Cursed islands, comeback kids, ferocious dragons, star-crossed lovers, and a decades-old manhunt — these are the shows that kept us glued to our screens this year.

Widow’s Bay
Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) is the mayor of Widow’s Bay, a sleepy island town off the coast of New England that he’s desperate to turn into a tourist destination. The only problem? The superstitious locals — particularly Wyck Crawford (Stephen Root) — are convinced the island is cursed. Once the tourists start rolling in, its old stories start coming true. 

Soon, Tom finds himself up against a sea hag, a killer clown, and a whole lot of creepy goings-on. Kate O’Flynn is a total scene-stealer as Patricia, Tom’s eccentric assistant, whose former classmates still believe she lied about being targeted by a serial killer known as the Boogeyman back in high school. 

The show balances scares and laughs, operating as a small-town comedy with classic horror bones, a formula that helped it score a record 14 Emmys in a single year. 

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Widow's Bay

“Widow’s Bay” is a quaint island town 40 miles off the coast of New England. But something lurks beneath the surface. Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) is desperate to revive his struggling community. There’s no Wi-Fi, spotty cellular reception and he must contend with superstitious locals who believe their island is cursed. He wants these people to respect him. They don’t. They think he is soft and cowardly. And he is. But Loftis is determined to build a better future for his teenage son and turn the island into a tourist destination. Miraculously, he succeeds: tourists are finally coming. Unfortunately, the locals were right. After decades of calm, the old stories that seemed too ludicrous to be true, start happening again. “Widow’s Bay” blends genuine horror with character-driven comedy.

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The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins
Reggie Dinkins (30 Rock’s Tracy Morgan) was living the dream as a New York Jets player. That is, until he accidentally called a national sports network instead of his bookie to talk about his latest bets and got himself booted out of the NFL. Now, Reggie is desperate to scrub the stain off his legacy, and he’s betting (pun very much intended) on one last shot at redemption: a documentary about his life.

Enter Daniel Radcliffe as Arthur Tobin, an Oscar-winning filmmaker shunned by the documentary community after a very viral meltdown on the set of a superhero movie. Morgan and Radcliffe bring radically different energies to the screen, but that’s exactly why they work so well together — and the more Arthur digs into Reggie’s life, the more he can’t help but warm to Reggie and his family. The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins is a heartfelt comeback story wrapped in a laugh-out-loud mockumentary.

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The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins

In The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, a disgraced former football player (Tracy Morgan) is on a mission to rehabilitate his image. The comedy series stars Tracy Morgan, Daniel Radcliffe, Erika Alexander, Bobby Moynihan, Precious Way and Jalyn Hall. Executive produced by "30 Rock" creators Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, the series is written by Carlock and Sam Means ("30 Rock," "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"). Tracy Morgan, Eric Gurian and David Miner also executive produce.

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House of the Dragon S3
Set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon charts a bloody civil war between the Targaryens. In one corner, there’s Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), the named heir who’s come to claim her throne. In the other is King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), left burnt and broken by last season’s battles and forced to leave the throne behind.

Season 3 follows Rhaenyra’s gradual descent into madness and just how far she’ll go to secure the Iron Throne, all while mapping out ever-shifting alliances and evolving relationships. Yes, the series takes liberties with the source material, but if you’re after big, bold fantasy spectacle, it delivers in spades. Savour every fiery minute — Season 4 will be the show’s last.

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House of the Dragon S3

Set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, this epic series tells the story of House Targaryen.

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Pursuit of Jade
Who would have guessed that a lady butcher and a marquis would have the whole world swooning? Fan Changyu (Tian Xiwei), a butcher’s daughter, finds a wounded young man lying half-dead in the snow and takes him in as her husband, never suspecting that Yan Zheng (Zhang Linghe) is actually Xie Zheng, the Marquis of Wu’an. Between the slow-burn romance between the two and the gorgeous cinematography (especially whenever Zhang is on screen), it’s no wonder Pursuit of Jade became a massive international hit.

Changyu is a heroine with spunk to spare — refreshingly, she doesn’t lose herself after falling in love. If you haven’t been swept into the world of the Marquis of Wu’an and Fan Changyu yet, now’s the time to let Pursuit of Jade have its moment.

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Pursuit of Jade 逐玉

Fan Changyu and Xie Zheng enter a fake marriage for separate reasons, but their love grows. Separated by conflict, they reunite on the battlefield, fighting together for justice, truth, and their love.

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The Scarecrow
Inspired by one of Korea’s most infamous real-life serial murder cases — and the innocent man wrongfully convicted along the way — The Scarecrow follows ace detective Kang Tae-joo (Park Hae-soo), who’s reassigned to his rural hometown of Gangseong and drawn into a string of killings. To find the murderer, he’s forced to team up with prosecutor Cha Si-young (Lee Hee-joon), his old-school-days nemesis. 

Hopping between 1988 and 2019, the show looks like a classic whodunit at first glance, but The Scarecrow cares less about the mystery and more about the people caught up in it. It treats the victims’ stories with real sensitivity and keeps the spotlight squarely on its characters: the bonds forged and broken while chasing the case and how the pursuit of justice shapes their lives.

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The Scarecrow

A fiercely competitive police officer and an idealistic prosecutor, former high school classmates, reunite while investigating a nationwide serial murder case, pulling them into both a dangerous pursuit and an unresolved personal past.

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