Apple TV's Hit 97% RT Comedy Is Quietly One Of Its Best Shows In Any Genre
Apple TV's underrated comedy series is secretly one of its best shows in any genre. Over the years, Apple TV has steadily built a reputation for producing high-quality dramas, science fiction epics, and comedy hits. While comedic shows like Ted Lasso and Shrinking have deservedly earned critical acclaim and numerous primetime Emmy nominations and wins, one of Apple's oldest shows is just as worthy of that praise — perhaps even more so.
No one handles awkward, funny, warm charm quite like the Brits, as proven by Andy Wolton's comedy series, Trying. Since its premiere in 2020, Trying has become one of the best shows on Apple TV, as it chronicles a young couple's journey to becoming adoptive parents in London. The show, co-produced with the BBC, is based on the creator's own experience as an adoptee, grounding its hilarious scenes with genuine emotion, frustrating administrative paperwork, and odd but heartwarming family dynamics.
The hopeful parents, played by Rafe Spall and Ester Smith with disarming sincerity and chemistry, are the kinds of characters viewers will hope to meet in real life; they're just so down-to-earth and honest. They feel real, and their journey feels real, too. Luckily, they're supported by a charismatic cast, including British TV favorites such as Blue Lights' Siân Brooke and Lucky Man's Darren Boyd. All in all, Trying is one of Apple TV's most underrated shows, and season 5 has once again proven why.
Trying Season 5 Is Cementing It As One Of Apple TV's Best Shows
Trying season 5 premiered on Apple TV earlier this month, with two episodes out now. The reason Trying has managed such longevity is the way it reinvents itself every time it returns, and this year is no different. Essentially, Jason (Spall) and Nikki (Smith) undergo a new transformation each season. Choosing to adopt, struggling to find a match, deciding to adopt two older kids (who've been in and out of the foster system) — each season deals with a different journey.
Between seasons 3 and 4, the show even includes a six-year time jump. Rather than being jarring, though, it works in the story's favor. Jason and Nikki's kids, Princess (Scarlett Rayner) and Tyler (Cooper Turner), grow into teenagers and question not only themselves but also their family history. Princess, especially, wants to know more about her birth mother, a narrative thread that heavily influences season 5's story. As ever, though, Jason and Nikki are embarking on a new chapter in their personal lives, too, as Jason returns to university to become a social worker and Nikki starts a new job.
Even after five seasons, the show never feels repetitive or boring. New guest stars like Colin Morgan (Merlin) and Charlotte Riley, who plays Princess and Tyler's birth mother, Kat, keep the story and the character dynamics fresh and interesting. This is a quintessentially British show, but it's a universal story of love and family, and it fully deserves its current 97% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes (seasons 4 and 5 each have a 100% RT critical approval rating).
Why Trying Doesn't Get The Attention It Deserves
Naturally, Ted Lasso and Shrinking have benefited from incredible big-name cast members alongside their funny scripts and heartfelt stories, with Jason Sudeikis, Jason Segel, and the one and only Harrison Ford adding to their respective shows' appeal. Though Trying has had a few impressive British guest stars, including The Crown's Imelda Staunton in seasons 1 and 2 and season 5's upcoming guest star, Celia Imrie (The Thursday Murder Club), it doesn't have the same Hollywood A-list allure. Arguably, though, that works in the show's favor, as the actors can completely lose themselves in their characters.
Now Playing · Sound On How Well Do You Know Apple TV+? “Believe.”
🍪Ted
LassoBiscuits with the boss
🧠SeverancePraise Kier
🐎Slow
HorsesSlough House
☕Morning
ShowLive from NYC
🚀For All
MankindWhat if...?
01
Apple TV+’s breakout comedy about a relentlessly optimistic American football coach hired to manage an English Premier League team won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series back-to-back in 2021 and 2022. Who plays Ted?
✓ Correct! Jason Sudeikis — the former SNL cast member who originally played Ted in 2013 NBC Sports Premier League promos. He co-created the series with Brendan Hunt (who plays Coach Beard), Bill Lawrence, and Joe Kelly. Sudeikis won back-to-back Emmys for Best Actor in a Comedy. A Season 4 is officially in production for 2026.
✗ Cut it off! The answer is Jason Sudeikis. Jon Hamm is Mad Men (and later showed up as himself in Ted Lasso Season 2). Will Ferrell hasn’t done an Apple TV+ show. Brendan Hunt plays Coach Beard — Ted’s silent assistant — and was a co-creator, but Sudeikis is the title character and won two Best Actor Emmys for the role.
02
Ben Stiller-directed sci-fi thriller Severance became a cultural phenomenon with its eerie Macrodata Refinement floors and “praise Kier” cultishness. What is the name of the sinister biotech corporation at its centre?
✓ Correct! Lumon Industries — the unsettling corporation founded by the cult-like Eagan family, whose “severance procedure” surgically splits an employee’s work memories from their outside life. Weyland-Yutani is from Alien; Umbrella Corp is Resident Evil; Apex is fictional but not this show. Lumon’s retro-futuristic aesthetic (beige Macbook-era CRTs and long hallways) has become instantly iconic.
✗ Cut it off! The answer is Lumon Industries. Weyland-Yutani is the Alien franchise’s evil megacorp. Umbrella Corp runs Resident Evil. Apex isn’t a recognisable fictional company. Lumon is the creepy biotech behind Severance — with its Kier Eagan cult of personality, waffle parties, and surgically separated “innies” and “outies.”
03
In March 2022, Apple TV+ made streaming history when one of its films became the first from any streaming service to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Which film was it?
✓ Correct! CODA (Children of Deaf Adults) — Sian Heder’s drama about a hearing daughter of a deaf family in Massachusetts — won Best Picture at the 94th Academy Awards, beating The Power of the Dog (the heavy favourite). Troy Kotsur’s supporting-actor win was the first for a deaf male actor. The Morning Show is a TV series, Greyhound is Apple’s Tom Hanks WWII film, Killers is an Apple film but was released later.
✗ Cut it off! The answer is CODA. The Morning Show is a series. Greyhound is Apple’s 2020 Tom Hanks WWII film (a solid hit but not an Oscar winner). Killers of the Flower Moon — Scorsese’s 2023 Apple release — was nominated for 10 Oscars but won none. CODA’s 2022 Best Picture win made Apple the first streamer to break through in the category.
04
The scruffy, flatulent, ruthlessly cynical MI5 exile Jackson Lamb — running the Slough House dumping ground for disgraced spies — is one of modern TV’s most acclaimed performances. Which veteran actor plays him?
✓ Correct! Gary Oldman — Oscar winner for Darkest Hour — plays Jackson Lamb opposite Kristin Scott Thomas’ glacial Diana Taverner. The series adapts Mick Herron’s Slough House novels and has become Apple’s most quietly successful long-running drama, renewed through at least Season 6. Oldman has repeatedly called Lamb his favourite role of his career.
✗ Cut it off! The answer is Gary Oldman. Anthony Hopkins hasn’t done an Apple TV+ series of this prominence. Colin Firth was reportedly in contention for different spy roles (including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’s George Smiley, which Oldman also played). Jim Broadbent appears elsewhere. Oldman’s Lamb is one of TV’s most delightfully unpleasant protagonists.
05
Apple TV+’s flagship prestige drama on launch day — a #MeToo-era newsroom saga about the on-air partners of a fictional morning TV show — was anchored by two huge Hollywood names as its co-leads and producers. Who are they?
✓ Correct! Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon — both also executive producers — anchor the show as Alex Levy and Bradley Jackson. Reportedly each earned a then-record $1.1 million per episode. Steve Carell co-stars as the disgraced anchor whose firing kicks off the entire series. Aniston earned her first Emmy nomination for dramatic work for the role in 2020.
✗ Cut it off! The answer is Jennifer Aniston & Reese Witherspoon. Witherspoon & Dern did Big Little Lies (on HBO). Kidman was also in Big Little Lies. Meryl Streep joined The Morning Show in later seasons (a supporting role). Aniston and Witherspoon lead and produce — both reportedly making $1.1M per episode in one of streaming’s richest-ever deals.
06
Ronald D. Moore’s alt-history space epic For All Mankind — one of Apple TV+’s original launch titles — jumps forward in time each season. What is the show’s central point of divergence from real history?
✓ Correct! The Soviets beat Apollo 11 to the Moon in June 1969 — keeping the Space Race alive and turning NASA into a permanently ascendant institution. That single change cascades across decades: women astronauts are pushed early, lunar bases are built in the 1970s, Mars is reached in the 1990s, and so on. Each season time-jumps ahead a decade, showing how this different history snowballs.
✗ Cut it off! The answer is the Soviets landing on the Moon first — June 1969, beating Apollo 11. That single change drives everything: continued funding, expanded NASA, women astronauts, a permanent lunar base by the 1980s, Mars missions in the 1990s. Aliens aren’t in the show. Mars gets colonised, but much later. NASA remains public throughout the series.
07
Apple TV+ launched with a small lineup of nine originals — including The Morning Show, See, Dickinson, and For All Mankind — at the aggressively low price of $4.99 a month. When did the service officially go live?
✓ Correct! Apple TV+ launched on November 1, 2019 — just before Disney+ beat it to market by 11 days. Apple went in with a tiny roster of about nine originals (versus Disney+’s massive back catalogue) but compensated with $1 billion in original content spend and a one-year free trial for Apple hardware buyers. Its quality-over-quantity bet has since paid off in awards and prestige.
✗ Cut it off! The answer is November 2019 — specifically November 1st, just 11 days before Disney+ launched (a deliberate piece of scheduling brinkmanship). Apple launched with only nine originals and priced at $4.99/month to try to get ahead of Netflix and Disney. The service went live just before the pandemic turbocharged streaming growth everywhere.
08
Apple TV+’s post-apocalyptic thriller Silo — starring Rebecca Ferguson in a 10,000-person underground society — adapts a bestselling series of novels originally self-published as a 2011 short story. Who wrote them?
✓ Correct! Hugh Howey self-published Wool as a short story on Amazon in 2011; word-of-mouth turned it into a trilogy (Wool, Shift, Dust) and eventually a publishing phenomenon. Apple’s adaptation, retitled Silo, premiered in 2023. Andy Weir wrote The Martian and Project Hail Mary. Blake Crouch wrote Dark Matter and Recursion. Ted Chiang wrote the novella that became Arrival.
✗ Cut it off! The answer is Hugh Howey. Andy Weir is The Martian/Project Hail Mary. Blake Crouch is Dark Matter/Recursion (also recently adapted to Apple TV+, hence the mix-up). Ted Chiang is Arrival’s source. Howey’s Wool trilogy — Silo’s source — started as a self-published Amazon short story in 2011 before exploding into a bestseller.
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It doesn't have as obvious a hook as other contemporary dramedies do, either. Ted Lasso features an American football coach moving to London to manage a Premier League team. The Bear is a high-stakes restaurant comedy drama. Even Shrinking, which at its core is about a family's grief, feels different because most of its characters share the same high-profile, complex profession.
Trying, on the other hand, is just about two normal people who fell in love, built a modest life in London, and decided to start a family. That's precisely what makes it so special, though. This is one of the most relatable and heartwarming shows on TV, and it deserves to be seen by more people. Apple TV has a true gem on its hands with Trying, one that could continue for years to come.
New episodes of Trying premiere weekly on Wednesdays on Apple TV.