The best Paramount Plus shows: 22 terrific series to stream in October 2024

Before Netflix’s live-action remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) – read our review of Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender to see if it's any good – the fantasy action series found its origins on Nickelodeon as a widely-adored animation. It’s due to this intense love of the show from fans that it got a live-action in the first place. Three seasons of ATLA ran on TV in the 00's telling the tale of 12-year-old Aang, an Avatar capable of bending the four elements, and the last survivor of his nation, the Air Nomads. Unfortunately, as another nation, the Fire Nation, want to rule over all four nations that exist, they seek and strive to hunt down the Avatar to destroy them. It’s a heavy-hitting animated series as far as animated series go, and while there’s many fantastic characters including Aang’s friends; Soka, Katara, and Toph, it’s the narrative arc that follows exiled Fire Nation prince, Zuko, that captures the hearts of many fans.

Set 70 years after the events of the previous series Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra follows Korra (Janet Varney), the next Avatar after Aang and is from the Southern Water Tribe. With earth, water and fire under her belt, Korra must master the art of airbending and her endeavor leads her to Republic City where benders and nonbenders live together. However, she soon discovers that the land is rife with crime and an antibending revolution threatens to destroy the city. Korra starts her airbending training under the guidance of Aang's son, Tenzin (J.K. Simmons) while grappling with the dangers of Republic City. While it has a lower RT rating compared to its predecessor, The Legend of Korra still has well-rounded characters, stunning animation, and engaging storylines that will keep you hooked.

Halo spent more than a decade in development as a feature film, with a script by Alex Garland, and Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp attached to direct at various points. The world-conquering video game franchise eventually found its way onto our screens in 2022, via a nine-episode TV season. The series is set in the year 2552 and centers on John-117/Master Chief, a towering genetically-engineered supersoldier who leads humanity’s fight against an alien threat known as the Covenant. After Master Chief and Silver Team – the squad he leads – defeat an elite Covenant scouting party on the planet Madrigal, the group discovers a mysterious object that could hold the key to ending the Human-Covenant war. A pricey endeavor for Paramount with a budget of over $90 million for the series, the show is certainly impressive in scale, and boasts a cast including Pablo Schreiber, Shabana Azmi, Bokeem Woodbine and Natascha McElhone. Even so, we weren't enamored with Halo season 1, which we said had an identity crisis.

David Boreanaz – best known for playing Angel in Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Seeley Booth in Bones – is front and center of this long-running action drama. Boreanaz plays Jason Hayes, leader of Bravo Team, a sub-unit of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group, and the most elite unit of Navy SEALs around. Each episode brings a new and dangerous mission somewhere in the world, as the team face various and constant threats. As you might expect, this is quite a chest-thumping drama, but it’s full of action and adventure and delivered with real scale.

While the jovial theme tune that marks a new episode of sitcom Cheers, may well be enough to keep you engaged for 11 seasons of the show, the simple premise, star-studded cast, and wonderfully real sitcom will surely do it. Cheers is also just the name of the bar where everybody knows each other from the owner Sam (Ted Danson) to the cocktail waitress Carla (Rhea Perlman) to postman Cliff (John Ratzenberger) to, eventual spin-off character of his own success, Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer). It’s the friendships and even relationships that form between this cast of everyday characters living their lives in a bar in Boston that is amusing and captivating to watch over almost 300 episodes. It’s the laughs shared between the characters, and their viewers, that makes it one of the best Paramount Plus shows that rings as delightfully watchable now as it did in the 80s and 90s.

NB: Cheers is not available on Paramount Plus in Australia. You can watch it on Foxtel instead.

Paramount Plus is the home of all 11 seasons (that’s 264 episodes) from the original run of Frasier, as well as the 2023 revival. The show follows Kelsey Grammer’s psychiatrist Frasier Crane, who leaves Boston and the regulars at Cheers (also available on Paramount Plus), and returns to his hometown of Seattle to begin a new chapter as a radio phone-in host. Once there, he reconnects with his father (John Mahoney) and younger brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce), and sets out to build a new life. Still as witty and sparkling as the day it first aired in 1993, if you’re in the market for a new sitcom, there’s a lot to enjoy. The new run of episodes see Dr Crane returning to Boston to reunite with his son Freddy, played by Jack Cutmore-Scott. Frasier was revived on Paramount Plus in October 2023, and has been well received by audiences with a 94% RT score.

Before they became two of Hollywood’s biggest players, producer Judd Apatow and director Paul Feig came together for Freaks and Geeks - currently only available on Paramount Plus in the US. Their 1999 comedy-drama series also launched the careers of James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Busy Philipps and Linda Cardellini as they chronicled the lives of students at McKinley High. Mostly we follow Cardellini's Lindsay Weir, a maths prodigy who decides to start hanging out with a group of burnouts, something her friends can’t understand. Along the way, Weir and her new gang go through all the usual teen ups and downs, chemical highs and hungover lows. The show only lasted one season, but thanks to its dedicated fanbase, it’s become a cult watch in the decades since its first broadcast.

NB: In the UK, you can watch Freaks and Geeks on Prime Video and Stan in Australia.

While Yellowstone still lives exclusively on Peacock in the US, it’s now available on Paramount Plus in the UK, as well as one season available in Australia. So, it can finally join its prequel, also featured in our best Paramount Plus shows, 1883. Yellowstone is where it all began following the Dutton family and their impressive ranch in Montana. With such wealth and land though comes both fighting within the family and battles outside of the family as the battle to control the land surges on. Unfortunately, though Yellowstone is most widely-known as Kevin Costner’s epic Western drama, he recently revealed he won’t be returning to his iconic role as rancher, John Dutton for the final part of season 5. Some good news for fans though is that Paramount Plus has announced the release date for Yellowstone season 5 part 2.

NB: Yellowstone is available to stream on Peacock and Paramount Network in the US.

Uncut Gems writer/director Benny Safdie is the co-creator of a Paramount Plus drama series that revels in making you squirm. Poor Things Oscar nominee Emma Stone stars as one half of a married couple (the other half is played by the other co-creator, Nathan Fielder) trying to launch a reality TV show (called Fliplanthropy) about their lives in New Mexico. As their attempts to celebrate their own acts of generosity annoy the local community, however, the couple start to wonder if they might be the victims of the titular curse… Thanks to its many moments of extreme awkwardness, The Curse won’t be to everyone’s taste. But if you’re a fan of cringe comedy such as Curb your Enthusiasm, this is likely to be right up your street.

The first season of Tulsa King was the highest-rated series debut on cable in 2022, so it's no surprise that it's already been renewed for a second season. It's a gangster drama with a genuine superstar in the lead role: Sylvester Stallone is Dwight "The General" Manfredi, an ageing mobster recently released from prison and with no intention of going straight. This isn't your usual mob story. When Dwight returns to New York, ready to pick up where he left off, he finds there's no place for him, so he's sent to Tulsa, Oklahoma where he wastes no time finding new associates. Tulsa King has been described as a "dramedy", because while the main story is pretty dark there's a bleak sense of humor in the writing, the violence is often cartoonish and Stallone gets plenty of wisecracks. It's one of the best performances from Stallone (who's the subject of one of the best Netflix documentaries) in many years, a mix of swagger and vulnerability that demonstrates his considerable acting chops. Tulsa King season 2 is also available to watch.

One of the most-beloved dramas of the last 20 years, The Good Wife ran for seven highly acclaimed seasons from 2009 to 2016. The series follows Alicia Florrick (E.R.'s Julianna Margulies), a lawyer whose life is turned upside down when her state's attorney husband (Sex and the City's Chris Noth) is sent to prison for political and sex scandals. Having spent the previous 13 years as a stay-at-home mother, Alicia returns to work to provide for her family. Each episode of this legal drama sees Florrick and her team tackling a different case or dilemma, but it's the drama of her life – and that of her colleagues – that makes The Good Wife a captivating watch. With 156 episodes available, there’s plenty to get stuck into here, but audiences could not get enough of the show, hence…

After The Good Wife ended, CBS instantly pursued a spin-off, this time focusing on Alicia Florrick's colleague Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski), who was eyeing up a comfortable retirement until a financial scam took away her life savings. Forced back to work, Diane joins her former employee, Cush Jumbo’s Lucca Quinn, at Reddick, Boseman, & Kolstad, a prestigious African-American-owned firm with a growing reputation. The show, which also stars Rose Leslie, Erica Tazel, Michael Sheen, Delroy Lindo and Sarah Steele, keeps The Good Wife's case of the week formula but feels lighter than its predecessor, with episodes freer to take flights of fancy and strange tangents. It's still utterly compelling – and there's now six seasons to indulge in - although currently only available on Paramount Plus in the US and Aus.

NB: You can only buy The Good Fight on Amazon or Apple TV Plus in the UK.

Although, as we previously mentioned, the Paramount Network's behemoth Yellowstone isn’t on Paramount Plus in the US yet due to an exclusive deal with Peacock, its prequel 1883 is available. Whereas Yellowstone follows the Dutton family in modern times, this show follows the story of how the Duttons came to own the land that would become the Yellowstone Ranch. Set, as you might imagine, in 1883, we follow the Duttons as they leave Tennessee, journey to Fort Worth, Texas, and join a European immigrant wagon train heading towards their eventual home. Sam Elliott leads the way, with LaMonica Garrett and country music royalty Tim McGraw and Faith Hill among the supporting players. A second Yellowstone prequel – the Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren-starring 1923 – is also available on the streamer, while series creator Taylor Sheridan (the man behind Sicario and Wind River), has yet another show on Paramount Plus...

The Twilight Zone is a fantasy anthology series created by Rod Serling that became a huge success in 1959 as it introduced many Americans to sci-fi and fantasy themes. It blends horror, science fiction, drama, comedy and the paranormal throughout its 150-plus episodes. Each episode is a standalone story where characters find themselves entering "the Twilight Zone" and deal with disturbing or surreal events. It's a lot like the modern-day hit Black Mirror as it comments on social issues and morals through the use of otherworldly techniques with often surprising endings.

NB: In Australia, you can buy it on Apple TV Plus and if you're in the UK, it's available to buy on Amazon and Apple TV Plus.

Set in a dark dystopian future occupied by mutant creatures in a barren world, Æon Flux (Denise Poirier) is a highly-skilled secret agent from Monica who uses her spider-like limbs to complete missions in the neighbouring state of Bregna, which is led by her enemy and forbidden lover Trevor Goodchild (John Rafter Lee). It's hands down one of the best anime with its avant-garde action and psychedelic imagery. The same cant be said for the 2005 movie adaptation though, with Charlize Theron stepping into the role of Æon.

NB: Australian and UK viewers can buy it on Apple TV Plus.

Colin from Accounts, which is only viewable on Paramount Plus in the US right now, follows two strangers brought together by the eponymous Colin – an injured dog – in this highly acclaimed comedy series from Australia. Husband-and-wife team Harriet Dyer and Patrick Bramall write and star in this story about medical student Ashley and microbrewer Gordon moving in together to look after a sick pooch neither of them owns. The series has been billed as a feel-good, Ted Lasso-style show and it’s brilliant, but don’t just take our word for it. Colin from Accounts is rated 100% fresh among critics on Rotten Tomatoes, while the Guardian has described it as “unfailingly funny, honest, acute and kind, with uniformly understated but pitch-perfect performances”.

NB: You can watch the show on Binge in Australia and BBC iPlayer in the UK.

Based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Thomas Mallon, Fellow Travelers follows a decades-long romance between political staffers Timothy Laughlin (Jonathan Bailey) and Hawkins Fuller (Matt Bomer) who fall in love during the 1950s Lavender Scare. Their risky relationship spans across the Vietnam War protests, disco hedonism of the 70s and the AIDS crisis, while overcoming obstacles in the world. Fellow Travelers is a compelling piece of television thanks to its two leading stars who realistically portray an important aspect of queer history in the US.

Disney Plus has Star Wars and Marvel, and Max has DC, so what does Paramount Plus have? The answer is Star Trek. While you can’t enjoy the classic or The Next Generation movies on the platform (they’re currently enjoying some shore leave over on Max), you can boldly watch every TV series except kids’ show Prodigy, making Paramount Plus a Trekkie’s dream come true. Pick of the bunch is arguably the show that started it all in the ’60s, in which Kirk, Spock and the rest of the Enterprise crew seek out new life and new civilisations over three highly influential seasons. But which Trek is your number one probably depends on when you were born, as there’s plenty to enjoy in ’80s/’90s spin-offs The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager – and the new crop of Star Trek shows discussed below…

Patrick Stewart returns to the final frontier for the first time since disappointing 2002 movie outing Star Trek: Nemesis, as we meet Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard at the end of the 24th Century, 14 years after his retirement from Starfleet. Living a quiet life on his family vineyard, his newfound peace is destroyed when he is sought out by a mysterious young woman who has strong connections to his past – sending him on an adventure involving Lt Cmdr Data's heritage, and classic villains the Romulans and the Borg. The first season is an up-and-down affair, as is the follow-up, in which Jean-Luc leads his new crew on a time-traveling mission back to 2024. In its third year, however, Star Trek: Picard really finds its groove, as the classic Next Generation crew are reunited for a spectacular final mission. It's arguably the greatest season of TV in Trek history, and the jewel in the crown of a 21st century revival that includes stablemates Discovery, Strange New Worlds, and animated comedy series Lower Decks.

In 1996 a team of New Jersey high school soccer players is traveling to Seattle for a national tournament when their plane crashes deep in the Canadian wilderness. The surviving team members have to fend for themselves for 19 months, during which time the group splits into rival clans and descends into savagery, going full Lord of the Flies in the process. In the present day, the survivors have made new lives for themselves, but the ordeal they endured as teenagers is about to come back to haunt them, as the narrative flips between the two time periods. Sharp, witty, and with a killer soundtrack, Yellowjackets is great TV, but a word of warning: critics, desensitized bunch that they are, adored the show, but it’s gruesome stuff, and not for the faint-hearted.

Evil, which is only available on Paramount Plus in the US (although there's only 2 seasons available on the normal streaming bundle) and Australia right now, comes from Robert and Michelle King, the powerhouse showrunning team behind The Good Wife and The Good Fight. For this drama though, they venture into supernatural territory. In a classic, X-Files-esque team-up, we follow a skeptical forensic psychologist who is forced to team up with a trainee Catholic priest and a technology contractor when they're sent to investigate purported supernatural incidents in each episode. The show stars Katja Herbers, Mike Colter, Aasif Mandvi and Kurt Fuller, with the Kings running the show.

NB: For UK watchers, you can stream it on Sky Go.