In the past, February would mark the beginning of the home stretch for network series that typically went on hiatus over the holidays and concluded in May. But in the streaming era, programs both new and old can debut pretty much whenever they want, including these five eagerly awaited shows.
‘How to Get to Heaven From Belfast’
How to Get to Heaven from Belfast | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube
The creator of the hit Irish comedy “Derry Girls,” Lisa McGee, returns with a highly anticipated new series for Netflix. Elder millennials Robyn (Sinéad Keenan), Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne) and Saoirse (Roisin Gallagher) attend the wake of their estranged childhood pal, Greta (Natasha O'Keeffe), only to discover that the body in the coffin isn’t her. This sets off what looks to be a delirious search across Ireland and beyond to solve the mystery of her whereabouts.
The comedy-thriller combines “early ‘Derry Girls’ vibes from the female-friendship-group-plus-token-Englishman dynamic” with a “detectable hint of ‘Bad Sisters,’” said Jordan King at Empire. (Feb. 12 on Netflix)
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Adam Scott (“Severance”) and Janelle James (“Abbott Elementary”) headline this Netflix adult animated comedy. Scott voices Lincoln Gumb, a down-on-his-luck Vegas lawyer who hires Sheila Flambé (James), a local magician, to help with his courtroom presentations.
Creator Cullen Crawford is best known for “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” the well-regarded Paramount+ animated series about the unsung grunts of the franchise’s starships. The series is a “raunchy parody of legal dramas and a salute to the topsy-turvy morality of Vegas,” said Noel Murray at The New York Times.(Feb. 20 on Netflix)
‘Paradise’ season 2
Paradise Season 2 | Official Teaser | Hulu - YouTube
“Paradise,” from creator Dan Fogelman (“This Is Us”), was one of the breakout hits of 2025. Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) is a Secret Service agent guarding former President Cal Bradford (James Marsden), whose murder in the first episode is revealed to take place in an elaborate underground bunker constructed by billionaires to ride out the apocalypse, referred to in the show as The Day.
In season two, Xavier continues his search for his wife, Teri (Enuka Okuma), outside of the bunker while the remaining residents in Paradise deal with the fallout of Cal’s killing. A series that is “as much a work of speculative fiction as it is a grounded political thriller,” the plot is moved along by “binge-friendly Fogelmanian twists detonating like so many small bombs,” said Judy Berman at Time. (Feb. 23 on Hulu)
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The beloved early aughts medical comedy “Scrubs” aired the final episode of its ninth season in March 2010, seemingly a lifetime ago. This unexpected 10th season revival stars virtually the entire core cast of the long-running series, including J.D. (Zach Braff), Elliot (Sarah Chalke), Turk (Donald Faison), Perry (John C. McGinley), Carla (Judy Reyes) and the J.D.-tormenting janitor Glenn (Neil Flynn).
A new group of interns joins the show, and the series uses its good-natured humor to shine a light on many of the problems that plague American medicine a quarter-century after the series debuted. A “pivotal show in recent television history,” said Ryan Vlastelica at AV Club, it “straddled both the ‘very special episode’ tone of ’80s sitcoms and the joke-a-minute style that dominates the single-camera era.” It also helped usher in a new era of comedy now associated with “30 Rock” and “Parks and Recreation.” (Feb. 25 on ABC)
‘Bridgerton’ season 4, part two
Bridgerton Season 4 | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube
In recent years, Netflix has really leaned into the ploy of releasing seasons of its biggest hits in chunks rather than all at once, most recently for the final episodes of “Stranger Things.” “Bridgerton,” a classic guilty pleasure about the tribulations of a family of early 19th-century London socialites, developed a devoted following when it was released at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in December 2020, with audiences falling hard for its unabashed romance tropes and explicit sex.
The second part of season 4, which follows the scandalous courtship of Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) with a housemaid named Sophie (Yerin Ha), will consist of four episodes concluding the arc. The first half of season 4 was “giddy and thrilling, the best ‘Bridgerton’ has been since its first season,” said Kathryn VanArendonk at Variety. (Feb. 26 on Netflix)
David Faris is a professor of political science at Roosevelt University and the author of "It's Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics." He's a frequent contributor to Newsweek and Slate, and his work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New Republic and The Nation, among others.
