10 Best New TV Shows Of 2017

9. A Series Of Unfortunate Events

One of the best new shows of 2017 was also one of the first new shows, with Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events hitting way back on January 13.

As it turned out, it was the perfect way to banish not only those New Year blues, but also memories of the movie adaptation from 2004, which tried and failed to launch a franchise out of the Lemony Snicket novels.

The Netflix version succeeds everywhere the film didn't, with a largely faithful adaptation of the first four of Snicket's books, each given two episodes to tell their story. That really gives each instalment the time required and while, like the books, the plots are somewhat repetitive, there's enough in the colourful characters and unique settings to make them stand-out.

It really nails the horrible humour and twisted tone of the books, bringing Snicket's dark fantasy to life in glorious fashion, while Neil Patrick Harris leaves an indelible impression - (indelible is a word which here means not able to be forgotten) - as Count Olaf, perfectly capturing both the OTT, theatrical silliness of the character and the dangerous edge underneath the costumed villainy.