5 Excellent Hulu Original Series You Should Be Watching

Hulu started out as the streamer for watching broadcast TV online after it had aired. While it still offers that service (though sadly not for free the way it originally did), it has been steadily working on improving its original content. While everyone knows about The Handmaid’s Tale and it was exciting to get a new season of Veronica Mars, there are many more series worth your time on the streamer. Here’s what we’re watching right now:

How I Met Your Father (1 Season)

In style and tone, this long-awaited spin-off series feels worlds apart from the original series. That’s not a bad thing, but if you were expecting a show just like the NBC comedy, you will be disappointed. Instead, this series feels more like it belongs on Freeform. In this series, set in the same world (and apartment) as the original, Hilary Duff plays the lead, Sophie, a hopeless romantic who is unlucky in love. She lives with her best friend, Valentina (Francia Raisa), an impulsive, free-spirit who has spontaneously decided to start dating Charlie (Tom Ainsley) who she’s recently met and knows little about beyond the fact that he is British. The series kicks off with Sophie meets Jesse (Chris Lowell), her will-they-or-won’t-they pairing who is trigger shy after being humiliated by his last girlfriend, his best friend, Sid (Suraj Sharma), and his adoptive sister Ellen (Tien Tran). The first season has already set up a number of potential “fathers” for the show to explore, something the original series doled out more slowly.

Only Murders in the Building (2 Seasons)

 Selena Gomez, Martin Short and Steve Martin star as three true crime lovers living in the Arconia on the Upper West Side of Manhattan who find themselves in a real life murder mystery. In season two, which came out just days ago, the trio must use their amateur sleuthing skills to solve the murder of Bunny Folger, the Arconia board president, and exonerate themselves in the process. Whether its the unique paring of its leads or the chaos of the crime-solving, there is a lot to love about this series.

The Dropout (1 Season)

If you love digging into stories ripped from the headlines, then you have undoubtedly heard about Elizabeth Holmes who conned businessmen out of millions to fund her ill-conceived company, Theranos. Amanda Seyfried does a shockingly good job as Holmes, oozing confidence, desperation, and self-delusion at every turn. Watching the show it is difficult to tell whether Holmes believed she was conning them or if she was executing ill-given advice from other successful businessmen.

The Great (2 Seasons)

Already renewed for season 3, this historical fiction series follows Catherine the Great’s rise to power as the Empress of All of Russia. The love-hate relationship between Catherine (played by Elle Fanning) and her husband, Emperor Peter III (Nicholas Hoult) grows ever more complicated as she realizes her desire to make Russia more educated and less violent (and vulgar). Fanning and Hoult are perfectly cast as the doe-eyed, disenchanted bride and the unstable, party-boy ruler. As long as you’re not squeamish, you’re bound to enjoy this series.

The Orville (3 Seasons)

Following the crew of the Orville as they go where no man has gone before (except in Star Trek) is this sci-fi series that has grown from something of a space parody to a fully-developed sci-fi series in its own right. Gone are some of the dirtier jokes, replaced by deep existential questions about sacrifice and self-determinism. The cast, led by the show’s creator, Seth McFarlane, and Adrianne Padilicki, does an excellent job of drawing you in and making you root for them.

Photo: Nicholas Hoult as Peter III and Elle Fanning as Catherine in The Great. Courtesy of Hulu.