The 20 Best New TV Shows of 2017

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – December 27, 2017

Above are the highest-scoring first-year TV series debuting in the United States between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017. 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.)

4 of 22 photo by Chris Large/FX

82 Legion (FX)

(#4) Though it couldn't finish its freshman year as strongly as it started, FX's Legion proved that Fargo creator Noah Hawley wasn't just a one-show wonder. His visually inventive X-Men series stars Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) as the title character, a man diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age who has been in and out of metal hospitals in the years since—but who begins to learn that he has unique powers, and that there are others like him. The excellent cast also includes Jean Smart, Aubrey Plaza, Rachel Keller, Katie Aselton, Jemaine Clement, and Bill Irwin. A second season should arrive in February.

“It’s a delight, existing so far outside the mold of recent superhero adaptations in the 2010s that it couldn’t see the mold even with telescopic vision. It’s a comic book show likely to be as appealing to people who have no interest in comic books as to those who can name David’s famous relative without Googling, if not more, and it’s easily the most exciting new series this young year in TV has offered so far.” —Alan Sepinwall, Uproxx

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