The 20 Best Apple TV Shows You’re Probably Not Watching

Seth Rogen co-created and stars in this dysfunctional comedy series about a movie studio’s attempt to stay relevant in Hollywood. Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn, Catherine O’Hara, Chase Sui Wonders and Bryan Cranston round out the cast. However, it’s the huge roster of celebrities that sets this series apart from other comedies. Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Anthony Mackie and more appear in funny and unexpected ways. There’s nothing else like a studio on TV.

Loot follows the story of Molly Wells (played by Maya Rudolph), who after divorcing her billionaire tech husband (played by Adam Scott), discovers that she is $87 billion richer. Instead of living a luxurious life and enjoying her new status, she decides to lead a charitable organization with the goal of donating everything. Michaela Gay Rodriguez, Nat Faxon, Ron Funches and Joel Kim Booster also star.

Anthony Bourdain’s lack of presence on television has me searching for a worthy host to fill the void. I didn’t expect Eugene Levy to be that guy. It’s all in the title of the show. He’s not a fan of traveling — but he pushes himself out of his comfort zone and the result is an informative, fun and entertaining series.

We all know about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Apple has turned this historical event into a conspiracy story worth your time. Manhunt, based on the book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer, puts us on a hunt to track down John Wilkes Booth. Anthony Boyle, Tobias Menzies, Hamish Linklater, Betty Gabriel, Matt Walsh and star Patton Oswalt.

The Trying follows Nikki (Esther Smith) and Jason (Rafe Spall), a couple who are unable to conceive a child. So, they move on to adoption. But the process isn’t that simple – especially when you add their unfamiliar families and daily chaos to the mix. Trying means many things: romance, comedy, and drama. Whatever you want to call it, the Apple TV Plus series is a thoroughly enjoyable watch.

Jason Momoa stars, serving as a writer and executive producing the historical drama Chief of War. The series tells the story of the unification of the Hawaiian Islands against the threat of colonialism at the turn of the 18th century. The show features a mostly Polynesian cast and explores this time in history from an indigenous perspective.

Acapulco stars Eugenio Derbez as Máximo, a man who remembers his younger years working in a hotel in Acapulco in the 1980s. It’s a light-hearted series, full of nostalgia and full of heart, which seems like an anomaly in our current television age. Want a show that’s bright and fun, with little emotional stakes? This is the series for you.

Slow Horses is the first TV series starring Gary Oldman, and these details in themselves should be enough to watch. The show is based on the Slough House book series by Mick Herron and follows Jackson Lamb (Oldman) and his crew of low-level spies as they face the challenges of espionage and criminal intrigue each season. Three of the show’s five seasons have received a perfect score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is well deserved.

Taron Egerton is Dave, an arson investigator, and Jurnee Smollett is Michelle, a police detective, who teams up to track down a duo of arsonists wreaking havoc in their community. Smoke is an exciting drama series inspired by true events. There’s a twisty mystery fueling this show, and it boasts a strong cast that also includes Greg Kinnear, Anna Chlumsky, John Leguizamo, Rafi Spall, and Ntare Guma Mbaho-Mwine.

If you thought The Return of Happy Gilmore was the only golf comedy worth watching, think again. Stick stars Owen Wilson as Bryce Cahill, a burned-out former golfer who is given a second chance at the sport in the form of a 17-year-old golf prodigy named Santi (Peter Dagger). If you’re looking for another feel-good sports series like Ted Lasso, you should definitely give this one a try.

Dope Thief is based on Dennis Tafoya’s 2009 novel and follows friends Ray and Manny, who decide to impersonate DEA agents so they can steal from drug dealers. Things go sideways when their small crime uncovers a huge drug operation. Brian Thierry Henry and Wagner Moura lead the series, ensuring that this captivating drama is led by top-notch talent.

In this dark comedy, Jon Hamm plays famous hedge fund manager Andrew “Cobb” Cooper, who decides to try his hand at home invasion as a way to generate income. Twist on this twist? He robs his wealthy neighbors. What he doesn’t expect through all this theft is the dark secrets it reveals about members of upper-class society.

Blackbird is based on the true story of Jimmy Kane (Taron Egerton), a man who made a deal with the FBI to go undercover in a maximum security prison to shorten his sentence. I forgot to mention that this place houses criminal lunatics and his mission is to befriend Larry Hall, the suspected serial killer, so he can find out information about where the bodies are buried. That is if he can get recognition in the first place. Paul Walter Hauser gives the best performance of his career as Hall.

Pachinko is a sweeping drama that follows multiple generations of a Korean family from the early 1900s to the 1980s. Seriously, it’s hard to sum up how beautiful and complex the storytelling in this series is in a few sentences. I’ll just say that the performances, cinematography, and conflicts on display here are absolutely fantastic. Probably the best show on this entire list, if I’m being honest.

Jason Segel, Harrison Ford and Jessica Williams star in this drama series about a broken therapist who struggles to piece his life and family back together after a devastating loss. There’s an interesting balance when Jimmy (Siegel) breaks professional norms to help his clients heal while seeking to do the same himself. It’s sad and funny and poignant and profound. To me, this is what mental health stories on TV should look like.

When you focus on a murder mystery in Florida, you have to expect things to get weird. And they do just that in Bad Monkey. It’s a weird kind of drama that stars Vince Vaughn as Andrew Yancey, a detective turned restaurant inspector who gets involved in a murder case after fishing a severed arm from the ocean. Bill Lawrence (of Ted Lasso, Scrubs, and Shrinking fame) created the dark comedy based on Carl Hiaasen’s book.

Presumed Innocent, based on the novel by Scott Turow, is executive produced by David E. Kelley and stars Jake Gyllenhaal as smart-aleck lawyer Rusty Sabich. Unlike the 1987 film starring Harrison Ford, this series delves deeper into the multi-layered scandal that put Sabic in handcuffs. Exploring each character, all of whom seem terrible in some way, adds to the morally corrupt narrative that makes this an interesting, if sometimes frustrating, watch.

Here we have another book adaptation to add to this list, and fortunately, Chemistry Lessons is feel-good fun. Inspired by Bonnie Jarmus’s book of the same name, the series revolves around a chemist named Elizabeth Zoot (Brie Larson) who finds herself working as a cooking show host. Given that this is a story set in the 1950s, it should come as no surprise that Zott faces a great deal of sexism in the workplace. However, she perseveres and brings a strangely scientific element to her Julia Childs-like role, making this period show a fun one to delve into.

I didn’t know what to expect when I clicked play on Platonic. Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne have starred in other projects together, but their delightfully weird dynamic in this one stands out. The story follows two long-time friends who reconnect in their forties to find that although they are living very different lives, they share common midlife struggles of trying to figure out where they fit in this rapidly changing world. It’s also nice to see a non-romantic exploration of friendship between a man and a woman. Contrary to what Harry said when he met Sally, it is possible.

Sharon Horgan created this black comedy series – inspired by the Belgian series Clan – about a group of sisters dealing with the fallout from the murder of JB, one of the women’s husbands, who is referred to throughout the show as “The Prick” due to his obnoxious behaviour. The series regularly changes the narrative to reveal bits and pieces behind who killed the man, while showcasing the dysfunctional dynamic between these two bad-ass sisters. Horgan stars opposite Anne-Marie Duff, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Green and Eve Hewson.