"This is fraudulent advertising and what we call bait and switch."

Go Off, Katherine

The existing addition to the growing garbage heap of AI-generated nothingstuff continuing to clog the web? Generic, shoddily-written, allegedly AI-generated travel guides, flooding Amazon en masse in recent months.

Per The New York Times, the sham guides often claim to be written by acclaimed travel authors, with scammers also sometimes taking the time to mislead potential customers by whipping up phony 5-star reviews. Sellers also tend to keep prices pretty low, and Amazon users seem to be biting. And they're predictably less than pleased with what they wind up getting in the mail.

"This was a rip-off. It has the most generic info [about] Paris that anyone planning a trip has already gathered in planning the trip. It is NOT the ultimate super cheap guide, as it offers NO such info," reads a one-star review on a seemingly AI-generated guide called "

"This is fraudulent advertising and what we call bait and switch," they added. "How pathetic. DO NOT BUY THIS."

Poetic Justice

If you're sharp enough, and paying attention, you'll be able to see the warning signs of AI generation in many of the listings. Per the NYT, author profiles — if they exist — are comically vague, sometimes featuring blatantly AI-spun profile photos. The listings' descriptions also tend to be written in a bland, formulaic style becoming increasingly synonymous with AI-drafted text.

But most people aren't trained to watch for these telltale signs when buying books online. And unfortunately for Amazon, it's not just travel guides scammers are AI-generating, but also, AI-generated books about "cooking, programming, gardening, business, crafts, medicine, religion and mathematics, as well as self-help books and novels, among many other categories" that the NYT found over the course of its reporting. As for Amazon, the company claims to work really, really hard to make sure its library is well-vetted, thanks.

"All publishers in the store must adhere to our content guidelines," an Amazon spokesperson told the NYT. "We invest significant time and resources to ensure our guidelines are followed and remove books that do not adhere to these guidelines." Sure, but the fact remains:

Amazon is clearly seeing a lot of AI-generated muck seep through the cracks, and its users are getting slighted as a result — an emerging pattern that certainly prompts questions about elements of Amazon's near-term trustworthiness.

And yet, this could all end up being relatively poetic. Back in the dot-com era, Amazon used burgeoning technology to pioneer the bookstore-pocalypse; now, a new technological shift could make the e-commerce giant so unreliable that users will be driven to other marketplaces — and maybe, God willing, real brick-and-mortar bookstores, which Amazon continues to otherwise render an endangered species.

More on very bad AI-generated travel guides: BuzzFeed Is Quietly Publishing Whole AI-Generated Articles, Not Just Quizzes

Wildcat

1 hr 46 mins

Melissa Lesh and Trevor Beck Frost direct Wildcat, the documentary of a British Afghanistan War vet who discovers solace in an unlikely place. Fresh back from the war, Harry Turner is plagued by suicidal thoughts. Escaping to the Peruvian jungle, he has a chance encounter with wildlife rescuer Samantha Zwicker who works to keep poachers from threatened animals. With this, Turner's life is changed when he and Samantha pair to help a baby ocelot learn to survive in the wild.

Heat waves, COVID surges, megalomaniac CEOs unnecessarily branding social media companies... it all seems like signs of the apocalypse. How about some good omens? Why not try Good Omens, the existing series on our list of the best TV shows to watch on Amazon Prime Video? The Neil Gaiman-written fantasy comedy just returned for its second season, giving you another shot to see TV's best odd couple of David Tennant's rambunctious demon Crowley and Michael Sheen's tidy angel Aziraphale. Want something a little more down to Earth? Season 2 of The Summer I Turned Pretty is currently airing.

An important note about how this list was made: In order to keep the list as relevant as possible, we're emphasizing recent releases, Prime Video originals, and critics' favorites. But we're also putting our own personal spin on the list, with underrated gems we're recommending to our friends, classic favorites, and important selections that highlight diverse voices. We'll be updating the list regularly. 

Last updated on Aug. 1; the most recent additions are at the top

For fans of: Buddy comedies, the concept of Frances McDormand as God
Number of seasons: 2

Amazon and the BBC's adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's beloved fantasy-comedy novel Good Omens is about a demon and an angel who team up to prevent the Antichrist from bringing about the end of the world because they've grown rather fond of Earth and its inhabitants, and it features some of the best casting television has ever seen. David Tennant as the hedonistic demon Crowley is so good it's like he was born solely for this purpose, and the way he plays off Michael Sheen's angel, Aziraphale, makes for a perfect odd-couple pairing that leads to the show's best moments. Although meant to be a six-episode limited series, Prime Video brought it back for a second season based on unrealized ideas from Gaiman and Pratchett, and a supporting cast that includes Michael McKean, Frances McDormand, and Jon Hamm makes it worth your while. -Kaitlin Thomas [Trailer] 

For fans of: Summers on the beach, love triangles
Number of seasons: 2

To All the Boys I've Loved Before creator Jenny Han stays comfortably in her lane with this series about teenage love, teenage love triangles, and teenage love summers. Lola Tung plays Belly, a young woman who heads out on a summer vacation to her family beach house, where she's reunited with old friends and new potential boyfriends in the form of a friendly local and the eldest brother of her family friend. Things get complicated! In Season 2, the back-and-forth between boys continues, with the added specter of a potential sale of their precious beach house hovering over them. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: Empanadas, Washington Heights, the taste of human flesh
Number of seasons: 1

One Day at a Time's Justina Machado stars as a woman trying to make it in New York's Washington Heights neighborhood after spending 16 years in the clink to cover for her drug-dealing boyfriend. The only problem? People keep ending up dead around her. With the help from an old friend who runs an empanada shop, she figures out a way to hide the evidence, while also creating one of the hottest restaurants in the area. -Tim Surette [Trailer] [Review]    

For fans of: America, bedside table books for your dad, buffed John Krasinski
Number of seasons: 4

Amazon takes author Tom Clancy's most famous character and digs into Jack Ryan's origins with this political thriller starring John Krasinski as the titular CIA agent, who regularly mops up international conflicts with both brains and brawn. It isn't trying to reinvent the genre so much as update it for today's era, with expensive location shoots and top-tier action to draw over the so-so plot. But for easy Sunday night viewing, that's exactly what you (and your dad) want. In Season 3, Jack goes on the run while uncovering a vast conspiracy about reuniting the Soviet Union, and in Season 4, the final season, he's promoted to deputy director of the CIA and fighting threats both foreign and domestic. -Tim Surette [Trailer] 

For fans of: Boots Riley's sense of surrealism, humongous children
Number of seasons: 1

Cosmic thinker, musician, activist, and film director Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You) tries his hand at television with this seven-episode coming-of-age series about a teenage boy growing up in Oakland. But since this is a Boots joint, you know there's a fun wrinkle. This kid, played by When They See Us Emmy winner Jharrel Jerome, happens to be 13 feet tall. -Tim Surette [Trailer] [Review]    

For fans of: Murder mysteries, but darkly funny
Number of seasons: 1

Australian Kate-medians Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan crafted this darkly comedic series that combines the thrills and intensity of a murder mystery with the kerfuffles of an odd-couple pairing when a dead man turns up in a Tasmanian beach town and the local sergeant is forced to team up with an outside senior investigator. Like, what if Broadchurch was funny? -Tim Surette [Trailer]      

For fans of: Feel-good sitcoms
Number of seasons: 1

Missing Mike Schur's universe of thoughtful comedies, like The Good Place and Parks and Recreation? Check out Freevee's charming Primo, which Schur executive produces. The coming-of-age comedy, inspired by the childhood of series creator Shea Serrano, follows San Antonio teen Rafa (Ignacio Diaz-Silverio) as he navigates high school while being raised by his mother and five uncles, who all have different ideas for what it means to be a man. -Kelly Connolly [Trailer]

More recommendations:

For fans of: Action, mindless entertainment, Priyanka Chopra stuffing herself into dresses
Number of seasons: 1

The critics (mostly) hated Amazon's new action series, but Citadel was never made for critics. It was made for people who want to turn their brain off and take in an easily digestible story that's padded with some preetty cool fight scenes. Game of Thrones' Richard Madden and Quantico's Priyanka Chopra Jones star as spies for an organization that has no allegiance to any country, but they have a rocky reunion eight years after their memories are erased and an old enemy threatens the world with nuclear war. See? Mindless. I enjoyed it because I went in just looking for eye candy. And the sub-40-minute episodes don't hurt, either. -Tim Surette [Trailer]     

For fans of: Rachel Weisz, Rachel Weisz, scenes of surgery
Number of seasons: 1

What's better than one Rachel Weisz? That's right, two Rachel Weiszes. Dead Ringers is a modern, gender-flipped take on David Cronenberg's film of the same name, starring Weisz in the roles originally played by Jeremy Irons. She plays the toxically co-dependent twin gynecologists (what a collection of words) Elliot and Beverly Mantle, who, let's say, aren't afraid to violate the Hippocratic Oath in order to challenge misogyny in women's health care. Consider us on board. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]       

For fans of: The Office, The Rehearsal, James Marsden
Number of seasons: 1

What if a regular guy was dropped into an episode of The Office and didn't know it? That's partly the premise of this reality-sitcom hybrid in which one guy believes he's on jury duty, but it's all been faked and elaborately staged. What makes the show work is that it's never mean and doesn't set out to humiliate its mark, who ends the season as the hero and an example of human kindness. James Marsden co-stars as a ridiculously self-absorbed version of himself. Ignore the critics' reviews; it's funny and regular people love it. -Tim Surette [Trailer]      

For fans of: Girl power, electric power
Number of seasons: 1

This one is for the sci-fi YA drama fans out there. It may not be a perfect adaptation of Naomi Alderman's 2016 novel of the same name, but it still features a world in which teenage girls suddenly manifest the power to generate electricity from their fingertips, changing the way they're seen in the world. Yes, the metaphor is thick, but the message still works and the marvelous Toni Collette plays the mayor of Seattle. That's all the info you need to decide whether this is for you or not. -Tim Surette [Trailer]    

For fans of: Horror, dark comedy, Dominique Fishback
Number of seasons: 1

Janine Nabers and Donald Glover's existing series stars the excellent Dominique Fishback as an obsessed fan of a pop star who will go to extreme lengths to shut down the singer's haters. Bloody, violent lengths! Swarm is going to divide the audience right down the middle, with many appreciating its tongue-in-cheek horror and statements on social media and pop culture, while others will wonder what the point of it all is. They're kind of both right in this case. It's a daring show that almost hits its mark, but comes close enough to make this list. Experimental TV! Gotta love it. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

For fans of: Yellowjackets, The Wilds, Australian accents
Number of seasons: 1

The TV trend of groups of women stranded alone to fend for themselves continues in this Australian comedy, which isn't as dark as Showtime's Yellowjackets but doesn't shy away from death and disaster, either. An all-girls high school reunion goes longer than expected after a tsunami isolates the women alone at their old school, where surviving a natural disaster is almost as dangerous as surviving all the old drama of high school. Despite the serious situation, Class of '07 is loaded with silly humor. Yep, there are poop jokes. -Tim Surette [Trailer]          

For fans of: Creative types, soapy drama, '70s rock
Number of seasons: 1

Taylor Jenkins Reid's best-selling novel gets adapted in this miniseries about the best fictional 1970s rock 'n' roll band that never really was. Told via faux music documentary, it charts the band's rise from obscurity to biggest band in the whole frickin' world, and the reasons they broke up after just one album. Riley Keough stars as the manic pixie Daisy Jones and Sam Claflin stars as troubled songwriter Billy Dunne, the two creatives whose egos clashed but didn't stop them from crushing on each other. -Tim Surette [Trailer | Review]     

For fans of: German efficiency, corporate cutdowns, getting laid off from being alive
Number of seasons: 1

Christoph Waltz headlines this twisted dark comedy from the creator of Apple TV+'s Servant about a consultant brought in by a video game company to get things in order, but he soon begins to pull the strings and take things into his own hands. The employees will be wishing they could work Saturdays instead of enduring what's coming for them. The term "corporate horror" seems redundant, but that's what this show feels like. -Tim Surette [Trailer | Review]     

For fans of: Female friendships, New Yawk City
Number of seasons: 2

In the great tradition of Sex and the City and Living Single, Harlem is a show about a group of four ladies navigating life in New York City. It was created by Tracy Oliver, who previously gave us Girls Trip and therefore really knows her way around Black female friendship, and it's a fun, cozy series that's very much all about the vibes, hinging on the easy chemistry and funny rapport of the main cast, which includes Meagan Good, Grace Byers, Shoniqua Shandai, and Jerrie Johnson. It deals with issues like gentrification, sexuality, and wealth, making them important elements of the main plot. Call it a hangout show with substance. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: Rollin' 20-sided die, potty humor, Invincible
Number of seasons: 2

What started out as a streamed broadcast of Dungeons & Dragons played by a crew of voice actors and friends has naturally become a full-fledged animated series on Amazon. The Legend of Vox Machina is a scripted animated series from Critical Role, whose D&D Twitch streams became immensely popular and nearly broke Kickstarter when the troupe announced the animated project (it crushed the record for Kickstarter funding with $11.4 million in donations). The vulgar, beer-swigging seven-warrior-and-one-bear party remains intact as they're hired to take down a monster ravaging the land, cursing, dropping trou', and leaving a river of blood and viscera behind them. In Season 2, the group takes on a quartet of bad dragons and even goes up one's butt. Yep. It's humorous adult animation with some nudity and naughty words, but the sense of adventure is legit. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

For fans of: Accents, climate horror, actors from Game of Thrones
Number of seasons: 1

Prime VIdeo's first Scottish production is this supernatural mystery about the crew of an ocean oil rig off the coast of Scotland who get stuck when the weather turns spooky. To find their way home, they must battle unnatural forces and each other. You'll see familiar faces, too, thanks to stars Iain Glen (Game of Thrones' Ser Jorah Mormont), Emily Hampshire (12 Monkeys, Schitt's Creek), Martin Compston (Line of Duty), and Owen Teale (Game of Thrones' Ser Allister Thorne). It's got paranoia, tension, and a very clear message: climate change is real! -Tim Surette [Trailer]    

For fans of: Small town mysteries, good detectives, ducks
Number of seasons: 1

Alfred Molina brings detective Chief Inspector Armand Gamache to life in this adaptation of Louise Perry's novels, and in Season 1, he's in a small town in Quebec trying to figure out how a diva who no one liked in town got electrocuted while watching a curling match. How's that for a specific tone and place? Three Pines isn't the best mystery out there, but it does work thanks to Molina, the town's eccentric characters, and some Indigenous representation. -Tim Surette    

For fans of: Family drama, primetime soaps, Empire meets Succession
Number of seasons: 1

If you enjoy sudsy primetime soaps like Empire and Monarch but wish they were condensed into fewer episodes so they don't get too silly too fast, the six-episode Riches from How to Get Away with Murder writer Abby Ajayi might do the trick. Family members jockey for control of a makeup empire when the patriarch dies, causing all sorts of mayhem and backstabbing from his wife, ex-wives, and kids. -Tim Surette    

For fans of: Pulpy Westerns, revenge, baby bird skeletons
Number of seasons: 1

Emily Blunt stars as a British aristocrat — the titular English — who rides headfirst into the Wild West to avenge the death of her son and teams up with a Pawnee scout (Chaske Spencer) to survive the hostile lands polluted by murderers, opportunists, and criminals. In the hands of writer-director Hugo Blick, it's a stylish and violent take on the genre, filling the lens with expansive vistas and gory corpses to remind you that while beautiful, the era was lawless. It's definitely one of Prime Video's best shows of 2022. [Review] -Tim Surette    

For fans of: Peter Capaldi as evil incarnate, guessing games
Number of seasons: 1

This six-episode psychological thriller with sprinkles of the paranormal is one of those tiny boxes containing millions of questions that waits until the last moments to have everything come crashing down. Former Doctor Who Peter Capaldi plays a sinister prisoner who cryptically powwows with a social worker (Jessica Raine) who can't seem to stop waking up at 3:33 a.m. every morning with horrifying visions. Maybe it's the incredibly creepy son she's caring for who's behind everything? Maybe it's something even worse? The Devil's Hour isn't the best thriller of the year, but it will certainly do the trick. -Tim Surette    

For fans of: Westworld, William Gibson, Chloë Grace Moretz
Number of seasons: 1

Chloë Grace Moretz stars in this sci-fi series about a young American woman who makes a living leveling up the characters of rich people in VR games. She dons a virtual reality headset that transports her to another world, only this world is anything but virtual. Based on a William Gibson story, The Peripheral sees Moretz's character try to figure out why there's a bridge between a world 70 years in the future in London and hers. [Review] -Tim Surette    

For fans of: '90s teen dramas, queer coming-of-age stories, indie rock
Number of seasons: 1

Indie rockers and LGBTQ icons Tegan and Sara Quin teamed up with actress/director Clea DuVall for this coming-of-age high school story based on their memoir of the same name about growing up as twin sisters in Calgary, Alberta in the mid-1990s. It also happens to be really, really good. With roots in classic high school shows of yesteryear like My So-Called Life and an authentic look at an age and era, High School covers the ups and downs of fitting in, coming out, and getting high. And the soundtrack is rad. -Tim Surette    

For fans of: Drill rap, cyberpunk crime, visuals
Number of seasons: 1

This British crime drama is set in the near-future and follows a few strangers who get into violent trouble. But the real draw is the heavy vibe, which uses drill and trap music, gritty and experimental visuals, a cyberpunk-lite setting, and rapped dialogue (!!!) for something truly unique. It's like Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, except instead of Leo DiCaprio talking in Shakespearean English, it's young gangsters are spittin' fire. -Tim Surette    

For fans of: The Elvish language
Number of seasons: 1 (renewed for Season 2)

Want to see what half a billion dollars looks like? Amazon's most expensive bet since same-day delivery is this eight-episode series set in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world during the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the popular trilogy. But hey, there are still dwarves, elves, and orcs, as well as details on the forging of the Rings of Power and Sauron's rise. In his TV Guide review, Keith Phipps says the ambitious new series is off to a promising start and "has already established itself as one of the most visually striking shows around." -Tim Surette

For fans of: Dance, being 100% that bitch
Number of seasons: 1

Finally, a reality competition series that prioritizes confidence and joy. Lizzo's Watch Out for the Big Grrrls — the 2022 Emmy winner for reality competition series — follows the pop icon's search for backup dancers, the titular Big Grrrls, to join her tour. When dance agencies didn't answer her call for big girl dancers, Lizzo took things into her own hands. "We come with the energy, the stamina, the flexibility," she says in the first episode. "Big girls are doing it, honey!" The competition obviously serves up all the tears and drama you'd expect, but it's also warm and empowering. It's like Top Model meets So You Think You Can Dance meets, you know, Lizzo. And that's good as hell. -Kelly Connolly [Trailer]

For fans of: Project Runway, the business of fashion
Number of seasons: 3

Project Runway went through a makeover back in 2018, so if you happen to miss having the very stylish duo of Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn on your TV, Making the Cut is the next best thing. Making the Cut is a fashion competition show, pitting 12 up-and-coming designers against each other to see who has what it takes to start the "next big global fashion brand." Now, "big global fashion brand" is definitely extremely vague language, but there are some seriously talented contestants on this show, and people get very emotional in nearly every episode, which is alternately sweet and stressful to watch. Gunn in particular will always make such great TV as he delivers on his signature brand of inspirational tough love to push the designers to be their absolute best. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

For fans of: Queer-friendly stories of joy, baseball!
Number of seasons: 1

There's no crying in baseball, but there are remakes in Hollywood, and this twist on Penny Marshall's classic 1992 comedy is the right kind of remake. The show, created by Will Graham and Broad City's Abbi Jacobson (who also stars), starts with the same idea as the movie: It's a fictionalized spin on the real-life World War II-era founding of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. But the series populates that world with all-new characters and pushes the story in new directions, spotlighting queer and Black baseball players in a way the movie did not. Add in an all-star cast — which also includes D'Arcy Carden, Chanté Adams, Kate Berlant, Roberta Colindrez, and Nick Offerman — and the bases are loaded. -Kelly Connolly [Trailer]    

For fans of: Colorful casts of characters, never knowing what's going to happen next
Number of seasons: 2

All of a sudden, Christopher Walken is a prolific TV actor! After never being a series regular on a TV show in his nearly 60-year acting career, the screen icon now has respectful "And Christopher Walken" billing on two shows in one year. The first is the excellent Apple TV+ drama Severance, which you should watch if you haven't. The other is The Outlaws, a nifty little British dramedy about community service. He plays an American ex-con in Bristol who's doing community service — or "Community Payback," as it's called in the U.K. — alongside a disparate group of people whose only thing in common is that they're all there because their lives aren't going super well. Their lives get intertwined in surprising, unpredictable ways when one of them hides a bag of stolen cash at the worksite and the others find it. It's a tonally unique show that combines elements of a witty workplace comedy and a crime thriller in a way that befits its odd couple co-creators, The Office's Stephen Merchant (who also co-stars) and Mayans M.C.'s Elgin James. It's like each of them created half of a show and then wove them together. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]    

For fans of: Stranger Things, time-traveling shows that tie your noodle in knots
Number of seasons: 1  

Prime Video's grab for a slice of that Stranger Things audience is this sci-fi, '90s set, synth-heavy, teen drama about four girls who get caught in a war between time-traveling factions from the future. The real draw here is the attention to the characters, whose journey through adolescence and their meetings with their future selves are more interesting than the twisty premise. Before you say that this is a Stranger Things rip-off, know that it's based on the Brian K. Vaughn and Cliff Chiang comic series, which came out in 2015, a year before Stranger Things. -Tim Surette [Trailer | Review]    

For fans of: Angry men, the Navy
Number of seasons: 1  

Chris Pratt stars in this hybrid conspiracy/revenge thriller that features the most unspeakable use of a hatchet this side of Blood Meridian. He plays James Reece, a Navy SEAL on a mission to punish the people responsible for killing the other members of his unit. There's a conspiracy behind it, but he doesn't care too much about the why. He mostly just cares about the how he's going to terminate everyone. It's a well-made if cliched action show that fits in well with Amazon's other tough guy offerings like Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan and Reacher. -Liam Mathews [Trailer | Review]

For fans of: Ingrid Goes West, but even darker
Number of seasons: 1  

The six-part BBC psychological thriller was all the hotness when it was released earlier this year in the U.K., but it makes its U.S. debut this summer on Prime Video. The series follows a woman who is obsessed with her childhood friend's seemingly perfect social media presence, but when her friend mysteriously dies, she develops a new alter ego to get into her obsession's inner circle and find out what happened. You know what comes next; the jig gets very much up. -Tim Surette [Trailer] 

For fans of: Summers on the lake, complicated family comedy
Number of seasons: 1 (renewed for Season 2)                          

A gay man (Orphan Black's Jordan Gavaris) who fathered a child whom he gave up for adoption when he was young reconnects with her at his family's lakeside cabin in this easy-going comedy. But things get complicated when he finds out that the cabin has been bequeathed to his picture-perfect stepsister (Julia Stiles). This show is an easy — if somewhat shallow — distraction. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: Superheroes with a twist
Number of seasons: 3 (renewed for Season 4) 

The Boys is about superheroes, but not the Avengers kind. It would probably be more accurate to say that this show is about supervillains, or at least, villains who think they're heroes. Let me explain: The Boys is set in a world where superheroes are revered as celebrities and work for a giant corporation, but outside of saving the world, most are abusing their powers and are pretty bad people. (I'm talking real Nazi-level bad, in the case of a few characters.) Enter... the titular Boys, a group of vigilantes who have tasked themselves with bringing down the corrupt "heroes." A lot of other things happen, but if you're looking for something that really strives to break the mold Marvel and DC have created, The Boys is it. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: Older people in love, mysterious otherworldly portals
Number of seasons: 1

Amazon's got a thing for older people finding weird passageways to weirder places. Following Josh Brolin's "cowboy finds a hole" show Outer Range comes J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek's "couple finds a portal to another planet" show Night Sky. In it, Simmons and Spacek's characters keep their secret from everyone... until someone else shows up. Commence the sci-fi mystery! We like this show for its understated, thoughtful vibe, the intriguing questions it raises, and the great performances from its cast. -Tim Surette [Trailer | Review] 

For fans of: Classic sketch comedy, goofy dudes
Number of seasons: 1

Ask your parents what's so funny about a guy squeezing his fingers together and saying, "I'm crushing your head." Or just watch this revival of Kids in the Hall, a sketch comedy series from the beloved Canadian troupe of the same name, and you'll say to yourself, "Hey, it's the guy from Superstore!" The final season of the original run, which ran on HBO for three seasons and then on CBS, aired in 1995, and ended with all of them being buried alive. That's crucial information to understand the trailer. All the guys — Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson — are back and as silly as ever. -Tim Surette [Trailer] 

For fans of: Teens, getting stranded, Lost
Number of seasons: 2

A mix of Lost and Lord of the Flies, The Wilds stars a mostly unknown cast of young women with an assortment of issues en route to a spiritual retreat when their plane crashes on a deserted island, forcing them to work together to stay alive. It naturally leads to plenty of bickering and politicking, as the group have different skills and backgrounds, while flashbacks and flashforwards fill out the rest of the story on both ends of the timeline. And if you think they ended up there on accident, then you clearly haven't watched enough television shows. After its huge Season 1 cliffhanger, Season 2 is all about the boys. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: Masterful animation, metaphysical musings
Number of seasons: 2

Rosa Salazar stars in this gorgeous rotoscoped drama as Alma, a woman from Texas who wakes up after a car accident and discovers she now possesses the ability to manipulate time — and communicate with her deceased father (Bob Odenkirk). He recruits her to use her newfound powers to try and prevent his death 20 years prior. Season 2, which came out in April 2022, expands the show's (roto)scope as Alma teams up with her sister Becca (Angelique Cabral), who can enter other people's memories, to figure out a secret their mother (Constance Marie) is hiding that could tear apart their family as they know it. With 16 addictive 22-minute episodes, Undone is a breathtaking visual feast that demands to be consumed in a single weekend. –Noelene Clark [Trailer] 

For fans of: More British scandals, messy divorces
Number of seasons: 1

Just call it British Crime Story. The follow-up to 2018's Emmy-winning A Very English Scandal has a slightly different title so it's technically not an anthology like Ryan Murphy's American Crime Story, but the idea is the same: British people, specifically royals, behaving badly. Whereas "Season 1" focused on the Jeremy Thorpe affair, this round focuses on the much publicized 1963 divorce between Margaret Campbell (Claire Foy), Duchess of Argyll, and Ian Campbell (Paul Bettany), 11th Duke of Argyll. I'm guessing Paul Bettany won't be channeling his WandaVision character and saying "What is grief, but love persevering," and instead say, "What is Margaret Campbell, but a lying, cheating *&$%#!!!" -Tim Surette [Trailer]

For fans of: Yellowstone but weird, Stranger Things but Western, buffalo, holes
Number of seasons: 1 (renewed for Season 2)

Josh Brolin stars in this show that was probably pitched as "Yellowstone meets some weird-ass s---, bro!" The Western and sci-fi hybrid series stars Brolin as a Wyoming rancher who finds something inexplicable on his property, and the mystery box opens up for viewers complete with glyphs, strange occurrences, and one giant friggin' hole in the ground. And does Brolin belt out some powerful monologues? You bet. It's a love or hate it show, but we say YEEHAW deliver us more. -Tim Surette [Trailer]    

For fans of: The Boys but animated, quick hits of variety
Number of seasons: 1

The success of The Boys is largely a product of its universe, a commercialized, superhero-filled, f***ed up society that created Homelander, Hughie, and Billy Butcher. This off-shoot of The Boys is a collection of animated shorts exploring other stories from this twisted alternate universe, and they span all sorts of genres, from raunchy humor to odd romance to backstories for some of The Boys' characters. Additionally, each episode is animated in a different style — anime! Saturday morning cartoons! Rick & Morty-ish! — and written by some big names, including Andy Samberg, Akwafina, Seth Rogen, and Aisha Tyler. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

For fans of: Pastiche, talking fast
Number of seasons: 4 (renewed for fifth and final season)

If you've seen even one episode of Gilmore Girls, you're already familiar with the Amy Sherman-Palladino style: women who talk fast in a way that both annoys and charms everyone they meet. That same sensibility is also present in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Sherman-Palladino's comedy series about Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), a 1950s housewife who begins moonlighting as a stand-up comedian to let off steam from the trials and tribulations of her daily life. The show follows her successes and her blunders as she traverses the world of comedy alongside her gruff manager, Susie (Alex Borstein), the ways she tries to keep her secret life hidden from her eccentric parents (Tony Shalhoub and Marin Hinkle), and her complicated relationship with her ex-husband, Joel (Michael Zegen). It's won a ton of Emmys and will probably win a ton more as its run goes on. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

For fans of: Huge dudes punching other dudes, detective work, classic rock
Number of seasons: 1 (renewed for Season 2)

Reacher is a TV adaptation of author Lee Child's paperback novels about Jack Reacher, a brolic former military policeman who wanders around the country using his brains and his brawn to solve crimes. He was previously played on the big screen by Tom Cruise, who is not built like TV's Reacher Alan Ritchson, who is built like Arnold Schwarzenegger if he played in the NFL. He gets off a bus in a small Georgia town and quickly gets caught up in a conspiracy of currency trafficking, political corruption, and murder, and helps two local cops unravel the mystery using his savant-like investigative skills and unfiltered willingness to say whatever he's thinking. And when he can't talk his way to a solution, he sure can punch, shoot, and headbutt his way to one. It's a workmanlike detective/action show that isn't very ambitious but is a lot of fun, especially for fans of Amazon's other dad-book adaptations Bosch and Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan. -Liam Mathews [Trailer | Review]

For fans of: Representation, tear jerkin'
Number of seasons: 1

Jason Katims, creator of Friday Night Lights and Parenthood, has another hit on his hands — as in hit you right in the feels — with this heartfelt dramedy series. As We See It follows the struggles and triumphs of Jack (Rick Glassman), Harrison (Albert Rutecki), and Violet (Sue Ann Pien), three twenty-something roommates who are on the autism spectrum (the actors all identify as being on the spectrum as well), as well as their aide Mandy (Sosie Bacon), who helps them navigate jobs, dating, and their relationships with each other. It's a show that will make you laugh in one scene and cry in another, and depicts something rarely seen on television — the lives of adults on the autism spectrum — with dignity and authenticity. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]

For fans of: Having a wholesome good time, family holidays
Number of seasons: 1 (renewed for Season 2)

One Day at a Time co-creator Gloria Calderón Kellett knows her way around a family comedy. With Love is her latest, a holiday-themed Latinx rom-com that stars Shadowhunters' Emeraude Toubia and Ugly Betty's Mark Indelicato as siblings Lily and Jorge Diaz, who are each unlucky in love but still out there looking for it. The gimmick here is that each of its five episodes takes place on a different holiday: one is set on Nochebuena, where Jorge brings his new boyfriend home to meet the parents; another on Independence Day, where Lily and her new boyfriend move in together. Like the best rom-coms, With Love is a sweet watch that knows how to break your heart and put it back together again by the end. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: Spaaaaaace, complex political and social situations, Fedoras
Number of seasons: 6

You may have heard people calling The Expanse "one of the best sci-fi shows ever" and gosh darnit, they're right. The series that Jeff Bezos reportedly personally saved from cancellation after Syfy axed it is a wonderfully complicated political thriller that just so happens to take place in space as Earth and Mars are on the brink of war and an alien somethingorother threatens all of humankind. Telling an intragalactic story from multiple planets and multiple points of view, The Expanse is Game of Thrones-level rich. Well, when Game of Thrones was good. Plus, Thomas Jane plays a detective with a dope hat. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

For fans of: Espionage, bone-crunching action, tours of Europe
Number of seasons: 3

Joe Wright's 2011 film Hanna purposefully kept its focus tight on a story of a teenage girl trained to be an assassin by a secret organization, limiting most of the action to a few locations and binding the story to a small group of characters. But there was clearly more story to tell, and the film's screenwriter, David Farr, branched things out with Hanna the series. Esmé Creed-Miles is fantastically blunt as Hanna, who knows how to crush a windpipe with a swift strike but doesn't know the first thing about being a normal teenage girl, and Mireille Enos gives one of the best performances of her career as Marissa, Hanna's enemy-turned-ally. While the first episode follows the structure and plot of the film for most of its run, the additions — including one huge and meaningful difference to the character of Marissa — and changes feel natural and worthwhile in the TV show as it expands its universe and digs deeper into its characters. Season 2 is an especially great example of this, and Season 3, the show's final season which was released in late 2021, wraps things up mostly satisfactorily. Like many of Amazon's shows, budget wasn't spared and Hanna doubles as a vacation travelogue for Europe as much as it is a high-stakes spy thriller. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

For fans of: Expansive fantasy worlds, Game of Thrones
Number of seasons: 1 (renewed for Seasons 2 and 3)

It's no billion-dollar Lord of the Rings TV series (that's coming soon courtesy of Prime Video), but Amazon's Wheel of Time is based on another popular high fantasy book series and has its own goals of becoming the next Game of Thrones. It's got the usual fantasy boxes to check off: a prophecy about a powerful young person who will save the world, vast world-building that requires its own atlas to keep track of, British accents (why is everyone always British?), and a roster of characters that will take you a few seasons to familiarize yourself with. -Tim Surette [Trailer] 

For fans of: Billy Bob Thornton, dad shows
Number of seasons: 4

Between Bosch and Jack Ryan, Amazon sure does love a dad show -- case in point, Goliath! This legal drama centers around Billy McBride (played by Billy Bob Thornton, total dad bait) a washed-up, hard-drinking lawyer who, at the beginning of the series, agrees to take on a wrongful death case, and exposes a vast criminal conspiracy in the process. This show follows the tried and true procedural format of addressing issues that relate directly to what's going on in the real world via the fictional cases that McBride takes on. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: Sobering looks at history, Steve McQueen

Following Small Axe, his impressive five-film suite of movies about West Indian immigrants in 1960s and 1980s England, director Steve McQueen turns his prolific lens to a trio of documentaries. Most noteworthy is the three-part docuseries Uprising, detailing the 1981 New Cross Fire, an act of arson on a birthday party that left thirteen young Black people dead. Speaking with survivors of the fire, McQueen paints an intimate picture of a country divided by racism and a community that was devastated by a heinous act. If you like that, you can check out the other two films that premiered alongside Uprising: Subnormal, about the educational scandal of the 1960s and '70s that sent Black children to schools for "subnormal education," and Black Power: A British Story of Resistance, which looks at the Black Power movement in England. As usual with McQueen's work, all are excellent. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

For fans of: Scams, leggings
Number of seasons: 1

If you're Facebook friends with a certain type of person, you may already be familiar with LuLaRoe, and if you aren't, this four-part docuseries is here to break down one of the internet's most pervasive pyramid schemes. The show explores how this multilevel-marketing company (which is known for selling, among other types of women's clothing, very colorful leggings) hooked its target demographic of stay at home moms into becoming sellers, and how it exploited those same people out of money as many of them worked around the clock to try to get rid of their inventory. The lure of MLMs will never stop being fascinating, and this one is no exception — plus, the filmmakers conducted interviews with the company's kooky founders, husband and wife scammer duo DeAnne and Mark Stidham. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

For fans of: Watching Hugh Grant play a terrible, shady person
Number of seasons: 1

Hugh Grant loves playing jerks who don't respect their wives, this is an indisputable fact. But a few years before he played the bad husband on The Undoing, he was playing the bad husband on A Very English Scandal, a show about a very real sex scandal that went down in the '70s. Grant plays Jeremy Thorpe, a member of Parliament, who has an affair with Norman Josiffe (Ben Whishaw), a younger stable hand, which is complicated by the fact that Thorpe is both a public figure and married with a child. When the scandal blows up in the British press, a vicious battle breaks out between Thorpe and Josiffe. The best part of it all is that this show is an incrediby short watch, clocking in at only three episodes long. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: Capitalism, but make it camp; pissing contests
Number of seasons: 6 (renewed for Season 7 on Showtime; 4 seasons are available on Prime Video)

Showtime's financial soap is part prestige drama and part grown-up frat party, following the reckless assholes of a Wall Street hedge fund as they accumulate wealth and eat sushi off naked women. That grotesquery is off-putting at first, but soon becomes the reason to watch as the toxic masculinity sirens become music to your ears. And if you enjoy acting, Damian Lewis playing the hedge fund CEO and Paul Giamatti the government lawyer trying to take him down will please. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

For fans of: Troubled cops, the parts of L.A. that aren't so nice, The Shield
Number of seasons: 7

Author Michael Connelly's rough-around-the-edges cop Harry Bosch comes to the screen in one of Amazon's most popular series, a prestige dad show about morality and cleaning up the scum of Los Angeles. Titus Welliver plays Bosch, a homicide detective who doesn't always play well with authorities, but that might have something to with the fact that he's always caught up in investigations against him dealing with police procedure. The police work is much more authentic than what you're used to, which some might call slow, but it's worth the watch for some gripping turns and its gritty atmosphere. The show goes on in the form of sequel series Bosch: Legacy, which is available via Freevee. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

For fans of: Fantasy that pulls from real-life politics
Number of seasons: 1 (Renewed for Season 2)

This series is set in a Victorian fantasy world where mythological creatures have been turned into immigrants and refugees after their exotic homelands were invaded by humans, because, as we all know, humans ruin most things. Tensions between creatures and humans rise, but amidst the darkness, a human detective, Rycroft Philostrate (Orlando Bloom), and a refugee faerie named Vignette Stonemoss (Cara Delevingne) strike up a curious, and dangerous, bond. It's more than a little ridiculous, but that's what makes it fun to watch. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: Unlikely romantic connections, people being lovingly mean to each other
Number of seasons: 4

Co-creators and co-writers Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan star, respectively, as the affable American Rob and the sardonic, disillusioned Irish Sharon, two single people who find themselves falling into a relationship after a short fling in London leaves Sharon pregnant. Catastrophe is the kind of show that celebrates the joys and frustrations of unexpected romance, telling us that love isn't easy, but worth having if you can find it. If all that wasn't enough, the late, great Carrie Fisher makes recurring appearances as Rob's eccentric, judgmental mother. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

For fans of: Fringe, The Americans, if Fringe and The Americans had a baby
Number of seasons: 2

You want to watch one of the best science-fiction series of the last decade, but you also want to watch one of the best espionage thrillers of the last decade. The solution to both is Counterpart, an appallingly underwatched series that ran on Starz for two seasons from 2017 to 2019. J.K. Simmons stars as a low-level pencil pusher at a government agency in Berlin where he learns that his job actually involves work with a top-secret parallel universe, and things only get more complicated when his counterpart, a hot-shot spy from the other universe, arrives in his to stir up trouble. It's a brilliant drama that allows its cast to stretch itself out with the show's fun premise. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

For fans of: Serial killers with feelings, lumberjack beards
Number of seasons: 8

During television's heyday of prestige dramas, Dexter was Showtime's entry into the crowded space, following a blood spatter expert (Michael C. Hall) who also happened to be a serial killer. It was an instant hit, with its macabre look at the mind of a murderer who painstakingly went through the process of killing other murderers and cleaning up the mess afterward. The show's appeal waned in later seasons, because Showtime has no issue letting series run out of creative juices as long as they're still fairly popular, but the early seasons are still great. -Tim Surette [Trailer] 

For fans of: The nefarious goings-on of the rich and famous
Number of seasons: 2

Anna Paquin's underrated dramedy about an American public relations executive living in London who spends her time cleaning up celebrity messes is a quick and fun binge. She deals with everything from pop stars with sex tape leaks to comedians who make insensitive jokes, and Paquin is just so good at playing the role of harried fixer. Some people watch Law & Order to get their crime of the week, others watch Flack for their crisis of the week. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: People trying their best, rule-breaking priests, watching Olivia Colman be rude
Number of seasons: 2

Created by, written by, and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the show centers around the everyday life of the titular Fleabag (Waller-Bridge), and the ways in which she fails upwards romantically, professionally, and in her familial relationships. In its first season, it's an incredibly funny show that's also about the pain of hidden trauma, but it's in its second season where Fleabag confidently figures out exactly what it wants to say. As Fleabag begins to explore her strange, fleeting connection with Andrew Scott's (Hot) Priest, repairs her complicated bond with her uptight sister Claire (Sian Clifford), and struggles to figure out the kind of person she wants to be, the show shines. By the time those two words heard 'round the world are uttered in the series finale -- "It'll pass;" if you know, you know -- it's abundantly clear that Fleabag has earned its cathartic, triumphant ending. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: Beloved comedians, the afterlife
Number of seasons: 1

Forever, a wondrously weird, canceled-too-soon series, stars Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen as a married couple who are in a rut, not exactly unhappy but nonetheless going through the motions. When Armisen's character dies suddenly, and Rudolph's character not long after, they find themselves back together in the perplexingly lawless afterlife, which is actually just an extremely normal suburb. They have no idea why they've ended up there or what they're supposed to be doing, with no one telling them what to do and no real goals set for them. You can probably already tell that this heads right for "What's the meaning of life?" territory, but the show explores that concept with sobering nuance. Rudolph and Armisen are excellent together, and Catherine Keener co-stars in a very fun supporting role. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: Buddy comedies, the concept of Frances McDormand as God
Number of seasons: 1 (Renewed for Season 2)

Amazon and the BBC's adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's beloved fantasy-comedy novel Good Omens is about a demon and an angel who team up to prevent the Antichrist from bringing about the end of the world because they've grown rather fond of Earth and its inhabitants, and it features some of the best casting television has ever seen. David Tennant as the hedonistic demon Crowley is so good it's like he was born solely for this purpose, and the way he plays off Michael Sheen's angel, Aziraphale, makes for a perfect odd-couple pairing that leads to the show's best moments. Although the limited series is faithful to the novel (perhaps to a fault), it doesn't always retain the same magic and whimsy, so it's really the cast, which also includes Michael McKean, Frances McDormand, and Jon Hamm, that makes it worth your while. Plus, it's a quick binge at only six episodes. -Kaitlin Thomas [Trailer] 

For fans of: Government misdeeds and wrongdoings
Number of seasons: 2

Based on the podcast of the same name, Homecoming is a slick, sickening thriller about the lengths the government will go to keep its secrets and the people who get discarded along the way. Season 1 stars Julia Roberts as a former social worker who begins unraveling the mysteries of her previous job at the cryptic Homecoming facility, which claims to be helping soldiers transition back to civilian life. The key to the gaps in her memory turns out to be a veteran she connected with at the facility named Walter Cruz (an unmissable Stephan James). Season 2 introduces Janelle Monáe as another amnesiac with ties to Homecoming, and it gives the great Hong Chau a lot more to do as a surprisingly powerful employee of the facility's parent company. The cast list is half the thrill with this show. -Kelly Connolly [Trailer]

For fans of: Kathryn Hahn!
Number of seasons: 1

If you're feeling the Kathryn Hahn-aissance post-WandaVision, it's time for you to check out I Love Dick. In it, she plays Chris, an artist who moves to Texas with her husband and quickly becomes obsessed with a man named Dick (Kevin Bacon), and she decides to express her attraction by writing sexually explicit letters to him that she never delivers but still begin to interfere with the way she lives her life. Think of it as an older, much more explicit To All the Boys I've Loved Before. Like if To All the Boys I've Loved Before was going through a mid-life crisis. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: Cartoon violence, superhero origin stories, celebrity voices
Number of seasons: 1 (Renewed for Season 2)

No one would blame you for having superhero fatigue, but Invincible promises to be a little different from your average Marvel movie. From The Walking Dead's Robert Kirkman, this animated series follows Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), a 17-year-old kid who just so happens to be the son of the world's greatest superhero. When his own powers begin to develop, he learns some shocking information about himself and his father's legacy, all while trying to balance carving out his own identity as a hero with the normal anxieties that come along with being a teen. Alongside Yeun is an incredibly stacked cast that includes J.K. Simmons, Sandra Oh, Mahershala Ali, Gillian Jacobs, Seth Rogen, Mark Hamill, Mae Whitman, and many, many more. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

For fans of: Historical fiction, dystopian universes
Number of seasons: 4

Based on the Philip K. Dick novel, the drama imagines a universe in which the Nazis won World War II. Picking up 20 years after the war, the United States is now divided into two states: Germany controls the east and Japan controls the west, while the Rocky Mountain states are a lawless neutral zone. When films and newsreels created by a mysterious figure, appropriately called the Man in the High Castle, that show Germany and Japan losing the war, people who have accepted their fate begin to rebel against the world they're stuck in. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: The New York Times, celebrities
Number of seasons: 2

This is a show based on a newspaper column -- specifically the New York Times's Modern Love -- and if that doesn't sound like the most interesting concept, I can almost certain that at least one episode stars a celebrity you like. It's an anthology, so every episode is adapted from a different story: There's the Dev Patel episode, in which he stars as the founder of a dating app who's still in love with his ex-girlfriend, and the Anne Hathaway episode, where she plays a woman trying to cope with bipolar disorder. There's also the episode where Tina Fey and John Slattery go to marriage counseling, and the one where Andrew Scott has troubles with his surrogate. Season 2 adds episodes starring Minnie Driver, Kit Harington, and Domnique Fishback. To be honest, this is really more for hardcore rom-com fans than a general audience, so go in expecting some sappiness. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: When New York City is a character in something you're watching, classical music, weirdos
Number of seasons: 4

Mozart in the Jungle is a true oddball of a show, but there's a lot of sweetness and joy to be found in it. Rodrigo (Gael García Bernal) is the new conductor at the New York Symphony, whose flamboyant style puts him at odds with Thomas (Malcolm McDowell), the now-retired former conductor. Soon after Rodrigo takes over, he holds auditions for new players, and he hires young, determined oboist Hailey (Lola Kirke) -- not to play in the symphony, but to be his assistant, which she settles for with the hope that it will lead to bigger and better opportunities. The show is filled out by a cast of ridiculous characters, like the symphony president played by Bernadette Peters and Wallace Shawn's neurotic pianist, that make the world come alive, and as a bonus, you get to hear some pretty beautiful music. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: Stanley Kubrick, paranoia, hacking
Number of seasons: 4

Sam Esmail's conspiracy thriller ranges from masterpiece to overcomplicated over the course of its run, but thankfully it's more of the former than the latter. Rami Malek made his name as Elliot, a misanthropic hacker whose hobby helped him try to understand people as much as it got him data, but his anxiety grew after stumbling across possible secrets from one of the fastest-growing predatory tech companies in the world. Things escalate to global proportions with most of the action happening over keyboards and monitors while we sheep were none the wiser. Mr. Robot pushed plenty of boundaries, most notably how a TV show could be shot. Watch Season 3's continuous-shot "Runtime Error" to see it in action. -Tim Surette [Trailer] 

For fans of: Tig Notaro, late in life coming-of-age stories
Number of seasons: 2

Comedian Tig Notaro stars as a version of herself in this fictionalized account of the period in her life directly after her mother died. While recovering from her own brush with cancer, she moves back to her Mississippi hometown to live with her brother and step-father, reminiscing and learning about her past. This show really highlights Notaro's strengths as both an actor and a storyteller, and it's also one of those little hidden gems that will probably make you wonder, "Where has this been all my life?" -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: The Coen Brothers, cinematography, comedic violence
Number of seasons: 2

My best piece of advice: Stop everything and watch Patriot now. Steven Conrad's bizarre spy series stars For All Mankind's Michael Dorman as an aspiring folk singer dragged into espionage by his father, forcing him to go undercover as an employee at a pipe-manufacturer in Milwaukee. Yeah, that sounds weird, and it is, charmingly, and bolstered by artsy cinematography, colorful characters, and comedy so dark you might be ashamed to laugh. It's one of Amazon's hidden treasures. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

For fans of: Period dramas with modern sensibilities, female friendship, Andrew Scott
Number of seasons: 1

Amazon's The Pursuit of Love is perfect for anyone who loved that antics of Netflix's Bridgerton, but are looking for something a tad less sultry. The three-episode miniseries stars Lily James and Emily Beecham as cousins in the early half of the 20th century in England as they, ahem, pursue love and grow up, and how their friendship perseveres despite each wanting different things. Dominic West and Andrew Scott also star, and the modernization is complete with a great soundtrack that includes New Order and T. Rex. -Tim Surette [Trailer] 

For fans of: Cons, slippery situations
Number of seasons: 3

From the still-smoldering ashes of Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston (along with House's David Shore) created this twisty crime drama about a con man (Giovanni Ribisi) fresh out of jail who assumes the identity of his still-imprisoned cellmate in order to avoid thugs who want to kill him. The con job involves embedding himself into a family as a long-lost relative, which is a ticking time bomb ready to explode with consequences. Check it out if you're into watching desperate crooks wiggle out of tight squeezes. Bonus: Cranston plays a mob boss and Margo Martindale plays a suspicious mom. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

For fans of: Family drama, magical realism
Number of seasons: 5

It's hard to discuss Transparent without also bringing up the Jeffrey Tambor of it all -- Tambor was accused of sexual harassment on the set of the series and subsequently exited after its fourth season -- but there's also a lot of value in talking about all the hard work put into this show by real trans actors, directors, and writers, like Trace Lysette, Hari Nef, Our Lady J, and more. Transparent revolves around a family who learns that their parent (Tambor) is a trans woman, and the ways in which her transition helps her children learn about their own identities. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

For fans of: Alternative histories, Barry Jenkins' magical touch
Number of seasons: 1 

Barry Jenkins made his first big foray into TV with this miniseries based on the Colson Whitehead novel about an alternate reality that imagines the Underground Railroad as an real railroad with trains, conductors, and engineers. Cora (Thuso Mbedu), an enslaved woman, boards the train in effort to secure her freedom, all while being pursued by a vicious slave owner (Joel Edgerton). William Jackson Harper and Lily Rabe co-star. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

For fans of: The afterlife, but make it funny
Number of seasons: 2

Upload feels a little like the Greg Daniels take on The Good Place you never knew you wanted. The sci-fi comedy is set in a technologically advanced future in which humans can be uploaded into a virtual afterlife when they're close to death. Robbie Amell stars as Nathan, a young app developer who dies in a self-driving car accident and whose consciousness ends up in the luxurious digital world known as Lakeview thanks to his shallow but wealthy girlfriend, Ingrid (Allegra Edwards). The series has a lot of fun taking jabs at our reliance on technology while imagining what the world of the future will look like, and Nathan's budding relationship with Nora (Andy Allo), his "angel," or more accurately, his customer service rep, is a real highlight. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

For fans of: Crime dramas, virtual vacations
Number of seasons: 1

ZeroZeroZero is a sprawling crime drama in every sense, following the life cycle of cocaine from production in Mexico to transport by an American shipping company to sale by the mafia in Italy. Of course, problems with the shipment arise, leading to infighting among syndicates and, yep, murder. Come for the crime, stay for the gorgeous on-location shots. -Tim Surette [Trailer] 

There are plenty of reasons to opt for a gaming laptop, not least being able to play your favorite games wherever you are. And whether away from your desk or on the move, a thin and light model offers the best in gaming portability.

Portability doesn’t necessarily mean sacrificing power, either. Today’s thin and light laptops combine lightweight materials, sophisticated cooling tech, and smaller components to deliver comparable gaming performance to thicker laptops and the best gaming PCs. 

Compact laptops are usually thinner than 1 inch and under 2 kg in weight, making porting them around a breeze. Their aesthetics have recently erred on the restrained side too, combining clean lines and minimalist designs that make them suitable for the office or library as well as home.

With a dizzying array of choices, we’ve shared advice on how to choose a thin and light gaming laptop at the bottom of this guide. Design is important if you want a sleek laptop that could look the part in the office or library and still have pride of place as a mainline gaming rig.

Next up are the capabilities of its GPU and CPU, and display quality — size, resolution, refresh rate, and pixel density. All the compact gaming laptops in this guide have at least 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of disk drive space.

We really rate the latest Asus Zephyrus G14 series of Asus gaming laptops. It offers a gorgeously light chassis surrounding blisteringly powerful hardware that’ll set you up for years to come. Expect to pay a premium for the latest in benchmark-busting performance, though. 

If you’re more budget focused, we’d point you in the direction of the MSI GF63 Thin. It cleverly blends a high-end RTX GPU with slightly lower-spec hardware, but at under $1,000/£1,000, it’s an absolute steal. 

With all the above in mind, it can get overwhelming thinking about GPUs, CPUs, PPIs, and QHDs. Luckily, we’ve found some key contenders for a variety of uses, needs, and budgets.

These are the best thin and light laptops in 2023:

1. Asus Zephyrus G14 – best premium laptop
2. Dell XPS 17 – best large display
3. MSI GF63 Thin (2023) – best budget laptop
4. Legion Slim 7i Gen 7 (16” Intel) – best mid-range laptop
5. Alienware x15 R2 – best design
6. Acer Predator Triton 500 SE – best 1440p display

Though it has considerable graphical might, a top spec G14 with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 (one of the most powerful mobile graphics chipsets), AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS and a mini LED QHD 165Hz display is going to make a serious dent in your wallet. Our tip? You’re more likely to grab a bargain by plumping for a mid-to-high version of this Asus gaming laptop.

Design-wise, we love the Zephyrus’s contemporary lines and minimalist look that doesn’t scream gaming laptop. It’s an altogether cleaner and sleeker-looking machine that looks good whether for business or pleasure.

For those wanting to make an impression, there’s an AniMe Matrix display that can display dotted images and GIFs on its lid. Sure, it can feel a little gimmicky, but it’s a cool aesthetic feature that highlights just how design-oriented Asus is.

This is one of the smallest and lightest high-end gaming laptops we’ve seen. With a max weight of 1.72 kg and sporting a svelte girth of 20.5 mm, it’ll disappear into a backpack with ease. Though expensive, we feel spoiled that somehow Asus has managed to cram so much power and performance into a tiny, attractive chassis. Against fierce competition, it makes the G14 a serious contender for those who have the budget.

The end result is that while people who exclusively game might want to look elsewhere, video editors, number crunchers and designers might want to consider this as a solid option. The XPS 17 features a sleek, business-like design with plenty of reserves for fun at the end of the day.

With all that said, MSI definitely got the memo that having a decent GPU is one of the most important aspects of a gaming laptop. Its other specs are generally a combination of last-gen tech that still holds up fairly well. All this makes the GF63 a seriously affordable contender in the gaming laptop market and practically impossible to resist for those on a budget.

The Legion Slim 7i Gen 7 is one of the best Lenovo gaming laptops, with decent all-around specs that make it a fairly affordable option. The combination GeForce RTX 3000 series paired with the Intel Core i7 means it can handle anything, whether number crunching, video stream editing, or polygon wizardry.

We also love this model’s display panel. There’s a choice between a 1080p or 2.5K screen, with the former getting a 240 Hz refresh rate and the latter 165 Hz. We’re also big fans of its near borderless screen, which is rich in color and runs at a max 500 nits — plenty bright enough.

However, as the Intel i9s and the RTX 4000 series are now among the gold standard in processing power, it throws a little cold water on the Slim 7i’s futureproofing capabilities. Mind you, you’ll be paying a lot more for these best-in-class specs elsewhere.

Design-wise, this laptop, with its anodized, thin, and light aluminum chassis, looks mature enough for the boardroom, even with the Legion logo on its lid. Its restrained look might deter hardcore gamers — but it’s more of a laptop that can do everything and suit any setting. And even though the keyboard features little travel, there is the welcome addition of a numeric keypad.

It’s impressive that Lenovo has crammed so much into its tiny 17 mm thick frame. It’s great for people who need a strong set of specs for work, study, or gaming, with a variety of ports to handle a multitude of media and tasks.

Alienware gaming laptops have always stood out from the crowd thanks to their striking designs, and the x15 R2 is no exception. Featuring an unfathomably thin profile, it makes you wonder what witchcraft goes on at Dell to craft this gorgeous gaming rig with a sub-16mm girth. To be fair, it does sit wider, so be sure to measure your backpack to ensure a decent fit. 

Heads will be turned by the x15’s outer stylings, particularly where the hinge has been moved away from the back edge. A futuristic “15” also adorns the lid, which comes with a lit Alienware logo. Most notably, surrounding the rear ports is a customizable RGB ring of light that’s straight out of Tron. 

Its innards prove it’s no slouch either. With premium specs, including an Intel i9 processor and RTX 3000 series GPU, performance will always be on point. And we love how gorgeous the display is, which can go up to 1440p with a minimum refresh rate of 165 Hz.

The x15 has been surpassed by some of its peers, some of which offer better value for money. It does feel like most of the premium has been spent on its unparalleled design. Battery life is also sub-par, so don’t expect it to last long without mains power. And despite having a generous set of ports, an ethernet connection is a puzzling omittance.

If you want a beautiful, svelte gaming laptop that makes an impression, this is it.

How to choose the best thin and light gaming laptops

A decent GPU will also help futureproof your machine for a good few years, so get the best your budget can allow. And while integrated chipsets are often cheaper, they’re generally not up to handling the most graphics-intensive games, so always plump for a dedicated graphics card.

Next to consider is RAM, for which we’d always recommend getting at least 16 GB. Some models are upgradeable, but right now, a decent CPU and GPU with 16 GB should serve you fine.

Storage is another big consideration depending on what you’re playing. Those triple-A titles will eat heavily into your gigabytes, so 512 GB or even 1 TB is recommended if you’re running lots of large games. While you can choose between traditional hard disk drives and solid state drives — the latter of which are much faster but a lot more expensive — some laptops include both in their architecture.

Next to consider is your display, and here you’ll need to balance speed and pixels. Speed is determined by your refresh rate, the most basic of which is 60 Hz, and while this is typically fine for most gamers, competitive or FPS players might find more benefit with 120 Hz or 144 Hz. There are options beyond this, but most won’t notice the difference. Pixel density is defined as the ratio of your screen size and its resolution, giving you pixels per inch (PPI). A PPI of around 100+ is decent, though 140 or above is ideal for competition play. 

Finally, consider battery life. The most powerful gaming laptops are a huge power drain, so don’t expect to get more than 1–2 hours of untethered play, unless you’re playing indie titles. Realistically, you’ll always need to be near a mains connection.

We chose these laptops through a combination of personal experience and researching leading models from key industry players in the field. Find out more about how we test, review, and rate on PCGamesN.