What I’ll Be Watching This Spring

It’s almost the New Year, so it’s that time again! While the winter time isn’t as dry as the summer when it comes to television—some shows don’t end until early December and we also got the Doctor Who Christmas Special, and are getting the Sherlock Special on Friday—it’s still a little sad to not have your regular shows on. But never fear! Our shows are back! Granted, some still don’t come on until a few months into the New Year, but at least there are a few that come back in January. So here is my television list for the winter/spring. Of course this list could expand or shrink throughout the season (you’ll notice Sleepy Hollow is officially off the list) but here is my plan so far.

Marvel’s Agent Carter (ABC) – January 19th

The only redeeming factor of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD not coming back on until March (especially after that midseason finale!) is that we get Marvel’s Agent Carter while we wait. Agent Carter, if you haven’t watched yet, is pretty much a prequel to all of the MCU excluding Captain America: The First Avenger. It follows Agent Peggy Carter, one of the eventual founders of SHIELD. While originally the first season was supposed to be a one-off, it was so popular that they’re bringing it back, using it to mollify us until SHIELD comes back on. I’m really excited to see what Peggy and Jarvis get up to, this time in Los Angeles. Also, I’m excited to make corny Hamilton references during this season with #andpeggy.

Jane the Virgin (CW) – January 25th

I randomly started watching this show last fall once the first season made it to Netflix. I had some time and I was curious since I’d heard such good things about it. The next thing I knew, I’d finished the first season and had caught up with the second. Though it isn’t science fiction (which is generally my theme), it was my favorite show in the fall after Agents of SHIELD and Doctor Who. The show is so well done, and well balances the over-the-top drama and comedy with real depictions of motherhood. The writers understand their characters really well which makes for really good writing and plot. Even the love triangle—a trope that usually feels overdone to me—is great because while fans can be Team Whoever (I’m #TeamRafael btw), ultimately all we care about is Jane. Plus Mateo is the cutest.

Scandal (ABC) – February 11th

As of right now, Scandal is still a show I watch because I watch it with my family (although this past fall I found myself watching it alone a lot). While Season 4 made me less excited for the show, the first half of Season 5 has done a good job of bringing me back. Even though I am firmly NOT Team Olitz, I liked the exploration of Olivia and Fitz together. Their not working made a lot of sense for both of their characters. Liv’s hesitance and resistance against marrying Fitz made a lot of sense to me given all the work she’d put into OPA and the inevitability of being First Lady overshadowing that work. And of course they both only really liked the idea of each other, Liv even admitting that she liked him better when he was unavailable to her. Despite all of that, I’m Team Mellie all the way; this season really made me like her a lot, especially with the filibuster and I think it would be really interesting for her to become president. At this point I’m pretty much open to see what the rest of the season has in store for us.

How To Get Away With Murder (ABC) – February 11th

Okay so first off, HOW ARE THEY STILL GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER. I love this show so much, and the fact that we have to wait until February is so unfair. So many things happened in the midseason finale that I’m so impatient for this show to come back on. While I worry about the sustainability of a show like this (as foreshadowed in my now-distant attitude towards Scandal), right now I’m just loving it all. There’s so much happening with Bonnie, and now Asher, and WHO TF IS WES AND WHAT DOES ANNALISE HAVE TO DO WITH HIM. I’ve seen a lot of stuff about people no longer liking Alfie Enoch because of Wes, but while Wes as a character is so annoying and really needs to get over Rebecca, I still love me some Dean Thomas. I can’t wait for this show to come back on.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC) – March 8th

While this past Doctor Who season was my favorite of the show so far, Agents of SHIELD was my favorite show this past fall. The writing was so good in the first half, and all of the twists and connections were amazing, plus the Inhumans, and Coulson was killing the entire game. I loved every episode and the character development was great, especially of Ward. Which, also, WTF WARD. I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with him after it was revealed he was Hydra. While he’s gotten on my nerves more often than not, his character has always been interesting to me so I’ve gotten over it. But I definitely didn’t see the direction his character is going coming and I’m so angry we have to wait until March to see what comes next. I love how well SHIELD stands on it’s own with it’s own problems and villains, but that doesn’t mean I’m not also excited the episode that will run into and/or follow Captain America: Civil War. I really like how SHIELD consistently gets better with each season rather than plateauing, something that can be really difficult.

Orphan Black (BBC America) – April

It’s been a minute since Orphan Black has been on, but BBC America pretty much has me hooked with the alternation between this show in the spring and Doctor Who in the fall. I’m really excited to join the sestras again—especially Helena! I’m sure we’ll also find out what happened to Delphine (though she has never been my favorite character) and hopefully find out what’s really up with Kira. Also, while people were upset at the introduction to Castor in the last season, I actually ended up liking them, mostly because they didn’t put those clones and Leda on the same level. In the end, the Castor clones were really just used as a plot device for the Leda clones, which was pretty cool. Anyway, there’s only one left now (that we know of) so I’m excited to see what happens. Plus, they keep on introducing more Leda clones, allowing them to show off the incredible acting of Tatiana Maslany, so even when an episode isn’t strong I’m distracted by how great she is.

Game of Thrones (?) (HBO) – April

As a book purist, I want to wait until Winds of Winter comes out to watch Season 6 but as a realist and a Jon Snow-lover I feel like I need to watch Season 6. I hate spoilers and in this situation it’s kind of a lose-lose. If I don’t watch this season I’ll most likely be spoiled by people watching the show (the worst part about Twitter) but if I do watch then I’ll be spoiled by the show for the book (though I know they’re changing some things). At the same time it’s still a win if I watch because Game of Thrones is a great show. I suppose I’ll figure it out by the time the show comes on in April, though I strongly suspect I’ll cave and just watch.

*Honorable Mentions: Dark Matter, Marvel’s Daredevil, Marvel’s Luke Cage