Much like Hulu Live or YouTube TV, NBC Universal’s Peacock has been set up to be an alternative to cable. Not only can you watch new original programming like Brave New World and Intelligence, but you can check in on what’s happening on their family of networks like USA and NBC live.
Naturally, since Peacock is NBC product, it boasts a fairly deep TV catalogue — but not as deep as you think. As of launch day, it appears a surprising number of shows have exclusive licensing deals elsewhere, and so the bench is thinner than something like HBO Max, which has the entire history of the network in its reach. The result is a medley of recent hits and classic TV that can be hard to fish through to find the good stuff. Let us help.
Tina Fey turned her experience on Saturday Night Live into one of the most critically acclaimed comedies of all time. How much did people love 30 Rock? It was nominated for the Emmy for Best Comedy for all seven seasons that it ran, winning three of them. Its legacy has been a little controversial recently, but it remains one of the sharpest shows on network TV of the modern era.
Glenn Howerton (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) plays a disgraced professor sent to return to Toledo and teach a class in a place he doesn’t really want to be in this surprisingly funny comedy that’s already had a rocky run. After two low-rated seasons on NBC proper, it was canceled, but then the company announced that a third season would premiere on Peacock in September 2020.
Created, hosted, and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, this anthology series often doesn’t get enough credit for its overall quality, largely remaining in the shadow of shows like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. There are stand-out greats throughout the run of this series, including episodes directed by Robert Altman, Ida Lupino, and William Friedkin.
