As we move into the final weeks of 2024, the major streaming platforms will be rounding out the year with some of their biggest and most anticipated TV shows — with, for example, everything from the highly anticipated second season of Squid Game coming to Netflix in December to HBO’s Dune spinoff series, the return of Apple TV+’s Silo, and much more.
As always, there will be TV shows that flop and others that resonate, quality, of course, being in the eye of the beholder. To that latter point, it’s interesting to me that there are actually a total of five current TV shows that have all managed to achieve something distinctive on the quality front: They’ve all attained a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. A rare feat, in that I can’t recall the last time there were this many current shows with a perfect score.
A high Rotten Tomatoes score, of course, is no guarantee that you’ll be a fan of a particular show. But it’s certainly interesting, regardless, that so many are performing well at the moment. In no particular order, the current TV shows with perfect 100% scores on Rotten Tomatoes include:
Like Water for Chocolate (Max)
Adapted from Laura Esquivel’s iconic novel, HBO’s series adaption of this beloved Mexican literary classic is set during the Mexican Revolution and against the breathtaking backdrop of Mexico City and the Mexican state of Tlaxcala, Like Water for Chocolate, according to HBO, “explores the idea that sometimes traditions can become a prison, an obstacle for love.
“Tita de la Garza and Pedro Múzquiz are two souls deeply in love, yet unable to be together due to entrenched family customs. The protagonists navigate a world of magical realism and rich flavors as Tita struggles between the destiny imposed on her by her family and her fight for love. Along the way, the audience will witness her greatest refuge: The kitchen.”
Cooking, for Tita, becomes an active method of resistance against oppression, by allowing her to channel her desires and passions into her recipes — and, in the process, ultimately transform those who taste them.
Outer Banks: Season 4 (Netflix)
This next TV show always felt to me like Netflix’s attempt at its own version of The O.C. Or the kind of show that would be on The CW back in the day.
Netflix days ago announced that Outer Banks has been renewed for a fifth and final season, an announcement that followed the second Poguelandia: An Outer Banks Experience, held earlier this week at The Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California. That splashy in-person fan event, by the way, is an indication of just how big this show has gotten, as is the fact that this is one of the shows that Netflix likes to split up in terms of new season drops.
The show is a YA drama with a lot of photogenic stars who, the official summary notes, “find mystery and adventure while hunting for lost treasure.”
Lioness: Season 2 (Paramount+)
You can check out our coverage of the second season of Paramount+’s Lioness here. In short, Zoe Saldana plays a CIA officer named Joe in this drama about a secretive military program being used in the global war on terror. The Lioness program, which is based on a real-life equivalent, involves training and then inserting women into places that soldiers and such ordinarily couldn’t go.
In the new season, Paramount+ explains, “the CIA’s fight against terror moves closer to home.
“Joe (Saldaña), Kaitlyn (Kidman), and Byron (Kelly) enlist a new Lioness operative to infiltrate a previously unknown threat. With pressure mounting from all sides, Joe is forced to confront the profound personal sacrifices she has made as the leader of the Lioness program.”
From: Season 3 (MGM+)
This next series belongs in the category of “most underrated TV shows of 2024,” its primary flaw being that it’s a bit difficult to find.
It’s not on any of the major streamers, but don’t let that stop you from seeking it out. The first two seasons are available to stream via Prime Video, while Season 3 can be found on MGM+, and as far as what it’s about:
If I told you that From is set in a cursed place where a mysterious force pulls in visitors who are subsequently unable to leave — who keep getting looped back into the town, and who get killed if they try to leave via the forest around it — that description might give you some pretty strong Lost vibes. All the more so, when you see that this town’s sheriff is played by Harold Perrineau (aka Walt’s father on Lost). Per the official description: This series is about unraveling “the mystery of a nightmarish town that traps all those who enter.”
Also, Lost fans, take note of the fact that its showrunner is Jeff Pinkner (Lost, Alias, Fringe), and director Jack Bender (Lost, Game of Thrones). In other words, there’s some serious talent involved that makes this one a definite must-watch.
Somebody Somewhere: Season 3 (HBO)
This final series gets like a tiny fraction of the attention that other TV shows on this list get, from both critics as well as viewers, and that’s a shame.
Somebody Somewhere cuts against the grain in terms of much of the current TV landscape, in that it prizes absolute simplicity (and fans love it for that). As the title notes, this is a story about somebody somewhere. About ordinary people, in an ordinary place. The series follows Sam (Bridget Everett), who’s struggling to fit her Kansas hometown mold.
“Grappling with loss and acceptance,” HBO explains, “singing is Sam’s saving grace and leads her on a journey to discover herself and a community of outsiders who don’t fit in but don’t give up, showing that finding your people, and finding your voice, is possible. Anywhere. Somewhere. In season three, we see growth against all odds.”
