The year 2022 is when the streaming bubble burst — sort of? The new model of digital distribution clearly isn’t working economically, but the genie is now out of the bottle. And there’s no return, as much as Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav dreams of pushing that genie back in. Cable and network television were once extremely profitable businesses that are now withered versions of their past selves, and there’s no answer in sight to fix the broken business model for streaming (pouring billions in, getting — at the most! — $19.95 a month out). Will anyone figure this out? We don’t know.
But looking at the schedule for upcoming shows in 2023, one thing clear is that it’s become a game of chicken: Past February, almost nothing is dated. Netflix has played this scheduling roulette with great success in the past. At the time of our fall TV preview, published on Sept. 8, 2022, there were no premiere dates yet for Ryan Murphy’s “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” and “The Watcher,” nor for “Wednesday.” A mere 13 days later, “Dahmer” launched with little notice, and all three of those shows became some of Netflix’s biggest shows in its history. There’s a lesson there, but — we’re not sure what it is, exactly.
The lack of premiere dates, for those of us who cover television, actually feels … ominous? Because in order to make that Emmys deadline by May 31, there’s going to be firehose shot at viewers during March, April and May, but no one knows exactly what form that deluge will take. From Netflix, we await the dates for “Beef” (starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong), “Florida Man” (a potboiler starring Edgar Ramírez that sounds “Ozark”-y, and counts Jason Bateman as an executive producer), “Queen Charlotte” (the Shonda Rhimes-penned “Bridgerton” prequel) and, Netflix being Netflix, four billion other shows. Amazon Prime Video has yet to announce the dates for dark comedy “The Consultant” starring Christoph Waltz, “The Boys” offshoot “Gen V,” its long-in-the-making adaptation of dystopian novel “The Power,” and the TV version of “Dead Ringers.”
Apple TV+ hasn’t said when we’ll see Jennifer Garner’s television comeback in the adaptation of the best-selling novel “The Last Thing He Told Me,” nor has Hulu — a major Emmys player these days — revealed when it might release “Faraway Downs” (Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman) and “Saint X,” a psychological drama about a missing girl.
There is no greater offender in hiding the ball, though, than Disney+. Because the highly anticipated (and based on major properties) “Ahsoka,” “Secret Invasion” and “Agatha: Coven of Chaos” are all coming to the streaming service in 2023, and no one knows when we can start to get excited.
But enough of what we don’t know! Let’s get to what we do. Here are 23 of the most anticipated new shows premiering in the next few months (that do have some sort of dates available). The below is in chronological order by premiere date.