The best (and worst) shows to stream on Apple TV+

Apple TV+ has become one of the best streamers around with a score of programming added in 2024! Here's a look at some of the best (and worst) of the new shows to stream!

Apple TV+ is well known for its hits like Ted Lasso, The Morning Show, For All Mankind and more. They rose up in 2023 with the hit Silo and look to continue that. It's easy to talk about the well-known shows to watch, yet the streamer is always adding more on. 

So for a guide to the more recent of Apple releases, here are six shows of 2024 to check out on the steamer and three that are better off skipping to highlight how great Apple TV+ can be!

The 6 best shows to stream on Apple TV+

Sugar

At first, this looks like a typical crime thriller. Colin Farrell plays John Sugar, a private eye who dresses and acts like he's in a 1940s movie investigating a missing woman. The early episodes are a great trip into noir culture, with Farrell making for a compelling lead and some intriguing turns into a wider mystery. 

But then, midway through the season, the show takes a completely unexpected and shocking twist that is too good to spoil. From there, the series kicks up into something you never saw coming and elevates it into a terrific ride. Get through those early episodes and be engaged by one of the most surprising shows to hit in years. 

Franklin

It's amazing it's taken so long for Michael Douglas to tackle a costume period piece. The Oscar-winning legend is perfect as Benjamin Franklin, who travels to Paris to gain the French government's aid in the American Revolution. Douglas nails the character from his humor to a surprisingly randy side with some ladies. 

It plays on the tough politics of Douglas convincing France to risk open war with England to aid America and the intrigue he and his grandson get into is compelling. A score of European actors aid the drama, yet it's Douglas who makes it all work, so you don't have to be a history buff to enjoy this fantastic political drama. 

Loot

With its second season just wrapped up, it's no better time to enjoy this fun comedy. Maya Rudolph is Molly, whose divorce from her cheating tech mogul husband makes her the richest woman in the world. She decides to use that money to help the world only to be tripped up by her inability to understand how normal people act.

Rudolph is delightful as a woman who truly means well but doesn't grasp that regular people don't indulge in thousand-dollar lunches or designer clothes. Her attempts to help cause more problems, with Rudolph terrifically selling her physical comedy and some hilarious situations. Season 2 makes it better, with Molly trying romance among her business endeavors and one of Apple TV+'s best comedies. 

Dark Matter

Add another terrific sci-fi thriller to Apple TV+'s growing slate. Based on a novel, a scientist (Joel Edgerton)suddenly wakes up in a life without his wife and family in a different Chicago. He's been sent into a parallel world by his own doppelganger, who now takes over his life.

Edgerton is desperate to get back to his world, sending him on a journey across various realities. With a supporting cast that includes Jennifer Connelly and Alice Braga and some wild visuals amid the alternate reality adventures, the ongoing first season is a good way to jump on board and see how dark this show will truly get. 

Manhunt

Another top historical drama, this tells of the most epic real-life murder chase in American history. Anthony Boyle is John Wilkes Booth, the famous actor who wrote himself into infamy by shooting President Abraham Lincoln. So began an epic chase as the army went after Booth, who realized too late that he's not some hero.

Tobias Menzies is Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who guides the hunt while also navigating the chaos of Lincoln's death. The show addresses the end of the Civil War and the tensions that, in many ways, still haven't fully vanished. For both history buffs and lovers of true crime, this dramatization of this watershed moment in American history is a must-watch. 

The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin

For some fun historical comedy, this new series has a great Monty Python-esque feel to it. Very loosely based on the real-life highwayman (played by Noel Fielding), Turpin tries to build up his reputation as a master thief. Rather than play on the guy's infamous reputation, the show goes into full-on comedy and is masterful at it.

With a murderer's row of British comics in the cast, the show never takes itself seriously and the way it plays on Turpin's legend is wonderful as he faces a mobster, a strange conspiracy and his own failings. Fielding is a blast in a show that may not be historically accurate but leaves you laughing too much to care. 

3 shows to skip on Apple TV+

Constellation

Apple TV+ may have been having great success with sci-fi shows but even they can't hit it out of the park every time. After a disaster in space, an astronaut (Noomi Rapace) returns to Earth only to discover things aren't as she remembers. The series attempts to push an air of mystery and suspense, but it never quite lands right and gets too wrapped up in its own mythology. 

Rapace is compelling but let down by lackluster writing and too many attempted twists. The fact the show has already been canceled after only one season means none of these mysteries have solutions, so it's best to skip this sci-fi misfire. 

Palm Royale

Few things are as frustrating as a TV show wasting an incredibly talented cast. This dark comedy stars Kristin Wiig, Laura Dern, Allison Janney, Ricky Martin, Bruce Dern and the legendary Carol Burnett, a cast most shows would kill for. It's too bad they're stranded in a flat satire of 1960s Florida society, with Burnett literally being comatose for most of the year.

The show never makes sense in the plotlines, and its attempts to throw in "outrageous" moments come off as ridiculous. It gets worse as it goes with baffling plot turns and culminates in a totally ludicrous finale. With all that talent, this show has no right to be so bad and is one society function most would want to miss. 

The New Look

Another show with a great cast but not much else, this tells the story of Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn), who builds his iconic clothing line from the ashes of World War II. He's backed by a great cast such as Juliette Binoche as rival Coco Chanel and some good visuals. However, the show falters by constantly bouncing between World War II and the 1950s.

It can't make up its mind if it wants to be a wartime spy thriller, a drama about clothing rivals or some offbeat social critique. Those warring themes and the bouncing along the timelines makes it harder to latch onto so sadly The New Look isn't as fashionable as it could have been had it settled onto one main theme for fans.