--- description: From 'The Acolyte' to 'Ren Faire' to 'Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution' title: The 5 Best New TV Shows of June 2024 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd03c737e948c2a4d/698a5818096a949c326b0a6a/DSTILL1598-_BILL-BERNSTEIN_Studio54_bowtied-dancers_1977.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Television](/tag/television/) ## Television Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The 5 Best New TV Shows of June 2024  by [Judy Berman](/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close TV Critic Jun 28, 2024 11:00 AM CUT  Studio 54 in 1977, as seen in the documentary series Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution Studio 54 in 1977, as seen in the documentary series Disco: Soundtrack of a RevolutionBill Bernstein. Courtesy of PBS  by [Judy Berman](/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close TV Critic Jun 28, 2024 11:00 AM CUT Summertime, and the viewing is easy. Which is a relief, considering the [heat dome](https://time.com/6990819/cities-hit-hardest-heat-dome/ "undefined") conditions that have made outdoor recreation, in much of the eastern half of the U.S., feel like playing in a furnace. Among June’s best new TV shows are documentary series about disco and a Renaissance faire. (Both are pretty substantive but feel relatively light for a genre whose favorite topic is serial killers.) Julio Torres returns with another comedy that finds ethereal humor in the precarity of an artist’s life. _Queenie_ chronicles a wounded yet charming 20-something’s second coming of age. There’s even a new _Star Wars_ show premised on a twin-sister switcheroo. ## _The Acolyte_ (Disney+) The best thing about the latest [_Star Wars_](https://time.com/4788422/best-star-wars-moments/ "undefined")spin-off is that you don’t have to be Yoda to understand who everyone is and what’s going on and how the show fits into [Disney’s 100-year plan (or whatever) for Lucasfilm](https://time.com/6981572/star-wars-shows-ranked/ "undefined"). That’s because _The Acolyte_ takes place a century before the rise of the Empire and its reams of blockbuster lore, when the Jedi Order is thriving and the galaxy peaceful. Our heroine is Osha ([Amandla Stenberg](https://time.com/collection/next-generation-leaders/5414051/amandla-stenberg-next-generation-leaders/ "undefined")), a young Jedi-Knight-training dropout who is apprehended for a murder that was actually committed by a twin sister, Mae (also Stenberg), whom Osha had long believed to be dead. Mae’s quest to assassinate several Jedi leaders as retribution for a past wrong intriguingly muddies _Star Wars_’ standard light-vs.-dark moral dichotomy. Other reasons to be optimistic about the series: it was created by _Russian Doll_ mastermind Leslye Headland, and the delightful cast includes Carrie-Anne Moss, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner-Smith, Manny Jacinto, and [_Squid Game_ star Lee Jung-jae](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2022/6177760/hwang-dong-hyuk/ "undefined"). ## _Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution_ (PBS) [Music documentaries](https://time.com/6077502/music-documentaries-summer-of-soul-sparks-brothers-mccartney/ "undefined") are [everywhere](https://time.com/6084742/behind-the-music-watch-the-sound-review/ "undefined") these days, and plenty of them are fascinating. But how many actually embody, rather than simply describe, the spirit of their subject? In the case of disco, that feeling is ecstasy, and PBS’s three-part docuseries _Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution_ is at once a serious, politically engaged, and culturally aware history of the genre and a pleasure bomb, fogging your living room with hi-hat shimmer and metallic confetti. Told largely by the DJs and singers who invented disco in the ‘70s, the series not only immerses viewers in the atmosphere of the dance floor, but also breaks down influential tracks—from Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango’s oft-sampled "Soul Makossa" to [Donna Summer](https://poy.time.com/2012/12/19/tributes-to-those-we-lost-in-2012/slide/donna-summer/ "undefined")’s heavy-breathing masterpiece “Love to Love You Baby”—to explore each artist’s innovations. The triptych structure is perfectly suited to _Disco_, which opens with an episode tracing the sound’s rise from gay nightlife; followed by an account of an imperial era defined by Black, female acts like [Gloria Gaynor](https://time.com/5802591/gloria-gaynor-hand-washing/ "undefined"), Labelle, and Candi Staton (who sits for a wonderfully candid interview); and a finale that both laments the record industry’s disco cash grab (see: Village People, “Disco Duck”) and celebrates the continuous evolution of dance music. Recent years have seen a crucial recontextualization of disco as a movement pioneered by Black, Latino, queer, and female artists, then simultaneously co-opted and demonized by the white, male mainstream. _Disco_ brings an unusually nuanced perspective to this revisionism, noting upsides as well as downsides to the genre’s gentrification and never losing sight of music as a business. ## _Fantasmas_ (HBO) _Los Espookys_ co-creator and _SNL_ alum Julio Torres is back on HBO with his weirdest and most wonderful creation to date. _Fantasmas_ (Spanish for _ghosts_) gets its title from a pitch writer and director Torres’ quasi-autobiographical protagonist Julio makes to Crayola, early in the six-episode series’ premiere, for a clear-colored crayon with that spectral name. But it applies equally to the show’s characters, offbeat dreamers set adrift in a society eager to commodify their identities and aspirations. The premise makes _Fantasmas_ both a sparkling specimen of weird TV and a manifesto championing the existence of that possibly dying art. **\[**[**Read the full review**](https://time.com/6986387/fantasmas-review-julio-torres/ "undefined")**.\]** ## _Queenie_ (Hulu) Hulu’s wonderful new dramedy _Queenie_ opens with an overhead, medium close-up shot that puts viewers face-to-face with the show’s namesake heroine. Twenty-five-year-old Queenie Jenkins is staring at the ceiling, her braids spread out on a white pillow, a tangle of necklaces grazing her clavicle, and an expression of idle bemusement twisting her features. In a voiceover, as the camera zooms out and we see that she’s in the midst of a gynecological exam, she enumerates the many “things I should’ve done today”—a bikini wax, for instance. It’s hard to imagine a more intimate introduction. And that’s fitting. Based on the [celebrated 2019 novel](https://time.com/5554283/queenie-candice-carty-williams/ "undefined") of the same name and created by its author, Candice Carty-Williams, _Queenie_ delves deep into the subjectivity of its title character, a Londoner of Jamaican descent who works in social media at a newspaper but dreams of earning a byline. **\[**[**Read the full review**](https://time.com/6985759/queenie-review-hulu/ "undefined")**.\]** ## _Ren Faire_ (HBO) You might think you know what to expect from a documentary series called _Ren Faire_, but you are almost certainly wrong. From [_Spellbound_](https://time.com/6984203/bruhat-soma-winner-2024-scripps-national-spelling-bee/ "undefined")and the crossword chronicle [_Wordplay_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0492506/ "undefined")to [_Trekkies_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120370/ "undefined")and the live action role-playing doc [_Darkon_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462246/ "undefined"), the Y2K era set the template for offbeat, warmhearted nonfiction films about nerdy subcultures. _Ren Faire_, HBO’s perceptive and surprisingly thrilling three-part portrait of the Texas Renaissance Festival as it approaches its 50th anniversary, is not that kind of story. It’s [_Succession_](https://time.com/tag/succession/ "undefined"), but with corsets and chainmail. **\[**[**Read the full review**](https://time.com/6985091/ren-faire-review-hbo/ "undefined")**.\]** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6991808/best-tv-shows-june-2024/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6991808/best-tv-shows-june-2024/"},"headline":"The 5 Best New TV Shows of June 2024","datePublished":"2024-06-28T11:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T17:50:12.602Z","description":"From 'The Acolyte' to 'Ren Faire' to 'Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution'","url":"https://time.com/6991808/best-tv-shows-june-2024/","keywords":["Television","list","culturepod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd03c737e948c2a4d/698a5818096a949c326b0a6a/DSTILL1598-_BILL-BERNSTEIN_Studio54_bowtied-dancers_1977.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Judy Berman","jobTitle":"TV Critic","url":"https://time.com/author/judy-berman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd03c737e948c2a4d/698a5818096a949c326b0a6a/DSTILL1598-_BILL-BERNSTEIN_Studio54_bowtied-dancers_1977.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"DSTILL1598 _BILL BERNSTEIN_Studio54_bowtied dancers_1977","caption":"Studio 54 in 1977, as seen in the documentary series Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution","creditText":"Bill Bernstein. Courtesy of PBS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6991808/best-tv-shows-june-2024/","name":"The 5 Best New TV Shows of June 2024"}}]}] ```