The 20 Best New TV Shows of 2019

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – December 29, 2019

Above are the highest-scoring first-year TV series debuting in the United States between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019. Shows are ranked by Metascore (an average of grades from top professional critics on a 0-100 scale) prior to rounding, and any programs with fewer than 7 reviews are excluded.

(Note that limited series, as well as TV movies and specials, are ranked in a separate list.)

7 of 21 photo by Kevin Baker

83 The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Netflix)

(#7) This small miracle of a show from director Louis Leterrier and The Jim Henson Company serves as a prequel to the cult hit 1982 Jim Henson/Frank Oz film The Dark Crystal. Set well before that film, Resistance once again uses only puppets and practical effects to tell a complex and darker than you might expect fantasy story set on the planet Thra, where races include the elfin Gelflings, the mean Skeksis, and the magical Mystics. The absolutely loaded voice cast is led by Taron Egerton, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Nathalie Emmanuel and also includes Awkwafina, Mark Hamill, Andy Samberg, Simon Pegg, Keegan-Michael Key, Helena Bonham Carter, Caitriona Balfe, Eddie Izzard, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alicia Vikander, Lena Headey, Sigourney Weaver, Benedict Wong, and more. Despite the strong reviews and the room for additional story (there's still plenty that needs to happen between this prequel series and the events of the film), Netflix has yet to announce a second season order.

“The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance isn’t just a masterwork of practical puppeteering, production design, and CGI artistry. .... This return to the planet Thra exceeds any and all nostalgia-tinged expectations, delivering a multi-strand quest that’s exciting, funny, charming, and mythic—and sure to satisfy newbies and die-hards alike. ... It’s the rare prequel (or sequel, for that matter) that not only justifies its own existence but proves to be an immediate genre classic in its own right.” —Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

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