Whoa my goodness! I’m trying my darnedest to watch over a dozen shows which have debuted or made their season premiere within the last month. In the TV universe, winter has apparently become the new fall. If anyone was still doubtful that streaming had revolutionized the television programming landscape, this should definitely prove it — and since so much of it’s available on-demand, you still have the chance to catch onto a new show or new season. So here’s my take on what I’ve seen so far. (Bear in mind, some shows I’ve binge-watched the whole season, others I’ve only seen one or two episodes.) Let’s start with the sitcoms:

Grace and Frankie

I still have little clue as to why a sitcom about two older women and their friendship after their husbands left them for each other has me binge-watching an entire season over a single weekend. Perhaps it’s the wonderful performances by the two leads, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, or maybe it’s the supporting cast of their family (I do love to see what happens to their children), or maybe it’s just all the kookiness that makes it feel kind of thrilling to struggle for meaning in one’s golden years. Whatever the reason, it was fun to watch as Grace and Frankie break back into their beach house after escaping the seniors community. Grace returns to work (though not without a lot of friction) at the cosmetics company she founded when her daughter Brianna finally admits that she needs help. Also, Frankie goes back to a retreat centre (dragging Grace with her) in order to re-centre herself and winds up meeting someone from her past. All these plots and more made it another good season of a surprisingly likeable show. The finale episode actually plays with “what ifs” and ends with another twist, so I am very eager to see what happens next (too bad I’ll have to wait).

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Brooklyn Nine-Nine has now become a midseason regular so it’s nice that even after it changed networks (in the US), they have not missed a beat. First episode starts with Jake and Amy’s honeymoon, but quickly they get back to the city for normal nine-nine life. I really enjoyed the second episode, which gives us some flashbacks of resident schlubs Hitchcock and Scully in their heyday (they were crazy-buff!). It’s fun to look into the characters’ pasts, and we get another peek into Jake’s past when he has to go to a reunion to confront an unfortunate nickname — it’s great how Amy proposes that they use their detective skills to investigate the injustice that got him that name. Sadly Gina, one my favourite characters on TV, is leaving the precinct. I don’t know whether someone will be stepping in to replace her.

Schitt’s Creek

Odd how this little sitcom would become something that we Canadians are pretty proud of, but I was definitely looking forward to its return in January. I am still not crazy about Moira’s character, finding her caricature qualities a bit extreme (and I can’t stand her affected way of speaking) but I really like how all the other characters have really filled in and I especially like David and Patrick as a couple. They might be my favourite right now. (As an aside, while I like them as characters, I am totally not into Chidi and Eleanor as a couple on The Good Place — sorry, Team Cheleanor, not feeling it!). Anyway, the other misstep I think that this show has taken is to give Jocelyn a new baby — why? I don’t think it does much for the show and I kind of liked her character before she became this no-sleep, frazzled wreck. Lastly, I hope that we get to see more of Stevie this season. Her dry cynicism mixed with sardonic insecurity is the best!

Kim’s Convenience

In the past, our other Canadian sitcom gem used to share a timeslot with Schitt’s Creek, so one tended to air after the other ended its season. I’m happy to see them both on together these days. While still building its quality, I enjoy Kim’s Convenience a lot. Appa, the convenience store patriarch, has become almost iconic — like Al Bundy crossed with a Sanrio character. This season, it’s nice to see that Appa and prodigal son Jung have put their conflicts behind them and together plot to scam an appliance store. I’m less keen on daughter Janet’s new roommate story arc. Having her roommate’s girlfriend move in is just going to lead to all kinds of issues. I hope they will continue to have a nice blend of generically situational comedy as well as exploring some of the joys and humour of Asian culture. To me that’s one of the wonderfully unique qualities of this show that I hope they keep going.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

This is not one of my favourite sitcoms. I don’t really like any of the characters, actually most of them kind of annoy me. However, I do often find myself laughing at the show, so I guess it works as a comedy. I mostly like the spoofing that they do in the background rather than what the characters are really about. Now that Kimmy has a job, I look forward to more spoofs of the business and tech workplace. All the episodes of the season are available to watch already, but I’ve only watched a couple. They do an interesting take on sexual politics and the #MeToo movement, as well as an almost Seinfeld-esque episode where Kimmy is secretly spending time with her boyfriend’s parents behind his back. These are the last few episodes of the series, so I am interested to see how everything is going to wrap up.