5 Upcoming TV Shows to Get Excited About

The glut of new shows that January and February bring each year has passed, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still new shows being released. Here are five to get excited about:

5.) “The Looming Tower” (Hulu, February)

The new miniseries, premiering on Wednesday (Feb. 28), appears to be one of the most anticipated shows of the winter. Based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Lawrence Wright, it provides a rare glimpse of the rivalry between the CIA and FBI in the late 1990s that—according to its creators—“may have inadvertently set the path for the tragedy of 9/11.” The cast includes Jeff Daniels as the chief of the New York FBI’s counterterrorism unit and Peter Sarsgaard as a CIA analyst. Also present: Alec Baldwin, guest-starring as ex-CIA director George Tenet.

4.) “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” (Netflix, TBD)

“Fargo” was only the beginning of the Coen Brothers’ affair with television. Their TV-directorial debut, “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” is scheduled to air later this year on Netflix. The anthology will follow six different tales about the American West, starring Tim Blake Nelson (“O Brother, Where Art Thou?”). The production company, Annapurna Pictures, promised “an innovative television and theatrical integrated approach.” This promise, along with the remarkable track record of the Oscar-winning filmmakers, make the project seem particularly promising.

3.) “Sharp Objects” (HBO, TBD)

After the recent success of his “Big Little Lies” miniseries, the French-Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée is back. His new show will be an adaptation of “Sharp Objects,” a novel by Gillian Flynn (“Gone Girl”), which tells the story of Camille, a crime reporter who returns to her hometown after spending time in a psychiatric hospital to cover the murder of two girls. Back at home, she has to face her strict mother and her spoiled half-sister. The cast will include Amy Adams (who is signed on as an executive producer as well), Patricia Clarkson, and Chris Messina (“Damages,” “The Mindy Project”).

2.) “The First”(Hulu, TBD)

The past few months have been challenging for Netflix’s “House of Cards,” but its creator, Beau Willimon, seems to have moved on. His new series, “The First,” a Hulu and the British Channel 4 co-production, will depict “the first human mission to Mars.” The sci-fi series, starring Sean Penn and Natascha McElhone (“Californication”), will be set in the near future. Most of the details have been kept secret, but Hulu announced that the story will focus “not only on the astronauts, but also on their families and loved ones, as well as the ground team on Earth.”

1.) “Kidding” (Showtime, TBD)

14 years after they made you sob in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” actor Jim Carrey and director Michel Gondry are back together. And this time, it seems, they are going to make you smile. Their new project, which will be broadcasted on Showtime, will depict a crisis in the life of Jeff, aka Mr. Pickles, an icon of children’s television, whom the show’s creators define as “a beacon of kindness and wisdom to America’s impressionable young minds.” “Kidding” will mark Carrey’s first regular television role since his appearance on the 1990‘s sketch comedy show, “In Living Color.”