SCARED OF COMMITMENT?
Watch one-season shows without long-term pressure
For those with short attention spans — or commitment phobias — there are a number of quality series out there that, whether due to their untimely cancellations or limited formats, only lasted one season. This list is entirely subjective, of course, and includes only shows that are readily available in Canada.
NETFLIX CRASHING (2016)
Just months before she introduced the world to Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-bridge played the impulsive Lulu in this show about a chaotic group of 20-somethings serving as the property guardians of an unused English hospital. It’s six episodes, each under a half-hour.
I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAVE WITH TIM ROBINSON (2019)
Not only did this comedy series produce one of the best sketches of the past two decades — “I think it’s a good idea, and I stand by!” — but it’s easily pausable for those of you with hectic quarantine lives. (We’re cheating a little here, given that the show will eventually get a second season. Its absurdity is just too good not to share.)
RUSSIAN DOLL (2019)
Gotta get up, gotta stay in, gotta stay home and watch Ruuussian Doll. What if I’m late, that’s a mistake, there’s no sense of time in Ruuussian Doll.
TUCA AND BERTIE (2019)
Multiple shows on this list lasted only a single season because they were tragically cancelled before they could find an audience. Unfortunately, Tuca and Bertie, a thoughtful look at a pair of cartoon bird friends and their internal struggles, is one of those shows.
WHEN THEY SEE US (2019)
If you haven’t yet had the chance to watch Ava Duvernay’s telling of the injustices faced by the Central Park Five, now is the time to do so. Just take the word of Washington Post television critic Hank Stuever, who described it in his glowing review as the “kind of miniseries you get when the right showrunner assembles the right team and right performers with the intent to correct an important story that many people still get wrong.”
AMAZON PRIME GOOD GIRLS REVOLT (2016)
While not a perfect show, Good Girls Revolt makes for compelling TV. It deals with a discrimination lawsuit brought against Newsweek magazine by female journalists in 1970 and, premièring in the fraught leadup to the 2016 election, resonated quite a bit.
FOREVER (2018)
This is one of those shows that’s best entered almost blind. So as not to ruin anything, let’s just say that the show Stuever called “exquisite” stars the dynamic duo of Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph, meditates on the meaning of marriage and lifelong commitment, and manages to be funny all the while.
I LOVE DICK (2017)
Speaking of marriage, how about the unravelling of one? This Rashomon-style show, which shifts points of view, follows a pair of artists (Griffin Dunne and the always brilliant Kathryn Hahn) and each of their fascinations with the title character, played by Kevin Bacon.
CRAVE BIG LITTLE LIES (2017)
Yes, there is a second season of Big Little Lies. But it certainly didn’t need one. Initially designed as a limited series, this tale of Monterey mothers played by Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz and Laura Dern explores heavy topics such as murder, spousal abuse and adultery — and does so with a welcome serving of lifestyle drama.
CHERNOBYL (2019)
Last year’s water-cooler series about the 1986 nuclear disaster was so widely watched that the Ukrainian site became an official tourist destination. It stars Mad Men alum Jared Harris, who landed Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for his role.
JOHN ADAMS (2008)
Yeah, OK. But how can you say no to Paul Giamatti playing a grunting John Adams? Or Laura Linney as Abigail Adams? Justin Theroux as John Hancock? Enjoy this trip back to the late 18th century, directed by Tom Hooper a full decade before he cursed us with Cats.
OLIVE KITTERIDGE (2015)
This show dominated at the Emmys — winning eight of the 13 awards for which it was nominated — but suffers from what could be called the Kominsky Method disease, which afflicts shows that achieve some sort of noticeable success despite the average person having no idea what they’re about. This particular miniseries consists of four parts and, based on a 2008 novel of the same name, chronicles a 25-year relationship between a misanthropic woman (Frances Mcdormand) and her sweet husband (Richard Jenkins).
SHARP OBJECTS (2018)
Based on a novel by Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl), this thriller stars Amy Adams as a crime reporter who suffers from alcoholism and, recently discharged from a psych facility, returns to her Missouri hometown to report on a pair of murders. Patricia Clarkson plays her socialite mother, and Eliza Scanlen plays her half sister. Both Adams and Clarkson were nominated for Emmys.
WATCHMEN (2019)
Designed as a sort of sequel to the Dave Gibbons/alan Moore comic, the Watchmen series takes place in the modern day and, instead of Cold War anxieties, explores the implications of masked vigilantism through a story of racial injustices. The season, starring Regina King in the lead role, stands alone. HBO seems to be treating Watchmen as a limited series and has no plans to renew it, especially given that showrunner Damon Lindelof announced he has no intention of helming another season.