With the year coming to a close, we here at The Pop Break wanted to touch on some TV favorites of 2024. As we celebrate this year in television, we’re also raising a glass to 2025 – fingers crossed we see even more exciting TV releases in the new year!
Bad Monkey
Available on: Apple TV+
Premiere Date: August 2024
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Rob Delaney, Natalie Martinez, Michelle Monaghan, Jodie Turner-Smith.
Vince Vaughn has proven capable of carrying lesser material purely using his charisma and comedic chops – he’s a talented guy. In AppleTV+’s Bad Monkey, Vaughn plays Yancy, a former Miami detective demoted to restaurant inspector in the Keys, largely due to his inability to get out of his own way. Adapted from the 2013 Carl Hiaasen novel of the same name, written by Bill Lawrence, the series follows Yancy as he gets wrapped up in a new investigation following the discovery of a severed arm. Bad Monkey didn’t have to rely on Vaughn’s charm to be entertaining, but it certainly didn’t hurt.
Though a murder mystery, Bad Monkey leans heavily comedic, and while the stakes are always very real, it never lingers too long on its down beats. The tone takes its cues from its star and Yancy feels he can talk himself out of any situation, so even when his life is in balance, we are treated to a lot of clever jabs that feel like Vaughn was given the freedom to riff. There are a lot of quirky elements to the series, including a narrator and intersecting storylines with some eccentric and very entertaining characters. Neville Stafford may be the most fun to watch on screen, and in a show with Vaughn, that’s a huge testament to the charm Ronald Peet brings to the role.
The first season is very bingeable and while it reaches a satisfying conclusion, there is more to come with Season 2 on the way. –Ben Murchison
X-Men ’97
Available on: Disney+
Premiere Date: March 2024
Starring (Voices Of): Ray Chase, Jennifer Hale, Alison Sealey-Smith, Cal Dodd, Lenore Zahn, George Buza, A.J. LoCasio, Matthew Waterson, and Theo James.
X-Men ’97 was an early year revelation. The continuation of the legendary X-Men animated series from the early-to-mid ’90s was at the same time a warm blanket of superhero nostalgia and a fresh, vibrant, and emotionally charged reimagining of our beloved mutant heroes. The series was visually dazzling — in particular the “behind the scenes” look at Nightcrawler’s teleportation — but never felt like a plasticine “glow up” from the original. Storylines were still accessible to the young ones, but hit hard for the adults — particularly in the now vaunted Episode 5 on Genosha. The voice cast returned as if they never left and new additions to the group like A.J. LoCasio felt like they day one originals. This is a must, must, must watch for fans of the original series or those who’ve always been curious about Charles Xavier’s team. –Bill Bodkin
Delicious in Dungeon
Available on: Netflix
Release Date: January 4, 2024
Starring (voices of): Kentarō Kumagai, Erica Mendez, Sayaka Senbongi, Emily Rudd, Asuna Tomari, Casey Mongillo, Hiroshi Naka, SungWon Cho, Mitsuho Kambe, Laura Stahl, Saori Hayami, Lisa Reimold.
Bon appetit! This manga adaptation of Dungeon Meshi made for an incredible blend of humor, suspense, and creativity, all rounded out with a fun cast of characters and monsters to face. This anime follows Laois and his party of adventurers – Marcille the elven mage and Chilchuck a half-foot and locksmith – as they team up with the experienced dwarf Senshi (who has a knack for cooking up monsters) on a mission to save Laois’ sister from the red dragon.
The plot builds up slowly and surely, each episode adding new characters and layers to the mix, cooking up the perfect recipe. It also helps that the animation is beautifully done, with mouth-watering dishes each episode that will make you ask yourself if you should consider diving headfirst into a dungeon while eating monsters along the way. If you’re a D&D player, foodie, or fantasy fan, this series is definitely calling your name. –Avani Goswami
Fallout
Available on: Prime Video
Premiere Date: March 7, 2024
Starring: Ella Purnell, Walton Goggins, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Mosies Arias, Elle Vertes, Leslie Uggams, Zach Cherry, Chris Parnell, Sarita Choudhory.
Fallout was one of the surprise shows of 2024. How can a big budget, star-studded adaptation of an iconic video game series airing on a massive streaming service be a surprise? Well, let’s not forget that outside of a few exceptions (e.g. The Last of Us) video game adaptations are usually awful. This, however, was absolutely brilliant. The team behind Westworld brought their penchant for God tier production design and meshed it beautifully with a tight script and dynamite performances from Purnell and Goggins. –Bill Bodkin
High Potential
Available on: ABC/Hulu
Premiere Date: September 17, 2024
Starring: Kaitlin Olsen, Daniel Sunjata, Garrett Dillahunt, Judy Reyes, Javica Leslie, Taran Killam, Matthew Lamb.
ABC’s High Potential has personally single-handedly renewed interest in cop procedurals. On the surface, there’s nothing bold or special about it, however, the casting is where this show thrives. Kaitlin Olson is the perfect choice for Morgan, a single-mom of three kids who’s wardrobe borders tacky and whose mind is just as chaotic and exceptional as her life. Balancing her whirlwind energy is her ex, Ludo, played by Taran Killam, who surprisingly has a positive and engaging relationship with his ex-wife and kids, post break-up. No cop show is complete without the partner aspect, and while it’s probably safe to say that the audience has fallen in love with Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata, One for the Money), here’s hoping the writers don’t go the usual route of having him end up with Morgan. The pair make a phenomenal team, but the work-friends-to-romantic-partners pipeline has been done so many times before, and it would be great to see this show break the mold.
Rounding out the cast of names you may have noticed from other popular prime-time shows are Judy Reyes and Garrett Dillahunt, as the betting-on-the-underdog Chief and the seasoned cop who doesn’t agree with this consultant idea, but who will inevitably be won over by Morgan in a season or two, respectively.
The draw for this show lies within the unexpected brilliance of Morgan’s mind. Thanks to her extraordinary ability to memorize facts and information beyond the scope of the average human, she can make connections that others would absolutely miss. Turns out, that kind of skill comes in real handy when trying to determine the who, what, when, where, and why of it all. Maybe it’s because in some ways, High Potential is reminiscent of Bones, or maybe it’s just perfect casting and clever writing, but whatever the reason, this show is a must watch for fans of “whodunnit” shows. –Megan LaBruna
Arcane Season 2
Available on: Netflix
Premiere Date: November 2024
Starring (voice cast): Hailee Steinfeld, Ella Purnell, Katie Leung, Kevin Alejandro, Toks Olagundoye, Harry Lloyd.
Netflix’s Arcane made an undeniable second splash in 2024, with the internet exploding over the highly anticipated season of this animated show, which landed in second place on the streaming platform during the premiere of its acts, being watched by millions across the globe. The animation, characters, and stories still carried the same weight as the first season, making the series finale one to watch, even if fans were left with some questions.
The reason it’s in this top TV list is because of the incredible attention to detail, mind-blowing animation, and dynamic storytelling that can’t be denied. This show, focusing on two sisters, clashing cities, and the way magic, technology, and science collides still lives in the hearts of many, beyond the finale. It opens the door for more animation to be taken seriously, and this show is something viewers will think about for years to come. –Avani Goswani
Agatha All Along
Available on: Disney+
Premiere Date: September 18, 2024
Starring: Kathryn Hahn, Joe Locke, Aubrey Plaza, Patti LuPone, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Debra Jo Rupp.
The definition of appointment viewing. Marvel’s sequel series to WandaVision not only reached the high bar set by the first-ever MCU on Disney+ series, some can argue it surpassed it. Kathryn Hahn leads one of the most stacked casts in Marvel TV history to hilarious, heartbreaking and horrifying results. The series was able to create singular greatness within every episode, while also maintaining a beguiling arc that has you guessing until the very last second. –Bill Bodkin
The Penguin
Available on: MAX
Premiere Date: September 19, 2024
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Miliotti, Rhenzy Feliz, Deirdre O’Connell, Clancy Brown, Carmen Ejogo, Michael Zegen, Mark Strong.
Even though it was easy to root for Batman and root against Oswald ‘Oz’ Cobb (Colin Farrell, The Batman) in the movie, the show The Penguin makes it easy to want Oz to win every battle and secure victory in the war he may have expanded. The show reveals the human side in him, making Oz vulnerable to the viewer. But, it doesn’t make him a good person overall. It keeps him as a villain whose morals don’t change, and that’s why The Penguin deserves to be a top 2024 series. It simply changed the viewers’ perspective and might’ve delivered a new fan-favorite villain, whereas previously the Riddler was the easy choice. On top of a storyline being written with big-screen drama and pizzazz, the hair and makeup department deserves an Emmy, although one could say The Penguin should win every category. –Amanda Hoffman
