Keen for a holiday bingewatch? Here’s our pick of the top TV shows of 2016 and what we’re excited for in 2017.
With so many great new shows, picking what’s worth your effort is harder than ever. These are the must-sees.
It’s been a great year for TV and thanks to catch-up and on-demand services you won’t miss a thing — here’s what you need to watch before the end of the year!
Luke Cage
Catch it on: Netflix
Time investment: Around 12 hours, across 13 episodes
Watch it: It’s Netflix! The shows are built to binge — turn off your email and cancel your weekend plans
Watch it with: The person who told you comics could never actually have a political message
Perfect munchies: Classic NY deli food — whip up a Reuben sandwich or order in pizza
This show will make you: Get a new perspective on what’s happening in the world. And wish you were super strong
The Marvel superhero movies are big budget and big spectacle, but it’s a slightly different story over on TV. The Netflix Originals run of Marvel shows have taken some of the lesser-known heroes and told well-crafted stories that are more grounded — or as grounded as you get with super-powers!
Luke Cage is the latest series and it builds on the story started last year in Jessica Jones. The title character Luke Cage (played by The Good Wife ‘s Mike Colter) might be super-strong and bulletproof, but his real power turns out to be his commitment to making a difference for the people of Harlem.
In keeping with the other Marvel shows, Luke Cage focuses on one New York neighbourhood, but there’s more than enough action and social politics for the whole city!
You can watch Luke Cage as a standalone show, but it’s worth checking out Daredevil and Jessica Jones first. Next year will see The Defenders series hit, which will bring all three shows — plus the upcoming Iron Fist — together for a brand new superhero team up. And remember: it’s available in 4K if you’ve got the TV and net connection to match!
The Tunnel
Catch it on: Netflix + DVD set for Season 2
Time investment: Season 1 is 10 Episodes, Season 2 is 8 episodes, roughly an hour per episode.
Watch it: Take it slowly, start at the beginning and try one or two per evening. It’s totally engrossing and occasionally harrowing so give yourself a day or two to build up to the next instalment.
Watch it with: Find some British and/or French ex-pats who’ll appreciate the way the cross-Channel rivalries are portrayed.
Perfect munchies: A decent bottle of wine — something neutral like a chilled rose. For food, alternate between stir-fry tofu and a French baguette buttered and filled with pretzels (oh, and if you try the latter, drop us a line, as we’re curious to know what it’s like). By Season 2, give up on food preparation stock up the freezer with TV dinners so you’re not wasting time in the kitchen.
This show will make you: Think really seriously about who you might have offended over the years.
Season 2:
With sophisticated scripting and a flawless cast, this British-French series is an intelligent reworking of the Swedish crime drama The Bridge. It begins when the body of a French politician is found in the Channel Tunnel, lying across the midpoint between the UK and French boarder.
There ensues a brief standoff between French investigators headed up by Elise Wassermann (played by Clémence Poésey) and their British counterparts lead by Karl Roebuck (Stephen Dillane), until paramedics attempt to move the body and it becomes clear both teams will need to work together to find the instigator of a bizarre series of horrific and highly calculated terrorist attacks.
This the perfect series for anyone who’s caught the Scandi-TV bug, as the brilliant but socially incompetent Elise joins the affable and effective Karl Roebuck in an attempt to solve a series of complex and confusing crimes.
Flash forward to Season 2 and a plane wreckage washes up on a British beach — again drawing Wassermann and Roebuck into a strange and often terrifying series of crimes.
Politically charged and emotionally sophisticated, by the end of the series you’ll be Googling the producers to look for your next fix of nearly Nordic Noir.
BoJack Horseman
Catch it on: Netflix
Time investment: Three seasons and 37 episodes of about 25 minutes each. So, 18 hours of amazing TV
Watch it: You got a spare 18 hours? Well you’ll wish you did, because it’s impossible to stop watching
Watch it with: The guy who crashed on your couch six months ago and hasn’t left yet
Perfect munchies: Apple fritters with a side of bourbon
This show will make you: Cry. And laugh. But also cry
If you haven’t encountered BoJack Horseman before, the set-up can be a little hard to get your head around. BoJack Horseman (voiced by Arrested Development ‘s Will Arnett) is a washed-up actor who’s also a humanoid horse. His agent (and sometime girlfriend) is a pink cat called Princess Caroline while his housemate-slash-squatter Todd Chavez is mostly normal human (and voiced by Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad ). Other regular voices include Alison Brie as Bojack’s ghostwriter Diane Nguyen and Paul F Thompkins as Mr Peanutbutter, a Labrador who is also an actor. Look, we warned you this one was weird, right?
On some levels it’s an out-there animated comedy and on other levels it’s a heartbreaking look at someone who’s trying to be a better person and mostly failing. It’s been called one of the best shows ever made about depression but there’s enough laugh-out-loud humour that you won’t feel like you’re being beaten over the head with ‘important issues’.
In addition to the main cast, the show has attracted some big-name guest stars: Greg Kinnear, Candice Bergen, Jessica Biel, even Weird Al Yankovic — and that’s just in season three!
A new season is on the way, so now’s the time catch up on the character who’s more horse than man… or is it more man than horse?
Trapped
Catch it on: SBS On Demand
Time investment: 10 episodes of 52 minutes each
Watch it: Two big binge sessions when it’s too hot to go outside!
Watch it with: Someone you really trust…
Perfect munchies: If pickled herrings are too much for you, maybe just a really good quality ice-cream?
This show will make you: Suspicious of everyone
Maybe you feel like a drama that’s cool, calm and collected? Well we can’t promise the last two but Trapped is cooler than cool — in fact, it’s ice cold. This Icelandic series started making waves when it was first shown in its home turf, way back in 2015. Known as Ófærð — don’t ask me to pronounce that — the show has also proven to be a hit overseas, including here in Australia. People trafficking, theft of mutilated body parts, death and snow all combine in Trapped, which takes place in a tiny Icelandic town.
The stand out star is Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, who plays the police chief Andri. Olafur was actually born in Connecticut in the US — you can dazzle your mates at the pub with that tidbit. You might also recognise him from some English language films and TV shows such as True Detective and A Walk Among the Tombstones.
Created by Baltasar Kormákur, who directed Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington in 2 Guns, the whole of season 1 is available on SBS on Demand, and if you like it, then there’s good news and bad news: the good is that a second season has been commissioned. The bad? It’s not due until 2018!
Utopia (aka Dreamland)
Catch it on: Netflix (as Dreamland)
Time Investment: Two seasons both with eight episodes of around half an hour each
Watch: Two big hits — it’s only four hours or so per season and it’s so more-ish you’ll want to knock it back fast.
Watch it with: Anyone you know who’s worked in a Government job. It’ll be worth it for the eye-rolling.
Perfect Munchies: Grab a cuppa and an office-style assorted biscuit tray. Just make sure you’ve got it wrapped up in a little red tape.
This show will make you: Wonder where the comedy ends and the documentary begins…
If you like your political satire on the darkly comedic side, then you’re going to love the Aussie-made Utopia. Called Dreamland over in the US, to avoid any confusion with a different show of the same, the show is made by Australian comedy legends Working Dog productions — the team behind Frontline, Hollowmen and The Panel.
Staring Rob Sitch, Utopia is a peek inside the offices of the National Building Authority, a newly created Government body set up to oversee major infrastructure works, from train lines to new roads to airports. Surprise, surprise but the gears of Government don’t grind exactly smooth and Sitch’s character Tony spends more time attending meetings and putting together spreadsheets than he does getting anything built!
Utopia has scored a few big awards, including a Logie for best comedy, and deservedly so: it’s fast, witty, fun and another great locally made political satire.
Then what?
What to get excited about in 2017
The new year is closer than you think, so what are the shows to get hyped for in 2017?
The Defenders, the titanic team of the Marvel TV shows on Netflix is set to air 2017, although there’s no date just yet. Given that Iron Fist will land on March 17 next year, my guess is for The Defenders to make an appearance in the second half of the year.
For fans of biting, satirical comedy, stay tuned for news about a season 3 of The Katering Show. After ABC iView’s successful production of the parody cooking show’s second season, my money is on a bigger and better third season for 2017.
Finally, season 2 of Stranger Things is on the way! This Netflix horror series, set in the ’80s, felt like a mash of The Goonies and nearly every Stephen King book you’ve ever read. Watch season one and get ready for the return!
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