Here are the best exclusive Paramount Plus shows to stream right now

Publish date: 2022-08-25

Paramount Plus (previously known as CBS All Access) already has a large number of original TV series that are only available on the ViacomCBS-owned streaming service. But which of the exclusive Paramount Plus shows are the best?

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Here’s a quick look at the exclusive Paramount Plus shows that we think are worth streaming right now. As you will see, while the service has a number of Star Trek-based shows, it has a number of other TV series that are worth your time as well.  You can sign up for the service for as low as $4.99 a month at the link below.

Paramount Plus

Paramount Plus includes thousands of movies and TV shows from CBS, Showtime, and Paramount Pictures. It also includes new and original movies like The Good Fight, Infinite, and more.

Best exclusive Paramount Plus shows

Editor’s note: We will be updating this list as more Paramount Plus shows debut on this service.

The Good Fight

The Good Fight is a spin-off of the acclaimed CBS network series The Good Wife. It stars Christine Baranski, who once again plays lawyer Diane Lockhart. She believes she’s about to retire but finds out her financial portfolio is nearly gone due to a Ponzi-style scam. She is forced to go back to work at an African American–owned firm in Chicago. The series currently has four seasons to stream, and a fifth is due later in 2020. It is perhaps the best of the exclusive Paramount Plus shows.

Star Trek: Below Decks

This is the best of the Star Trek-based exclusive Paramount Plus shows. This is an adult-themed half-hour animated comedy series, set a year after the events of the movie Star Trek: Nemesis. It centers on characters who are part of the support crew for the USS Cerritos, one of the lesser ships in Starfleet. The series, created by former Rick and Morty” head writer Mike McMahan, has two seasons in the can. A third season is in the works for 2022.

Read more: Best Star Trek shows

The Twilight Zone

Rod Serling’s classic sci-fi anthology series has been revived a number of times for both TV and film, but this latest version gets extra points for snapping up Jordan Peele. The writer-director of the acclaimed horror movies Get Out and Us serves as both its executive producer its host. The 10-episode first season, like the classic series, serves up parables of current events in a sci-fi, fantasy or horror setting. There’s even a (kind-of) remake of the acclaimed original episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, with the remake’s title, Nightmare at 30,000 Feet, taking us even higher. In a nice feature, you can also watch the 10-episode first season in black and white, in a nice tip of the hat to the original series. Two seasons of the show are available to stream now.

1883

1883 is the highly anticipated first spinoff of Yellowstone, the hit cable TV show from Paramount Network. This prequel series focuses on the grandmother and grandfather of Yellowstone’s main character, as they and others make the journey from Texas to settle in Montana in the late 19th century. Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Sam Elliott star in this revisionist Western series, which you can check out now. A season season is already in the works.

Evil

Originally shown on the CBS broadcast network, this series is now a Paramount Plus exclusive. The show revolves around a team of two skeptics, and a man who is studying to be a priest. The trio investigates reports of possible supernatural activity for the Catholic church. If it sounds a bit like The X-Files, you are right. However, this series gets more into religious themes than that classic show. You can catch the first and second season now, and a third season is in the works.

Star Trek: Prodigy

Nickelodeon/Paramount Plus

This Star Trek series is the first made specifically for children, but their parents will be entertained as well. This is also the first CGI animated entry in the franchise. A group of kids who have been enslaved by an evil despot on an alien planet discover an abandoned Federation starship. They manage to steal the ship and escape, but their former evil warlord and his henchman are going after them. The animation and art design are excellent for a kid’s show, and it’s great that Star Trek Voyager’s Kate Mulgrew is back to voice a holographic version of Captain Janeway in this series. The first 10 episodes are available now, and 10 more episodes are coming this year, with a second season already ordered.

This docudrama limited series tells the story of how the movie version of The Godfather was made in the early 1970s. It shows that while the original novel about an Italian crime family was a major best seller, it was a difficult sell to get a Hollywood film studio to adapt it for the big screen. Even after the movie got the green light, there were tons of other problems to overcome, not the least of which was pressure from the real mob, who didn’t like how the book

Mayor of Kingstown

Paramount Plus

Jeremy Renner ditches his bow and arrow from his Hawkeye character to play the unofficial “mayor” of Kingstown. In reality, he’s a power broker who tries to help people both inside and outside the several prisons that operate in or near the town. It’s an interesting new take on the crime drama, and you can watch the first season now.

No Activity

This is one of the very few exclusive Paramount Plus shows that’s also a comedy. No Activity is about two cops who are on an extended stakeout of a drug cartel, and also shows some of the other low-end members on both sides of this criminal activity. The show stars Tim Meadows and Patrick Brammall as the two cops, but it features guest appearances from actors like Will Ferrell, J.K. Simmons, and Jessica Alba. You can stream the three seasons of the show now. A fourth season is currently available to stream. In a twist, the fourth season is an animated show.

Why Women Kill

This exclusive Paramount Plus show comes from Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry. Like that show, Why Women Kill is a female-centric show, but the three main characters are each in different time periods. However, all of them are linked by their desire to kill their unfaithful husbands. Ginnifer Goodin plays a housewife in 1963, while Lucy Liu plays a wife in 1984 who discovers her husband is having a gay affair. Finally, Kirby Howell-Baptiste is a woman in the present day in an “open” relationship but finds she and her husband are both attracted to the same woman. A second season is now live and a third season is in the works.

The Stand

Stephen King’s massive post-apocalypse novel has been adapted once before as a TV mini-series for ABC, but Paramount Plus is the home for this all-new adaptation.  King himself wrote the ninth and final episode of the adaptation, which is an all-new story set after the events of the original novel. James Marsden stars in the main role of Stu Redman, and Amber Heard is also in the series Nadine Cross, along with Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abagail.

iCarly

The original iCarly show on Nickelodeon was a massive hit for the pre-teen crowd. So how do you make a sequel to that show? Simple. You just make the main characters older but still make the show fun for the whole family to watch.  Plus, it makes sense for Carly (Miranda Cosgrove), the original internet influencer, to return to the fold in this age of YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok.

Microsoft’s sci-fi first-person shooter franchise was made for an epic TV series, and after years of development, the first season is currently rolling out on Paramount Plus. The show’s basic premise is the same as what’s featured in the first games, as Earth tries to fight off the invading alien Covenant with a team of super-soldiers called Spartans. However, the show does deviate from much of the game’s lore to tell its own story, which centers on a Spartan called Master Chief who has discovered an alien artifact that could turn the tide in this war. A second season is in development.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Paramount Plus

While we haven’t been huge fans of the other two Paramount Plus exclusive Star Trek live action shows (Discovery and Picard), we definitely love the retro stylings of Strange New Worlds. Set several years before Captain Kirk commanded the Enterprise in The Original Series, this show brings back the episodic feel of that show, with some modern touches. It’s all about exploring the galaxy, but with Captain Christopher Pike in charge, a young Ensign Spock who’s still learning the ropes, and a good mix of both new and classic characters.

Honorable Mentions

Here are a few more Paramount Plus originals that didn’t quite make our list:

That’s a look at the best exclusive Paramount Plus shows. We will update this post when more projects are announced.

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