At the risk of repeating ourselves, though we do encourage you to read our intro and list of the Best TV Shows & Mini-Series of 2021, there is a lot of television out there and it’s only growing. And growing immensely. With the advent of the streaming age and then the super-charged streaming age of the last two/three years. In trying to catch up to Netflix, Disney+ launched November 2019, AppleTV+ and HBO Max weren’t far behind and now pretty much every company in movies and television has its own streaming network. Paramount has Paramount+, NBC has Peacock, and it’s really all just the beginning. Roku is trying to get into the game (having bought all the Quibi content) and we’re just going to see more and more services pop up and they all need one thing: content to compete.
READ MORE: The Best TV & Mini-Series Of 2021
As Disney+, HBO Max and AppleTV+ have shown, they are creating original content based on their own I.P. and brands, and all of these streamers are trying to catch up to the decade-plus that Netflix got ahead on them. It’s certainly a good time to be a content creator, TV writer, producer, or exec too because everyone is looking for a show and all you need is a half-decent idea these days (it’s even better if you have a lot of content in your library and an inspiring writer can say, “what about this?”). Suffice to say, a lot of TV means a lot of things to anticipate. Our Most Anticipated TV features keep growing to reflect that. In years past it was 50 picks or less, last year, 65, this year, 70, and, you’ll see by the honorable mention, we could have easily gone to 100. OK, lots to watch, lots to keep an eye on. Here’s a sampling of things that we are most looking forward to in 2022. – RP
70. “Dollface” Season 2 (Hulu)
Kat Dennings stars as a young woman who, after being dumped by her longtime boyfriend, must deal with her own imagination when she literally and metaphorically re-enters the world of women, in order to rekindle the female friendships she left behind. Co-starring Brenda Song, Shay Mitchell, and Esther Povitsky. “Dollface” is created by Jordan Weiss, showrun by Michelle Nader, and executive produced by names like Margot Robbie. Season 2 is post-pandemic, post heartbreak, and Dennings’ lead figuring out what her life looks like on the brink of turning thirty.
Air Date: February 11, via Hulu. – Rodrigo Perez
69. “Willow” (Disney+)
A fantasy series serving as a sequel to 1988’s “Willow,” the continuation centers on a princess who assembles a party to join her on her quest to rescue her twin brother. Warwick Davis returns as the Nelwyn dwarf sorcerer Willow Ufgood and the cast includes, Erin Kellyman, Ellie Bamber, Tony Revolori, Ruby Cruz, Amer Chadha-Patel, and more. Jonathan Kasdan developed the series and Stephen Woolfenden (‘Harry Potter‘ film second-unit helmer) directs the pilot.
Airdate: TBD via Disney+. – RP
68. “Daisy Jones & The Six” (Amazon)
Cameron Crowe’s “Roadies” just couldn’t connect on Showtime, Martin Scorsese’s “Vinyl” got canceled early, but maybe “Daisy Jones & The Six,” can break the curse of rock n’ roll on TV. Based on the novel of the same name, ‘The Six’ centers on “a rock band in the 1970s from their rise in the LA music scene to become one of the most legendary bands in the world.” Told in faux-documentary style, Riley Keough plays the band’s frontwoman and Sam Claflin, Camila Morrone, Suki Waterhouse, and Nabiyah Be, co-star. Reese Witherspoon executive produces alongside “500 Days of Summer” scribes and series writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber.
Airdate: TBD 2022, via Amazon. – RP
67. “Fleishman Is In Trouble” (Hulu)
Adapted from Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s bestselling debut novel of the same name, Jesse Eisenberg and Lizzy Caplan star in “Fleishman is in Trouble.” Centered around a “recently separated forty-something Toby Fleishman (Eisenberg) who dives into the brave new world of app-based dating with the kind of success he never had dating in his youth, before he got married at the tail-end of medical school.” However, right as Toby starts to get back in the dating saddle, his ex-wife, Rachel, disappears, “leaving him with the kids and no hint of she is or whether she plans to return.” It’s a very good premise, one can see why FX snagged rights to the adaptation, and Eisenberg seems well suited for the Dustin Hoffman-esque sounding role.
Airdate: TBD, via Hulu – Andrew Bundy
66. “Life After Life” (BBC One)
A four-part adaptation of the best-selling novel, “Life After Life,” about the alternate lives of a woman who dies one night in 1910, only to be born and survive on the same night, this BBC mini-series star fast-rising actress Thomasin McKenzie, star of “Jojo Rabbit” and “Last Night In Soho,” and BAFTA-winning “Fleabag” star Sian Clifford. James McArdle and Jessica Brown Findlay (“Downton Abbey”) co-star. “Outlaw King” writer Bash Doran has adapted the novel, while John Crowley, the two-time BAFTA-winning director who helmed the Saoirse Ronan drama “Brooklyn,” directs.
Airdate: TBD 2022 via BBC One – RP
65. “The Sandman” (Netflix)
Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman” is one of the greatest comics of all time. The series is a sprawling gothic fantasy on the history of storytelling mythology – a couple of its most famous issues circling figures such as Orpheus and William Shakespeare. Netflix’s long-awaited screen translation is being developed by Gaiman, Allan Heinberg, and David S. Goyer, none of whom are strangers to the world of comics. Given the timeless strength of the source material, the show could be a smash hit, but, to play devil’s advocate, there’s also a strong argument to be made that ‘Sandman’ is fairly close to unadaptable; but, hey, people made that same statement about “Lord of the Rings” 40 years ago, didn’t they?
Airdate: TBD 2022. – AB
64. “SAS Rogue Heroes” (BBC/Epix)
U.K. writer, director, producer Steven Knight has that magic touch. Some of his TV hits include “The Detectives,” “Taboo” with Tom Hardy and “Peaky Blinders.” Next up for him is “SAS Rogue Heroes” which depicts the formation of the Special Air Service during World War II. And it features a terrific cast to boot including Jack O’Connell, Sofia Boutella, Dominic West, Connor Swindells, Alfie Allen, and more. Filming started mid-2021, so it definitely should be done.
Air Date: TBD 2022 via BBC in the U.K. and Epix in the U.S. – RP
63. “Stranger Things” Season 4 (Netflix)
We’ll admit: The Duffer Brothers sci-fi, ‘80s pop nostalgia pastiche has—if not worn out its welcome—gotten kind of stale and routine. But it’s still pretty damn popular, so it’s here. David Harbour will return (after his “death” last season), and the usual suspects of the cast return, Millie Bobby Brown, Winona Ryder, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, etc. For their sake, and its legacy, hopefully, the show ends soon cause how much more can you do with the world of the Upside Down?
Air Date: Summer 2022 via Netflix. – RP
62. “DMZ” (HBO Max)
A John Carpenter-esque source with a journalistic bend, “DMZ,” is set after a Second American Civil War results in Manhattan being transformed into a demilitarized zone, New York City’s high-rise isle all but abandoned save the poverty-stricken whom the government leaves behind. Robert Patino (“Sons of Anarchy”) and Ava DuVernay (“Selma”) have opted to adapt the comic for HBO Max as a miniseries, changing the lead role of a male journalist into a female medic (played by Rosario Dawson). The prescience and power of the material are undeniable, and clearly, the show (which also stars Benjamin Bratt and Hoon Lee) is aiming for stronger POC representation for a project that’s been rooted in a bit of cultural controversy.
Airdate: TBD 2022. – AB
61. “Killing Eve” Season 4 (BBC/Amazon)
The love/lust/desire, maybe sapphic, maybe not, cat and mouse/British spy thriller series you love to watch comes to an end with season four (probably because Jodie Comer has become a star and is fielding too many TV offers). In case you’ve somehow missed it, “Killing Eve” is about the world of espionage on the surface, but perhaps more specifically, it’s about the lives of unfulfilled women. Sandra Oh plays an M15 desk jockey, Jodie Comer (“The Last Duel“) plays an unhinged and lethal assassin, and through the canny, cunning detective work by the dissatisfied-with-life M15 security officer, the women get on each other’s radar and things snowball from there. “Killing Eve” has produced a lot of talented writers/showrunners that have moved on to bigger and better things (which might be the difficulty of sustaining the series). First Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag“) and then Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman“). Meanwhile, the two lead characters have gone from, collision course and addicted to one another, to something much more deadly. Laura Neal (“Sex Education“) takes over for the final season as showrunner.
Airdate: TBD, BBC One/Amazon, but this show tends to favor the spring. – RP