In case you thought you had enough TV, it’s time for CBS’ new streamer to make a case for putting it on your roster. Paramount Plus, a revamp of CBS All Access, adds more movies and shows that you can watch on a couple of tiers: either ad-free ($10 per month) or ad-inclusive ($5 per month).
Star Trek fans will find not one, not two, not three, but four Star Trek shows (not including an after-show) to devour, but there’s more than sci-fi filling out Paramount’s original TV shelves. Let’s round up the best shows at launch, with a host of new original shows and movies to come.
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Star Trek: Picard brings back Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard, the former captain of the USS Enterprise — in a multi-layered redemption story. Picard, nearing the end of his days, reflects on his choice to abandon Starfleet, after the Federation chose not to aid the Romulans when their planet was destroyed. Suffering from his past decisions and the death of fellow Enterprise officer Data, Picard steps out of his quiet life at a vineyard to help a mysterious young woman in need. A slower-paced, psychological character study, Star Trek: Picard is a full-bodied show to savor.
Paramount Plus
Why Women Kill juggles a few serious themes like infidelity and, well, murder, but the key to enjoying this show is focusing on the performances of Ginnifer Goodwin, Lucy Liu and Kirby Howell-Baptiste. Why Women Kill ambitiously explores the marriages of three women who all live in the same campily-designed Pasadena mansion (the outfits are wonderfully campy as well) across different decades. They’re connected by their partners’ infidelity, which sets of a chain of events that leads to the women killing someone. A stylish mix of black comedy and soapy drama that gets better with every episode.
Robert Falconer
Get Out and Us director Jordan Peele helped develop this new take on the original 1959 The Twilight Zone series, and the first season (it was canceled after the second) provides plenty of modern thought-provoking strangeness worth checking out. Peele also narrates the anthology, which features stars like Kumail Nanjiani, Tracy Morgan, Steven Yeun and more. It could probably be scarier (and the episodes shorter) but a few gems — like episode Replay — do the original series proud.
Elizabeth Fisher/CBS
Four seasons of The Good Fight are on Paramount Plus — that’s 40 episodes to get to know lawyers Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski), Maia Rindell (Rose Leslie) and Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo). The Good Fight is a spinoff of The Good Wife, but differs from its predecessor in all the right ways, focusing less on relationships and more on politics. It’s also about good old human struggle — following Lockhart after her daughter Maia’s reputation is destroyed in a financial scam. Broke, they join Lucca Quinn’s big Chicago law firm. Get ready to be hooked. (Good news: a fifth season is to come.)
CBS All Access
The first of Paramount Plus’ (it first arrived on CBS All Access) big Star Trek shows is set roughly 10 years before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series. It wasn’t a hit straight away, with a few problematic storylines to clean up, but thanks to Sonequa Martin-Green’s strong lead performance as Michael Burnham, Star Trek: Discovery eventually sweeps you up. Season 1 finds the crew of the USS Discovery embroiled in a war between the Klingon houses and the United Federation of Planets. Season 4 is set to hit Paramount Plus this year.
Younger (2015)
Paramount
Younger sees Liza Miller start a new job in the hip, fast-paced world of publishing. The only potential hiccup: She’s a 40-year-old divorced mother posing as a carefree twenty-something. Aside from learning her impeccable skincare routine, we follow Liza’s personal and professional life, from her insight into how to market books from older authors to younger audiences, to her relationship with a 26-year-old tattoo artist. Starring the charming Sutton Foster as well as Hilary Duff as a young book editor, this binge-worthy sitcom has a classic, fairytale feel. Positive and sweet, even if it runs no deeper than the surface wit.
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