Midseason TV 2019: ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Big Bang Theory,' 'Killing Eve,’ and plenty of new shows to take you through the spring

Another potential sighting of the undead dragon on Game of Thrones isn’t all TV has to offer over the next few months.

Along with the final six episodes of the HBO fantasy drama, which returns for one last run in April after taking 2018 off, CBS’s long-running — and top-rated — comedy hit The Big Bang Theory is expected to air its finale sometime in May. BBC America’s addictive spy drama Killing Eve picks up again in April after a critically acclaimed first season, and People’s Sexiest Man Alive, Luther’s Idris Elba, stars as a reluctant babysitter — don’t call him a “manny” — in a new Netflix comedy in March.

I haven’t seen everything yet (and much of what I have remains under embargo for review), but here are some shows to look out for:

White Dragon (Friday, Feb. 8, Amazon). Eight-episode British thriller stars John Simm (Doctor Who) as college professor Jonah Mulray, who, after his wife, Meghan (Dervla Kirwan, Ballykissangel), is killed in a suspicious crash in Hong Kong, travels there to claim her body. There, he learns that she, and their marriage, might not have been what he’d thought. Anthony Chau-Sang Wong stars as David Chen, a former police officer who also had reason to think he knew Megan.

PEN15 (Friday, Feb. 8, Hulu). Would you want to relive seventh grade? Adult actresses Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle play remarkably convincing versions of 13-year-old best friends in this middle school comedy set in 2000. Cocreated by the two leads with Sam Zvibleman, its school is otherwise populated by more age-appropriate actors, but the language and subject matter suggest it’s meant for people at least old enough to be happy they’ll never have to go through this again.

One Day at a Time (Friday, Feb. 8, Netflix). One of TV’s best comedies returns for its third season, with Gloria Estefan guest-starring in the first episode as the long-estranged sister of Rita Moreno’s Lydia.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, HBO and WHYY12). Penn grad Morgan Neville’s moving documentary on the late, legendary children’s TV host Fred Rogers makes its television debut. I dare you not to cry. To honor Rogers' commitment to public television, HBO is allowing PBS’s Independent Lens to present the film at the same time.

Riviera (10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, Ovation). Julia Stiles plays an art curator whose billionaire husband (Anthony LaPaglia) dies in a yacht explosion, leaving her to deal with his grown children, his ex (Lena Olin), and a tangle of legal problems she never saw coming. (If you can’t wait to see what happens next, the 10-episode first season series is already available for streaming to Sundance Now subscribers.)

Miracle Workers (10:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12, TBS). Steve Buscemi, Daniel Radcliffe, and Geraldine Viswanathan star in a decidedly irreverent comedy from Simon Rich (Man Seeking Woman) in which Buscemi plays an exasperated God, and Radcliffe and Viswanathan two angels trying to persuade him not to blow up Earth.

Proven Innocent (9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, Fox). Rachelle Lefevre (Under the Dome) stars as Madeline Scott, a lawyer who specializes in the cases of wrongly convicted people, and Russell Hornsby as the man who got Madeline’s murder conviction overturned after she and her brother (Riley Smith) spent a decade in prison for the death of her high school best friend. Not a subtle show, but the cast is great, including Kelsey Grammer as the man who prosecuted the Scott siblings and who still believes they’re guilty, Nikki M. James as the host of the firm’s podcast and its communications director, and Mad Men’s Vincent Kartheiser as the firm’s quirky investigator. Might be a good fit for anyone who misses the speechifying of The Practice.

The Umbrella Academy (Friday, Feb. 15, Netflix). Adopted by an eccentric billionaire who hoped they would save the world, grown siblings with extraordinary powers come together after his death, and it turns out the world may need saving. The live-action series was inspired by the comics and graphic novels of Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá and stars Ellen Page, Tom Hopper, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, David Castañeda, Aidan Gallagher, Cameron Britton, and Mary J. Blige.

Lorena (Friday, Feb. 15, Amazon). Direct from Sundance, the Jordan Peele-produced four-part docu-series supposedly tells us what we didn’t know or understand about Lorena Bobbitt, who became infamous in 1993 after cutting off husband John’s penis.

Whiskey Cavalier (Feb. 24, sneak peek after Academy Awards, then 10 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27). Action rom-com stars Scott Foley (Scandal) as an FBI agent celebrated for his empathy who’s paired with a CIA operative (Cherry Hill’s Lauren Cohan, The Walking Dead) who may not always realize they’re supposed to be on the same side. University of the Arts grad Ana Ortiz (Devious Maids, Ugly Betty) plays the FBI’s top criminal profiler.

The Enemy Within (10 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25, NBC). The Blacklist meets Homeland? Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter) stars as a brilliant ex-CIA agent who became one of America’s most notorious traitors, and Morris Chestnut (Rosewood) plays an FBI agent who has reason to hate her but who needs her help in catching a spy who’s costing U.S. operatives their lives.

After Life (Friday, March 8, Netflix). New dark comedy stars Ricky Gervais as a widower whose response to losing his wife is to stop holding back, and to start saying and doing whatever he likes.

Now Apocalypse (9 p.m. Sunday, March 10, Starz). Steven Soderbergh is part of the producing team of this new L.A.-set comedy starring Avan Jogia as Ulysses, whose disturbing dreams signal either the possible end of the world or that he needs to smoke less pot. Follows the second-season premiere of American Gods.

Manhunt (March 11, Acorn). Anglophile alert: Martin Clunes (Doc Martin) stars as a British police detective on the trail of a serial killer in a three-part, fact-based mini-series from Britain’s ITV that in January became the network’s highest-rated drama since the 2013 debut of Broadchurch.

The Village (10 p.m. Tuesday, March 12, moving to 9 p.m. on April 2, NBC). Lorraine Toussaint (Any Day Now, Saving Grace) and Dominic Chianese (The Sopranos) are among the stars of this new ensemble drama about the tenants of a Brooklyn apartment building.

Turn Up Charlie (Friday, March 15, Netflix). Luther’s Idris Elba stars as a struggling DJ who hopes for a career lift when one of his oldest friends (JJ Feild) returns to London, now rich and famous and with an equally rich and famous DJ wife (Piper Perabo, Covert Affairs). Instead, they hire him to play nanny to their out-of-control daughter (Frankie Hervey).

Shrill (Friday, March 15, Hulu). In a dramedy adapted from Lindy West’s memoir Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman and produced by Penn grad Elizabeth Banks, Saturday Night Live’s Aidy Bryant plays Annie, an insecure journalist who decides she’s had enough of being treated badly by people who can’t get past her weight. SNL veteran Julia Sweeney plays Annie’s mother, and English comedian Lolly Adefope her best friend and roommate.

The Fix (10 p.m. Monday, March 18, ABC). Robin Tunney (The Mentalist) plays a Los Angeles prosecutor who leaves the city behind after losing a high-profile case involving a celebrity (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Lost) charged with a double murder, only to be lured back when he becomes a suspect in the death of his girlfriend. And, yes, this is the show whose producers include O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark.

Jane the Virgin (9 p.m. Wednesday, March 27, CW). Even the best things must come to an end. The fifth and final season of the telenovela-inspired dramedy starring Gina Rodriguez as the no-longer-virginal Jane Villanueva premieres on a new night, but with, I hope, the same heart and smarts as ever.

Masterpiece: Mrs. Wilson (9 p.m. Sunday, March 31, WHYY12). Ruth Wilson (Luther, The Affair) stars in a two-parter about a widow who discovers her late husband had many secrets in a story based on Wilson’s own grandmother’s memoir.

In the Dark (9 p.m. Thursday, April 4, CW). From the creator of CBS’s Fam, this new drama stars Perry Mattfeld (Shameless) as a hard-living blind woman who sets out to solve the murder of a friend — but first she has to convince the police he’s dead.

Killing Eve (8 p.m. Sunday, April 7, BBC America). Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer made a splash last year as each played both hunter and prey in a globe-trotting spy story that became deeply personal, as Oh’s MI6 agent and Comer’s psycho assassin got way too close to comfort. This season’s said to pick up only seconds after the first season’s finale, so if you missed it, there’s still time to head to Hulu to catch up.

Fosse/Verdon (10 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, FX). Limited series based on the biography Fosse tells the story of the relationship and collaboration of filmmaker and choreographer Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell) and legendary Broadway dancer Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams). Producers include Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail, Joel Fields (The Americans), and Steven Levenson (Dear Evan Hansen).

Game of Thrones (9 p.m. Sunday, April 14, HBO). What we know: There are only six episodes left in the series, and they may run longer than an hour each. What we don’t: Who wins the Iron Throne, or whether achieving such an uncomfortable seat can even be called winning. What we’re hoping for: dragons and direwolves.

Bless This Mess (9:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, ABC). New comedy stars Lake Bell (Boston Legal) and Dax Shepard (Parenthood) as newlyweds who ditch their jobs and move from New York City to Nebraska to become farmers, only to find — surprise! — that life in the heartland isn’t as simple as they’d thought. The title could come back to haunt whoever named it, but, hey, Green Acres ran for six seasons.

The Red Line (8 p.m. Sunday, April 28, CBS). Four-week, eight-episode event series tells the stories of three Chicago families coping with the aftermath of a tragedy. Noah Wyle (ER) plays a teacher and father whose husband, an African American doctor, was killed by a white police officer (Noel Fisher, Shameless) who mistook him for a robber. Emayatzy Corinealdi plays an alderman candidate trying to unseat an entrenched incumbent by running on a platform that includes police reform. Producers include Selma director Ava DuVernay, Greg Berlanti, and Philadelphia’s Kevin Hooks.