The spring season may not be well known as fertile ground for new shows you need to watch — traditionally, the fall season has been TV’s time to self-promote — but the period from March to May is used to manipulate a very influential subset of people who can make or break a series’ future: Emmy voters. With the Emmy eligibility period ending in May and Emmy voters having notorious long-term memory issues, springtime is the best opportunity for new shows to elbow their way into voters’ goldfish brains.
That’s why this crop of new shows is looking particularly lush. HBO is starting the season off with a pair of comedies that could be surprise Emmy contenders with the limited series DTF St. Louis and Steve Carell’s Rooster, and Hulu’s The Testaments hopes to make an awards splash in its debut season, similar to the show it was spun off from, The Handmaid’s Tale. Riz Ahmed, Nicole Kidman, and Matthew Rhys are also looking to add to their Emmy collections in a trio of shows that seem tailor-made to get them another prize.
Elsewhere, Yellowstone’s Taylor Sheridan is adding to his empire, the Real Housewives franchise is sprouting up in Rhode Island, and Spider-Man is challenging the colors of spring with a black-and-white noir mystery.
Here are all the noteworthy new shows of the spring.