A good idea to start 2020 with is to visit a ski resort or to take a walk on the snowy streets. But not everyone can go skiing, so they might just do what they always do: binge watch TV series and relax.
We at ViralSection want to go skiing and make snowmen, but we also love watching TV series. Based on IMDb ratings and a list of SAG Award nominees, we have chosen the 14 best shows to watch right now.
1. The Morning Show
This is one of the best TV series of 2019, with an impressive cast — Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steven Carell. The characters would have been interesting to watch even if there hadn’t been any story, but there is a story and it’s pretty fascinating.
One of the top anchors on national television was fired from The Morning Show for sexual harassment at work, which created a crisis on the successful channel and started a chain of events that ended with a tragedy. This series reveals what goes on behind the scenes of TV shows, and talks about the crisis of the modern media and the #MeToo movement.
- IMDb score: 8.3
2. Spinning Out
This is the first winter release from Netflix in 2020. Kaya Scodelario is a promising figure skater who gets seriously injured, which marks the end of her career. Now that she’s lost her dream of becoming a well-known star, she has started working as a waitress in a small local cafe.
Everything changes when she meets Justin, a bad guy. He introduces her to Dasha Fedorova who sees commercial potential in Kat and offers her a chance to try couples skating.
- IMDb score: 8.0
3. Dracula
Here is one more promising 2020 series that was created by Netflix and BBC One. Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, who are famous for the iconic Sherlock and Doctor Who, worked on this show.
This is an attempt to reinvent the vampire classic about Dracula. The series takes us back to 1897, when the legendary bloodsucker wakes up and starts terrifying the inhabitants of Victorian London, trying to dominate the entire city.
- IMDb score: 7.1
4. Dickinson
This is a new Apple TV+ production and it is the interpretation of the biography of the poet and writer Emily Dickinson, who is portrayed by Hailee Steinfeld. This is a story about how a brave young writer, whose poems were completely different from anything in her time and only truly appreciated years after she died, grew up.
This series is similar to the Broadway show, Hamilton — a story from the 18th century that is performed in hip-hop style. The modern music only highlights the fact that one of the greatest American writers was so ahead of her time.
- IMDb score: 7.0
5. The Politician
This is a funny and smart TV series from the creator of American Horror Story, Ryan Murphy, which can be called a comedy version of House of Cards. It’s an action-packed series: each episode has almost enough going on to fill an entire season of episodes. The cast is also pretty impressive: Ben Platt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Lange, Zoey Deutch, and Lucy Boynton.
The location is an elite high school in Santa Barbara where the characters are trying to win a school election. What you might notice right away is how impartial the show is. It allows you to decide who you like best.
- IMDb score: 7.6
6. Der Pass
This is a great show for those who like detective stories like The Killing and Bron. This is an Austrian-German production that is slow and mesmerizing.
Detectives have to investigate a series of murders that mimic an old pagan ritual. What makes the story even more interesting is the relationship between the main characters: a happy Ellie Stocker, who is on her very first case, and experienced detective Gedeon Winter, who is tired of his job.
- IMDb score: 8.0
7. A Christmas Carol
This mini-series, that only has 3 episodes, is based on the Charles Dickens’s novella. This seems to be a very familiar story, but the producers Ridley Scott, Tom Hardy, and Steven Knight managed to give it a new life.
You will not see the classic snowy Christmas story. Instead, you will see a dark and pointless reality. Ebenezer Scrooge, portrayed by Guy Pearce, is as different from the old man in the book as he could possibly be. He is an elegant sociopath. This makes the story way more interesting and totally worth seeing.
- IMDb score: 7.3
8. Modern Love
This series is based on the stories of real people that were published in The New York Times column with the same name. Every episode is a separate love story that is not connected with the others. Despite the short run-time and the light-hearted tone of the storytelling, the producers managed to talk about many important aspects of relationships.
The presence of popular actors only makes things more interesting: Anne Hathaway, Olivia Cooke, Andrew Scott, Sofia Boutella, Tina Cook, Dev Patel — and this is not even the full list of stars.
- IMDb score: 8.0
9. City on a Hill
This is a slow-burn, Martin Scorsese-style, criminal drama. The series slowly tells the story of a typical ’90s town that is full of criminal gangs, corrupt police, and violence that is left unnoticed.
The new district attorney, DeCourcy Ward, wants to change the situation, so he asks Jackie Rohr for help. The latter is a respectable FBI agent portrayed by Kevin Bacon. The characters symbolize the different time periods: Ward is the modern order, and Rohr is the chaos and indifference of the ’90s.
- IMDb score: 7.5
10. Looking for Alaska
This mini-series is a screen adaptation of John Green’s novel. A dreamer, Miles Halter, leaves his hometown to study at a boarding school that his father went to. There, he meets his true friends and his first true love — an extraordinary girl named Alaska Young.
Despite the seemingly huge number of clichés, the story isn’t as predictable as it seems. The series is really interesting and it makes you think about universal things like friendship and love, life and death, loyalty and honor.
- IMDb score: 8.2
11. For All Mankind
The Apple TV+ team has presented us with an alternative history of the world. The main characters of the show are NASA astronauts that are trying to win the space race.
It all starts when people land on the Moon, but instead of Neil Armstrong’s speech about the small step, we can hear Alexei Leonov’s voice who is a USSR astronaut. The story is not as dark as it might seem, on the contrary — it shows that the world becomes a much better place because the race continues.
- IMDb score: 7.2
12. See
In the future, humanity is dealing with a virus that is costing people their vision. Now, vision is only a myth. Generations after the cataclysm, people have degraded to the Middle Ages level using the only remains of technology.
But then, there’s a rumor: in Jason Momoa’s tribe, there are children that can see. The series has wonderful landscapes, a very new and fresh story, and great acting by Jason Momoa.
- IMDb score: 7.6
13. Truth Be Told
This is a detective story from Apple TV+ with Aaron Paul and Octavia Spencer. The story is about journalist Poppy Scoville-Parnell who became famous thanks to her key role in the investigation of a murder, where she put the 17-year-old neighbor of the victim in jail.
But 19 years later, she gets some evidence that makes her think that maybe, she got the wrong person. The show is a bit like American Crime Story and the way the story is told is very exciting.
- IMDb score: 7.3
14. Servant
This is a psychological thriller from the creator of The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan. This is a story of a strange young couple. In order to overcome the loss of their child, they buy a realistic-looking doll and even hire a babysitter. Over time, the doll turns into a living child and the characters are trying to make sense of what is going on.
The series is interesting because it has Rupert Grint — the actor who played Ron Weasley in Harry Potter. He plays the role of the brother of Dorothy Turner. The character of Grint is hiding a terrible secret.
- IMDb score: 7.9
Which of these series would you like to watch? Tell us in the comment section below!
Preview photo credit The Morning Show / Apple TV +
