As we're all still stuck in the never-ending month that is January, it might be a fine time to take a look at what exciting new TV shows that are on the way this year.
As the last few years have proven, TV is where it's at for many high profile Hollywood actors, and 2018 is no different, with the likes of Emma Stone, Jonah Hill, Amy Adams, Liam Neeson and Dakota Fanning all taking up roles on the small screen.
Here's some you should look out for, and while not all have Ireland/UK transmission dates yet, hopefully, we'll get them not too long after.
1. Maniac - Netflix - No air date yet
Emmy-winning True Detective director Cary Fukunaga heads up this new Netflix adaptation of a 2014 Norwegian black comedy series. It stars Jonah Hill and Emma Stone as two patients in a psychiatric hospital who dream up alternate fantasy lives.
2. Heathers - Paramount - March 7th
Cult classic 1980's film Heathers has a TV reboot on the way that doesn't look half bad.
It's incorporated the dark tone of the original flick and diversified up its cast so we now have a plus-sized Heather (Melanie Field), a black lesbian (Jasmine Mathews) and a gender-queer male (Brendan Scannell) while Winona Ryder's Heather will be played by Grace Victoria Cox. Original Heathers star Shannen Doherty will feature in three episodes while Selma Blair also turns up.
3. The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story - FX - Premiered Jan 17th
The first season of Ryan Murphy's American Crime Story anthology series focused on the O.J Simpson trial, but this time around he chronicles the infamous murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace (Edgar Ramirez) in 1997 at the hands of a serial killer. Its opening episode has just premiered in the states and so far it's getting decent enough reviews.
4. Altered Carbon - Netflix - Feb 2nd
Based on the classic cyberpunk noir novel by Richard K. Morgan, Altered Carbon is set 300 years in the future where the human mind can now be digitized and downloaded into a "cortical stack" and placed into new bodies called sleeves.
The ten-part series has some great talent on board too, with writer-producer Laeta Kalogridis (Alita: Battle Angel, Shutter Island) and Emmy-winning director Miguel Sapochnik, who helmed the Battle of the Bastards episode of Game of Thrones - which for our money, was the greatest episode of the entire show to date.
5. Grownish - Freeform - Jan 3rd (Likely to be shown on Sky here, where Black-ish is aired)
A spin-off of popular comedy 'Black-ish', that follows the Johnson family's eldest daughter Zoey (Yara Shahidi) as she flees the nest and goes to college. Kenya Barris, the show's creator and executive producer, said the series features "that in-between place where you're not quite an adult but facing grown world problems for the first time".
6. Britannia - Sky Atlantic - Jan 18th
Written by playwright laureate Jez Butterworth, this historical drama tells the story of the Romans invasion of the British Isles. We watched the first episode recently and while it's no Game of Thrones, we are intrigued. The Celtic mysticism of it all alone can't help but be a draw.
7. Sharp Objects - HBO - Summer (Likely Sky Atlanic here)
Amy Adams stars in this adaptaion of Gillian Flynn's first novel as a journalist investigating the murder of two young girls in her hometown. Oscar-nominated actress Amy is always a treat to watch on screen but she also has the added help of acclaimed Big Little Lies director Jean-Marc Vallée. The adaptation was penned by Flynn and Marti Noxon (former Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer).
8. Good Girls - NBC - Feb 26th
This show sounds a bit like Breaking Bad meets Desperate Housewives. It stars Christina Hendricks, Retta, and Mae Whitman as three exhausted, angry moms who decide to rob a grocery store to fix their financial crises.
9. The Alienist - TNT - Jan 22nd (Available on Netflix on April 19th)
Dakota Fanning, Luke Evans, and Daniel Brühl star in this psychological thriller set in 1896 when a series of gruesome murders hit New York City. Brühl plays a psychologist, or an 'alienist' as they were called then, who investigates the murders along with ambitious police secretary Sarah Howard (Fanning) and newspaper illustrator John Moore (Luke Evans).
10. A.P. Bio - NBC - Feb 1st
This new comedy stars It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Glenn Howerton as philosophy scholar Jack Griffin who missed out on his dream job so instead starts teaching at a high school. However, he soon makes a plan to use his students to get back at the people in his life who have wronged him. Sounds exactly like something Dennis would do.
Also stars Patton Oswalt while the show was created by Seth Meyers, Mike O'Brien and Lorne Michaels (SNL creator).
11. Mosaic - HBO - Jan 22 (Sky Atlantic - yet to be announced date)
This is a new murder-mystery by Hollywood director Steven Soderbergh that stars Sharon Stone as children's author Olivia Lake. However it's is a TV show with a difference as it's an interactive storytelling experience that lets you choose your own path, and you'll need an app to do it. Hard not to be intrigued by that.
12. Roseanne - ABC - March 27th
There's been a lot of talk of revivals and reboots over the last couple of years so you may have missed the news that Roseanne is making a comeback. The classic American sitcom, which paved the way for many more dysfunctional family comedies over the years, will return soon after twenty years off the air.
Pretty much all of the cast are returning too, including Roseanne Barr (Roseanne Conner), John Goodman (Dan Conner), Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne’s sister Jackie), Sara Gilbert (Darlene Conner), Lecy Goranson (Becky Conner), Sarah Chalke (who replaced Goranson as Becky in 1993), and Michael Fishman (D.J. Conner). Even Johnny Galecki, who played Darlene’s boyfriend-turned-husband, will return for one episode.
13. Castle Rock - Hulu - No air date yet
Castle Rock is a fictional town in many Stephen King novels and is the setting for this J. J. Abrams-produced anthology series where characters from the likes of It, The Shining, Needful Things, and Cujo interact. Starring Sissy Spacek, Bill Skarsgård, Jane Levy, Andre Holland, Melanie Lynskey.
14. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - Netflix - No air date yet
The Coen Brothers movie into television for the first time with this six-part western anthology miniseries that is set to feature Liam Neeson (which we heard straight from the horse's mouth) Brendan Gleeson, James Franco and Zoe Kazan.
15. Here and Now - HBO - Feb 11th
This dark comedy-drama created by Alan Ball (Six Feet Under, True Blood) focuses on two connected multiethnic families with Tim Robbins and Holly Hunter as heads of one of them.
16. Derry Girls - Channel 4 - Jan 4th (Every Thursday at 10pm)
Sure you already know this one is worth watching. We're only half-way through the first season of Derry Girls but already Channel 4 knows they are onto a winner and commissioned a second. The new comedy is set against the Troubles in early-1990s Northern Ireland and follows the lives of four teenage girls (and the wee English fella) who are navigating through their youth during a time of war and conflict in a sort of Inbetweeners style way. One of the best comedies we've seen in some time, this is well worth a watch if you have somehow missed out until now.
17. Pose - FX - Summer
Another show by Ryan Murphy on the list, this upcoming musical drama is set in the world of 1986 and "looks at the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in New York: the rise of the luxury Trump-era universe, the downtown social and literary scene and the ball culture world". According to The Hollywood Reporter, the landmark series features the largest-ever cast of transgender actors in series-regular roles and the largest recurring LGBTQ cast in a scripted American TV series.
18. The Young Offenders - RTÉ2 - Feb 8th
Sure we had to have an Irish representative on the list but we really are looking forward to this one. 2016 Irish movie The Young Offenders proved so popular with audiences that the lads are now getting their own six-part comedy series off the back of it. Chris Walley and Alex Murphy will reprise their roles as Jock and Conor in what's set to be a coming-of-age comedy that follows the lads as they navigate their awkward teenage years, hatching plans and adventures to help distract from their tough home lives and their inability to stay out of trouble at school.
