Some of those have been brand new shows, either the result of conscious release date delays or interrupted production schedules. Others have been series imports that enjoyed full runs in different parts of the world before getting a U.S. debut in 2021. And as the year continues to develop and the awards calendar switches over into its multi-holiday phase, we’ve also seen the return of established favorites. We try our best to help sift through the steady stream of newcomers every month (our monthly premiere overviews and Netflix highlights, to name a few), but there still always seems to be more than any casual viewer can keep track.
So we’ve been maintaining our annual roundup of all the TV reviews that IndieWire has published this year. To help keep everything organized in an informative way (fingers crossed), we’ve grouped each of our reviews by letter grade. (Since reducing an entire season of TV to a single classification is entirely arbitrary at best, we’ve linked each review to provide some more context.) Obviously, not everyone’s opinions are going to overlap perfectly, but we hope that this will help give some extra guidance to any prospective catchup plans. We’ll be updating this regularly throughout the year as new series pop up. With the annual flurry of year-end releases continuing as always, there should be plenty more to come. In the meantime, here’s what we’ve been watching so far in 2021.
A
The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song [PBS] Feel Good — Season 2 [Netflix] The Good Fight — Season 5 [Paramount+] It’s a Sin [HBO Max] Insecure — Season 5 [HBO] The Lady and the Dale [HBO] Star Wars: Visions [Disney+] Succession — Season 3 [HBO] Tuca & Bertie — Season 2 [Adult Swim] Waffles + Mochi [Netflix] The White Lotus — Season 1 [HBO] Adam Rose
A-
All Creatures Great and Small — Season 1 [PBS] Brand New Cherry Flavor [Netflix] Everything’s Gonna Be Okay — Season 2 [Freeform] Hacks — Season 1 [HBO Max] I Think You Should Leave — Season 2 [Netflix] Last Chance U: Basketball [Netflix] Losing Alice [Apple TV+] McCartney 3,2,1 [Hulu] Muhammad Ali [PBS] My Love: Six Stories of True Love [Netflix] Never Have I Ever — Season 2 [Netflix] Starstruck — Season 1 [HBO Max] Ted Lasso — Season 2 [Apple TV+] This Way Up — Season 2 [Hulu]
What We Do in the Shadows — Season 3 [FX] Worn Stories [Netflix] FX
B+
Acapulco — Season 1 [Apple TV+] Allen v. Farrow [HBO] Back to Life — Season 2 [Showtime] The Beast Must Die [AMC] A Black Lady Sketch Show — Season 2 [HBO] Calls [Apple TV+] Central Park — Season 2 [Apple TV+] Chucky [SyFy] Cruel Summer [Freeform] Curb Your Enthusiasm — Season 11 [HBO] Dave — Season 2 [FXX] Dickinson — Season 3 [Apple TV+] Evil — Season 2 [Paramount+] Exterminate All the Brutes [HBO] Foundation — Season 1 [Apple TV+] The Girlfriend Experience — Season 3 [Starz] The Great North — Season 1 [Fox] Love, Victor — Season 2 [Hulu] Mare of Easttown [HBO] The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers [Disney+] Mythic Quest — Season 2 [Apple TV+] Only Murders in the Building — Season 1 [Hulu] Reservation Dogs — Season 1 [FX] Rick & Morty — Season 5 [Adult Swim] The Serpent [Netflix] Shadow & Bone — Season 1 [Netflix] The Sinner — Season 4 [USA] Staged — Season 2 [Hulu] Ultra City Smiths — Season 1 [AMC] Untold [Netflix] We Are Lady Parts — Season 1 [Peacock] Wellington Paranormal — Season 1 [The CW] What If….? [Disney+] A Wild Year on Earth [BBC America] You — Season 3 [Netflix] Rafy Winterfeld/FX
B
The Baby-Sitters Club — Season 2 [Netflix] Back — Season 2 [IFC] Beartown [HBO Max] The Chair [Netflix] Dickinson — Season 2 [Apple TV+] For Heaven’s Sake [Paramount+] The Handmaid’s Tale — Season 4 [Hulu] The Irregulars — Season 1 [Netflix] Kevin Can F*** Himself — Season 1 [AMC] Midnight Mass [Netflix] Miss Scarlet and the Duke [PBS] Mr. Mayor — Season 1 [NBC] Schmigadoon! [Apple TV+] See — Season 2 [Apple TV+] Swagger — Season 1 [Apple TV+] This is Pop [Netflix] Through Our Eyes [HBO Max] The Wonder Years — Season 1 [ABC] Y: The Last Man [FX on Hulu] Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix
B-
American Rust [Showtime] Bridge and Tunnel — Season 1 [Epix] Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil [YouTube Premium] For All Mankind — Season 2 [Apple TV+] In Treatment — Season 4 [HBO] Lisey’s Story [Apple TV+] Love, Death + Robots — Season 2 [Netflix] Made for Love [HBO Max] Master of None — Season 3 [Netflix] Monsters at Work — Season 1 [Disney+] The Mosquito Coast [Apple TV+] Outer Banks — Season 2 [Netflix] Pose — Season 3 [FX] Pretend It’s a City [Netflix] Resident Alien — Season 1 [Syfy] Sasquatch [Hulu] Scenes from a Marriage [HBO] Servant — Season 2 [Apple TV+] Solar Opposites — Season 2 [Hulu]
Sweet Tooth [Netflix] This is a Robbery [Netflix] WandaVision [Disney+] Young Rock — Season 1 [NBC] Courtesy of Apple
C+
Colin in Black and White [Netflix] Coyote — Season 1 [CBS All Access] Dexter: New Blood [Showtime] Dopesick [Hulu] Dr. Brain [Apple TV+] The Falcon and the Winter Soldier [Disney+] Genera+ion [HBO Max] Generation Hustle [HBO Max] Housebroken — Season 1 [Fox] Lupin — Part 2 [Netflix] Mr. Corman [Apple TV+] Naomi Osaka [Netflix] The Nevers — Season 1 [HBO] The Problem with Jon Stewart [Apple TV+] Us [PBS] Yasuke [Netflix] Courtesy of Netflix
C
American Crime Story — Season 3 [FX] Firefly Lane — Season 1 [Netflix] Loki [Disney+] Love Life — Season 2 [HBO Max] What Happened, Brittany Murphy? [HBO Max] Atsushi Nishijima / Netflix
C-
The Equalizer — Season 1 [CBS] Gossip Girl — Season 1 [HBO Max] Halston [Netflix] Invasion [Apple TV+] The Luminaries [Starz] Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer [Netflix] Courtesy of Apple
D+
Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes [HBO] Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. — Season 1 [Hulu] The Morning Show — Season 2 [Apple TV+] Adam Rose / Netflix
D
Clarice — Season 1 [CBS] Jupiter’s Legacy — Season 1 [Netflix] Nine Perfect Strangers [Hulu] Q: Into the Storm [HBO]
F
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