While we all love our Game of Thrones and Stranger Things, I can assure you, there’s much more out there to discover.
The Fosters
The Fosters has quietly slipped under the radar ever since its first season back in 2013. It’s about an interracial family of biological, fostered and adopted kids, parented by two mothers, and the struggles they face together. Over the years it’s had some great thematics surrounding the issues of coming out, adoption, violence, abuse, drug use, and much more. Your typical family drama, but taken up a notch.
Currently, the show has two same sex relationships, as well as one between a female and transgender male. That might not sound like a big deal, but it’s pretty groundbreaking in the world of television. Not only that, but at least half of the family is made up of people of colour. So if you’re looking for good representation in all forms, here’s the place to go.
The Fosters has a family that makes you wish you were a part of it. It has no shortage of excitement, and it seems like every week one of the kids has done something stupid again, so it’s realistic in that sense. It sends a good message about the power of family, and what could be better than that?
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow
Our favourite band of time travelling misfits haven’t made quite the splash that Arrow and The Flash have with audiences, but I never really understood why. Supergirl is my favourite DC show, without a doubt, but Legends of Tomorrow is a close second. It’s silly, and doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it’s also easy to root for these characters and want to know where they end up. The team is made up of superheroes like White Canary, Firestorm, The Atom, Vixen and more, as they travel through time to save the world.
Not only does time travel allow for the casting of cool historical figures (everyone from George Lucas to Julius Caesar to Guinevere), but the show has a ridiculous amount of great references too. For example, Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell’s characters often make jokes about breaking out of prison (since both actors starred in Prison Break together). Stein (played by Victor Garber, the ship builder in Titanic) states that whoever built the Titanic ought to be shot because they’d done such a terrible job. Little Easter eggs these priceless one-liners make an already fun show even more interesting.
Not only that, but Legends just added a female Muslim superhero to their team, which is pretty cool if you ask me. The lead is also a bisexual superhero, also pretty cool. There are even dinosaurs, if that’s your thing. Basically, if you want something fun and action-packed where someone’s not dying every two seconds, then this is for you.
Brooklyn Nine Nine
Fortunately, this show is becoming less and less neglected as time goes on. Just the other day on my bus ride home, I saw a guy watching B99, laughing out loud to himself every twenty seconds or so. A beautiful sight, really.
Brooklyn Nine Nine follows a group of cops and their antics in New York. It’s funny, socially aware, and the diversity is great. The main white male is a feminist who punches homophobes, so you’re definitely in good company either way. The show also features two well-rounded Latina women who aren’t sexualised in any way, and two black men (one who’s gay) in positions of power. It’s basically everything you could want in a TV show and more. Did I mention it’s really funny?
Guaranteed you’ll fall in love as soon as you start your weekend-long Netflix binge. Coming from someone who doesn’t watch a lot of comedy, that’s a big deal. It’s fun and light, but also manages to teach you a thing or two about the world, which can never be a bad thing. The show deserves all the positive attention it receives, and hopefully it’ll be on the air for many years to come.
Wynonna Earp
Wynonna Earp is another little misfit show that has made waves over the past year. It’s about Wynonna, descendant of Wyatt Earp, who has to fight demons in order to break a curse placed on her family years ago. A lot of other crazy stuff happens, but that’s the gist of it. It’s a Western, with a touch of horror, and a splash of comedy. It really shouldn’t work, but somehow it does.
Melanie Scrofano is a real life superhero in the role as Wynonna. Not only that, but the entire cast is phenomenal, and no character feels out of place or neglected. It’s silly, and has its fair share of cheesy moments, but overall it’s pretty great. The show’s second season is even stronger than the first, with Scrofano’s unexpected pregnancy being worked into the show. When a woman is able to be nine months pregnant pretending to give birth on a pool table, I’d say that’s pretty badass.
This is another show that features multiple LGBTQ characters, and one of the most celebrated same sex relationships on TV in the past year. Plus, the plot is actually interesting and keeps you coming back each week to see what happens. It seems to hit all the boxes, so why aren’t more people watching it?
Orphan Black
Orphan Black is the only show on our list that has, unfortunately, come to an end. The show wrapped up its fifth and final season earlier this year, and I’m really sad that it did. If you don’t know what it’s about, it’s Emmy Award winning Tatiana Maslany playing thirteen different characters, and blowing your mind while doing it. The show centres around Sarah Manning, who uncovers a plot about human cloning that she happens to be stuck right in the middle of.
Maslany plays an entire cast of different clones, and somehow manages to make each one distinguishable and seem completely different to the others. It’s exhausting to even think about the amount of work she must do each episode, but it pays off immensely. It’s dark at times, and tackles some big, controversial issues, but this is the kind of show that can do it well. Also, there’s something heartwarming about loner Sarah finding her family among her clones. She also has a biological daughter, Kira, who is adorable.
I’m hoping for some sort of reunion season in 5-10 years time, because it’s not like they’ll have to rally a lot of cast members together for it.
So there you have it, five shows that will keep you entertained and begging for more. Have you seen any of these shows or are there others you’d add to this must-watch list?