Television doesn’t sleep. Backstage is breaking down, month by month, the buzzy shows and performances that merit attention from awards voters and couch potatoes alike across the ever-expanding landscape of the small screen.
We knew it was coming, but we’re bummed nonetheless: TV viewers are finally starting to feel the impact of production delays caused by last year’s SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. So, yes, less new content is coming to the small screen this month. But take heart, TV buffs—there’s still plenty to binge in February, from long-running fan faves to highly anticipated new shows.
To start off, we’re saying goodbye to an Emmy-winning comedy that’s had a prett-ay, prett-ay, prett-ay good run: “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Larry David’s beloved kvetchfest, whose 12th and final season is hitting HBO on Feb. 4. Two less critically acclaimed (but hugely popular) series are also making their final bows: CBS’ “Big Bang Theory” spinoff “Young Sheldon” (Feb. 15) and ABC’s Freddy Highmore–led medical drama “The Good Doctor” (Feb. 20).
How To Become a TV Actor ABC will likely keep earning straight A’s with Season 3 of the Emmy-winning mockumentary “Abbott Elementary” (Feb. 7); the second installment netted five Emmy noms this year—including best comedy—plus a best actress win for creator-star Quinta Brunson. Due to the aftereffects of the strike, CBS is dropping what will likely be its only new scripted series of 2024: “Elsbeth,” a spinoff of “The Good Wife,” starring Carrie Preston as a lawyer who marches to the beat of her own drum (Feb. 29).
Elsewhere, two streamers are aiming to cash in on fans’ allegiance to a pair of genre faves. Netflix is reviving Nickelodeon’s lauded 2005 animated series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” with a CGI-heavy live-action reboot (Feb. 27). (Here’s hoping the streamer has better luck than M. Night Shyamalan did with his notoriously awful big-screen adaptation.) Meanwhile, AMC’s “Walking Dead” franchise continues to shamble on with its sixth(!) spinoff, “The Ones Who Live” (Feb. 25).
Disney+ is betting on a whole new kind of animated show: “Iwájú,” an Afrofuturist tale set in a Wakanda-esque version of Lagos (Feb. 28). The series marks Disney’s first-ever collaboration with an outside studio in its century of existence. Elsewhere, Apple TV+ is journeying to the cosmos with “Constellation,” starring Noomi Rapace as an astronaut on a quest to recover her lost memories.
Here are the premieres we’re most excited about this month, including a slick action comedy, an adult animated series from an all-female writing team, and a sweeping adaptation of a bestselling historical epic, plus everything else coming in February.
“Mr. & Mrs. Smith”
Jack-of-all-trades Donald Glover is following up his 2023 satirical horror series “Swarm” with a fresh take on a sexy espionage classic. Co-created with Francesca Sloane (“Atlanta”), “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” is a small-screen adaptation of Doug Liman’s 2005 action comedy about an arranged marriage between two spies; Glover and Maya Erskine (“PEN15”) star as the reluctant couple. And if that rom-com match made in Heaven isn’t enough to sell you, consider that the series also features Parker Posey, Paul Dano, Alexander Skarsgård, Michaela Coel, Sharon Horgan, and Ron Perlman. We’d get fake-married, too, if it meant getting to hang out with this murderers’ row. The first episode drops Feb. 2 on Prime Video.
“The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy”
What’s the best next move after landing your first Emmy? Joining the voice cast of an out-there animated series, of course. Erstwhile Roy family scion Kieran Culkin is just one of the big names in this feminist sci-fi comedy, teleporting to Prime Video on Feb. 23. Executive produced by Natasha Lyonne and Maya Rudolph, “The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy” is the brainchild of Lyonne’s “Russian Doll” collaborator Cirocco Dunlap. The show features “Everything Everywhere All at Once” breakout Stephanie Hsu and “Nope” star Keke Palmer as a pair of alien surgeons whose intergalactic reputations precede them; but their latest case could have dire consequences for the entire cosmos. Lyonne and Rudolph also lend their voices to the series, along with, surprisingly, British singer-songwriter Sam Smith.
“Shōgun”
Winter is the perfect time to stay indoors and lose yourself in a big ol’ historical epic. FX on Hulu is delivering with this limited series based on James Clavell’s 1975 novel, which premieres Feb. 27. Set in the 16th century, “Shōgun” follows John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), an Englishman whose arrival in a closed-off Japan has major implications for the country’s power players—particularly feudal lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) and noblewoman Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai). Clavell’s bestseller previously got the miniseries treatment from Eric Bercovici in 1980—but the latest version has something its predecessors lacked: co-creator Rachel Kondo, who, unlike Clavell and Bercovici, is actually of Japanese descent. (She’s joined by Oscar-nominated “Top Gun: Maverick” scribe Justin Marks.)
Read on for a full list of everything coming to the small screen in February.
ABC
Feb. 7 – “Abbott Elementary” Season 3
Feb. 7 – “The Conners” Season 6
Feb. 7 – “Not Dead Yet” Season 2
Feb. 20 – “The Good Doctor” Season 7
Feb. 20 – “The Rookie” Season 6
Feb. 20 – “Will Trent” Season 2
Acorn TV
Feb. 19 – “The Madame Blanc Mysteries” Season 3
Feb. 26 – “Murdoch Mysteries” Season 17
Adult Swim
Feb. 29 – “Royal Crackers” Season 2
AMC/AMC+
Feb. 25 – “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” premiere
Apple TV+
Feb. 14 – “The New Look” premiere
Feb. 21 – “Constellation” premiere
BET+
Feb. 29 – “Perimeter” premiere
BritBox
Feb. 1 – “Three Little Birds” premiere
Feb. 28 – “Vera” Season 13
CBS/Paramount+
Feb. 1 – “A Bloody Lucky Day” premiere
Feb. 8 – “Halo” Season 2
Feb. 11 – “Tracker” premiere
Feb. 12 – “Bob Hearts Abishola” Season 5
Feb. 12 – “NCIS” Season 21
Feb. 12 – “NCIS: Hawai’i” Season 3
Feb. 12 – “The Neighborhood” Season 6
Feb. 13 – “FBI” Season 6
Feb. 13 – “FBI: International” Season 3
Feb. 13 – “FBI: Most Wanted” Season 5
Feb. 15 – “Ghosts” Season 3
Feb. 15 – “So Help Me Todd” Season 2
Feb. 15 – “Young Sheldon” Season 7
Feb. 16 – “Blue Bloods” Season 14
Feb. 16 – “Fire Country” Season 2
Feb. 16 – “S.W.A.T.” Season 7
Feb. 18 – “CSI: Vegas” Season 3
Feb. 18 – “The Equalizer” Season 4
Feb. 29 – “Elsbeth” premiere
“Halo” Season 2 Credit: Adrienn Szabo/Paramount+
Disney+
Feb. 2 – “Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” premiere
Feb. 21 – “Star Wars: The Bad Batch” Season 3
Feb. 28 – “Iwájú” premiere
Great American Family
Feb. 17 – “County Rescue” premiere
HBO/Max
Feb. 1 – “Clone High” Season 2
Feb. 4 – “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Season 12
Feb. 8 – “Tokyo Vice” Season 2
Feb. 10 – “The Accidental Influencer” premiere
Hulu/FX on Hulu
Feb. 5 – “Solar Opposites Valentine’s Day Special” premiere
Feb. 16 – “Life & Beth” Season 2
Feb. 27 – “Shōgun” premiere
Feb. 28 – “Everything Is Fine” Season 1
Nat Geo
Feb. 1 – “Genius: MLK/X” premiere (also streaming on Disney+ and Hulu)
Netflix
Feb. 2 – “Let’s Talk About CHU” premiere
Feb. 8 – “One Day” premiere
Feb. 9 – “Alpha Males” Season 2
Feb. 9 – “A Killer Paradox” premiere
Feb. 14 – “Good Morning, Veronica” Season 3
Feb. 15 – “Alrawabi School for Girls” Season 2
Feb. 15 – “House of Ninjas” premiere
Feb. 15 – “Ready, Set, Love” premiere
Feb. 15 – “The Vince Staples Show” premiere
Feb. 16 – “Comedy Chaos” premiere
Feb. 22 – “Avatar: The Last Airbender” premiere
Feb. 28 – “The Mire” Season 3
Feb. 29 – “The Tourist” Season 2
Peacock
Feb. 15 – “Vigil” Season 2
Prime Video
Feb. 2 – “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” premiere
Feb. 9 – “The Silent Service” premiere
Feb. 23 – “Poacher” premiere
Feb. 23 – “The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy” premiere
Sundance Now
Feb. 15 – “Far North” premiere (also streaming on AMC+)