10 best new shows to watch on Netflix in May 2019

6. Pose

Season: 1

Created By: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Steven Canals

Starring: Mj Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson, Billy Porter, Indya Moore, Ryan Jamal Swain, Charlayne Woodard, Hailie Sahar, Angelica Ross, Angela Bismark Curiel, Dyllón Burnside, Evan Peters, Kate Mara, James Van Der Beek

Release Date: Friday, May 10

It’s not often that a series premieres and becomes an instant-classic. You’d think that it would happen more often, what with the constant conversation surrounding television and Netflix picks online. But it’s a rarity for a show to arrive and at once sweep its audience of their feet. Last summer, FX debuted Pose, a heart-warming and, at times, heart-wrenching love letter to transgender and LGBTQ+ people of color. It’s without a doubt the best new series of 2018 and one of the best new releases coming to Netflix this month.

From some of the most reliable hitmakers on television, Pose centers in the glamorous world of 1980s ball culture in New York City, where the African-American and Latino trans and queer community found kinship against the harsher social climate and AIDs crisis. Blanca (Mj Rodriguez) leaves Elektra’s (Dominique Jackson) House of Abundance to start her own house with her own children. They compete head-to-head in fashion competitions while facing the struggles from the rise of the Trump-like milieu of the time period. The acting, writing, and storytelling form a beautifully cathartic portrait of tough time and its compelling innovators.

Pose arrives on Netflix ahead of Ryan Murphy’s first original series, next month’s The Politician starring Ben Platt, as part of his exclusive pact with the streamer. The FX drama’s first season earned widespread critical and fan praise and grabbed two Golden Globe nominations, with Emmy nods sure to come. One month following the first season’s bow on Netflix, FX will begin airing the 10-episode season (up two episodes from season 1’s eight) on June 11. Do yourself a favor and watch this wonderful show when it streams worldwide on May 10.