Also noteworthy: Surviving R. Kelly (Lifetime)

STRUCTURAL EXPERIMENTATION: RUSSIAN DOLL, NETFLIX

The multitudes Russian Doll contains can be interpreted to fit any particular person’s life experiences. Is this a show about cycles of addiction? Sure. About the building blocks of video-game narratives? Definitely. About constructing a way to get past destructive childhood trauma? Absolutely. Anchored by an undeniably captivating Natasha Lyonne in the role of Nadia, a woman who keeps finding herself dying and returning to the same moment during her 36th birthday party, the Netflix series has endless layers and offshoots, but all of them return to the central point that existence is worth the price of pain, and that simple connection, above all, can be a truly saving grace.

Also noteworthy: State of the Union (SundanceTV)

TRUE-CRIME RELITIGATION: WHEN THEY SEE US, NETFLIX

Most true-crime series based on infamous cases focus on unpacking the details and the context behind them. Ava DuVernay’s four-part dramatization of the arrest and wrongful conviction of five teenagers for the 1989 assault of a jogger in Central Park is different. Its focus is wholeheartedly on restoring humanity to the men who were failed by the American justice system and demonized in the media for the majority of their adult life. As a filmmaker, DuVernay brings texture and style to the world she renders, but the most vital aspect of When They See Us is how it delineates the personalities of the five men it examines, transforming them from tabloid fodder into complex individuals in front of our eyes.

Also noteworthy: The Preppy Murder (SundanceTV)

NEW VOICE: THIS WAY UP, HULU

Aisling Bea’s six-part Britcom is the kind of show that restores faith in small-scale storytelling and the ability to do an enormous amount without a huge budget. The more bloated and unwieldy streaming television gets, the more series like this one stand out for their scrappiness, their imagination, and their heart. Bea plays Aine, a teacher living in London who’s recovering from what she describes as a “teeny little nervous breakdown.” Like the best imported British series, This Way Up contains binge drinking, spontaneous singing, and Tobias Menzies. And Bea is gorgeously watchable as Aine, a woman whose vulnerability comes to seem like an asset instead of a weakness.

Also noteworthy: Tuca & Bertie (Netflix)

PASSION PROJECT: DOCUMENTARY NOW!, IFC

If all Documentary Now! had was a single scene of Cate Blanchett spoofing Marina Abramović by lapping milk from a bowl while wearing a fur coat, it would still be one of my favorite shows of the year. That the third season had so much more—John Mulaney in muttonchops, a radiant Natasha Lyonne cameo, the full exuberant score for a musical inspired by Stephen Sondheim’s Company—only makes it more noteworthy. Since its inception, the IFC series has been an experiment in fandom from its creators: Seth Meyers, Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, and Rhys Thomas. Lovingly, ruthlessly, the four trample through the archives of classic nonfiction filmmaking, finding comedic revelation along the way.