than you'd think.

12. A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix)

There were few shows that inventively used Netflix's binge model quite like this much beloved book series. While many shows try to focus on long arcs over 10-13 episodes, A Series of Unfortunate Events chose to tell stories over two episodes with each embodying the familiar build and resolution necessary for a two hour movie. With a great performance by Neil Patrick Harris, the show is a whimsical look into childhood melancholy as they deal with unruly pests who want to sabotage their future. The show may be dark, but it's incredibly silly as well and manages to be one of the most inventive and fun shows of the year. If you want to binge a show but only have a few hours, there are few shows as perfectly tailored for the quick fix as this one.

13. Mindhunter (Netflix)

Creator David Fincher returned to Netflix with a sick and twisted show about what makes somebody murder. He borrows from his own filmography by incorporating elements of Se7en and Zodiac into every scene. It isn't a graphic show, but the interviews with serial killers produce some of the most disturbing scenes of the year. Fincher has made a series that revels in a voyeuristic tendency to understand by suggesting that the scariest part of these stories is that we enjoy them. It's a complicated web, and one that is far more engaging than any crime drama has been in quite a few years.

14. Mike Judge Presents: Tales From the Tour Bus (Cinemax)

Nobody has captured the humanity of southern culture quite like Mike Judge. In his latest series, he has created a documentary series about country music outlaws by interviewing the people who knew them. By making animated reenactments, it manages to make some of the stories even more absurd and wonderful, creating the sense that country music is just as wild as punk rock. Judge clearly shows a passion for these people and does his best to let their story resonate. If you don't like country music, there's a good chance that you'll still get something out of this series. If nothing else, it's a reminder of how great Judge can be when dealing with colorful southern characters. It's incredibly informative and incredibly funny at the same time.

15. Downward Dog (ABC)

It was the niche show that was doomed to fail. Nicely summarized as "the depressed dog show," the series focused around the life of a dog who felt neglected by his owner. In some ways, it was weird to see a dog performing a mockumentary therapy session with the audience about everything from his owner being gone to feeling neglected. The juxtaposition was inspired and produced a lot of great contexts for why dogs act out. He's lonely and has the same feelings as his owner, who's desperately trying to succeed at work. The show was ABC's second "emotional support" comedy of the year after Imaginary Mary, and it was the better one as well. The show was too weird to last, but it was also one of the more inventive and clever comedies to air on any network channel this past year.

16. The Young Pope (HBO)

The show's title was itself a running joke in the weeks leading up to its premiere. What's so special about a young pope? Well, it's one of the weirdest and most subversive looks at faith in any TV show of the past few years. Jude Law plays the central lead, whose authority is a bit controversial and initially makes him seem like an awful person. There's plenty of ambiguity here, but the show is also filled with bizarre details, such as nuns playing basketball and a kangaroo roaming around the premises. Those looking for a faithful show about faith may be a bit disappointed, but for those looking for a surreal drama that goes down strange paths, then there's a good chance that this show will at least leave an impression. It's not the greatest show out there, but it's definitely one of the most creatively different.

17. Big Little Lies (HBO)

It was the runaway success miniseries of the year thanks to a show that highlighted great female roles. It was a show that pitted some of the best actresses against each other in a mystery drama about a murder. The conflict makes sense the further that the story moves, finding motivation in abuse, neglect, and various forms of conflict in society. It's one of the more complicated stories of the year, but one that is inevitably cathartic thanks to how relevant it feels. The show has a lot of great small moments that build to one triumphant finale. It's the show that people couldn't stop talking about, and it shows just how powerful the role of women in TV can be when given great roles.

18. Big Mouth (Netflix)

There's a lot about Big Mouth that probably shouldn't work. It's a profane comedy about puberty's ugliness, and yet it manages to find the heart in even the grossest moment of perversion. This is a show that manages to be sex-positive while being unafraid to show just how embarrassing it is to change physically. The show is idiosyncratic with its references and finds clever uses not only for how it deals with hormones, but how each character chooses to deal with these changes. It's disgusting, but also hilarious. There's plenty here that's bound to shock you. Whether or not you see that as a good thing is up for debate. However, it's really fun if you don't mind having a dirty mind once in awhile.

19. American Gods (Starz)

In an era of Fake News, it only makes sense that there would be a series all about recontextualizing history. American Gods supposes that the Gods of mythology have existed throughout the centuries in various forms, no matter how blasphemous or bizarre. The show may be sketchy and uneven at points, but it always manages to revel in the absurd as it finds ways to make fiction into truth. Just don't expect these Gods to be as family friendly as the lore would suggest. It's a very dark show with a lot of sexuality spliced into each episode. With that said, it's still an entertaining look at how these characters have evolved and grown bitter throughout the centuries. If that's not enough, there's a very strange finale with Kristin Chenoweth, in case you didn't believe she was capable of the occasional odd piece of casting.

20. The Gifted (Fox)

Closing out the list is another series that proved just how big a year Marvel had. This Fox drama manages to update the X-Men mythology by placing them in a modern setting where they're on the run from the law and dealing with their status as outcasts. For all of the series' familiarity, the cast is game for entertaining stories and brisk action sequences. It's a more conventional story that relies on characters who work well with each other. If nothing else, this is the series that shows what is necessary to make an engaging drama out of superheroes and how to make each episode work as gripping pieces of TV. They may not be the most memorable superheroes out there, but they're currently one of the most consistent on TV. 

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