The 10 best new television shows of 2020
By Shaun Stacy
Best new television shows of 2020: Teenage Bounty Hunters
Platform: Netflix
Cast: Maddie Phillips, Anjelica Bette Fellini, Kadeem Hardison, Virginia Williams, Mackenzie Astin
After wrecking their father’s pickup truck, high school students and fraternal twins Sterling (Phillips) and Blair (Fellini) haphazardly fall into the world of bounty hunting with grizzled bounty hunter Bowser (Hardison) acting as their boss and mentor. While the premise may sound a bit outlandish, this show absolutely makes it work, often with hilarious results.
Set in Atlanta, the twins deal with living a double life as they attend a clique-y, conservative Christian school during the day, but then also hunt down criminals in their spare time. There’s also a mystery surrounding the girl’s mother that results in a twist you will NEVER see coming.
While the show is part procedural, the heart of the show is the chosen family created between the girls and Bowser. Even though he trivializes their relationship, labeling Blair “The Brunette One” in his phone, he has their backs in every bind they seem to get themselves into along the way to becoming real bounty hunters. Phillips and Fellini have outstanding chemistry and are 100% believable as fraternal twins, often engaging in humorous exchanges of twinepathy.
The dramedy also deals with themes of sexuality, identity, social justice, racism, and explores the bonds that make a true family. The fact that Netflix canceled one of the most entertaining and original shows of the year after just one season is probably the greatest travesty the streaming platform has committed since the days of Sense8. Here’s hoping Teenage Bounty Hunters will find another place to call home soon.