Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish shows available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.
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1. Loki (Disney Plus)
Tom Hiddleston has an absolute blast playing the mercurial trickster of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and we shall reap the benefits while he helps (and hinders) the Time Variance Authority during the process of cleaning up the timeline. Likewise, Owen Wilson is entertaining as hell (even while saddled with a lot of exposition) as the MCU’s smoothest time cop. This is definitely not the Loki you’re used to (he died in Avengers: Infinity War), but he’s still a delightful scamp, and the show is all about setting up the multiverse. We’re lucky to have this pair to guide us into the future. Watch it on Disney Plus.
2. Rick and Morty (Adult Swim / Hulu)
Rick and Morty are back, once again, with spaceships and evil aliens and a mess of other science fiction to nod toward and/or poke fun at. This is good news because Rick and Morty is good, still, even today, a number of years after it first started getting weird on TV screens all over the country. Watch the new episodes as they drop, sure, but maybe take a spin through the back catalog too if you have some time to kill. You probably forgot a bunch of good stuff in there anyway. Go. Do it. Watch it on Adult Swim and Hulu.
3. Dave (FXX/Hulu)
Dave is a lot of things all at once. It’s childish and sweet, gross and thoughtful, powerfully weird but also extremely human. Mostly, though, it’s just funny. The series follows an aspiring rapper (Dave Burd aka Lil Dicky) as he attempts to make it big. There are cameos from huge stars and urological issues and awkward moments galore. It’s kind of like Curb Your Enthusiasm if that show was about a 20-something white rapper who had a hype man named GaTa. This is a compliment. Watch it on FXX and Hulu.
4. Betty (HBO Max)
In the second two premiere of Betty, a stuffed cat-octopus falls from the sky (or at least from the roof of an apartment building) in front of Kirt, one of TV’s best stoner characters, who stops in her tracks, looks at the adorable hybrid-animal, and says, “Okay, I feel you.” Betty is so good. You will feel 75 percent cooler watching it. Watch it on HBO Max.
5. Central Park (Apple TV+)
The first season of this show from Bob’s Burgers creator Loren Bouchard was fun and had a loaded voice cast. (Kristen Bell, Tituss Burgess, Kathryn Hahn, etc.) Kristen Bell isn’t back for the second go-round of the musical comedy, but everything else is the same, with the battle to save Central Park from evil developers still underway. Watch it on Apple TV+.
6. Bosch (Amazon Prime)
Bosch is a good show, as it should be with such a deep reservoir of The Wire veterans on both sides of the camera. The Amazon staple is back for one last ride in its seventh and final season, this time focusing on an apartment fire and corruption and, presumably, Bosch’s loose cannon shenanigans causing headaches for his superiors but getting results. It all makes for an excellent weekend binge. Watch it on Amazon Prime.
7. Penguin Town (Netflix)
We’ve seen so many things hold our attention and inspire a sense of community at a time when we really needed it over the last 15 months. Remember The Last Dance? Remember how we all fell in love with Ted Lasso and smiled through the continuing adventures of Baby Yoda? Entertainment culture is good! Anyway, we heartily nominate Penguin Town as the next community watch. Because watching penguins navigate life in a South African town while Patton Oswalt smoothly narrates is the definition of feel-good content. Watch it on Netflix.
8. Lupin (Netflix)
Lupin is a French-language heist-y thriller that follows an incredibly smooth thief and master of disguise played by Omar Sy. It’s got diamond robberies and corrupt police and evil businessmen and a conspiracy that goes both back 25 years and all the way to the top. There’s also a cute little dog named J’accuse that barks when anyone says the bad guy’s name. (It’s a good show.) Part I, the first five episode chunk, was a blast and ended on a kidnapping cliffhanger. Part II picks up right there and does not slow down. Watch it on Netflix.
9. Sweet Tooth (Netflix)
This one will charm you and make you feel an unfamiliar sensation — hope? — despite dark and mature themes. Team Downey brings us this awe-inspiring story based upon a D.C. comic-book by creator Jeff Lemire, who whipped up a post-apocalyptic fairytale about a great sickness that ends with a miracle. That would be the appearance of “hybrids,” babies who are born half-human and half-animal. The comic has been described as “Mad Max Meets Bambi,” and Will Forte gets into serious mode, which is worth the price of admission all by itself. Watch it on Netflix.
10. Kevin Can F Himself (AMC / AMC Plus)
Annie Murphy is entering a new phase in her career with this AMC original that takes the “sitcom wife breaks bad” concept and adds some trippy camera work to make it feel fresh and exciting and just a tad frustrating. Fair warning: you’ll hate most of the male characters on this show, particularly the titular doofus, but Murphy’s mesmerizing enough to distract you from all the blatant sexism and corny laugh tracks that come with them. And once her character, Allison, settles on a murderous plan of action to escape this Kevin James-inspired hellscape, all bets are off. We’re a long way from Schitt’s Creek but we’re kind of loving this journey for her. Watch it on AMC Plus.