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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10. (tie) The Amber Ruffin Show (Peacock)
Amber Ruffin is here, once again, thank God, to make the news and the rest of the world a little more palatable. The Late Night With Seth Meyers all-star brings her unique brand of silliness to Peacock for a second season. Will there be jokes? Of course. Will there be goofy faces? You know it. Will there be smart critiques of world leaders and world events that are occasionally punctuated by ridiculous guest appearances and/or catchy songs? Buddy, let’s hope so. We need it. Amber Ruffin is the best. Watch it on Peacock.
10. (tie) Severance (Apple TV Plus)
“Am I livestock?” Who among us hasn’t asked ourselves that question while grazing amongst the cubicles at work? But the workplace in Severance (a new Adam Scott starring and Ben Stiller produced Apple TV+ series) is a little different, running workers through a process that effectively breaks people in two with zero crossovers between their work life and non-work life. Sound ideal in a world where work stresses bleed into home life and Sunday scarys seem to always kneecap your weekend? Perhaps in some respects. Susan from HR probably LOVES the idea, seeing it as the ultimate NDA, but as the show is set to explore, it’s a less tidy experience that raises all kinds of questions about what happens when people are severed from the awful things they might be asked to do at work. Watch it on Apple TV Plus.
10. (tie) Joe vs. Carole (Peacock)
You lived through Netflix’s Tiger King craze, and here’s a supplemental Peacock treat (?) about the awfulness of Big Cat people. Kate McKinnon portrays Carole Baskin, who is (of course) the rival of Joe Exotic, who’s portrayed by John Cameron Mitchell, mullet and all. He’s now in prison for the foreseeable future (which has plenty to do with that murder-for-hire plot), and she’s still got a reputation for acting coy about whatever happened to her husband. If you’re tempted to tune in, do it for the McKinnon. Watch it on Peacock.
10. (tie) Pam & Tommy (Hulu)
What starts as a weirdly quirky caper story mixed with the reckless abandon of Pam Anderson and Tommy Lee’s courtship soon transforms into a needed indictment on the wild west nature of the internet and the way Anderson was packaged, sold, and diminished regardless of her feelings on the matter. But with the actress not signing off on this very intimate look at a painful period of her life, is she still being turned into a product and where is the line when it comes to a public figure and events that largely happened in front our eyes… because we couldn’t help but invade her privacy in the first place? Entertaining, shocking, thought-provoking — there is more to meets the eye in this show that is about a lot more than a stolen sex tape. Watch it on Hulu.
9. Inventing Anna (Netflix)
As if Julia Garner didn’t already rule the small screen in Ozark, we’re getting another heaping helping of her. This time, though, the tight corkscrew curls are hidden while Garner portrays Anna Delvey, a real-life Instagram “legend” and fake German heiress. In reality, Delvey was a master con artist who captivated New York’s social elite and ended up dragging the hell out of the American dream in the process. This Shondaland limited series follows the investigation into Anna’s misdeeds, along with how she stares down trial and keeps those lies alive, all as inspired by Jessica Pressler’s New York Magazine article that will get you primed. Watch it on Netflix.
8. The Boys: Diabolical (Amazon)
While we all wait for the flagship series’ third season, this animated series will be kind-of canon and bring us backstories for some familiar faces and an array of new characters in outrageous, bloody, and violent scenarios with all of the gore and humor that we’re used to from this franchise. There’s plenty of Homelander and some of The Deep, and the voice cast is more than any comic book fan could hope for. Not only do we get to hear Antony Starr, Chase Crawford, Colby Minifie, and Elisabeth Shue but also Awkwafina, Don Cheadle, Kieran Culkin, Giancarlo Esposito, Justin Roiland, Seth Rogen, and Andy Samberg. Watch it on Amazon.
7. Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber (Showtime)
It’s boom times for selling stories about the pirates of tech and Super Pumped sells it well, illuminating the rise and relative fall (he’s doing alright for money, don’t worry) of Uber’s brash former CEO Travis Kalanick. At the center of that ride (sorry) is a strained mentor/mentee relationship between Kalanick (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Bill Gurley, a more cautious and weathered money man played by Kyle Chandler. Led by David Levian, Brian Koppelman, and Beth Schacter, the minds behind Billions (another show featuring a high powered and twisty battle between two titans), Super Pumped offers a lot of commentary on the culture of win and the fallacy of rules as a shield against bad behavior while leaning into the dangerous magnetism of Kalanick across the first season of a new anthology series that’s already been renewed for a second go. Watch it on Showtime.
6. Our Flag Means Death (HBO Max)
A pirate comedy starring Taika Waititi, Rhys Darby, Leslie Jones, and Hodor from Game of Thrones? Don’t mind if I do. Our Flag Means Death is about an 18th-century aristocrat (Darby) who gives up whatever aristocrats do to become a swashbuckler alongside Blackbeard (Waititi). If it’s anything like What We Do in the Shadows but with pirates, prepare to be… Hook-ed. Watch it on HBO Max.
5. The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray (Apple TV Plus)
What do we have here? Well, we have Samuel L. Jackson as a 91-year-old man who is about to sink into dementia, for one, which is sad. But then he gets a chance to get his memory back, briefly, which is good. And he uses this newfound lucidity to solve his nephew’s death, which is… cool. It’s cool. Good for Ptolemy Gray. Watch it on Apple TV.
4. Desus & Mero (Showtime)
Podcast gods, best-selling authors, and the proprietors of late night’s realest option, Desus Nice and The Kid Mero are back for their Showtime late-night show’s 4th season, kicking off with a Denzel Washington interview as they switch to a once-a-week format (down from their Sunday and Thursday commit). There’s also the promise of a Tom Holland guest spot this season where you know D&M are going to get our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man to spill some Marvel secrets. Watch it on Showtime.
3. Killing Eve (AMC Plus)
Last season ended with winners and losers aplenty. And c’mon, you didn’t think that Villanelle and Eve would be able to get along in the long term, right? Imagine what domestic life would be like for these two. A former MI6 officer and an assassin who can’t give up the life (or the luxury trappings) are as ill-equipped for reality as Westley and Buttercup in The Princess Bride. Yet there’s no reason why they’ll be able to resist each other forever, but Eve is hellbent upon revenge this season while Villanelle desperately wants to prove that she’s not a “monster.” Good luck to both of them. Watch it on AMC Plus.
2. The Dropout (Hulu)
A podcast. A documentary. A book. And soon, a feature-length film. There’s a reason Hollywood can’t get enough of Elizabeth Holmes, the fraudster who scammed millions and left a black mark on Silicon Valley – one likely in the shape of a Steve Jobs-esque turtle neck. Con artists sell, especially when they’re young, white women promising inventions meant to save millions of lives, and Holmes’ story is bigger, ballsier, and more unbelievable than most. Hulu’s The Dropout does a good job of retracing the most important plot points: the creation of Theranos, the realization that Holmes’ at-home blood-testing concept wouldn’t work, the delusional sense of grandeur that pushed her to criminally defraud every from Bernie Madoff to Henry Kissinger and Walgreens, and the very public downfall that would follow. But what the show really excels at is digging under the skin of a megalomaniac in-training, tasking a top-of-her-game Amanda Seyfried with turning Holmes’ most incomprehensible actions into ones we can empathize with, balancing her hollow sense of ambition with the very real anxieties and societal pressures she faced as a 20-something woman trying to start her own company. The Dropout is a wild, bloody, drama-filled train that always feels like it’s teetering on the edge of the track … but that’s kind of what we want, right? Watch it on Hulu.
1. Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (HBO)
If you think about it, Winning Time (HBO’s new Adam McKay-produced series about the 1980s LA Lakers) has all the elements of a classic heist movie. Assembled by a larger than life fast talker with equally big ambitions (in this case, former Lakers owner Jerry Buss), a rag-tag group comes together, leaning on their exceptional and unique talents to paper over any personality conflicts that might arise while taking the thing (a whole mess of gold trophies) no one thought they’d ever get their hands on. This while having some wild misadventures along the way. We’re simplifying, of course, but the point is this should appeal to basketball fans and non-basketball fans alike, earning the right to be the most buzzed-about piece of basketball culture crossover content since The Last Dance helped us all stave off boredom for a few months by telling the story of another mismatched group of big personalities and champions. Watch it on HBO.