If you're looking for a new show to watch this week, the vast landscape of streaming networks will provide plenty. Some of them are even worth your time!
This week's TV series are a study in extremes. My pick of the week is Netflix's Cobra Kai, season 6. It's not that Netflix's karate show is better than Apple TV+'s drama Lady in the Lake or Max's holocaust docu-series The Commandant's Shadow, but it's more appropriate for the season. It's the middle of July. We're hot and tired. Dumb mind-candy like Cobra Kai is all we can handle.
Cobra Kai Season 6, Part 1
Cobra Kai's mix of 1980s nostalgic meta-comedy, teen soap opera cheese, and martial arts shouldn't work so well, but somehow, the charm of its cast and its breezy, "none of this is important in any way" tone make it a must-binge series. This is the first part of the sixth and supposedly final season for the show, and it sees the members of the Miyagi-Do dojo pondering “if and how they will compete in the Sekai Taikai—the world championship of karate." So the plot is whatever, but the original cast are all expected to return to their places in the karate-based alternate universe in which they live, which is reason enough to watch.
Where to stream: Netflix
Too Hot to Handle, Season 6
The hook of Too Hot to Handle is brilliant: The reality-competition show puts a gaggle of extremely attractive and sexed-up 20-somethings together in an exotic location, makes them sleep in pairs, then penalizes them for hooking up—the only way anyone can win the $250,000 prize is through abstinence. It's dumb reality show spectacle, perfect as a mid-summer guilty pleasure, and I promise I won't tell anyone you watched it all.
Where to stream: Netflix
The Lady in the Lake
In Lady in the Lake, Natalie Portman plays Maddie Schwartz a Jewish housewife turned investigative journalist digging up the truth about a pair of unsolved murders in Baltimore, circa 1966. Her investigation leads to conflict with Cleo Johnson, played Moses Ingram, a mother navigating the political underbelly of Black Baltimore while struggling to provide for her family. Based on the acclaimed novel by Laura Lippman and directed by Alma Har’el, The Lady in the Lake is 100% noir-thriller greatness.
Where to stream: Apple TV+
Hit-Monkey, season 2
The hero of Hit-Monkey is a Japanese snow monkey who teams up with the ghost of an American assassin to become the "killer of killers" and take out the most fearsome assassins in Japan. Season 2 finds the strange duo in New York trying to escape their shadowy existences, but it's not easy to give up that kind of life. Hit-Monkey is based on a Marvel comic, and the first season of the animated action show earned rave reviews from both critics and fans, so if you like heroes, action, cartoons, or just things that are awesome, check this one out.
Where to stream: Hulu
Kite Man: Hell Yeah! Season 1
Kite Man is an actual DC Comics supervillain who uses kites and gliders to commit super-crimes. He's as ridiculous as he sounds, but Kite Man became a fan favorite for his ridiculous gimmick, can-do spirit, and dumb catchphrase: "Kite Man! Hell yeah!" In other words he's the perfect subject for a comedy superhero cartoon. In Kite Man: Hell Yeah!, the title character and his lover Golden Glider open a bar near the Legion of Doom headquarters to sling drinks to Lex Luthor's team of more successful supervillains.
Where to stream: Max
The Commandant's Shadow
The Commandant's Shadow tells the real story behind Oscar-award winning film The Zone of Interest. 87-year-old Hans Jürgen Höss' father was Rudolf Höss, the notorious commandant of Auschwitz who was responsible for the murder of over a million Jews. In this documentary series, Höss confronts his father's monstrous legacy and meets some of the survivors of Auschwitz.
Starts streaming July 18.
Simone Biles Rising
Gymnast Simone Biles grabbed the world's attention when she withdrew from the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. But the shocking move, partly in response to Biles' mental health concerns, didn't end her career. Biles is back for another go at Olympic glory this year, and Simone Biles Rising details her hard road back to potential greatness at the 2024 Olympics. This docuseries is a pre-Olympics must-watch.
Where to stream: Netflix
Last week's picks
Sunny
If you're into thoughtful, near-future sci-fi, check out Sunny on Apple TV+. Rashida Jones plays Suzie, an American living in Japan. When her husband and son disappear in a plane crash, the company he worked for gives her Sunny, a domestic robot. After an initial "WTF?" reaction, Suzie warms up to her new robot pal, and the pair team up to uncover dark secrets connected to her husband's death and the shadowy organizations behind it.
Where to stream: Apple TV+
Sausage Party: Foodtopia
Based on 2016’s CGI feature Sausage Party, Foodtopia details the efforts of sentient hot dogs, bananas, and other foods to create a society where they won’t have their heads bitten off just because someone is peckish. It’s sure to be packed with the scatological and raunchy humor audiences enjoyed in the original film, so it’s definitely not for kids. The eight-episode series features the return of voice talent from the original, including Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, David Krumholtz, Edward Norton, Sam Richardson, and Will Forte. If you like your comedy uncut, this might be your new summer show.
Where to stream: Prime
Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer
In 1978, psychiatric nurse Ann Burgess received a call that would change her life. It was the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, and they wanted her help digging into the minds of serial killers. Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer explores this unsung woman who helped create criminal profiling, and it digs into the details of the killers who informed Burgess's work, including infamous criminals like Ed Kemper and Ted Bundy, as well as lesser-known monsters like the Ski Mask Rapist.
Where to stream: Hulu
Receiver
Last summer's Quarterback followed three of the NFL's best quarterbacks; in this summer's Receivers, we learn about the dudes they throw to. This Netflix original documentary series details the 2023 seasons, both on and off the field, of Davante Adams, Justin Jefferson, George Kittle, Deebo Samuels, and Amon-ra Saint Brown, five best-of-the-best players that football fans either totally love or begrudgingly admit are awesome, even though they hate them, depending on their team loyalty.
Where to stream: Netflix
Sasha Reid and the Midnight Order
If you're a true crime fan, do not miss Sasha Reid and the Midnight Order. Reid is a psychologist with a singular obsession: catching killers. So she recruited a cadre of women that share her passion from various disciplines and backgrounds, dubbed them "The Midnight Order," and started tracking down criminals. The Midnight Order works outside the system and uses cutting-edge data skills and forensic knowledge to heat up cold cases—like Batman, but not fake. This series takes viewers inside their most intriguing investigations and introduces us to the women who have made Justice their profession.
Where to stream: Hulu
Teen Torture Inc.
In this three-episode documentary series, a band of survivors from various "troubled teen" programs (including rap star Bhad Bhabie) team up to blow the whistle on the exploitative, nightmarish industry where children are routinely subjected to cult-like conditioning and physical and sexual abuse in the name of "tough love." These young people have a serious axe to grind, and are using social media and the court system to try to shut down their former captors. If you like a Good vs. Evil true story, don't miss Teen Torture Inc.
Where to stream: Max
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