TV Shows to Watch on SHOWTIME

Yellowjackets (2022–present)

Yellowjackets was one of the surprise hits of 2022, mashing up Lord of the Flies and Lost in a dual-timeline thriller dominated by stars Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, and Melanie Lynskey. In 1996, a plane carrying a girls’ high-school soccer team crashes in the Canadian wilderness. In the present day, the now-adult women are still dealing with the trauma and guilt of what they did to survive (no spoilers, but it wasn’t pretty). Yellowjackets is a drama, comedy, mystery, and killer ’90s playlist all in one.

George & Tammy (2022–2023)

Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain portray “Mr. and Mrs. Country Music” in George & Tammy, a biopic miniseries about the real-life travails of George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Their story plays like a forlorn country song full of drugs, booze, and domestic strife—and they still managed to create timeless music. Shannon and Chastain were so committed to the roles that they did their own singing for the series, and Chastain received a 2023 Golden Globe award nomination for her performance.

Billions (2016–2023)

Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis (and later in the series, Corey Stoll) battle it out with over-the-top, capital-A Acting in Billions, a tale of the super-rich versus the law (and their own egos). New York business titans Bobby Axelrod (Lewis) and Michael Prince (Stoll) are at constant legal odds with Attorney General Chuck Rhoades (Giamatti), and Chuck’s wife Wendy (Maggie Siff), who works for Axelrod, is caught in the melodramatic middle. Billions isn’t deep, but it’s full of darkly comic schemes and expensive toys to enjoy.

Shameless (2011–2021)

Before he was The Bear, Jeremy Allen White spent 11 seasons at the center of Shameless, a comedy/drama about the most dysfunctional family in the South Side of Chicago—or anywhere. The Gallaghers (including White, William H. Macy, and Emmy Rossum) scrape by in the underbelly of society. They do whatever it takes to survive while still making time for plenty of sex, drugs, alcohol, and familial fights. Eleven seasons may seem daunting, but once you’re in, your time with the Gallaghers flies by.

Dexter (2006–2013; 2021)

After a decade of minor original hits, SHOWTIME finally entered the big time in 2006 with Dexter, America’s favorite serial killer for eight seasons (or at least four). Miami police forensics expert Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) examines blood spatters by day and creates them at night as a killer with a code: only murder other murderers. The tension and thrills wore a bit thin by the end of the original run in 2013, but the show redeemed itself in 2021 with Dexter: New Blood, an excellent series wrap-up.

Weeds (2005–2012)

Even in the age of marijuana legalization, Weeds still holds up as a solid crime comedy. Suburban widow Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) reluctantly becomes a friendly neighborhood pot dealer to make ends meet. As her volume and illegality increase, she’s drawn into progressively more dangerous (and hilarious) situations. For some reason, only a few seasons of one of its most iconic shows are available on SHOWTIME, but you can find all eight Weeds seasons on Hulu and Peacock.

• The Affair
• The Chi
• I’m Dying Up Here
• Kidding
• The L Word

• Penny Dreadful
• The Tudors
• Twin Peaks
• United States of Tara

• Black Monday
• Californication
• The Curse
• Episodes
• Fat Actress
• Happy-ish

• House of Lies
• I Love That for You
• On Becoming a God in Central Florida
• Secret Diary of a Call Girl
• Uncoupled
• Ziwe

• Brotherhood
• Escape at Dannemora
• Homeland
• Ray Donovan
• Sleeper Cell

• Waco
• Waco: The Aftermath
• We Hunt Together
• Your Honor

• Boys in Blue
• The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth
• Gossip
• The Lincoln Project
• The Reagans

• Spector
• This American Life
• UFO
• We Need to Talk About Cosby
• Wu-Tang: Of Mics and Men