The 7 Best New Shows on Netflix in April 2024

Ah, April. Spring isn’t just in the air, it’s on our television sets. Baseballs are zipping through the air. Flowers are blooming in the park. Desperate TV networks are capitalizing off national holidays with religious programming. It’s all happening, and Netflix is playing along. Not only did the streaming giant get an early jump on the Emmy race by launching the confusing awful ambitious “3 Body Problem” in March (giving voters enough time to wade through its arduous episodes), but April has its own awards contender in “Ripley.”

I would be surprised if any other April original series draw the TV Academy’s attention, but we should never write off a series executive produced by Norman Lear (“Good Times” gets the animated reboot treatment this month), nor can a nature documentary series from Netflix be considered out of the running (especially one narrated by Cate Blanchett, like the forthcoming “Our Living World”). Greg Berlanti isn’t known for producing awards bait; he’s a people-pleaser, and “Dead Boy Detectives” fits snugly next to similar populist teen dramas like “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” and The CW’s superhero shows (which also stream on Netflix). But hey, “The Flight Attendant” made a little Emmy noise in its first season (landing Berlanti one of his two total nominations), so maybe a Neil Gaiman adaptation can, too.

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Still, the biggest story of the month still isn’t what Netflix created, but what it’s acquired. “Sex and the City” becomes the latest HBO original to stream on Netflix, which is both a sound financial decision for the cash-strapped Warner Bros. Discovery and an awful branding choice for HBO, which has been operating under the subscribers-only access model since before Netflix first tu-dummed. Extra eyeballs around Carrie & Co. may generate renewed interest in “And Just Like That,” the Max-exclusive sequel series, but without new episodes arriving anytime soon, the scheduling of this “SATC” Netflix drop remains deeply suspect.

Can any of Netflix’s originals compete? Does it matter what subscribers are watching so long as they’re watching it on Netflix? The debate will rage on across Hollywood, but fans can rest assured they’ll find something worth streaming in April. Maybe it’s “Sex and the City,” maybe it’s “Ripley,” maybe it’s “The Circle.” Spring is in the air, so why not stay inside and watch TV?

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