The 44 Best Shows and Movies on Apple TV+ Right Now (June 2023)

Apple TV+'s latest show, The Crowded Room, couldn't enter the crowded room of the best shows and movies to watch on Apple TV+. The Tom Holland-starring miniseries, based on a real case of a man charged with attempted murder and the unique situation that may make him innocent even though his finger pulled the trigger, didn't get into our heads or critics' hearts. But that doesn't mean all recent Apple TV+ options are bad. We're recommending Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne's comedy Platonic, as well as Still, a new documentary about Michael J. Fox. 

This list was last updated June 20; newer additions are at the top.

Platonic

For fans of: Chaotic best friends
Number of seasons: 1

Despite what When Harry Met Sally taught us, in Platonic, straight men and women can just be friends. This endearingly silly comedy, created by Nicholas Stoller and Francesca Delbanco, reunites Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen as a pair of old friends who reconnect after years apart, which leads to chaos — and some constructive change — as they both reconsider what they want their lives to look like. It's a fun hangout comedy with a dash of midlife crisis. As Keith Phipps says in his review, "Beneath gags about late-night cell phone etiquette, nightmarish home renovation projects, and raccoons is a bittersweet exploration of giving up youthfulness for middle age, what's lost and gained in the exchange, and the realization that your true friends are the ones still with you on the other side." -Kelly Connolly [Trailer]

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

For fans of: Michael J. Fox!

Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) directs this documentary on 1980s Hollywood legend Michael J. Fox, whose career was paused by a Parkinson's diagnosis. The film works because it embodies the optimistic spirit of Fox, whose wit and charm push Still into an uplifting tale of persevering rather than a sad story of what could have been. Guggenheim's use of classic Fox clips to push the narrative forward will only remind you of just how great Fox was and is. -Tim Surette [Trailer]      

Silo

For fans of: Sci-fi murder mysteries, deep holes in the ground
Number of seasons: 1

This new sci-fi series — an adaptation of Hugh Howey's 2012 book Wool — from Justified's Graham Yost starts off with a rough first episode, but the story — a near-future dystopian murder mystery set in an underground facility where the last surviving thousands of humans live — really gets chugging in Episode 2. That's when we're introduced to Rebecca Ferguson's Juliette, an engineer discovering that a series of murders just might be related to the rule-makers of their subterranean abode. Fair warning: This moody and drab drama is for hard sci-fi lovers or fans of Scandinavian noir. -Tim Surette [Trailer]      

Schmigadoon!

For fans of: Musical comedies, corn pudding
Number of seasons: 2

Despite being perfectly enjoyable, musical comedy series don't have the most successful track record (Galavant, where art thou?). But Apple TV+'s genre-busting series Schmigadoon! is bucking the trend in a good way. Keegan-Michael Key and Cecily Strong star as a couple who come across a magical town where everyone seems stuck in a 1940s musical. They get stuck in the town, which makes it a bit of a Twilight Zone episode or horror movie where everyone sings about corn pudding. Also, Martin Short plays a leprechaun. This show is goofy on the outside, but secretly twisted. In the fantastic Season 2, the series shifts to "Schmicago" to lampoon musicals from the '60s and '70s. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

More recommendations:

• The Ultimate Guide to What to Stream in June
• The Best Shows to Watch Based on Shows You Already Love
• The Best Sci-Fi Shows

The Big Door Prize

For fans of: Small town comedies, existential questions, comically large bowls of spaghetti
Number of seasons: 1 (Renewed for Season 2)

Chris O'Dowd stars in this comfortably whimsical comedy about citizens of a small town who get in a tizzy when a mysterious machine called The Morpho arrives with a promise to reveal their life potential on a little blue card. Seeing how these regular folk take to archery, motorcycle riding, and other hobbies they previously had no interest in is both hilarious and thought-provoking, as questions of prophecy, latent desires, and divine intervention swirl around your head. But the real draw here is the charming cast and the characters they bring to life with intertwining stories sharpened with a bit of mystery. -Tim Surette [Trailer]     

Ted Lasso

For fans of: Making fun of Americans, making fun of the British, sports, feeling good
Number of seasons: 3

If any show can be credited with restoring faith in humanity after the whirlwind of 2020, it is Ted Lasso. The titular Ted (Jason Sudeikis) is an American college football coach who heads to England to coach an actual football (soccer, for the uninitiated) team. While the setup seems like a farce -- Ted's hiring is part of an elaborate scheme by an embittered woman looking to ruin the beloved football team of her cheating ex-husband -- Ted's seemingly unshakeable good nature and determination to see the best in everyone, even those actively trying to do him harm, is downright inspiring. He doesn't just bring a glow to everyone around him; he leaves viewers with hope that things can get better and that doing your best is enough. He's the hero we didn't know we needed. Season 3 might be the last season of the show, or it might not. Sudeikis and Apple are being extremely non-committal, probably because Apple is holding up a check with a lot of numbers on it to keep it going despite the producers' insistence that the originally planned three-season arc is finished. -Megan Vick [Trailer] 

The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy

For fans of: Complaining, watching someone being forced to do something they don't want to
Number of seasons: 1

If you find travel shows too packed with things like "wonder" and "enthusiasm" from their eager hosts, then take a tour of the world with Schitt's Creek's Eugene Levy. As the title implies, Levy would rather loaf around in the comforts of his temperature-controlled home, but here he's visiting beautiful spots like Finland, the Maldives, and Venice, complaining about the weather the entire time. But that's the attraction of the show; Levy's whining is actually more of a draw then the spots he's in, making this less of a travel show and more of a one-man play. -Tim Surette [Trailer]       

Shrinking

For fans of: Ted Lasso, crossing boundaries, sad sacks
Number of seasons: 1

Ted Lasso's Brett Goldstein and Bill Lawrence team up with Jason Segel for this tragi-com about a therapist (Segel) swirling the toilet bowl of life after his wife dies. So what he decides to do is tell it to his patients like it is, obliterating the professional boundaries of therapists. But because this is a TV show from the same team that said a football coach could go to England and coach a soccer team, the advice works! Harrison Ford and Jessica Williams also star. -Tim Surette [Trailer]       

Servant

For fans of: Psychological horror from M. Night Shyamalan, babies, food
Number of seasons: 4

The claustrophobic thriller Servant, created by Tony Basgallop and executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan, began as a wild-eyed but mechanically precise story about a family unraveling in the wake of a tragedy. In Season 1, Dorothy (Lauren Ambrose) and Sean Turner (Toby Kebbell) hired live-in nanny Leanne (Nell Tiger Free) to care for the lifelike "reborn doll" that a grieving Dorothy believed was her son — only for the doll to somehow become a living baby. Now, the show has gone full-on supernatural as Leanne's true nature has come out. It's the details that make this show stand out, like the rich wallpaper of the Turners' Philadelphia brownstone, the wet, wet, shoes of Leanne's weird uncle (Boris McGiver), and the most unsettling food design since Hannibal. The fourth and final season is now airing. -Kelly Connolly [Trailer] 

Little America

For fans of: The immigrant experience, anthologies, crying your eyes out in a good way
Number of seasons: 2

If you need a nice pick-me-up from the ills of the world, this anthology series from Kumail Nanjiani, Emily V. Gordon, and Master of None's Alan Yang is a good bet. Each episode of Little America is based on the true stories of immigrants in America, showing off their successes and experiences in humorous and heartwarming fashion, like the Indian spelling bee whiz who ran his parents' hotel after they were deported and petitioned Laura Bush to help him get them back. The best part of the show is that it focuses on the systemic challenges they face rather than on hate from racist individuals, and the stories vary wildly so they don't feel repetitive. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Slow Horses

For fans of: Spy dramas, incredibly British things, Gary Oldman rippin' toots
Number of seasons: 2 (Renewed through Season 4)

It's been a bit since we've had a good spy drama, which makes Slow Horses a refreshing watch in these times of true crime and tech CEOs behaving badly. The series follows a group of MI5 agents who have been relegated to a backwater outpost called Slough House because of past mistakes, where they're supposed to disappear and do grunt work while superstar agents get the glory. Gary Oldman plays the team leader, a disgruntled man who can no longer give an F about anything, while Jack Lowden plays the new member of Slough House who isn't willing to fade away. It's darkly funny and thrilling. -Tim Surette [Trailer]  

Echo 3

For fans of: Action and artsiness at the same time, guns but emotion
Number of seasons: 1

Imagine if Strike Back, the great Cinemax action series, took some time to appreciate the beauty of life and nature in between blowing things up. That's kind of like what Echo 3 is. The series hails from Mark Boal, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Hurt Locker, and follows a scientist (Jessica Ann Collins) who gets captured by South American rebels and the ensuing mission to get her back by her husband (Michiel Huisman) and brother (Luke Evans), who both happen to be Special Forces. I'm not sure the intense, no-frills action sequences, the meaning-of-life pondering shots of nature, and the emotional flashback snippets belong in the same show together, but for those looking for an elevated military drama, this is it, even if it doesn't always work. -Tim Surette [Trailer]     

Spirited

For fans of: A-listers singing and dancing, gleeful corniness

Apple TV+'s first big shot at a Christmas movie continues the streamer's tradition of hauling in big-name talent: Will Ferrell plays the Ghost of Christmas Present and Ryan Reynolds plays the man he's trying to change in this musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol. There are big song-and-dance numbers, hot cameos, and some jokes for grown-ups, and it's a good option if you're tired of the traditional classics. Just don't expect this to be on regular rotation in your house every December. -Tim Surette [Trailer]     

Mythic Quest

For fans of: Workplace comedies, the video game industry
Number of seasons: 3 (+special episodes)

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Rob McElhenney is smart enough to know that video games are funny, but they're not to be made fun of. Gamers are legion, after all. The game biz gets a loving sendup in Mythic Quest without making gamers the joke, as McElhenney plays the egotistical creative director of a popular MMORPG that's seemingly always in trouble in some way or another. F. Murray Abraham leaves the show in Season 3 (in spectacular fashion, I might add), but the excellent cast still includes Danny Pudi, Ashly Burch, Jessie Ennis, David Hornsby, Imani Hakim, and Charlotte Nicdao, who's one of TV's most underrated talents. Even with a third season that doesn't hit like the previous two, this is one of TV's best workplace comedies. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me

For fans of: Selena Gomez, getting to know a down-to-earth megastar

You can watch Selena Gomez in streaming originals on Netflix (The Fundamentals of Caring), Hulu (Only Murders in the Building), or HBO Max (Selena + Chef), but now you can really see who Selena Gomez is on Apple TV+. This documentary follows Selena as she struggles with stardom, accepts her diagnoses of lupus, bipolar disorder, and depression, and turns her focus on helping herself and others. It's a must-see for Selena fans, and an ought-to-see for everyone else looking for a cathartic film about one's truth. -Tim Surette [Trailer]     

Acapulco

For fans of: Hard work, sunny vibes, telenovelas
Number of seasons: 2 (Renewed for Season 3)

If you need to wash the day away, you can't do much better than checking into the Las Colinas resort in Acapulco, the setting for this comedy about a young man who gets a dream job working at a high-end resort in Mexico. The 1980s-set bilingual comedy -- it's about 50/50 English and Spanish -- is like Jane the Virgin meets The White Lotus meets How I Met Your Mother, as Maximo (Enrique Arrizon) works his way up from pool boy in 1984 to wealthy hotelier in the present-day timeline. It's charming, it's sunny, and it's got a pair of lounge singers who belt out '80s classics in Spanish. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Bad Sisters

For fans of: Big Little Lies, Irish accents, cinematography
Number of Seasons: 1 (Renewed for Season 2)

The great Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe) created and stars in this Irish series that's something like Big Little Lies as a dark comedy. It's about five sisters — played by Horgan, Anne-Marie Duff, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, and Eve Hewson — one of whom is married to a truly awful man played by Claes Bang, who, when the show begins, is dead. The show unfolds over two timelines, and there's a mystery in each one: What happened to him and how exactly the sisters were involved in his death in the past, and whether they'll be able to keep the secret in the present. It's thrillingly biting in Horgan's signature way. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]       

Black Bird

For fans of: Mindhunter, prison stories
Number of Seasons: 1

Black Bird is one of this year's rarest birds: a true crime adaptation that actually feels fresh — and horrifying. Developed by novelist Dennis Lehane and based on James Keene's autobiographical novel In With the Devil, the drama series stars Taron Egerton as Keene, who's facing a 10-year prison sentence before he gets an unexpected offer: He'll be freed if he can befriend and tease a confession out of a suspected serial killer (Paul Walter Hauser). Ray Liotta, in one of his final roles, plays Jimmy's father, an ex-cop with his own burdens. -Kelly Connolly [Trailer]       

Loot

For fans of: Maya Rudolph, stupid rich people
Number of Seasons: 1 (Renewed for Season 2)

The only thing you really need to know about Loot is that it stars Maya Rudolph as "the most famous cheated-on woman on the planet." What else does any show need? The new Apple TV+ comedy reunites Rudolph with Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard, creators of Amazon's Forever, but she's not dead this time; she's just been very publicly cheated on by her rich husband (Adam Scott), leaving her with billions of dollars and a charity foundation she never knew existed. She decides to take a more active role in the charity to prove she's got substance, making Loot kind of like Legally Blonde for billionaires' ex-wives. It's a decent comedy, even if it's still not the starring vehicle for Rudolph that we deserve. -Kelly Connolly [Trailer]       

Cha Cha Real Smooth

For fans of: Dancing at bat and bar mitzvahs, crowd-pleasing tearjerkers

Cooper Raiff is having his Hollywood moment. The young writer, director, and star of Cha Cha Real Smooth saw his film take home the Sundance Audience Prize earlier this year, leading Apple to gobble it up (Apple did the same with CODA, which went on to win Best Picture). Raiff plays 22-year-old Andrew, whose charm earns him a job as a party starter at bat and bar mitzvahs, which leads him to fall for an engaged mother (Dakota Johnson) of an autistic child. Post-college confusion ensues as Andrew struggles to find his place in the world, making CCRS a coming-of-age story with laughs and tears. It won't win Best Picture, but it's one of the easiest movies to watch this year. -Tim Surette [Trailer]    

For All Mankind

For fans of: Putting boots on the moon (and Mars), space travel, alternate history
Number of seasons: 3 (Renewed for Season 4)

What started out as a fun sci-fi drama set in an alternate history in which Russia landed on the the moon before America — locking the two superpowers in an extended space race that lasts for decades — has become one of TV's best shows. Battlestar Galactica's Ronald D. Moore mixes politics, technology, and character drama to create a show that's unlike anything else on TV. After settling on the moon in Season 2 with lunar stations, Season 3 has bigger aspirations of making it to Mars, bringing some of the most breathtaking action sequences the show has ever done while rivals, plus a new private tech firm, attempt to make history. It's great for space geeks and anyone into speculative fiction. Joel Kinnaman, Wrenn Schmidt, and Krys Marshall star. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Physical

For fans of: Jazzercise, internal dialogue filled with nasty insults
Number of seasons: 2 (Renewed for Season 3)

If you miss Netflix's GLOW, you might find some solace in this 1980s-set dramedy that follows a housewife (Rose Byrne) who finds strength in the aerobics craze that's just starting to sweep across the nation's malls. But don't expect the cheery underdog story from GLOW; Byrne's character is struggling with bulimia and spends much of her days hurling nasty body-shaming insults at other women. Byrne excels in the role as an antihero breaking free from the expectations of a traditional housewife in her own morally questionable way. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Prehistoric Planet

For fans of: Thunder lizards, better than average CGI, David Attenborough
Number of seasons: 1

The whole "it's a regular nature show, but with dinosaurs" thing has been attempted many times ever since we first caught a glimpse of a brachiosaurus in the original Jurassic Park. The results have been mixed, with most failing to deliver good-looking dinos, but technology is finally at a place where computers can whip up herds of dinosaurs that require a second glance to check if they're real or not. And that realism is important for the emotional impact; ever see a baby pterosaur in a life-or-death race with a predator? With Father Nature David Attenborough narrating and five episodes divided up by biomes, it's the closest we've come to Planet Earth for dinosaurs. -Tim Surette [Trailer]       

The Essex Serpent

For fans of: Mythological creatures, star-crossed romance, picturesque English countrysides
Number of seasons: 1

Apple TV+'s adaptation of Sarah Perry's 2016 novel, in which a sea serpent — or at least the possibility of one — terrorizes Essex, England in Victorian times, is the rare period romance and folk horror combo packed with star power. Claire Danes plays the naturalist hunting down the monster, while Tom Hiddleston plays the reverend who's sort of like the Scully to Danes' Mulder. What starts as a monster hunt quickly becomes a witch hunt as the townspeople turn on Danes' character. Lots of juicy metaphors here! The six-episode season is more of a simmer than a boil, but it's gorgeously shot and the performances are excellent. -Tim Surette [Trailer]      

Tehran

For fans of: Homeland, thrillers, stress, espionage
Number of seasons: 2

Aside from Amazon's Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan and whatever passes for a thriller on NBC these days, American television has mostly backed away from international espionage dramas that were once such a hot ticket. To get your spy thrills, you need to look elsewhere, like the Israeli spy thriller Tehran. The International Emmy winner for Best Drama last year, Tehran follows Tamar Rabinyan (Niv Sultan), a female Mossad agent navigating a world of espionage, double crosses, and her cultural quandary as she was born in Iran. After attempting to shut down Iran's plans for atomic weapons in Season 1, Glenn Close joined the cast in Season 2 as a British agent. -Tim Surette [Trailer]         

The Big Conn

For fans of: Scams and the colorful characters who do them
Number of seasons: 1

The spring of scam TV continues with The Big Conn, a docuseries about the biggest Social Security fraud case in history. Colorful lawyer Eric C. Conn was Appalachia's answer to Saul Goodman until he was imprisoned for stealing over half a billion dollars from the American government; the four-part series goes into detail on his outrageous lifestyle and the people he hurt. And his name is Conn! Con is in the name! Now I can never ask anyone to call me "the Big Conn." -Kelly Connolly [Trailer]

Shining Girls

For fans of: Brooding murder mysteries, sci-fi twists, early '90s Chicago indie rock
Number of seasons: 1

Somewhere underneath Elisabeth Moss's innocent exterior is a goth girl with a love for the morbid. Following dark roles in The Handmaid's Tale, Top of the Lake, and The Invisible Man, things don't get any cheerier in Shining Girls, in which she plays a woman working at the Chicago Sun-Times who is hunting down a serial killer (Jamie Bell) who previously assaulted her during a murder attempt. The twist here is that she finds herself slipping through different realities — multiverse? wormhole? an extreme practical joke? — with the only real constant being the killer and the case. Wagner Moura plays the reporter helping her, and Chris Chalk plays a Times photographer who is also someone a lot closer to her, at least in one reality. Moss is her usual excellent self, Bell is certifiably creepy, and it checks all the boxes for being a competent murder mystery. Plus, Leonardo DiCaprio produced it! -Tim Surette [Trailer]         

Roar

For fans of: Wild comedy, stories about women being weird, excellent casts
Number of seasons: 1

The trailer for Roar, a surreal new anthology series from the creators of GLOW, opens with Nicole Kidman stuffing a whole photo in her mouth and eating it, which is probably all fans of ambitious TV need to hear to be interested in Roar. The eccentric comedy told from female POVs also features ghosts, a wife returning her husband at the husband store, and a woman who has a relationship with a duck. Look, we said "eccentric" and we meant it. Episodes also star the likes of Merritt Wever, Cynthia Erivo, and GLOW alumni Betty Gilpin and Alison Brie. -Kelly Connolly [Trailer]        

Severance

For fans of: The weekend, r/antiwork, brain-melting thrillers
Number of seasons: 1 (Renewed for Season 2)

The whole idea of work-life balance gets revisited with a technological twist in this sci-thriller that will make you want to quit your day job. Mark (Adam Scott) works at Lumon Industries, where a new procedure implants a chip into employees' brains that severs their consciousness into their work life and personal life, splitting their life in two so that neither knows what the other does. Obviously, Lumon is up to no good, and as the employees get closer to the truth, the line between their work lives and personal lives blurs. Scott is joined by a tremendous cast that includes Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, and Christopher Walken, and Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle work magic behind the camera with one of the best-looking shows in a while. It is WEIRD, yet weaves a complicated conspiracy that will have you hooked. -Tim Surette [Trailer] 

The Sky Is Everywhere

For fans of: Teen love, teen grief, trees, emotion visualized

Two emotions get the most out of teenagers: grief and love. They collide in A24's teen romance The Sky Is Everywhere, a sensory triumph from director Josephine Decker, who melds imagination with stark reality when a high school girl, Lennie (Grace Kaufman), is torn between two boys after her older sister's sudden death. Decker bounces between truly fantastical moments — a new boy at school's trumpet literally drops waves of musical notes that send those who hear it swooning and collapsing — with the natural beauty of the California Redwoods — Decker uses the light between the trees as brushstrokes to illuminate her characters — for a film that's hard to take your eyes off of. While the story itself is packed with teen melodrama, it's the raw emotion and visual storytelling that make this worth a watch if you're pining for an escape, not to mention the love triangle, with one of those points being Lennie's sister's ex-boyfriend. Does she choose the one who understands her grief, or the one who may be her ticket out of it? -Tim Surette [Trailer] 

The Afterparty

For fans of: Murder mysteries, your favorite comedians, genre switching
Number of seasons: 1 (Renewed for Season 2)

This comedic murder mystery limited series combines the plot mechanics of Knives Out with the sense of humor of an Upright Citizens Brigade sketch. The all-star cast (who, even if they're not super-famous, are all stars) includes Ben Schwartz, Sam Richardson, Ilana Glazer, John Early, Tiffany Haddish, Ike Barinholtz, and Jamie Demetriou. Most of them are playing old classmates of a pop star (Dave Franco) who was murdered at his own afterparty for his high school reunion. They all had a motive, and each episode tells a different party guest's side of the story from their POV, which is further separated from the others by being cloaked in a different movie genre. It's very silly, but it's also a genuine murder mystery, with an investigation run by unlikely buddy cops Haddish and Early. It's directed by Christoper Miller of the acclaimed filmmaking duo Lord & Miller (The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street) in a solo effort. -Liam Mathews [Trailer] 

The Tragedy of Macbeth

For fans of: Willy Shakespeare, a Coen brother, Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand star in this adaptation of Shakespeare's Scottish play. It's the first solo film from a Coen brother — McDormand's husband Joel directs, adapts, and produces along with her. If you love art movies, there's not much else that needs to be said to get you to watch this. I mean, it's Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand as Lord and Lady Macbeth. It's kind of historic, in all its black-and-white, Expressionist glory. It was nominated for three Oscars and didn't win any, which only bolsters its artistic credibility. -Liam Mathews [Trailer] 

Dr. Brain

For fans of: Science fiction, the afterlife, surreal dreamlike sequences
Number of seasons: 1 (Renewed for Season 2)

Apple TV+'s first Korean drama is a science-fiction series about brains. Specifically, what would happen if the contents within could be transferred to the mind of another. It's set up from the perspective of a renowned brain scientist (Parasite's Lee Sun-kyun) who discovers a method of moving memories from one brain to another, even if the source brain is from a corpse. That comes in handy when he's trying to figure out what happened when tragedy strikes his wife and child. But as is usually the case when you mess with the natural order, it doesn't go smoothly. These memory transfers play out as dream sequences, leading to some of the most visually astounding TV sequences of the year. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

The Velvet Underground

For fans of: Art films, innovation, rock band turbulence

Film auteur Todd Haynes directed this documentary on one of America's most groundbreaking rock bands, The Velvet Underground. But rather than the simple talking heads, live footage, repeat structure used in most rock docs, Haynes gets to the essence of the band by making the film an arthouse gem that Lou Reed and company would have loved. Don't worry, it's still loaded with VU tunes and insight into the tumultuous relationship between Reed and his bandmates, it just looks extra trippy while doing so. Put simply, this is one of the best music documentaries ever made. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Foundation

For fans of: Hard science-fiction, great special effects
Number of seasons: 1 (Renewed for Season 2)

Isaac Asimov's epic sci-fi novels finally get adapted for the screen courtesy of David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman, and the result is the visually spectacular hard sci-fi series that Apple TV+ has been looking for. The series follows a ruling empire in the future whose grip on control comes at risk when a mathematician (Jared Harris) uses a mathematical model to predict the empire's demise and mankind's descent into dark ages. Critics are split on the overall quality of the show, but everyone agrees that it looks great! -Tim Surette [Trailer]

CODA

For fans of: Heartwarming movies, Deaf culture

A remake of the 2014 French film La Famille Bélier, CODA (which stands for Child of Deaf Adults) is a coming-of-age story about a 17-year-old girl (Emilia Jones) who is the only hearing member of her Deaf family, and must choose between pursuing her own dreams of becoming a singer or helping her mother and father with the family business. It's a crowd-pleasing tearjerker, with a wonderful performance from Jones. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture, the first movie released by a streaming service to do so. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Losing Alice

For fans of: Psychological and erotic thrillers, getting mindf---ed, delicious subtext
Number of seasons: 1

One of the most intriguing releases of 2021, the Israeli psychological drama is lathered up in erotically charged mystery that takes cues from the greats of the film world. Writer-director Sigal Avin leans on Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, and more for influences in her story about an aging female director (Ayelet Zurer) who becomes obsessed with a young, seductive screenwriter (Lihi Kornowski) and the film that might save her career but destroy her marriage. It's wonderfully shot and loaded with beautiful people, if that's your thing. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Boys State

For fans of: Politics, Lord of the Flies, the future of America, chaos

Boys State was one of the best documentaries of 2020. The film follows the annual Boys State, a summer camp (this particular one's in Texas) sponsored by the American Legion in which more than 1,000 high school boys come together to form their own two-party government, complete with elections, voting, and mudslinging. It's a remarkable look at the pitfalls of our current political system, hyper-masculinity among teen boys, and the future of America (it looks like we're in both good and bad hands). Beyond the fascinating subject matter, the filmmaking is superb and gorgeous, feeling more like a scripted movie than a guerilla-shot documentary, which is a compliment in this case. If you like Lord of the Flies or Kid Nation (which, how can you not?), you're going to love this. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Dickinson

For fans of: Period pieces with anachronisms, Wiz Khalifa
Number of seasons: 3

Every early headline about Dickinson, an Apple TV+ show about Emily Dickinson, felt like a fever dream: John Mulaney guest starring as Henry David Thoreau! Wiz Khalifa playing Death! The show, which stars Hailee Steinfeld as the great American poet in her younger years, is the sort of beautiful gamble that could either soar or fall on its face, with almost no room for anything in between. It worked out — Dickinson totally rules. A delirious, anachronistic period piece, it's both a very funny show and a surreal elegy for all the great art lost to misogyny. It's as bold and haunting as the work of its heroine. -Kelly Connolly [Trailer] 

The Morning Show

For fans of: The Newsroom, #MeToo, A-listers
Number of seasons: 2 (Renewed for Season 3)

When Apple TV+ launched, it seemed to do so on the back of The Morning Show, its big-budget, high-profile, star-studded drama that was going to win every award out there. Jennifer Aniston AND Reese Witherspoon starring in the same show as rival anchors for a popular morning show? Well, reviews were mixed, and early episodes were less than impressive, but the show righted many of its wrongs as its season continued. And though its central plot about a male anchor (Steve Carell) getting fired after sexual harassment allegations against him may seem a little dated given how much has happened in the Me Too era, it's a conversation that needs to continue. Plus, did we mention Aniston and Witherspoon? -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Tiny World

For fans of: Planet Earth, adorable wittle cuddle creatures
Number of seasons: 2

The BBC and Discovery no longer corner the market on nature documentaries, and Apple TV+ is pushing to release some of the best series about wildlife that don't feature Sir David Attenborough's narration. This series puts the microscope on the smaller creatures in the world, exposing a world and struggle for survival not often seen in other shows of its ilk. Paul Rudd, Ant-Man himself, appropriately narrates the technological marvel featuring minuscule frogs, beetles, birds, and more. Apple TV+ is also home to the wonderful nature documentary film The Elephant Queen, which follows a herd of elephants and other animals in Africa. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Visible: Out on Television

For fans of: The LGBTQ+ community, the progressive movement, television history

Apple TV+'s expansive and carefully paced history of LGBTQ+ people on TV deserves kudos for its thoughtful, authoritative, and exhausting summation. Even if it weren't packed with the most well-known queer people on TV, Visible: Out on Television does an excellent job of tracking how gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and non-binary people have been depicted on television from its earliest days — including the frantic, hyper-paranoid news reports of the 1950s declaring queer people a menacing threat. It's practically a college course, methodically chronicling representation throughout the decades through archival footage, news reports, and the like, but its abundant first-person testimonials from practically every living LGBTQ+ TV star you can think of (plus allies like Oprah, Billy Crystal and more) make Visible: Out on Television an invaluable educational tool for everyone who watches. -Malcolm Venable [Trailer] 

Wolfwalkers

For fans of: The wonderful Cartoon Saloon films, wolves, Irish mythology (and accents)

The beautifully animated film Wolfwalkers came out in theaters in 2020, but there's about a 99% chance you didn't see it because of, well, obvious reasons. It's the third in a series of films based on Irish folklore from the studio Cartoon Saloon, following the critically acclaimed The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea (highly recommended), and tells the story of a young girl who heads to Ireland from England with her dad to kill off the last wolf pack but ends up befriending a young girl who is part of a tribe of humans who become wolves at night. It's less Disney and Pixar and more Hayao Miyazaki, and it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Pop some corn and gather the family for movie night. -Tim Surette [Trailer]