20. “Reservation Dogs” Season 3 (FX)
Is there a half-hour comedy on TV right now that’s as funny, soulful, poignant, and three-dimensional as “Reservation Dogs?” Taking its initial cues from “Atlanta,” aka taking your marginalized community, giving them a voice and putting them in absurdist, sometimes surrealist situational comedy settings, “Reservation Dogs” has really grown. Created by writer/director Sterlin Harjo, with a leg up assistance from Taika Waititi, this series, centered on spiritually adrift Oklahoma Indigenous teens, can maybe seem like a slacker-y hang out show on the surface, but it’s evolved beyond its Richard Linklater tendencies too, brimming with heart and beauty, telling funny, touching stories about its extended community, you simply cannot bring it back fast enough.
Airdate: TBD, and Harjo is already looking ahead to season 4. – RP
“Three Women” (Showtime)
In this intimate, haunting portrayal of American female desire, three women are on a crash course to radically overturn their lives. The drama stars Shailene Woodley, DeWanda Wise, Betty Gilpin, Gabrielle Creevy, Blair Underwood, and Lola Kirke. Laura Eason, a writer on “The Loudest Voice,” showruns the series alongside executive producers like the author who wrote the original book, Lisa Taddeo, and Emmy Rossum. Louise Friedberg (“Y: The Last Man,” “Borgen”) directs the first two episodes.
Premieres: TBD, but probably soon as Vanity Fair already did a splashy first look. – RP
18. “The Palace” (HBO)
The only reason this isn’t higher is concern that it might not get done in time, given it hasn’t even started shooting and was just announced in July 2022. However, given what “Mare of Easttown” did for HBO, it wouldn’t be remotely surprised if they tried to get it on the network in time for year-end best-of-TV lists. Yep, Kate Winslet is back in another HBO limited series, this one with an insane pedigree that includes “Succession” writers Will Tracy & Frank Rich and director Stephen Frears (“The Queen”). Not much is known about it, but what do you need to know about those people involved?
Airdate: TBD – BT
17. “Full Circle” (HBO Max)
After detours like “The Knick” and “Mosaic,” filmmaker Steven Soderbergh returns to television with the help of his fave new collaborator, screenwriter Ed Solomon (who wrote “Mosaic”). A limited series in the crime genre, “Full Circle,” centers on an investigation into a botched kidnapping that uncovers long-held secrets connecting multiple characters and cultures in present-day New York City. Its all-star cast includes Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, Timothy Olyphant, Dennis Quaid, Jharrel Jerome, and Jim Gaffigan, among others. Soderbergh directs all six episodes.
Airdate: TBD, but HBO has already revealed footage of it in recent 2023 teasers, so it’s likely coming in the winter or early spring.
16. “The Penguin” (HBO Max)
DC Studios might be a mess right now, but if anyone remains unphased by it all, it’s filmmaker Matt Reeves. His alternate “The Batman” universe continues with “The Penguin,” starring Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot, trying to seize power of Gotham’s criminal in the vacuum created by Carmine Falcone’s death. There’s one seemingly major obstacle: Cristin Milioti stars as his daughter, Sofia Falcone, presumably trying to make a counter-offensive move. Craig Zobel, the filmmaker behind the excellent “Mare Of Easttown,” will direct.
Airdate: TBD, but shoots early 2023, hopefully for a late 2023 release. – RP
15. “Secret Invasion” (Disney+)
Likely the biggest Marvel/D+ series of 2023, “Secret Invasion” acts as a Nick Fury show, a post-S.H.I.E.L.D. show, and place to continue the Skrulls storyline begun in “Captain Marvel.” S.W.O.R.D. from “WandaVision” is key to the plot, and the comics storyline about the Skrulls infiltrating Earth, posing as humans for decades, surely factors in somehow too. The stacked cast includes Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, and Cobie Smulders reprising their MCU roles and newcomers Olivia Colman, Emilia Clarke, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Killian Scott, Christopher McDonald, and Carmen Ejogo.
Airdate: Expected in the spring, on Disney+. – RP
14. “Yellowjackets” Season 2 (Showtime)
Showtime’s buzziest series returns this spring. The thriller drama takes place in the past and the present. The past: a group of high schoolers try and survive the wilderness after a horrible plane crash. The present: we know some of them survived, but the experience has left them traumatically scarred for life, and still seeking answers about the past that lead to more violent and extreme behavior. The past is led by Sophie Nélisse, Ella Purnell, Sophie Thatcher and more. The present stars Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, and more. It’s super entertaining.
Airdate: March 26, 2023. – RP
13. “Black Mirror” Series 6 (Netflix)
Has the world gotten too weird for Charlie Brooker? The creator of the massive Channel 4 and Netflix hit sci-fi anthology series has been taking his sweet time with a new series, reportedly at different points considering not even doing it. Well, that’s all changed. There hasn’t been new “Black Mirror” since 2019, but Netflix confirmed a sixth series in May of this year, and it started filming shortly thereafter. There are reportedly more episodes than in the 3-episode 2019 outing and stars this time include Zazie Beetz, Paapa Essiedu, Josh Hartnett, Aaron Paul, Kate Mara, Rory Culkin, and Rob Delaney.
Airdate: TBD – BT
12. “Poker Face” (Peacock)
You know how everyone loves Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” movies? What if we told you the writer/director also had a TV series coming up that works off the once-beloved case-of-the-week format and stars the irreplaceable Natasha Lyonne as the crime solver? Not enough? How about a supporting cast that includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Stephanie Hsu, Adrien Brody, Lil Rel Howery, Dascha Polanco, Benjamin Bratt, and more? The only mystery is how many times you’re going to watch this.
Airdate: January 26, 2023. – BT
11. “Barry” Season 4 (HBO)
The third season finale of “Barry” ended with a hell of a cliffhanger as Barry was ambushed by the police, who seem finally ready to take in everyone’s favorite hitman. After far too long between seasons, fans were thrilled by the third outing of this Emmy darling, and it was no surprise that HBO renewed it for a fourth outing earlier this year. And we won’t have to wait anywhere near as long as the show reportedly started filming in June of this year. Get this neat tidbit: Bill Hader himself is planning to direct all eight episodes.
Airdate: TBD – BT
