13 Shows to Catch This Summer If You Haven’t Taken the Plunge Yet

Summer is the perfect time to catch up on the shows everyone else won’t stop talking about.

Maybe you’ve been meaning to start one of them. Maybe you saw the trailers and forgot. Maybe your watchlist has become one of those digital junk drawers where good intentions go to die.

Whatever the reason, there’s never been a better time to dive into a series that’s still relatively new. None of these shows has been around for more than a couple of seasons, which means you can catch up without sacrificing your entire summer.

Here’s our list, in alphabetical order so as not to play favorites, which also features where you can binge the shows so you don’t have to waste time tracking them down.

If you’ve been wondering what to watch next, consider this your sign.

Best Medicine (Hulu)

Best Medicine arrives with all the ingredients of a comfort show and somehow exceeds expectations.

The series blends humor, heart, romance, and community in a way that feels refreshingly sincere. At a time when so many shows seem determined to be dark, cynical, or relentlessly ironic, Best Medicine isn’t afraid to be warm.

That’s not to say it’s simplistic. The characters face real challenges, make mistakes, and occasionally drive each other crazy. But the show approaches them with empathy rather than cruelty, which makes spending time in its world feel genuinely enjoyable.

By the end of a few episodes, you’ll probably find yourself caring about everyone in town, even the people who initially seemed impossible to like.

Television could use more shows like this.

Doc (Hulu)

Medical dramas aren’t exactly a rare species. Doc still manages to stand out.

The series follows Dr. Amy Larsen after a traumatic brain injury erases years of her memories, forcing her to rebuild both her personal and professional life while continuing to work in medicine. 

It’s a premise that could have become melodramatic in lesser hands, but Doc grounds the story in character rather than gimmicks.

Molly Parker delivers one of television’s best performances, bringing equal parts strength, vulnerability, frustration, and determination to Amy’s journey. Every episode peels back another layer of who she was and who she wants to become.

The result is a medical drama that feels more personal than procedural.

If you’ve been waiting for the next great network drama, stop waiting and start watching.

DTF St. Louis (HBO Max)

Let’s address the title first.

Yes, DTF St. Louis is called DTF St. Louis. No, it isn’t nearly as ridiculous as the title suggests. Well, not entirely.

The dramedy follows a group of adults navigating friendships, relationships, careers, and the chaos of living life while pretending to have everything figured out. It manages to be sharp, funny, occasionally outrageous, devastatingly sad, and surprisingly relatable.

What separates it from countless other dramedies is that it understands how absurd modern adulthood can be without turning its characters into punchlines. The people at the center of the story are flawed, messy, and often make terrible decisions, but they’re also easy to root for.

Best of all, there’s only one season.

You can knock it out over a weekend and spend the rest of the summer convincing your friends to watch it just so you can talk about it.

High Potential (Hulu)

Network television doesn’t get enough credit when it gets something right.

High Potential gets a lot right.

Kaitlin Olson stars as Morgan, a single mother with an extraordinary mind who finds herself consulting with the police after her ability to spot details others miss catches the attention of detectives. It’s a familiar setup on paper, but the execution makes all the difference.

Olson is magnetic. Fans of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia already knew she was funny, but High Potential showcases just how much range she has. Morgan is smart, vulnerable, chaotic, compassionate, and endlessly entertaining.

The show also understands the value of being fun. Not every series needs to be relentlessly grim to be compelling. High Potential embraces its sense of humor while still delivering mysteries worth solving.

It’s the kind of comfort television that’s becoming increasingly rare, and that’s reason enough to give it a shot.

Love Story (Hulu)

Some stories remain fascinating no matter how many times they’re told.

The story of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy is one of them.

Love Story explores one of America’s most famous relationships with an eye toward the people behind the headlines. Rather than treating its subjects as myths, the series examines the pressures, expectations, and scrutiny that came with living under a microscope.

The result is glamorous, emotional, and often heartbreaking. Even when you know where the story ultimately ends, it’s impossible not to get invested in the journey.

The performances are strong, the period details are impeccable, and the series captures the strange mix of fascination and intrusion that defined celebrity culture before social media made everyone famous.

If you’re drawn to sweeping romances, complicated relationships, and stories pulled from real life, Love Story deserves a place near the top of your watchlist.

The Madison (Paramount+)

Some Yellowstone fans spent months insisting they weren’t interested in The Madison.

Then they watched it.

Taylor Sheridan’s latest expansion of the Yellowstone universe turned out to be something very different from the parent series. 

Rather than doubling down on ranch wars and political battles, The Madison focuses on family, grief, reinvention, and the difficult process of figuring out who you are after life changes everything.

Michelle Pfeiffer delivers exactly the kind of performance you’d hope for, anchoring a series that often feels more intimate and character-driven than Yellowstone ever was. The scenery is gorgeous, the relationships are complicated, and the emotional storytelling hits harder than many people expected.

The Madison isn’t trying to be Yellowstone 2.0. That’s exactly why it works.

If you’ve been avoiding it because you think you already know what it is, you probably don’t.

Marshals (Paramount+)

When Marshals was first announced, some Yellowstone fans dismissed it before it even premiered. Big mistake.

While it exists in the same universe, Marshals quickly establishes itself as its own thing. The series follows Kayce Dutton as he trades ranch life for a badge, bringing his particular set of skills to cases that often blur the line between justice and survival. 

If Yellowstone was about protecting land and legacy, Marshals is about protecting people.

What makes the series work is that it never forgets who Kayce is. He’s still carrying the weight of everything he’s endured, still wrestling with his instincts, and still trying to find his place in a world that seems determined to test him at every turn.

The result is a crime drama with a distinctly Western soul. It’s tense, emotional, and often surprisingly thoughtful. And if you’ve avoided it because you thought it was just another Yellowstone cash grab, you’re missing one of the year’s most entertaining new procedural dramas.

Memory of a Killer (Hulu)

Patrick Dempsey plays an assassin with memory problems. Honestly, that should be enough.

Memory of a Killer follows Angelo Doyle, a hitman whose carefully controlled life begins to unravel as his memory deteriorates. Forced to confront both his profession and his mortality, Angelo finds himself navigating increasingly dangerous situations while struggling to trust his own mind.

The premise alone is compelling, but Dempsey elevates the material at every turn. Somehow, even while portraying a man whose brain is actively betraying him, he remains absurdly charismatic. 

Television has spent decades proving that Patrick Dempsey can make almost anything look good, and this series continues that tradition.

The show balances action, suspense, and emotional depth remarkably well. Beneath the assassin story lies a deeply human tale about identity, regret, family, and the things we hold on to when everything else starts slipping away.

Also, let’s be honest. McDreamy as a hitman is still ridiculously appealing.

NCIS: Origins (Paramount+)

Prequels are tricky.

Everyone already knows where the story is headed, which means they have to answer a simple question: Why should we care? While also battling their instincts that it could never live up to the characters they already love and to the actors who originally played them.

NCIS: Origins offers answers almost immediately. Rather than relying on nostalgia, the series digs into the experiences that shaped Leroy Jethro Gibbs long before he became the man audiences spent decades watching on NCIS.

It’s a more personal story than many viewers expected, one that’s as interested in grief, loss, and healing as it is in solving crimes.

Austin Stowell does an impressive job stepping into an iconic role without trying to imitate Mark Harmon. He makes the younger Gibbs feel familiar while still allowing him to become his own character.

Casting Kyle Schmid as Mike Franks was a stroke of genius. Don’t believe me? You will.

Even if you’ve never watched a single episode of NCIS, Origins works remarkably well on its own. And if you are a longtime fan, it adds meaningful layers to one of television’s most enduring characters.

The Pitt (HBO Max)

At this point, if you haven’t heard about The Pitt, I’m forced to assume you’ve been living in a cave, stranded on a desert island, or trapped beneath a pile of prestige dramas that somehow seemed more important.

The Pitt became a phenomenon almost immediately, and for good reason.

The real-time medical drama follows a single shift in a Pittsburgh emergency room, allowing viewers to experience every chaotic, heartbreaking, stressful moment alongside the doctors, nurses, and patients. The format creates an intensity that’s almost impossible to look away from.

Noah Wyle delivers the performance of his career, which is saying something considering he already gave us Carter on ER. The supporting cast is equally strong, creating one of television’s most believable ensembles.

The Pitt doesn’t just feel like one of the best new dramas of recent years. It feels like one of the best dramas, period. If you’ve somehow managed to avoid it this long, summer is the perfect time to fix that.

RJ Decker (Hulu)

Until David Boreanaz brings The Rockford Files back to television, RJ Decker is about as close as you’re going to get.

And honestly? That’s a pretty great recommendation.

The series follows RJ, a private investigator who always seems one step away from disaster. He’s smart, resourceful, stubborn, and frequently in over his head. In other words, he’s exactly the kind of detective television used to give us all the time, and somehow stopped making.

RJ Decker embraces that old-school PI energy while still feeling modern. The mysteries are engaging, the humor tracks, and the character work give viewers plenty of reasons to keep coming back.

Most importantly, it’s impossible not to root for the guy. He isn’t the smartest fella in every room and doesn’t always have a plan. Hell, sometimes he barely has enough gas money to get where he’s going.

That’s part of the charm. If you’re nostalgic for the days of Rockford, Magnum, and Simon & Simon, RJ Decker is waiting for you.

Widow’s Bay (Apple TV)

Widow’s Bay is the kind of show that reminds you television can still surprise you.

On paper, it’s a mystery set in a strange coastal town where long-buried secrets refuse to stay buried. In practice, it’s one of the most delightfully odd, emotionally rich, and entertaining series to arrive in years.

The series balances supernatural intrigue, small-town eccentricity, family drama, and genuine laughs without ever feeling like it’s trying too hard.

Every episode seemed to introduce another mystery, another bizarre town tradition, or another reason to question whether anyone in Widow’s Bay was telling the truth.

What really elevates the show is its heart. Beneath all the weirdness are characters dealing with grief, regret, forgiveness, and second chances. It’s surprisingly moving for a series that also features enough strange happenings to keep Reddit theorists employed for months.

The first season is a quick binge, and with a second season already on the way, there’s no reason to wait.

Your Friends & Neighbors (Apple TV)

If you’ve somehow missed Your Friends & Neighbors, it’s time to correct that mistake.

Jon Hamm stars as Coop, a wealthy hedge fund manager whose life implodes spectacularly after a divorce and a career-ending scandal. Faced with the pressure to maintain appearances in an affluent community where image is everything, he turns to robbing his wealthy neighbors. 

Naturally, things only get messier from there.

What makes the series work so well is that it never settles for being one thing. It’s funny, dramatic, suspenseful, and surprisingly emotional, often within the same episode. Hamm has rarely been better, and the supporting cast is equally terrific.

The first season ended with plenty of fallout, and Season 2 expanded the world in ways that feel organic rather than forced. Apple TV has quietly built one of television’s strongest drama lineups, and Your Friends & Neighbors deserves to be near the top of it.

If you’ve been waiting for the right time to start, this is it.

What Are You Waiting For?

Let’s face it. Most watchlists have become digital graveyards filled with shows we’re absolutely, definitely, totally going to watch someday. Someday has arrived.

The best thing about every series on this list is that you’re getting in early. You’re not trying to catch up on decades of television history or committing to a viewing project that rivals a college degree.

These are fresh shows, most with only one season under their belts, that are still building their audiences and finding their footing. Better yet, they’re all worth the investment.

So if you’ve been looking for your next obsession, your next comfort watch, your next mystery, romance, thriller, or character drama, there’s a very good chance you’ll find it here.

Now go watch something. The shows aren’t going to binge themselves. Then come back and tell us which one hooked you first.