The Eight Must-See TV Shows To Obsess Over In 2017

There are of course many good reasons to stay indoors: the world is heating up, there is always the possibility of bears, interacting with people is simply the worst. But here’s a very good reason to shut your doors and draw your curtains in 2017 – peak TV! Yes, we’re getting more and more entertainment than ever via our various screens and streams, and here’s the thing: some of it is actually really worthwhile – entertaining, stimulating and thought-provoking. Here are a few titles we’re eagerly anticipating over the next 12 months, and we’re 99.8% sure our high expectations will be met and possibly exceeded. (That 0.02% margin for error is us taking into account the possibility David Lynch might go completely off the rails.)

Atlanta

Created by: Donald Glover
Cast: Donald Glover, Brian Tyree Henry, Lakeith Stanfield, Zazie Beetz

We like Donald Glover around these here parts. We liked him as Troy on Community. We liked it when he unveiled the Childish Gambino persona. (The Awaken, My Love! album is pretty damn rad.) We really liked it when it was announced he was playing Lando Calrissian in that upcoming Star Wars movie about young Han Solo. And so it goes that we like the eight-episode TV series Atlanta, because it’s very Glover (he created it, co-wrote most of it, directed a few eps and plays a lead role) and it’s very good. It’s quirky without loudly declaring its quirkiness; it’s cool in an understated, inclusive way. 
Coming in Feb to SBS VICELAND.

Twin Peaks

Created by: David Lynch, Mark Frost
Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, Robert Forster

Before we get positively giddy celebrating the return (after a quarter of a freakin’ century) of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s bizarro small-town melodrama, let us take the moment to pour one out for dearly departed character actor Miguel Ferrer, whose reprisal of his role as snarky but secretly spiritual forensic analyst Albert Rosenfield will be his final screen appearance. Rest in peace, sir. Okay, now we can get giddy, because any time Lynch puts something onscreen it’s cause for celebration (yes, even Dune), and while next to nothing has been disclosed about this 18-episode limited series, it’s STILL THE RETURN OF TWIN PEAKS, Y’ALL. What’s more, the majority of the original cast is back, and among the new kids in town are Naomi Watts, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Cera (!) and Eddie Vedder (!!). That gum you like is indeed going to come back in style.
Premieres 22 May 22 on Stan.

Taboo

Created by: Tom Hardy, Chips Hardy, Steven Knight
Cast: Tom Hardy, Oona Chaplin, Jonathan Pryce, Franka Potente

Have you ever thought to yourself ‘What I want out of my viewing experience is some pure, undiluted Tom Hardy – the glaring, the growling, the glowering’? Well, Taboo is here to fulfil your needs and then some. Co-created by the Bane dude and his dad, this is a moody, broody eight-episode drama set in Ye Olde, Grimee England of the 19^th century featuring Hardy as a prodigal son and wayward adventurer who returns to London after years in far-flung, uncivilised lands. He has grudges against the powers that be, he has no qualms about taking a literal bite out of anyone who steps to him, he may have had sex with his half-sister in the past and he may like to do so again in the future. Hey, it’ll do the trick until Game of Thrones returns.
Coming to BBC First, though Foxtel, midyear. 

Glitch/Cleverman

Created by: Tony Ayres, Louise Fox (Glitch); Ryan Griffen (Cleverman)
Cast: Hunter Page-Lochard, Rob Collins, Iain Glen, Deborah Mailman (Cleverman); Patrick Brammall, Emma Booth, Luke Arnold, Rob Collins (Glitch)

Points to the ABC for commissioning material that goes a step or two beyond conventional local programming; extra points for giving such shows a second season. Both Cleverman (which energetically combined indigenous mythology, social commentary and futuristic-dystopia action) and Glitch (which thoughtfully and imaginatively breathed a new kind of life into the well-worn back-from-the-dead genre) won attention and affection from audiences here and abroad, and it’s a positive move to see the creative teams for both given the opportunity to expand their casts (charismatic Cleverman star Rob Collins has joined the Glitch line-up!) and universes.
Both shows returning to ABC later in 2017.

Feud

Created by: Ryan Murphy
Cast: Jessica Lange, Susan Sarandon, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Judy Davis

Ryan Murphy likes to kick it up a notch. Anyone who’s seen his shows Nip/Tuck, Glee or American Horror Story knows that he tends to like his storytelling a tad heightened, a bit lurid, a little campy. So him dramatising the bitter rivalry between legendary Hollywood stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford (played here by Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange respectively) is gonna be a deliciously tart treat.
Airdate and outlet to be confirmed. 

Iron Fist

Created by: Scott Buck
Cast: Finn Jones, David Wenham, Jessica Stroup, Rosario Dawson

Netflix has been assembling its team of comic-book crime-fighters over the last few years, with solo shows spotlighting Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, and now the fourth member – martial arts mofo Iron Fist – is getting his shot before they all come together for The Defenders near the end of the year. Advance footage of Game of Thrones star Finn Jones as the titular heavy-hitter has been promising; just as promising is the presence of Straya’s own David Wenham as a baddie.
Premieres 17 Mar on Netflix.

American Gods

Created by: Bryan Fuller, Michael Green
Cast: Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane, Emily Browning, Gillian Anderson

Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, American Gods has a cool concept – mythological beings materialising from current American obsessions with wealth, celebrity, technology and such are walking the earth – and a cool cast, but the coolest thing about it is that it’s a behind-the-camera team-up of Hannibal’s mad genius Bryan Fuller and writer Michael Green, whose 2017 credits include the much-anticipated Logan and Blade Runner 2049.
Airdate and outlet to be confirmed.

Stranger Things

Created by: Matt and Ross Duffer
Cast: Winona Ryder, Millie Bobby Brown, David Harbour, Paul Reiser

Will Stranger Things get even stranger with its second season? The Duffer Brothers are playing their cards close to their chest by revealing very little about the new adventures of Eleven – played by breakout star Millie Bobby Brown – and her pals, but this is bound to be one of the must-see shows of the year. And the casting of Paul Reiser, possibly as an untrustworthy suit, hints at an Aliens influence on the tone – gotta be happy about that.
Premieres 31 Oct on Netflix