AARP’s Favorite Network Shows of 2024 (So Far)

Ghosts (CBS)

Who’d have thought that poltergeists could be such fun? This series, in its third season, continues to find new and surprising ways to explore its otherworldly premise — an old country estate haunted by ghosts from multiple eras (such as a Viking named Thorfinn, a Native American named Sasappis and Baroness Hetty Woodstone). These specters can only be seen by Samantha, a modern-day woman who inherited the place and turned it into a bed-and-breakfast. The new season wrapped with the wedding of two Revolutionary War–era ghosts, catered by Samantha’s very-much-alive chef hubby.

Where to watch Ghosts

Will Yun Lee, Freddie Highmore and Hill Harper in "The Good Doctor."

Jeff Weddell/Getty Images

The Good Doctor (ABC)

Over the course of seven seasons, the medical drama The Good Doctor has flown mostly under the radar — but it has remained a smart and compassionate look at a young surgeon (Freddie Highmore as Shaun Murphy) whose autism provides unique benefits and challenges in his professional and personal life. This year’s final season is a testament to its unblinking approach — and provided a showcase for Highmore’s talents in portraying the routine-craving Murphy’s adjustment to life as the father of a newborn son.

Where to watch The Good Doctor

John Hollingworth and Toby Jones in "Mr Bates vs The Post Office."

Shutterstock

Mr Bates vs The Post Office (PBS)

This intense, fact-based miniseries, a standout entry from Masterpiece, detailed a real U.K. scandal that still generates headlines: Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), 57, gives a dogged, compelling performance as one of more than 900 postmasters who were falsely accused — and convicted — of theft and fraud due to a newly installed computer system that produced erroneous tallies of daily receipts. Over four riveting episodes, we watch as a small band of lowly folks challenge a Kafkaesque bureaucracy — and win.

Where to watch Mr Bates vs. the Post Office

Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada in "Shōgun."

Courtesy FX/Everett Collection

Shōgun (FX)

James Clavell’s historical novel Shōgun inspired an acclaimed 1980 miniseries that pushed the envelope in depicting sex and violence. FX’s gripping, lavishly produced new version takes its cues from Game of Thrones, depicting five rival warlords in 17th-century Japan as they jockey to become shōgun. Newcomer Cosmo Jarvis stars as a British navigator on a trading ship (previously played by Richard Chamberlain), but the standouts are two actors of Japanese descent: Hiroyuki Sanada, 63, as crafty warlord Toranaga, and Anna Sawai as the show’s most complex character: a trusted translator for Toranaga who warms to Jarvis’ Anglican outsider despite her devout Catholic upbringing.

Where to watch Shōgun

Justin Hartley in "Tracker."

Darko Sikman/Getty Images

Tracker (CBS)

This fast-paced new series stars Justin Hartley from This Is Us as a “rewardist” who uses his survival skills to track missing persons on retainer for the reward money. Hartley is a buff hunk with superior detective skills (and the know-how to use tannin-filled tea leaves on bullet wounds in a pinch). He’s backed by an intriguingly nuanced (and more sedentary) support crew (including a married couple, played by Abby McEnany, 56, and Robin Weigert, 54) who chase down leads on their computers.

Where to watch Tracker

Hamza Haq in "Transplant."

Courtesy NBC

Transplant (NBC)

Transplant is a departure from the traditional medical drama in a lot of ways, and not just because the show is an import from Canada. The main character is Syrian refugee Bashir Hamed (played by Hamza Haq), whom we meet working in a Toronto restaurant. Soon, he’s redoing his medical residency at a hospital under the gruff-but-kindhearted tutelage of John Hannah, 62. The fourth and final season goes deeper in exploring trauma as Hamed copes with the painful loss of a fellow resident and his chief love interest.

Where to watch Transplant

Iantha Richardson, Jake Mclaughlin, Ramón Rodríguez, Erika Christensen, and Sonja Sohn in "Will Trent."

Courtesy ABC

Will Trent (ABC)

We’ve become accustomed to police procedurals centered on hyper-observant detectives who see things nobody else can — but Ramón Rodríguez adds emotional depth to Georgia investigator Will Trent (the hero of multiple books by bestseller Karin Slaughter, 53). He’s a survivor of foster care who wears three-piece suits, always carries a handkerchief and looks after a Chihuahua named Betty, with whom he shares a fear of abandonment. Rodríguez generates real sparks with Erika Christensen as a childhood pal who’s become his on-again-off-again love interest.

Where to watch Will Trent