Top 10 Shows You Should be Watching This Fall (2018)

Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s anthology series is unlikely to ever recapture the lightning in a bottle of their first season, “Murder House”. But in subsequent seasons, they’ve continued to deliver some of the best horror on television and tell one unique story after another- even if the results have sometimes been uneven. With season 8, “Apocalypse”, they’re pushing boldly forward by actually revisiting familiar ground, in the form of a crossover involving fan favorite characters from “Murder House” and “Coven”. For anyone who felt season 7 was a bit stale, this is welcome news; and for newcomers, there’s never been a more compelling time to get caught up.

Did you sleep on the first season of this gritty HBO drama? Well… wake up! Featuring powerhouse performances from James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Deuce” explores 1970s New York City and the birth and evolution of the porn industry. The first season earned an impressive 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and was described by Willa Paskin of Slate as “ intelligent, sensitive, and fun, a show about exploitation that is not exploitative”. Oh, and did we mention that it’s co-created by David Simon, the man behind a little show called “The Wire”? Season 1 was great, but it was just a foundation for the complex world and accompanying story that Simon is telling - one you don’t want to miss.

Whether you were pulled in by its charms or not, there’s no denying that “Gilmore Girls” was a masterclass in witty dialogue, and a careful balancing act of comedy and drama - or at least it was during creator Amy Sherman-Palladino’s time on the series. Take that energy, give it a more unique premise and the creative freedom that often accompanies a streaming service, and you get “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, which might just be poised to surpass “Gilmore Girls” as Sherman-Palladino’s career-defining project. Set in the late 1950s, it follows a housewife who discovers that she has a natural ability for stand-up comedy. It’s not only hilarious, but also provocative, heartwarming and totally refreshing.

In this era of 15 second attention spans and arguably too much media to consume, few series get the chance to grow into themselves. Thankfully… the animated “Bojack Horseman” did. A Netflix original dark comedy about a washed up actor/anthropomorphic horse (voiced by Will Arnett), Bojack Horseman got off to a slow start in season 1, but it has steadily become one of the best, most thought-provoking series on TV, animated or otherwise. Fall 2018 sees the release of its fifth season. Here’s hoping that there are still plenty more to come, because many people are only beginning to catch on.

This NBC series definitely has a “Lost” vibe to it, as well as a dash of “Heroes” and “This Is Us”, but with “Back To The Future” director Robert Zemeckis serving as an executive producer, we have reason to believe that this show will find its own identity. And based on the premise alone, consider us committed for at least the first few episodes. The series explores the lives of the passengers and crew of Montego Air Flight 828, who, upon landing after a rough flight that lasted just a few hours, discover that 5 years have passed. Intrigued? Yeah, us too!

There’s been a hole in the hearts of TV lovers, and it’s shaped like the words “Mad Men”. Three years after the conclusion of that beloved series however, creator Matt Weiner comes back with something new to offer us. And while Jon Hamm is sadly nowhere to be seen, you’re sure to recognize the familiar faces of John Slattery and Christina Hendricks. Here’s the catch though… this is an anthology series, in which each episode tells a different story about different people who all believe themselves to be descendents of the famous Russian Romanov family. Jam-packed with stars, this promises a narrative television experience unlike anything we’ve seen before.

In 2018, Damien Chazelle and Ryan Gosling teamed up to bring us a big-screen version of the real-life story of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon; but on the small screen the creator of Netflix’s “House of Cards”, Beau Willimon, is taking us a quite few steps further: to Mars. Starring Sean Penn, “The First” is a co-production between Hulu and the UK’s Channel 4, and it follows the story of five astronauts vying to become the first humans to visit Mars. It promises to not only explore space, but also investigate the emotional journey of both astronauts and their families. This looks like a beautiful and riveting voyage.

Jim Carrey’s life has had more than its fair share of twists and turns in recent years. But hey, it’s often the most tortured artists who produce the best art; and by the looks of this new series, Carrey is clearly in tip-top shape, at least as far as his acting is concerned. “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is arguably some of actor’s best work, and for “Kidding”, Carrey has once again teamed up with director Michel Gondry to give us a unique and unsettling dramatic comedy. Early reviews have nothing but praise for Carrey’s performance as the emotionally-struggling children’s TV personality, Mr. Pickles.

If you’re not watching “The Good Place”, you’re really missing out: it’s as plain as that. For those of you who haven’t been tuning in, we’re going to keep a lid on it and avoid spoiling too much, but we’ll say this: the series starts with a funny premise (a recently deceased woman finds herself in the afterlife’s “Good Place” when she should really have gone to the very different other place), and then rides that premise in all manner of unexpected directions. Brilliantly written, consistently funny and featuring stellar performances by Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, “The Good Place” is must-watch tv that, thankfully, as of fall 2018, has made it to three seasons.





Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions



“Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” (2018-)


“Big Mouth” (2017-)



“Jack Ryan” (2018-)

Every now and then a series comes along that makes you do a double take and ask...how is this television and not a film? In 2018, that honor goes to “Maniac”, a Netflix miniseries, based on a Norwegian show, which stars Jonah Hill, Emma Stone and Justin Theroux. It’s scripted by novelist Patrick Somerville, who wrote on “The Bridge” and “The Leftovers,” and is directed by the brilliant Cary Fukunaga, who helmed the critically acclaimed first season of “True Detective”. “Maniac” is a brain-meltingly trippy dark comedy about a pharmaceutical trial that promises to fix everything wrong with the human mind. This is THE show to watch in Fall 2018.