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) Outer Range (Amazon Prime)
It’s a shame Amazon Prime’s latest original series hasn’t broken through on our timelines because it’s one hell of a ride. Think The Twilight Zone meets Yellowstone, and you’ll be close. With a stacked cast that includes Josh Brolin, Imogen Poots, Noah Reid, and Will Patton, plus a batch of converging storylines about rival ranches, feuding families, and time-traveling wormholes that may or may not be the work of extra-terrestrials, it’s the kind of show that could become your next appointment watch. Watch it on Amazon Prime.
10. (tie) 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.
9. Moon Knight (Disney Plus)
Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke are in the MCU now, but don’t expect either of them to be the typical Marvel superhero or villain. This show is sheer chaos (and joyous to behold) with Isaac’s character plagued with dissociative identity disorder and tormented with mockery by an Egyptian god. He’s a gift-shop employee, a mercenary, and a hero? Sure. Hawke plays a David Koresh-esque cult leader. Hold on tight. Watch it on Disney Plus.
8. Mayans M.C. (Hulu)
The biker soap-opera adventure continues, and man, will these clubs ever learn to stay in their own lane? Silly rabbit, that would be no fun. This season continues the all-out war of last year with the franchise’s customary “blowback” on display from all angles. Yet the Santo Padre guys are making the grave error of trying to get back into the drug trade, which means they’re working ass-backward. And in the Sons of Anarchy universe, there can never be only one King, so good luck to all involved here while skewering that American Dream. Watch it on Hulu.
7. They Call Me Magic (Apple TV Plus)
Despite the swirl of bitterness from some who feel not super about their portrayal in HBO’s Winning Time dramatization of the ’80s Showtime LA Lakers, it’s a great time to be a fan of old school basketball and the glamour of the time, indulging in the aforementioned series and looking forward to additional projects that are coming from a more officially blessed place. That includes an upcoming docuseries on the Lakers, but Apple TV+’s brand new four-parter trains its eye specifically on the life of Showtime’s brightest star, Magic Johnson, offering the chance to get more insight into the remarkable life of a man that helped establish the NBA as an icon factory before branching out to help set the blueprint for post-career moguldom. Watch it on Apple TV Plus.
6. Roar (Apple TV+)
Roar is a feminist manifesto written by someone on shrooms. No, really. It’s a magical mystery tour filled with ruminations on race, internalized misogyny, feminine guilt, and whose stories are worth being told – wrapped up in surrealist storylines and Wes Anderson-esque cinematography. It’s absolutely unlike anything you’re watching on TV right now, and that’s without mentioning Merritt Wever’s sex scene with a duck or the montage of Nicole Kidman chowing down on old photographs like they’re a five-course meal. Do yourself a favor and bask in its weird-as-hell vibes. Watch it on Apple TV Plus.
5. Russian Doll (Netflix)
With a release date of 4/20, this show got trippier and swaggier after a close to perfect first season presented quite a dilemma, which was how to follow up the debut while believably upping Nadia and Charlie’s existential journeys. The time loop has now given way to time travel, and Natasha’s sense of physical comedy, never fails to command the screen while diving deep into the trauma of generations past. It sounds stressful, but the show never forgets to entertain. Watch it on Netflix.
4. The Flight Attendant (HBO Max)
The first season of The Flight Attendant was a blast, just fizzy chaos and murder from the opening scene to the very end, with Kaley Cuoco carrying the action as a party girl airline employee who finds herself wrapped up in about eight layers of international flim-flammery. It’s back for a second season, thank God, with her character, Cassie, now assisting the CIA. That probably sounds like an insane twist to you if you didn’t watch the first season. And it is. But more importantly… why haven’t you watched the first season yet. Good Lord. Get in there. You deserve a good time. Watch it on HBO Max.
3. Barry (HBO Max)
It should not be possible to enjoy watching a sweet man like Bill Hader destroy his life and the lives of those around him, and yet, here we all are, ready for season three of Barry, one of the best shows on television. It’s a dilemma, honestly. Not as much of a dilemma as, say, being a hitman who stumbles into an acting career and has to occasionally kill more people to prevent other people from learning that he has a history of killing people, but still. There’s an embarassment of riches at play here. Find another show that features Henry Winkler and Stephen Root and D’Arcy Carden where none of them are the funniest character, somehow, against incredible odds. This is the power of NoHo Hank. You either know what that sentence means or you desperately need to binge Barry as soon as possible. Watch it on HBO Max.
2. Atlanta (FX/Hulu)
Well, guess what: Atlanta is back, four years since its second season and just as ready and willing to throw you for a loop. Earn and Paper Boi and Darius are still off in Europe on that tour they were en route to way back then, but there are detours and flights of fancy and all the other weird, stunning, inventive stuff that made (and makes) this one of our greatest shows. Donald Glover and this crew are pretty good at this stuff. It’s great to have them back. Watch it on Hulu.
1. Better Call Saul (Netflix, AMC)
Better Call Saul is back, soon, finally, after an extended layoff. It remains one of our greatest shows, a ball of tension and comedy, the former of which is amped up even more as it heads into its final season. What will happen to Kim? What will happen to Nacho and Lalo? The Breaking Bad timeline is rapidly approaching and it’s time to answer these questions once and for all. It’s okay to be nervous. We’re nervous, too. Take some time for a quick Season 5 rewatch on Netflix and then strap in for the new episodes on AMC Plus