With the first half of the year now behind us, the biggest takeaway from the best TV shows of 2024 so far is how many of them came as a surprise. Sure, some of the shows we expected to excel — like one of network TV’s brightest lights, or the final season of a long-beloved favorite — didn’t disappoint. But two of our top five shows of the year weren’t even on our radar last January, and yet gave us some of the year’s most compelling moments on screen.
That, to be clear, is a good thing, because it speaks to how powerful a great show can be, especially one we experience in the intimacy of our own homes. That level of connection is what TV can do better than any other medium, whether it be bringing audiences to a totally different time and place, spotlighting a side of World War II in a whole new way, or challenging our assumptions about the person we might see walking down the street, or hanging out at a local pub.
Below are Consequence’s 15 best series of 2024, some of which concluded as limited series, others which will return in some form at some point. What they all have in common was being well worth our time.
— Liz Shannon Miller
Senior Entertainment Editor
Editors Note: Check back for all our 2024 Mid-Year Report coverage, including our list of the 10 Best Movies So Far.
15. Echo
Echo (Disney+)
Created by: Marion Dayre
Cast: Alaqua Cox, Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, Charlie Cox, Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon, Cody Lightning, Graham Greene, Vincent D’Onofrio
Network/Platform: Disney+
This limited series didn’t end perhaps as strongly as it began, but there was a lot to admire, appreciate, and flat-out thrill about this new MCU entry: If nothing else, that Episode 1 single-take brawl between Maya Lopez, a bunch of thugs, and some punk named Matt Murdock had us buzzing. With a protagonist unlike any other in the Marvel universe and a cast of largely Native actors (including the stellar Devery Jacobs, and icons Tantoo Cardinal, Zahn McClarnon, and Graham Greene), Echo delivered plenty of action and a new twist on superpowered drama (and finding a new twist on this genre is a pretty impressive feat, these days). — L.S. Miller
14. Masters of the Air
Masters of the Air (Apple TV+)
Executive Producers: Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Gary Goetzman
Cast: Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle, Barry Keoghan, Nate Mann, Rafferty Law, Nikolai Kinski, Stephen Campbell Moore, Sawyer Spielberg, Isabel May
Network/Platform: Apple TV+
The key thing to know about Apple TV+’s lavish continuation of Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg’s epic chronicling of World War II is that the back half of the season is more compelling than the first half. While the early episodes do a solid job of establishing the large ensemble cast and the harrowing nature of being a bomber pilot, it’s in the second half you get a survival storyline set inside a POW camp, one officer (Anthony Boyle) getting tangled up with a British officer (Bel Powley) who might just be a spy, and Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa saying any actual lines of dialogue. It’s rare to see a show build in such a way, almost an impressive an accomplishment as those aerial sequences. — L.S. Miller
13. In the Know
In the Know (Peacock)
Created by: Brandon Gardner, Mike Judge, Zach Woods
Cast: J. Smith-Cameron, Charlie Bushnell, Zach Woods, Mike Judge, Caitlin Reilly, Carl Tart
Network/Platform: Peacock
Mike Judge is back with the extremely Mike Judgian In the Know, a show that finds the absurd in the mundane, basks in its over-the-top satire, and boasts shockingly jaw-dropping stop-motion animation. Following the eccentric crew of an NPR station, Judge and company take aim at their own demographic — bleeding heart, self-absorbed, New Yorker-reading “intellectuals.” While the celebrity cameos sometimes feel more like padding than hilarious bits or fodder for plot development, In the Know still presents a wildly enjoyable, impressively-made ride. — Jonah Krueger
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