Here comes spring TV, even if you’re not caught up on fall TV
William Shakespeare once wrote, “Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?”
He just needed a TV. Though in fairness to the bard, we might have finally reached that point of excess. After all, Apple TV Plus released two seasons of the excellent “Slow Horses” last year. And though everyone is still trying to catch up on 2022’s best shows — we’re not even 12 months removed from “The Bear” and “The White Lotus”! — 2023 is already off to a prodigious start.
The first episode of HBO’s zombie video-gameturned-series “The Last of Us” was the network’s second-biggest premiere of the past 13 years, eventually reaching more than 10 million viewers — only hinting at the deluge of shows to come. Meanwhile, Rian Johnson of “Knives Out” fame is attempting to revive television of a bygone (see: pre-streaming) era with his Natasha Lyonne-starring case-ofthe-week dramedy “Poker Face” on Peacock.
To ease that nasty paradox of choice a little, we’ve compiled a list of spring premieres worth adding to the never-ending queue. A bit of nostalgia, a touch of satire and a dollop of action. Now, even ol’ Bill couldn’t say that’s too much of a good thing, right?
1. “Party Down” (Season 3)
Feb. 24, Starz
When “Party Down” debuted in 2009, it felt a bit like a secret, a sneak preview. Here was Adam Scott, just before he broke out with “Parks and Rec,” and Jane Lynch, as she began her ascent on “Glee.” The jokes were wry and nihilistic, disguising a heartfelt earnestness at the story’s core. And all this from a group of disillusioned, pill-popping, shot-taking caterers stuck serving the likes of Steve Guttenberg. (No offense to Steve, of course). Then, after two far-too-brief seasons, it was gone quicker than a tray of passed hors d’oeuvres. The online campaigns to get another season seemed as doomed as the characters’ big-screen dreams, but every once in a while, miracles do happen — even in Hollywood.
2. “The Mandalorian” (Season 3)
March 1, Disney Plus Baby Yoda may turn 4 this November (at least, in human years), but fans have only gotten to watch the little green bundle of joy for two seasons. The hotly anticipated third season of Jon Favreau’s bounty hunter saga arrives after a more than two-year wait, during which Tony Gilroy elevated the live-action Star Wars TV genre with his critically beloved “Andor.” Whether “The Mandalorian” will be able to escape its newly cast shadow rests on the shoulders of star Pedro Pascal. May the Force be with him. (Sorry, we couldn’t resist!) 3. “Daisy Jones & the Six” March 3, Prime Video Christopher Guest, Rob Reiner and Co. perfected the satirical faux rock doc back in 1984 with the seminal, sidesplitting “This Is Spinal Tap.” But what if they had played it straight? That’s a question the Reese Witherspoon-produced “Daisy Jones & the Six,” based on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s 2019 novel stylized as an oral history, will answer. The dramatic series, starring Riley Keough as the titular Daisy and shot documentary style, traces the rise and fall of a fictional 1970s rock band (clearly inspired by Fleetwood Mac). Will it go to 11? We sure hope so.
4. “Perry Mason” (Season 2)
March 6, HBO Some greeted the news that the world was getting another helping of America’s greatest TV defense attorney with rolled eyes. What’s left to say about Perry Mason, they wondered? And framing it as an origin story? Don’t we have enough of those? The 2020 premiere, featuring Matthew Rhys as the hardboiled, hard-charging, hard-drinking Mason, locked those eyeballs back in place. The big difference this go-round? The man has a personality outside the courtroom, which the second season will undoubtedly continue mining for lessons about the tenacity of moral courage.
5. “Yellowjackets” (Season 2)
March 24, Showtime Grab your forks (erm, hands?), because everybody’s favorite cannibalism show is back! (Our apologies to “Bones and All,” “House of Hammer,” “Fresh” and “Dahmer — Monster.” Wow, 2022 really was the year of the cannibal, wasn’t it?) To be fair, this gripping thriller about a female high school soccer team surviving in the wildness after a plane crash — and trying to come to grips with everything that happened some years later — is more interested in the interpersonal relationships among the survivors and the way unresolved trauma always lurks just beneath the surface.
Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress and Christina Ricci return — as, we hope, will a killer soundtrack of ‘90s shoegaze, punk and riot grrrl tunes.
6. “Succession” (Season 4)
March 26, HBO
Not since “Game of Thrones” has watching a clan tear itself apart been so delightful. The longawaited Season 3 of the viciously funny and funnily vicious satire found the Roy family torn ever more asunder while Waystar Royco, the business some of them supposedly help run when they’re not busy plotting one another’s downfalls, is feeling more and more like a corporate dodo. All to say, anything is possible in Season 4. Will this really be Cousin Greg’s year?
7. “Mrs. Davis”
April 20, Peacock Damon Lindelof, the mind behind “Lost,” “The Leftovers” and HBO’s tremendous take on “Watchmen,” is back, baby! He and Tara Hernandez, best known for writing on “The Big Bang Theory” and “Young Sheldon,” teamed up to write a thriller about a nun (Betty Gilpin) dedicated to taking down a powerful A.I. known as Mrs. Davis. (With a plot like that, it’s a good thing it’s coming out on 4/20.).