May TV Premieres: 20 New Shows to Look Out for This Month

May is the month when even the most diligent TV trackers basically throw up their hands and admit defeat. “Too much” is a subjective term, but it’s safe to say that there’s enough television coming in the next few weeks to sustain multiple years’ worth of casual watching.

That’s mostly by design, given the last-minute rush to sneak shows in under the Emmy eligibility wire. That crunch gets even more overwhelming considering the sheer number of preexisting series rushing toward their own season (or even series) finales.

Yet even though the May TV schedule is stacked with potential awards contenders, the month is far from a monolith. There’s a robust, international slate of offerings that cover everything from the usual book adaptations and star-driven docs to original ideas across animation and live action.

There are spin-offs in the literal sense, with a handful of continuations of runaway streaming hits. But there are also spiritual spin-offs, series that take ideas that have been brewing for decades and rework familiar concepts with a modern viewpoint. The FBI, the Muppets, the Cold War, the Pete Davidson: all just tiny slices in the big, weird May premiere pie.

As we do every month (like in January, February, March, and April), we’ve assembled a cross-section of the upcoming few weeks’ new TV premieres, ones that span across network and cable and streaming and all those vague areas in between. If somehow, none of these shows seem worthy enough to add to your personal queue, there’s also our list of Anticipated 2023 TV, which includes shows that should arrive a little bit later in the year.