Having a vast library of good television shows and films is the most important factor in the success of a streaming service. That’s part of what transformed Netflix into a global phenomenon, and it’s why services like Paramount Plus have worked hard to build a healthy library of series that subscribers can browse through. As is the case with all streaming services, Paramount Plus has a mix of original series that live only on the platform and older shows that were originally on broadcast and have now found a home on streaming.
Although these shows have varied histories, each one of them is a great staple in Paramount Plus’s overall streaming library. Paramount Plus will likely continue to develop original content, but these Paramount Plus shows will stand the test of time, whether they’re ongoing or have been over for a decade or longer.
Penny Dreadful (2014)
3 Seasons
Genre
Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Drama, Mystery, Action & Adventure
Cast
Eva Green, Josh Hartnett, Timothy Dalton
Created by
John Logan
A riff on gothic horror that had a hugely devoted fanbase during its initial run, Penny Dreadful is a delightful mishmash that pulls elements from everything from Dracula to Frankenstein. The show’s greatest selling point, though, is Eva Green’s towering central performance, which was hugely acclaimed at the time and has only become more beloved in the years since. If you’re looking for a great show to dive into for the spooky season, Penny Dreadful is the ideal choice.
Special Ops: Lioness (2023)
1 Season
Genre
Drama
Cast
Zoe Saldaña, Laysla De Oliveira, Dave Annable
Created by
Taylor Sheridan
Taylor Sheridan owns Paramount Plus in a way that few creators do in the modern TV era, which is part of the reason he’s currently responsible for so much of what’s on Paramount Plus. His latest show is Special Ops: Lioness, which follows a CIA agent as she attempts to balance her personal life with professional obligations while fighting the war on terror. Featuring an all-star cast that includes Zoe Saldana, Nicole Kidman, and Morgan Freeman, Special Ops: Lioness is a tense thriller, in spite of its slightly silly name.
Tulsa King (2022)
1 Season
Genre
Crime, Drama
Cast
Sylvester Stallone, Andrea Savage, Max Casella
Created by
Taylor Sheridan
We know Sylvester Stallone is a major movie star, but his first venture into the world of TV is also a fun affair! Terrence Winter of The Sopranos serves as the showrunner of this mafia drama. Stallone plays Dwight Manfredi, a mobster who is attempting to get back on his feet by running a new crime ring after spending a lot of time behind bars. Once a criminal, always a criminal.
Evil (2019)
3 Seasons
Genre
Drama
Cast
Katja Herbers, Mike Colter, Aasif Mandvi
Created by
Michelle King, Robert King
The Kings are the most creative minds working on TV at Paramount right now, and Evil brings a thoroughly modern lens to one of the most ancient subjects in the world. The series tells the story of a priest and a psychologist who work together to investigate events that initially seem to have a supernatural dimension to them. The line between what’s real and what isn’t is always fuzzy, but Evil is also unique for the ways in which it infuses thoroughly modern notions of darkness into its storytelling. It’s a series about living online and how easy it is to be sucked into the darkness by the world around you, and it’s a delightful, twisted ride.
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
4 Seasons
Genre
Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Action & Adventure
Cast
Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Mary Wiseman
Created by
Alex Kurtzman, Bryan Fuller
As one of the longest-running sci-fi franchises in the history of TV, Star Trek: Discovery is just the latest iteration of a story that many are already deeply familiar with. Discovery is actually a prequel to the original Star Trek, and takes place roughly a decade before the events of the original series. Following a military scientist who eventually becomes captain of the Discovery, the show has helped bring Star Trek to modern audiences and is the first series set in the universe since Star Trek: Enterprise ended in 2005. Although Discovery hasn’t been met with universal acclaim, those who love it love it passionately, and it may prove to be an excellent entry point for science fiction fans who are unfamiliar with this world.
Frasier (1993)
11 Seasons
Genre
Comedy
Cast
Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, Jane Leeves
Created by
Peter Casey, David Angell
It’s not exactly a controversial opinion to say that Frasier, one of the most decorated comedy series of all time, is a good TV show. Although it started as a spinoff of Cheers, the show eventually proved that it was a worthy successor and lasted 11 seasons. The series follows Kelsey Grammar’s Frasier as he moves to Seattle in search of a new beginning. There, he hosts a radio show and deals with the strife around his personal life. The dry wit at the heart of Frasier was what sustained the show, but Frasier had a much bigger heart than it let on, and that warmth allowed these dry, silly characters to feel like family.
Chappelle's Show (2003)
3 Seasons
Genre
Comedy
Cast
Dave Chappelle
Created by
Dave Chappelle, Neal Brennan
Dave Chappelle is the center of an ongoing controversy today, but that doesn’t make Chappelle’s Show any less era-defining. Dave Chappelle’s sketch show, which ran for three seasons starting in 2003, was filled with some of the funniest sketches in the history of comedy. What made Chappelle’s comedy so brilliant was its ability to make sharp political points without ever feeling like a diatribe. Chappelle’s best sketches had a distinct point of view, but they were also hilarious, and he knew that those things didn’t have to be in conflict. We live in a dark, absurd world, and Chappelle captured that world beautifully.
Twin Peaks (1990)
3 Seasons
Genre
Drama, Mystery
Cast
Sheryl Lee, Mädchen Amick, Kimmy Robertson
Created by
David Lynch, Mark Frost
Widely regarded as one of the best shows ever made, Twin Peaks is compelling in part because it feels like no other TV show ever made. The series is set in a small town that has been rocked by the death of a teenage girl. Following Dale Cooper, the FBI agent sent to investigate the murder, the series explores the darkness underneath the town of Twin Peaks and the history of evil that even a quiet town has buried underneath it. As a story about murder, Twin Peaks is utterly compelling, but that’s not all the show is. Ultimately, it’s a story about the terrible things people do to one another, and how we reconcile with that horrifying potential.
1923 (2022)
1 Season
Genre
Drama, Western
Cast
Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, Darren Mann
Created by
Taylor Sheridan
Although Yellowstone is not itself on Paramount Plus, its prequel series, 1923, is, and we should all be grateful for that fact. The show, which stars Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford as ancestors of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton, the show is about the closing of the American frontier, and in its gentle way, it’s also about aging. 1923 is given time to be a little more reflective and thoughtful than its predecessor, and it’s anchored by a pair of wonderful central performances from Ford and Mirren.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)
2 Seasons
Genre
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Cast
Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush
Created by
Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet
If you’re nostalgic for the days when Star Trek was mostly a space adventure that wasn’t all that focused on lore, then Strange New Worlds is the show for you. The series is a prequel to the original Star Trek, and it tells stories that are largely contained to single episodes. As such, it plays by the old rules of TV, and is all the better for it. With strong writing, a solid cast that it knows how to take full advantage of, and better special effects than they had in the 1960s, Strange New Worlds is the ideal Star Trek show for a casual fan.
Yellowjackets (2021)
2 Seasons
Genre
Drama, Mystery
Cast
Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Sophie Nélisse
Created by
Bart Nickerson, Ashley Lyle
A riff on Lord of the Flies that follows a girls’ soccer team stranded in the Canadian wilderness following a plane crash, Yellowjackets has been a remarkably gripping story about trauma that also features plenty of cannibalism. The series, which splits its story between following the teens in the immediate aftermath of the crash, and the surviving adults more than 20 years later, features plenty of great performances and also manages to focus on women in a way few shows on TV do even today. Yellowjackets is also just wild, zany fun, and it’s that unique combination that has made it every TV lover’s latest obsession.
Freaks and Geeks (1999)
1 Season
Genre
Drama, Comedy
Cast
John Francis Daley, Linda Cardellini, James Franco
Created by
Paul Feig
A cult teen show that only ran a single season, Freaks and Geeks tells the story of the outcasts in a 1980 high school. In addition to launching a generation of young talent, Freaks and Geeks was also a smart show about what it meant to grow up in that era and what it means to grow up in general. Few shows have better captured the angst of being a teenager, even if the series wound up only having a short life on the air. The fact that it’s still discussed 25 years later speaks to its staying power.
The Daily Show (1996)
29 Seasons
Genre
News, Comedy
Created by
Lizz Winstead, Madeleine Smithberg
A comedy show that redefined an entire generation’s relationship to the news, The Daily Show feels like something of an institution now that it’s been on the air for almost 30 years. The show, which has launched a generation of comedy stars, also gave many people a new way to understand the world. The show’s genius is that it was always both a comedy series and a show about what was happening in the world, and basically all of late-night comedy, as well as Steve Carrell’s entire career, only exists because of the show’s enormous success.
Escape at Dannemora (2018)
1 Season
Genre
Drama
Cast
Benicio del Toro, Paul Dano, Patricia Arquette
Created by
Michael Tolkin, Brett Johnson
A great and largely underseen miniseries from 2018, Escape at Dannemora tells the story of two real-life prisoners who escaped from a prison in upstate New York with some help from a female employee. Patricia Arquette won an Emmy for her performance in the series, and she’s matched by equally great work from Paul Dano and Benicio Del Toro. Add in some incredible direction from Ben Stiller, and you have the recipe for a tight, thrilling series that takes a very grounded, realistic look at what it actually takes to escape from prison.
1883 (2021)
1 Season
Genre
Drama, Western
Cast
Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill
Created by
Taylor Sheridan
Paramount Plus may have fumbled the ball a bit when it came to getting the rights to stream Yellowstone, but the company has made good use of the broader Yellowstone universe. 1883 tells the story of the Dutton family as they first establish their ties to the land they will eventually defend so fulsomely in Yellowstone. The series stars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, a real-life couple who are also the foundation of the entire Dutton family. 1883 is a limited series, but it’s not the only expansion of the Yellowstone universe that creator Taylor Sheridan has made.
Halo (2022)
2 Seasons
Genre
Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Action & Adventure
Cast
Pablo Schreiber, Natascha McElhone, Joseph Morgan
Created by
Kyle Killen, Steven Kane
Adapted from one of the bestselling video game series of all time, Halo follows a super soldier living in the 26th century who becomes embroiled in humanity’s battle against a group of hostile aliens. Although the Halo games made their bones on combat (and there’s plenty of that here), the Halo series smartly adjusts to its medium, spending more time building out the world of this story and giving the Master Chief character far more humanity than he gets in most of the games. Halo is still a sci-fi action series, but it’s one that has a solid emotional backbone.
What shows are coming to Paramount Plus in May?
May 1
- Charles: The New King
- PAW Patrol (season 9)
- PAW Patrol: Dino Rescue
- PAW Patrol: Rescue Knights
- The Mightiest (season 1)
- Behind the Music (season 2 premiere)
May 7
- Kiss The Future premiere
May 8
- Teen Mom: The Next Chapter (season 1)
May 10
- The Chi (season 6 new episodes)
May 14
- Pillowcase Murders premiere
May 15
- Love & Hip Hop: Miami (season 5)
May 17
- Mourning in Lod premiere
- RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars (season 9 premiere)
- RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars: Untucked (season 6 premiere)
May 18
- Supernova
May 21
- LOLLA: The Story of Lollapalooza premiere
May 22
- Aerial Adventures (season 1)
May 23
- Evil (final season premiere)
May 25
- National Lampoon’s Van Wilder – The Rise of Taj
May 29
- CMT Giants (2022)
- CMT Storytellers (seasons 1-2)
- CMT Summer Camp (seasons 2022-2023)
- CMT Summer Sessions (season 2)
May 30
- Pyramid Game premiere
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