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) For All Mankind (Apple TV Plus)
What we have here is an alternate history situation, one where the space race of the 1960s didn’t end, thanks in large part to Russia beating America to a handful of important achievements. The show is now in season three, so there’s plenty for you to dive into if you want, which you probably should, in part due to a bunch of space cowboys doing cool space cowboy things, and in part because all your television-obsessed friends won’t stop talking about it. Win-win. Watch it on Apple TV Plus.
10. (tie) Players (Paramount Plus)
Remember American Vandal? Man, it would be great if you did. That show was incredible, both in its zeitgeist-capturing first season and in its less-viral second season. Go back and watch both of them again some time. You deserve it. Or, maybe, watch Players, the new series from the American Vandal team that was scooped up by Paramount. This one focuses on gamers and gaming and esports and the teams and competitions that have turned into big-money enterprises. You deserve this, too. Watch it on Paramount Plus.
10. (tie)The Old Man (FX/Hulu)
The notorious Jeffs are getting it done, first with Jeff Daniels portraying a complicated lawman in Showtime’s American Rust and now with Jeff Bridges portraying an ex-CIA operative (Dan Chase, what a name) who’s forced into (wait for it) one last job in this adaptation of Thomas Perry’s bestselling thriller novel. John Lithgow plays the impetus, a government agent, who’s really pissing off Bridges’ character, and it’s on. All of Dan’s skills are back, so watch out, naysayers. Watch it on FX/Hulu.
9. Ms. Marvel (Disney Plus)
This show brings us the perfect actress, Iman Vallani, for the leading gig of portraying Kamala Khan. She takes us on a fun-filled revamp of her character’s comic character, and this show is a roaring ball of glee that will help to set up The Marvels, which will not only include Kamala and Carol but also Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Paris) from WandaVision. The MCU’s lightening up again, and we love to see it. Watch it on Disney Plus.
8. The Bear (Hulu)
Jeremy Allen White can’t leave Chicago, it seems. The Shameless actor’s now portraying a too-intense, former fine-dining chef who ends up back home and attempting to helm a sandwich shop for his family. There’s an emotional reason for this, and the actual realities of running this business turn into a cluster. In the midst of it all, there’s a sense of humanity in how this show portrays relationships, while White’s character (Carmy) transforms his own sense of self and learns to find a second family. Watch it on Hulu.
7. Loot (Apple TV Plus)
One of the biggest problems with television these days is that there are not enough shows that star Maya Rudolph. That’s why it is nice to have Loot, an Apple series that stars Rudolph as a billionaire who learns how the rest of the world lives. It’s a good start. Maya Rudolph is the best. Watch it on Apple TV Plus.
6. Peaky Blinders (Netflix)
By order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, we demand you watch the final season of Netflix’s historical crime drama. Why? Because Cillian Murphy has never been better. Because we’re building up to a second World War. Because there are Fascists with tiny mustaches and Prohibition’s over and familial blood feuds are wreaking havoc across two continents and gypsy curses are being broken and Tom Hardy is back (doing his unintelligible mumbling thing while writing an original opera) and … well, you get it right? Watch it on Netflix.
5. The Terminal List (Amazon Prime)
The cast on this one is impressive enough: Chris Pratt, Taylor Kitsch, Constance Wu, etc. Then you add in a big-time Amazon budget and an interesting premise like “an entire team of Navy SEALs gets ambushed and the lone survivor returns home to discover various dark/evil forces working against him,” and yeah, that’s at least enough to get people curious. There’s a lot going on out there and a lot of noise to cut through but this just might do it. Watch it on Amazon Prime.
4. Westworld (HBO Max)
The robots are back. Kind of. Maybe. HBO’s always mindbending Wild West robotic uprising show is back, once again, after a long break. You might want to dig back through previous seasons before diving in again, though. Or at least scan through some summaries. The show is a lot, for good and occasionally messy, but it always delivers on its promise of robot-human violence, which has to count for something. Watch it on HBO Max.
3. Umbrella Academy (Netflix)
It’s a sublime return for the misfit superhero family. As they are crushed to learn, the Sparrow Academy now aims to be front and center, and the O.G. Hargreeves siblings must adjust to this strange new timeline where their common Bad Dad Reginald’s other kiddos exist. Oh, and there’s another rift in the universe, which actually leads Elliot Page’s Viktor to unite with a character who acted fully like an enemy last season. Gerard Way’s comic book series keeps on giving good adaptation, and hopefully, there will be more dancing to go with yet another apocalypse. Watch it on Netflix.
2. The Boys (Amazon Prime)
Finally, The Boys. Are. Back. And so is Homelander, although he is most decidedly not okay after the events of the Season 2 finale, so plenty more increasingly sadistic behavior will soon arrive on that end. He’s got competition in the “hero of heroes” department, though, because Jensen Ackles climbs aboard as Soldier Boy (a profane Captain America knockoff), who’s definitely all up in the “Herogasm” episode, which you should sit down before watching. And expect the show to actually transcend those exploding heads, the whale collision, and Homelander’s self-pleasuring scene atop a skyscraper. In other words, clear you calendar for these weekly decadent delights. Watch it on Amazon Prime.
1. Stranger Things 4 (Netflix)
The second chunk of the fourth season of Stranger Things doesn’t have the same hefty episode count as the first but it is still, in a word, epic. And that’s not because of its cinematic runtimes. Well, not entirely. It is partially due to the cinematic runtimes. But all those minutes are packed with all of the 80s nostalgia, Dungeons and Dragons references, demonic possessions, prison breaks, rink parties, and secret government experiments you could ask for. Who knows what song from the 1980s it will rocket to the top of the charts next. But, no matter what takes place (or who doesn’t make it out alive?), the joy of this season is watching the rest of these weirdos and misfits band together to save each other … and themselves. Watch it on Netflix.