If you're looking for a new show to watch this week, the vast landscape of streaming networks will provide plenty of them. Some of them are even good!
This week features the season premiere of everyone's favorite supernatural comedy series What We Do in the Shadows, and everyone's favorite non-supernatural comedy series Somebody Somewhere. Both are excellent in different ways, highlighting the diversity that makes television circa 2024 so interesting.
What We Do in the Shadows, Season 6
The supernatural comedy series What We Do in the Shadows has been putting out weird, funny episodes for five seasons and built up a loyal fanbase of weirdos eagerly awaiting every one. Sadly, season 6 marks the end of the series, but happily, we have these new episodes to look forward to. This season sees Nadja facing the horrors of the corporate world, and the ghoulish gang getting a new roommate, Jerry, who's been sleeping since 1976.
Where to stream: Hulu
Somebody Somewhere, Season 3
In a television landscape dominated by larger-than-life character and situations, it's cool that there's room for a gentle, emotional dramedy about regular folks and their regular lives. It's even cooler that people like it: Somebody Somewhere's second season earned a rare 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The show tells the story of Sam (Bridget Everett), a middle-aged woman with no superpowers, and her deep friendship with Joel (Jeff Hiller), who is not a billionaire with a tragic secret. Instead of unraveling international conspiracies, Sam cares for her aging parents and tries to figure out how to live her life with grace. Nothing explodes.
Where to stream: Max
Before
Is there anything Billy Crystal can't do? America fell in love with him as Mitch Robbins in City Slickers 2: The Legend of Curly's Gold, and now, he's playing a straight role as Eli, a child psychiatrist, in the 10-episode supernatural drama Before. Eli is a recent widower whose new patient, Noah (Jacobi Jupe), has some serious psychiatric issues and a strange connection to the Eli's past. Intriguing! Before also stars Judith Light and Rosie Perez.
Where to stream: Apple TV+
Beauty in Black
Tyler Perry's new series shows what happens whens worlds collide. In Beauty in Black, Taylor Polidore Williams plays Kimmie, a struggling exotic dancer at Atlanta's Magic City strip club. Mallory, played Crystle Stewart, is the head of a hair care dynasty and matriarch of a very wealthy family. When these two cross paths, their fates become entangled and things get sexy and dangerous.
Where to stream: Netflix
Breath of Fire
I have an equal level of respect for all religious and spiritual traditions, even the brand of "Kundalini yoga" taught by Guru Jagat (aka Katie Griggs), whose mastery of social media propelled her to the heights of fame and wealth to which all spiritual leaders aspire. This HBO docuseries portrays Jagat as a master manipulator who lied as easily as she assumed the lotus pose, so watch Breath of Fire for all the dirt on Jagat and Kundalini yoga itself.
Where to stream: Max
Last week's picks
Rivals
David Tennant and Alex Hassell play the bitter Rivals of the title in an eight-part series set among the crumbling aristocracy of 1980s Great Britain. Hassell plays Rupert Campbell-Black, a member of Parliament and a rake and raconteur. Tennant plays Lord Tony Baddingham, the head of Corinium Television. The two hate each others' guts in a very British, very rich way, so look for dishy action and scandals in boardrooms and bedrooms.
Where to stream: Hulu
Brothers
Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage play (non-identical) twins in crime-comedy Brothers. Brolin is a former criminal trying desperately to stay straight, but his reprobate brother drags him into a cross-country roadtrip in pursuit of a score so big it will change the entire family's lives—if they can keep from killing each other along the way.
Where to stream: Prime
The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh, season 1
The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh is a family comedy with a mystery at its center. The titular family are fresh off the plane from India, but their new life in America quickly turns bizarre as a run-in with a polar opposite family in their new neighborhood spins out of control. Told partly through flashback from an interrogation room, this comedy promises a touch of Rashomon and a new twist on the immigrant comedy genre.
Where to stream: Prime
American Horror Stories: Huluween Event
If you dig shows like Tales from the Crypt and Dark Mirror, check out American Horror Stories. The anthology spin-off of the long-running horror franchise American Horror Story will drop five spooky, hour-long episodes at once for Halloween, each telling a different dark tale on topics like tapeworms, organ thieves, and jealous artificial intelligences. (I want to watch the one about the tapeworm most.)
Where to stream: Hulu
The Devil's Hour, season 2
Jessica Raine and Peter Capaldi return for another season of this Emmy-nominated, critically lauded series. Season 1 of The Devil's Hour is a known for its mind-screw plot twists, solid acting, and touches of black humor. Season 2 sees former adversaries Lucy (Raine) and Gideon (Capaldi) teaming up to hunt down a horrific monster. To make matters worse, Lucy is in the crosshairs of her ex-husband from a past life. If you're looking for intelligent, psychological horror, this should do the trick.
Where to stream: Prime
Shrinking, Season 2
The first season of warm-hearted, emotional comedy/drama Shrinking earned raves for its solid cast and sharp writing, and season 2 promises more of the same. Created by Ted Lasso creator Bill Lawrence and Jason Segel, Shrinking's cast includes Segel as Jimmy Laird, a therapist whose own grief leads to him throwing aside professional ethics and drastically changing the lives of his patients. The cast includes heavy hitters like Harrison Ford, Jessica Williams, Christa Miller, and even Ted McGinley!
Where to stream: Apple TV+
Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Season 2
The first season of this animated series set in the Jurassic World universe earned 100% positive reviews according to Rotten Tomatoes, so it would be literally impossible to not like it. In Chaos Theory, the dinosaurs have taken over the world. "The Nublar Six," six teenagers with dinosaur experience, embark on a mission to unravel a conspiracy that threatens everything on Earth, humans and dinos alike. This is a perfect series to share with your kids: It's gentle enough for anyone over seven, but adult enough that parents won't want to claw their eyes out.
Where to stream: Netflix
Detroiters
Criminally under-appreciated when it originally aired on Comedy Central in 2017 and 2018, Detroiters is too funny to die. This is legit one of the best comedies that has ever been on TV, and if you haven't seen it, I feel bad for you. Tim Robinson, auteur of wildly popular sketch show I Think You Should Leave, created Detroiters and stars as a dope who inherits a Detroit advertising company then hires his best friend, another dope played by Sam Richardson, to make commercials. Seriously: If you do nothing else in October, watch this show.
Where to stream: Netflix
Sweetpea
This British import stars Ella Purnell as Rhiannon Lewis, a mousey wallflower who was bullied as a child and is roundly ignored as an adult, until she finds her true calling: murdering everyone who has ever wronged her. A six-part comedy/thriller, Sweetpea is a revenge story that deftly mixes darkness and comedy—just in time for Halloween!
Where to stream: Starz
The Lincoln Lawyer, Season 3
Lawyers with weekly legal imbroglios have been fodder for compelling television since Perry Mason made objections in the 1950s. The Lincoln Lawyer is a particularly solid example of the genre. Now on its third season, the show's main character, Mickey Haller, (played by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) earned the name by solving cases in his Continental convertible. Like the car, the show is a throwback; it's one of those episodic TV dramas that you don't have to watch in order—exciting enough, but not meant to be taken too seriously.
Where to stream: Netflix
Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? Season 1
This game show isn't exactly Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader? but you get the idea. In Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?, normal people match wits with "stars" like comedian Nikki Glaser, football analyst Ryan Fitzpatrick, and reality star Lala Kent. I was going to say I was smarter than all those people and host Travis Kelce combined, but then I realized they're getting paid to answer trivia questions on TV and I'm writing about it, so who's the idiot now?
Where to stream: Prime
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