Black Friday streaming deals are well and truly underway with some of the best streaming services trying to tempt new subscribers with rock bottom prices. One of the best we’ve seen is this bargain offer from Paramount+, with the streamer giving deal takers full access to their Premium package for just $2.99 for the first two months.
It’s such a great deal that you may well be reading this having already signed up, and if so, you’ve come to the right place. If you’re looking to make the most of your brand new subscription but have no idea where to start, stick with me as I give my pick of the best Paramount+ shows, and you don’t just have to take my word for it either, with these three hit series all boasting over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Ghosts (US)
Watch On
Seasons: 5
Cast: Rose McIver, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Brandon Scott Jones, Danielle Pinnock, Richie Moriarty, Asher Grodman, Sheila Carrasco, Devan Chandler Long, Rebecca Wisocky, Román Zaragoza
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%
A remake of the British show of the same name, Ghosts follows in the footsteps of The Office as a US remake of a UK sitcom that not only stands shoulder to shoulder with the original, but in many ways surpasses it.
The show follows New Yorkers Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) as they inherit the sprawling country house Woodstone Manor from Sam’s distant relative. Relocating to the country, their dreams of running an idyllic B&B are shattered when an accident leaves Sam with the ability to see and communicate with Woodstone’s many ghostly occupants.
The show’s ensemble cast of deceased residents includes Thor (Devan Chandler Long), a Viking explorer left behind by his shipmates, Issac (Brandon Scott Jones) a Revolutionary War officer, Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky), the one-time lady of the manor and Sam’s distant ancestor, Sass (Román Zaragoza) a native hunter, Alberta (Danielle Pinnock) a Prohibition-era lounge singer, Flower (Shelia Carrasco) a 1960s hippie, Pete (Richie Moriarty) a Scout leader killed in a bow and arrow mishap, and Trevor (Asher Grodman) a 90’s Wall Street ‘bro’ doomed to spend eternity half naked.
It’s quite the varied cast of characters, and like the UK iteration, Ghosts frequently creates interesting pairings episode by episode, getting to the heart of those forced to spend the afterlife confronting and coming to terms with the things they wish they did (and didn’t) do. That being said, the series is also one of the funniest sitcoms out there, with the entire cast given their episodes to shine. If you’re looking for some easy watching, comfort TV over the holidays, you won’t find much better than Ghosts.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Watch On
Seasons: 3
Cast: Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Melissa Navia, Babs Olusanmokun, Bruce Horak, Rebecca Romijn, Martin Quinn
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
The best received installment of the Paramount+ Star Trek era, Strange New Worlds both pays homage to the rip-roaring space adventure of the original series, while bringing the show bang up to date.
A spin-off from Discovery and a prequel of sorts to ToS, Strange New Worlds follows the USS Enterprise in the years before James T. Kirk took the helm, with Anson Mount’s Christopher Pike in the Captain’s chair. The show also features Ethan Peck as Spock, portraying his early days aboard the ship in the era before Leonard Nimoy’s iconic turn.
Where some of the modern era Star Trek has been criticised for moving too far from what fans loved about the franchise’s glory days, Strange New Worlds keeps things simple, taking a classic episodic approach to Starfleet’s mission to boldly go where no one has gone before. As such, the show is about the most fun Star Trek has been since William Shatner led the show, with all the bold, colourful adventure of the 1960s reborn for a modern audience.
While the series is chock full of all the fan service one might expect from creator Alex Kurtzman, it’s still easily accessible for newbies. But if you really want to start from the beginning, all the Trek you can point a phaser can be beamed straight to you on Paramount+.
Yellowjackets
Seasons: 3
Cast: Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Ella Purnell, Sophie Nélisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher, Samantha Hanratty, Steven Krueger, Warren Kole, Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, Courtney Eaton, Liv Hewson, Kevin Alves, Simone Kessell, Lauren Ambrose, Sarah Desjardins
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
A cross generational horror survival mash-up fusing Lost with 90s nostalgia and a hearty dose of cannibalism? Sign me up.
Exploding on to the scene in 2021 with one of the most intriguing cold opens in TV history, Yellowjackets has spent three seasons building a gripping, bonkers mythology full of dangling mysteries and WTF answers. Split over two timelines, the first follows the survivors of a girls high school soccer team after their plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness in 1996. The second picks up with some of the group 25 years later, as their experiences as teenagers still loom large over their adult lives.
The modern timeline is buoyed by a stellar cast as the titular adult Yellowjackets, including Melanie Lynskey as Shauna, Christina Ricci as Misty, Juliette Lewis as Nat and Tawny Cypress as Tai and there’s excellent supporting turns from the likes of Elijah Wood and Warren Kole. In the 90s wilderness, rising stars such as Jasmine Savoy Brown (Tai), Sophie Thatcher (Nat) and Ella Purnell perfectly sell the escalating insanity.
Yellowjackets is the kind of show it’s best to go into knowing as little as possible, but the series does an excellent job of exploring themes of trauma and masking as every instance of the past returning sends the women closer to confronting their buried secrets. As the 90s timeline slowly reveals the truth of the teen’s time in the wilderness, it starts to become clear just how dangerous those secrets are. No for the faint of heart, Yellowjackets is a mystery box of a show that, if you have the stomach for it, will have you bingeing late into the night.
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