WATCHMEN

Watchmen was the #1 show of the year for Empire, Mashable, Screencrush, Vulture, Vox, and Washington Post, where Hank Stuever said the show “continues to take my breath away with its bracing vision of racism, mask-wearing vigilantism and superheroic qualms in a skewed-reality America.”

SUCCESSION

Succession topped numerous favourite lists from AV Club to The Guardian to Uproxx. As The Guardian said: “2019 was the year HBO threw millions upon millions of dollars at the final season of Game of Thrones, only to have another of its shows blow it out of the water entirely.

CHERNOBYL

Chernobyl took the top spot on Radio Times’ critics poll, with reviewer Tim Glanfield calling the mini-series, “a gripping and at times hard to watch drama… an outstanding piece of television… it’s more than a worthy winner of our 2019 critics’ poll.”

BARRY

Barry was the top pick of the year for three separate AV Club critics: Baraka Kaseko, Erik Adams, and Sam Barsanti. This pitch-black comedy stars Bill Hader as Barry, a depressed war-vet-turned-hitman who takes up acting while on assignment in LA.

PEN15

AV Club reviewer Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya chose Pen15 as her top pick of 2019. The comedy series follows 13-year-old besties Maya and Anna [played by 32-year-old co-creators Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle) as they navigate – and try to survive – seventh grade and puberty. AV Club called it “one of 2019’s most delightful surprises … a hilariously insightful and refreshingly heartfelt look at adolescence in the early 2000s.”

EUPHORIA

Nicky Idika of Pop Buzz picked Euphoria as her favourite show of the year, praising the performances of its lead stars as “phenomenal” and saying, “The show’s cultural impact is already apparent. Euphoria deliberately avoids a sanitised view of modern teen life and, instead, eagerly leans into the drugs, the sex, the risky behaviour, and the toxic co-dependencies.”

RAMY

Ramy stars 2020 Golden Globe winner and stand-up comedian Ramy Youssef as Ramy Hassan, a first generation Egyptian-American in politically-divided New Jersey, where he’s caught between a Muslim community that thinks life is a moral test and a millennial generation that thinks life has no consequences.

THE GOOD FIGHT

Entertainment Weekly’s Darren Franich has been telling everyone he knows to watch his favourite show of last year, The Good Fight, a “smartly hilarious legal drama” whose creators, he says, “are having too much fun throwing axes at the American apocalypse.”

PERPETUAL GRACE

Perpetual Grace was the year’s favourite show for Entertainment Weekly’s Kristen Baldwin, who called it a “strange and wonderful saga” with “a story that unfolds like a Rube Goldberg contraption” and an ensemble cast “stuffed with excellence”.

THE DEUCE

The third and final season of The Deuce got the top vote from AV Club’s Vikram Murthi. Oscar nominee Gyllenhaal plays Candy, a porn director struggling to maintain her artistic integrity in an industry that is quickly devolving. As AV Club reviewer Noel Murray put it, “She shouldn’t just win a trophy, she should have one named after her.”

SURVIVING R. KELLY

Alicia Rancilio of Associated Press picked documentary series Surviving R. Kelly as the top show of the year, saying, “No other series made the kind of real world impact that this one did.”

And in case you hadn’t figured it out yet, all the above is available for your viewing on Showmax, which also has the Michael Jackson documentary Leaving Neverland, Spanish/English horror comedy series Los Espookys, anti-war comedy-drama Catch-22, and Season 4 of Adult Swim animated comedy Rick & Morty, among other hit shows from 2019 (a year full of great TV shows evidently). See the full breakdown from Metacritic here.

CHERNOBYL
Binge now

Chernobyl dramatizes the story of the 1986 nuclear accident, one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history, and of the brave men and women who made incredible sacrifices to save Europe from unimaginable disaster. Directed by Johan Renck (Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead), the five-part miniseries stars Emmy nominee Jared Harris (The Crown, Mad Men), People’s Choice nominee Stellan Skarsgård (Mamma Mia, Good Will Hunting) and Oscar nominee Emily Watson (Hilary and Jackie, Breaking the Waves).

“TV’s most scary offering in years. The series where history and reality are more terrifying than zombies.” Rotten Tomatoes

Top Rated TV: #1, IMDB, where it has a 9.6/10 rating | 96% critics rating, Rotten Tomatoes

GOOD TROUBLE S1
First on Showmax. Binge now

In this spinoff from the multi-award-winning The Fosters, Callie (six-time Teen Choice nominee Maia Mitchell) and Mariana Foster (three-time Teen Choice nominee Cierra Ramirez) move to Los Angeles and begin their lives as young adults. Mariana tackles the male-dominated world of tech and Callie faces the harsh realities of the legal system clerking for a federal judge. Faced with new neighbours, new challenges and, of course, new romances, the sisters must depend on one another to navigate the City of Angels.

100% critics rating, Rotten Tomatoes

MARVEL’S CLOAK & DAGGER S2
First on Showmax. Binge now

The story of Tandy Bowen (Olivia Holt) and Tyrone Johnson (Aubrey Joseph) – two teenagers from very different backgrounds, who find themselves burdened and awakened to newly acquired superpowers which are mysteriously linked to one another. Tandy can emit light daggers and Tyrone has the ability to engulf others in darkness. They quickly learn they are better together than apart, but their feelings for each other make their already complicated world even more challenging.

87% critics rating, Rotten Tomatoes

POWER S5
Binge from 2 July 2019

Season five picks up with James ‘Ghost’ St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick) in a dangerous alliance with his former drug partner and brother-in-arms Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora) and mortal enemy Kanan Stark (50 Cent). [Spoiler alert] As Ghost mourns the death of his daughter Raina, he searches for vengeance and throws himself into his work, reaching new, professional heights. But with this newfound publicity, his quest for blood threatens to dismantle his legitimate legacy. Ghost is blind to new enemies and, as the Feds grow closer to unmasking his true identity, Ghost must remain vigilant toward those wanting to take him down for his past criminal enterprises

8.2/10, IMDB | 100% critics rating, Rotten Tomatoes

People’s Choice nominee: Favourite Premium Drama Series 2017 | 2019 Image Awards for Best Drama and Best Actor

WARRIOR S1
Same time as M-Net, weekly from 4 July 2019 at 22:00

Warrior is a gritty, action-packed crime drama set during the brutal Tong Wars of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the second half of the 19th century. The series follows Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji), a martial arts prodigy who emigrates from China to San Francisco under mysterious circumstances and becomes a hatchet man for one of Chinatown’s most powerful organised crime families. Filmed in Cape Town, the show is based on an idea by martial arts legend Bruce Lee and is created by Jonathan Tropper (Banshee), with Fast and Furious director Justin Lin as an executive producer.

8.3/10 rating on IMDB | #68, Most Popular TV, IMDB

EUPHORIA S1
First on Showmax. Binge episodes 1-5 on 15 July 2019; last three express from the US

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuAzkZIiGxI

An HBO adaptation of an Israeli TV series of the same name, Euphoria has been described as “Kids meets Trainspotting.” Zendaya (K.C. Undercover, Spider-Man: Homecoming and The Greatest Showman) stars as a drug-addicted 17-year-old named Rue, opposite the likes of Maude Apatow (This Is 40, Knocked Up) and Eric Dane (aka McSteamy in Grey’s Anatomy). Writers Guild of America nominee Sam Levinson (Wizard of Lies) wrote the screenplay, while Drake is one of the executive producers.

#5, Most Popular TV, IMDB / 81% critics rating, Rotten Tomatoes

GENTLEMAN JACK
Same time as M-Net, Tuesdays at 22:00. Binge from 16 July 2019

Set in 1832, Gentleman Jack focuses on real-life English landowner Anne Lister (BAFTA Award winner Suranne Jones from Doctor Foster) and her determination to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home, Shibden Hall, by reopening her coal mines and marrying well. However, the charismatic, single-minded Lister – who dresses in black from head-to-toe and has charmed her way into high society – has no intention of marrying a man. Instead, she is determined to stay true to her nature by marrying Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle from Peaky Blinders and Bodyguard), a sheltered heiress who happens to be a seriously wealthy woman. A remarkable and unlikely love story, Gentleman Jack was created, written and co-directed by four-time BAFTA Award winner Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax).

88% critics rating & 95% audience rating, Rotten Tomatoes | 8.1/10 IMDB

#88, Most Popular TV, IMDB

YOUNGER S6
First on Showmax. Binge episodes 1-5 from 18 July 2019

The cat is out of the bag about Liza’s age and her relationship with Charles, so they all live happily after, right? Not a chance…

From the creator of Sex & The City, Younger is a hit romcom set in the publishing industry. Sutton Foster and Miriam Schor were nominated for Critics Choice awards as Liza and Diana, while Hilary Duff was up for People’s Choice and Teen Choice awards as Kelsey.

99% critics score, Rotten Tomatoes

A double nominee for Critics Choice, People’s Choice and Teen Choice Awards

THE HANDMAID’S TALE S3
Place-shifted from M-Net, Mondays at 10:30pm. Binge from 22 July 2019

June (two-time Golden Globe winner Elisabeth Moss) finds herself once again in Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly the United States. Gilead has returned to ‘traditional values,’ with women treated as property of the state. Despite the overwhelming odds, June is struggling to strike back against the regime… Season 1 was based on Margaret Atwood’s classic novel of the same name, which won the first Arthur C. Clarke Award.

Winner of 2 Golden Globes & 11 Emmys

#7, Most Popular TV, IMDB

BIG LITTLE LIES S2
Same time as M-Net, Mondays at 21:00. Binge from 12 August 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCWevZV945M

On the surface, in the tranquil seaside town of Monterey, California, everything seems the same. The mothers continue to dote, the husbands support, the children remain adorable and the houses are just as beautiful. But the night of the school fundraiser changed all that, leaving the community reeling as the ‘Monterey Five’ – Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata and Bonnie – bond together to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.

Season 2 has a new director in Oscar winner Andrea Arnold, while three-time Oscar winner and four-time Golden Globe winner Meryl Streep joins the star-studded cast of Oscar winners Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, Golden Globe winner Laura Dern, People’s Choice winner Shailene Woodley and Teen Choice nominee Zoe Kravitz.

Season 1 won 4 Golden Globes and 8 Emmy Awards

#8, Most Popular TV, IMDB

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE…

Tell Me A Story S1 – Thriller | From Kevin Williamson (Scream, The Following, Vampire Diaries) – Due 1 July 2019
American Crime S1-3 – Crime drama | Five-time Golden Globe nominee – Due 15 July 2019

Quite a blockbuster and fantastic line-up, we can easily say this with confidence as the above list includes most of our fave TV shows for 2019. To see everything coming to Showmax this month, click here.