When Revenge premiered on ABC in 2011, it filled us all with the desire to avenge our families. Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp) took over our screens and hearts. We got family drama, beautiful, wealthy people falling in love in the Hamptons, and the iconic red Sharpie mark. We watched Emily with bated breath as she worked to cross everyone off her list, one mark at a time, but as one might think, not everything is as it seems!
The Empress is kind of like a prequel to The Crown but if the focus was the Habsburg monarchy. The show starts in 1854 and follows Elizabeth (I know, but a different one) as she becomes an unlikely bride to Emperor Franz. The Viennese Court is gossipy and backstabbing — think Blair and Serena sitting on the Met steps — their beauty comes with power. The gowns are gorgeous, the love is tense, and like The Crown, while we know the outcome of the Habsburgs, getting there is all the fun. I can only write about The Crown by first acknowledging how Downton Abbey primed television viewers for the Royals. In Downton, we follow the fictional Earl of Grantham and his family, specifically his three daughters and their staff, from 1912 to 1925. Downton is the perfect mix of soapy drama and high-brow stakes. If you think the Royal Highness has drama, wait until you meet the Marchioness of Hexham. Nothing pumps me up like the Succession theme song. I escape into a wonderful world of the worst people, and yet, I care so deeply about each character as they vie to out-derange each other. Logan Roy, the patriarch of the family and company, covers up his adult children’s scandals, condemns their choice of partners, and lives in a world that revolves solely around him. I pled the fifth to any conclusion. Righteous Gemstones, created by Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down), is set in the world of televangelism and megachurches. Like Succession, at the core of the show are the adult children vying for their father’s love and control of the church. However crazy you think these characters may be at first glance, dial it up by 100. They curse, they steal, they kill, they have no respect for anyone or anything — they’re disgusting, they’re hilarious, and to me, they are perfect. The truth is if Sharon Horgan (co-creator of Catastrophe and creator of Bad Sisters) asked me to kill someone, I would at least consider it. In Bad Sisters, Horgan plays one of five sisters who hate one of their sister’s abusive husbands so much that they do what must be done: kill him. Did I mention it’s a comedy? If you like the behind-the-scenes scandal of the palace, you should know that the behind-the-scenes of your favorite television show can be just as dramatic. While we may all have reboot fatigue, Reboot gets it right. In Reboot, writers and executives bring back the dysfunctional cast of a fictional 2000s sitcom to reboot it. Reboot stars comedy heavy hitters Judy Greer, Keegan-Michael Key, Johnny Knoxville, Rachel Bloom, and Paul Reiser. At times, Key and Greer seem to be playfully making fun of themselves while making fun of their characters while making fun of the characters their characters are playing. It’s a meta-comedy masterclass. Created by Modern Family’s Steven Levitan, it’s a peak behind the curtain of TV from the very people who make it. Never has a show embodied “heavy is the head that wears the crown” as well as House of the Dragon and The Crown. So, if you liked watching Claire Foy age into Olivia Colman into Imelda Staunton, I’d like to raise you Milly Alcock aging into Emma D’Arcy. Admittedly, House of the Dragon’s time jumps are clunkier than The Crown, and at times, you may have to pause and wonder why some actors have aged 10 years, and some stay the same — Ser Criston Cole, the devil incarnate, the hottest man I’ve ever hated, couldn’t you have gotten a haircut? But, alas, if you like morally gray characters and siding with people that may be evil, this is the show for you. Plus, Matt Smith (Prince Philip Season 1 and 2) plays another brooding prince! And to answer the first question when I recommend House of the Dragon, no, you don’t need to watch Game of Thrones first. (But it is another excellent show about who gets to rule!) Every truth has three sides: your side, their side, and the truth. The Crown plays with this, especially in the new season, with what to tell the media and how the crown/firm can control the narrative or “truth.” In One of Us Is Lying, when five high school students get detention, and one dies, the truth of the other four slowly emerges. Each has their own motive to have their classmate dead; who’s telling the truth and why? Listen, I understand the political ramifications and irony of suggesting Derry Girls on a list about the monarchy. But that is precisely why I am! Derry Girls follows four girls and one boy (an honoree girl) in Derry, Northern Ireland, in the ’90s during the Troubles. Derry Girls does the impossible: It teaches the history and the truth of growing up in Ireland while being a coming-of-age comedy. The girls care about war and safety and boys and music. Very few shows can make you laugh out loud and cry. Derry Girls is one of them. Say it louder for the people in the back — Dominic West is too hot to play Prince Charles! Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, his performance, as always, is excellent. Much like The Crown, The Affair tells the story of a married man having an affair. Both shows interestingly don’t paint just one person in the wrong, but instead, show multiple characters’ circumstances and points of view. (Don’t yell at me, I’m talking about the characters, not the real people.) First love! Royalty! Swedish boarding school! Prince Wilhelm of Sweden falling for Simon, the scholarship student! It’s a queer twist on the classic question: Can two young lovers from different worlds make it work? For my House of the Dragon fans, maybe you’ve thought, “I’d love to see Alicent Hightower (the great Olivia Cooke) infiltrate herself into another high-ranking family.” But this time, with less killing and more pretty dresses. Well, do I have good news for you! Cooke, as always, dazzles as Becky Sharp, a lower-class girl determined to work her way up in British society by any means necessary. Vanity Fair is also a who’s who of great British talent, including fan favorites Claudia Jessie (Eloise in Bridgerton), Sian Clifford (Claire in Fleabag), and Johnny Flynn (Mr. Knightley in Emma.). There has been some criticism that The Crown, specifically Season 5, is not telling the factual story of the monarchy; to that, I say correct. It is not a documentary. On the other hand, The Great has a little more fun with the loosely based on history approach. The Great (an occasionally true story) is about Catherine the Great, played by the icon Elle Fanning as she marries Peter III and takes over the court and, somehow, all of Russia. The beauty of Veep is that Vice President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her gang of ridiculous misfits say all their inside thoughts out loud. Never do they miss an opportunity to absolutely eviscerate each other. The insults are art! The show takes down the absurdity of American politics by acting like, well, American politicians. Queen Elizabeth hardly ever gets to show emotion as head of the monarchy and church, but one must assume she’s thought everything Selina gets to say. Remember when Prince Charles went to an all-boys school in Scotland and hated it? This is nothing like that! But it is mainly a show at an all-boys school in the UK. Heartstopper, based on the graphic novel of the same name, follows a group of British teenage friends. The show manages to take on a lot of issues, mainly transphobia and homophobia, while keeping the characters safe. You root so heavily for Charlie and his friends that their wins feel like your own. When Peter Townsend showed up in Episode 4, I was giddy! I smiled to myself. I couldn’t believe we could bask in Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend’s love again, practicality and truth aside. They just needed to glance at each other across a room, and I swooned. I was similarly thrilled with the love and lust in A League of Their Own (co-created and starring Broad City’s Abbi Jacobson and Will Graham). League oozes chemistry from romantic to platonic. You can’t help but fall in love alongside them. A League of Their Own follows the creation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1943, focusing on the Rockford Peaches (D’Arcy Carden, Kate Berlant, Roberta Colindrez). While the movie of the same name stopped there, the show also focuses on Max (Chanté Adams), a Black baseball player who isn’t even allowed to try out, but that doesn’t stop her from playing. The show doesn’t shy away from the reality of being queer in the ’40s, but more importantly, it shows the joy. Bonus points for the hottest haircut scene since Kathy and Chandler Bing IYKYK. Team Gretson forever! On the surface, it might seem like Bel-Air and The Crown have nothing to do with each other, but they’re both about a new kid coming to town and shaking up the status quo. (Perhaps, High School Musical also should have been on this list.) Bel-Air is a dramatic modern-day telling of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Bel-Air captures the fun of the original while diving even deeper into the family dynamics. The clothes are great, the acting is topnotch, and Will played by Jabari Banks is a star! Maybe you watched the Balmoral episodes and wanted more Scotland? Great news! Outlander takes place in multiple countries, mainly Scotland and America, over the course of hundreds of years because the characters can travel through stones, just go with it. Outlander follows Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) as they become increasingly involved with the politics of the time, from the Jacobite rising to the American Revolution. In a fun time-travel twist, Tobias Menzies (aka Prince Philip in Seasons 3 and 4) plays both a horrific evil soldier in the 1740s and Claire’s husband, Randall, in the 1940s.
