Multiple times per week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts and ratings) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.
TIE: 10. The Resort (Peacock series)
Vacation-based shows are all the rage for escapist purposes (because good luck in getting anywhere smoothly by air right about now), so if you loved White Lotus and thought that Nine Perfect Strangers was at least decent, then you’ll want to give a whirl or two to this show starring Cristin Milioti and William Jackson Harper. Palm Springs writer Andy Siara is doing showrunning duties, and the story follows an anniversary trip in Yucatan that transforms into an unsolved mystery, and hey, this is not only a multigenerational tale of mystery but also stars Nick Offerman and Skyler Gisondo.
TIE: 10. Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin (HBO Max)
The entertainment world can’t resist a reboot, and this followup follows a brand new set of liars that hail from the same universe as the O.G. show but also come from a new generation. There may or may not end up being some explicit connections to the original show, but the location definitely changes. Here, the drama goes down in Millwood (not Rosewood) following a massive tragedy from long ago. The central group of pals includes a horror movie buff (because obviously) as well as a virtual-reality obsessive, a track star, and a ballerina.
9. Rap Sh!t (HBO Max series)
The legendary Issa Rae’s in the executive producer seat with her followup to Insecure and all of its block party madness. This series showcases a female rap due that’s rising to the top, fast, after reuniting following a good run as childhood friends. There are side and main hustles and plenty of hustle at parties, but this show also focuses on how the behind-the-scenes madness is often more interesting than the public-facing glamour. It’s all about authenticity, and these ladies nail it.
8. Stranger Things (Netflix series)
Get ready for another long wait for the show’s final season, but even Metallica fans can’t resist this batch of episodes and get down with the Upside Down. Jamie Bower Campbell loved doing the villain thing, and he’s still wondering about that “Vecnussy” curiosity. Hopefully, the final season will arrive with plenty of death because Millie Bobbie Brown is correct: the ensemble cast is simply too damn big. Time to off some people!
7. The Boys (Amazon Prime series)
This season’s actually worth a few watches, especially with all of the “Herogasm” madness because I guarantee that you missed at least a few of the montages going on in the background. (Pour one out for poor Frenchie, who really wanted to be there.) This season somehow sets up Homelander as an even bigger bad than he already was. He’s got very little to lose from here on out, and he might even launch the apocalypse. Eric Kripke might also bring back Black Noir as another Black Noir, and before that happens, we’ll get to see the Gen V spinoff.
6. Only Murders In The Building (Hulu series)
Martin Short and Steve Martin are cool enough, but Selena Gomez is what makes this show as captivating as it really is. Yep, she got robbed for an Emmy, and “Bloody Mabel” might go down, and if you need a little more Selena, go check out Selena + Chef on HBO Max. And then come back and wonder if this show’s mysteries will ever really be solved, or if the central trio will keep on stumbling into scenarios that make themselves look like the guilty parties.
5. The Gray Man (Netflix film)
Geez, this movie has only been out for a week, and already, Ryan Gosling’s going to be leading some spinoff films. Chris Evans and Anna de Armas also star in this action-y spy flick because I guess we needed more movies that remind us of James Bond. Gosling is on a roll with the Barbie movie coming, but in this Netflix movie, he stars as a man of intrigue who’s dodging a merchant of death, and since the Russo brothers produce, you’re definitely in for a well-referenced ride with the story also being able to stand on its own two feet.
4. The Bear (FX series streaming on Hulu)
This breakout hit is a lean, mean, dramedic machine, and the first season was such a raging success that a followup’s already in the works. Will Carmy have sex, though? Somehow, that’s the overriding question for the future, and hopefully, we’ll receive more beautifully show kitchen aesthetics as well. Ayo Edebir and Ebon Moss-Bachrach turn out to be necessary ingredients in supporting Jeremy Allen White (getting the post-Shameless leading man turn that he deserved), and I can’t wait to see where all that tension goes in the future.
3. Harley Quinn (HBO Max series)
King Shark, King Shark, King Shark! Oh right, he’s back (the voice of Ron Funches, that is), and so is Kaley Cuoco’s title character with her lady love, Poison Ivy (Lake Bell). They’re on new adventures of DC villainy, but Ivy sure would like for Gotham to be a paradise akin to Gotham. The show also performed some enormous fan service already with the central couple, so surely, no one will mind the “Harlivy” moniker while all of the outrageous profanity and baseball-bound violence does down, too.
2. Paper Girls (Amazon Prime)
Yep, there’s some Stranger Things flavor here with some undertones of Yellowjackets and Dark. Gather around for another trip back to the 1980s, but don’t worry, this is no mere hit of nostalgia. Rather, the girls come into the future, as based upon the Brian K. Vaughan comic book. The girls get to meet up with the future and their future selves, and there’s a little bit too much time wizardry happening with sci-fi being secondary to the story at hand and the beautiful rendering of friendships and vivid inner lives of the four central protagonists.
1. Better Call Saul (AMC series streaming on AMC+)
Kim Wexler ain’t dead yet, and the good news is that we’re about to see some Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, finally, after a long and winding buildup to their promised visit on this spinoff. There aren’t too many dominoes left to fall here, apparently, but and the show’s already bid farewell to one villain who will be sorely missed. Yet we’re about to see this show’s timeline collide with that of Breaking Bad, and there are only three episodes left. If you had one wish left for this show, what would it be? I’m going with more Cinnabon.