With more and more subscription-based streaming services launching each and every year, it's getting increasingly difficult for consumers to settle on just one. The good news is that this extra competition has forced providers to seriously up their games, with more money being spent on original online programming in 2021 than ever before.

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Higher budgets, increased variety, and the recent surge in popularity of foreign-language shows have helped to make 2021 a wonderful year for fans of television dramas. Returning shows accounted for some of this, but the nation's screens were also illuminated by some fantastic new series as well.

Arcane

Arcane Season 2 League of Legends Netflix
  • Available on Netflix

Despite being set in the League of Legends universe, Arcane is an incredibly accessible series that can be enjoyed by just about anybody. It straddles multiple genres and features stunning animation, excellent world-building, and a colorful cast of wonderfully well-written characters.

Together with its gripping narrative, these things combine to form one of the very best animated series on Netflix right now. It's a near-perfect adaptation in that it doesn't sacrifice substance for the sake of rigidly sticking to its source material. More importantly, though, it's an excellent piece of television that is absolutely worth watching.

Dexter: New Blood

Dexter New Blood Michael C Hall
  • Available on Showtime

The final season of Dexter wasn't all bad, but the way in which it ended was farcical and a real slap in the face to those who had been with the sympathetic serial killer since the very beginning. Dexter: New Blood is a chance for those behind the series to right that wrong, and, so far, at least, it's one that Showtime and Michael C. Hall have grasped with both hands.

Given the way that the original series concluded, it's perhaps not all that surprising that former fans of the show have been slow to return. If the remaining five episodes are even half as good as the first five though, the ever-swelling pool of positive feedback will make it incredibly difficult for them to stay away for much longer.

Hacks

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  • Available on HBO Max

Where other shows typically take a moment or two to get going, Hacks hits the ground running without even the slightest sign of a stumble. The HBO Max series offers up a delightful combination of drama and humor through its masterful exploration of the once reluctant relationship between its two main characters, Deborah and Ava.

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The experienced Jean Smart does a wonderful job of bringing the former to life, but it's her co-lead, Hannah Einbinder, who really catches the eye. Her mature and measured performances completely belie her relative inexperience and suggest that, much like the show itself, the 26-year-old has a very bright future ahead of her indeed.

Losing Alice

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  • Available on Apple TV+

Strictly speaking, Losing Alice first premiered in 2020, but it wasn't until early 2021 that it became readily available to non-Israeli viewers through Apple TV+. It tells the story of an esteemed filmmaker who is struggling to come to terms with both her advancing years and her declining relevance, as well as the lengths that she's willing to go to in order to recapture her former glory.

Much of the show's strength is derived from its three main characters, with the complicated and ever-changing dynamics of the relationships between them being particularly engrossing. It's beautifully shot and edited too and features a powerful, albeit somewhat depressing ending that more than makes up for the series' slow middle act.

Reservation Dogs

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  • Available on Disney+

Following the death of a close friend, four Indigenous teenagers leave their reservation in rural Oklahoma behind to start a new life in California. The resulting trip provides the show's creators with ample opportunities to explore the intricacies of reservation life, while also providing viewers with healthy servings of both humor and drama along the way.

What starts out as a fairly generic coming-of-age story quickly evolves into something far more engrossing. Much like the group itself, the bonds between the four main characters are what really hold the show together, while the unique perspective that it endeavors to provide helps to set it apart from similarly-themed movies and shows.

Squid Game

Seong Gi-hun in Squid Game
  • Available on Netflix

Though the themes and ideas explored in Hwang Dong-hyuk's Squid Game are far from original, their execution and presentation are fantastic throughout. Gi-hun also makes for an incredibly genuine and believable main protagonist, while those around him help to provide some real emotional weight to proceedings.

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Squid Game's monumental success could yet prove to be a watershed moment, with plenty of other foreign language series starting to gain traction on Netflix in the short time since its debut. In fact, it ended up being another South Korean show, Hellbound, that finally knocked Squid Game from atop the list of most-watched series on Netflix when it debuted in mid-November.

Time

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  • Available on BritBox

Given Sean Bean's proclivity for on-screen deaths, the prospect of his character surviving a stint inside after killing a man while drunk driving seemed somewhat slim. Not only does Mark Cobden somehow manage to emerge from Craigmore Prison alive though, but he's also a much better man when he eventually does so.

Time is full of tense moments, but it's perhaps the ones in which Mark is left alone with his thoughts that end up being the most impactful. Stephen Graham's performance as the firm yet fair officer McNally is also worth watching and provides an exciting subplot that at times threatens to usurp the main narrative thread through its sheer excellence.

The Underground Railroad

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  • Available on Amazon Prime Video

In an era in which binge-watching has become the norm, The Underground Railroad sets itself apart as a piece of television that deserves to be fully taken in. The quality of the story-telling on offer throughout its ten-episode run is top-notch, as too are the performances of the actors who so brilliantly bring Colson Whitehead's 2016 novel to life.

Though Cora's story is a fictional one, it borrows heavily from the real-life experiences of many nineteenth-century slaves. That such perseverance and bravery could be summoned in the face of so much adversity and injustice is something that deserves to be celebrated, and The Underground Railroad does this in a poignant yet historically respectful manner.

Wandavision

WandaVision Powerful Cropped
  • Available on Disney+

Nobody really knew quite what to expect when it was announced that phase 4 of the MCU would include television shows. Wandavision answered that question quite emphatically, however, with its engaging and enjoyable narrative helping to flesh out two of the lesser-explored Avengers while also introducing some interesting new characters in the process.

The way that each episode borrows elements from classic television shows from across the ages may seem like a gimmick at first glance. On closer inspection, however, it becomes clear that each new setting mirrors Wanda's ongoing internal conflict, while also having the added benefit of helping to make each episode feel unique.

Yellowjackets

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  • Available on Showtime

When a high school soccer team's plane goes down deep in the Ontario wilderness, they're forced to resort to extreme measures in order to keep themselves alive. Yellowjackets documents not only the chaos that takes place in the immediate aftermath of the crash, but also the survivors' ongoing attempts to put their lives back together some 25 years later.

With only four of the show's ten-episode first season having aired at the time of writing, it still needs to stick the landing. If it does though — and there's very little evidence to suggest that it won't — it won't just go down as one of the best television dramas of 2021, but also one of the most gripping survival-themed television series since Lost finished airing back in 2010.

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