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) Selena + Chef (HBO Max)
In addition to Selena Gomez being the most enjoyable part of Only Murders In The Building, she’s been quietly racking up delightful seasons of this cooking show. It’s a very simple concept: Selena is not a kitchen expert, but she really loves to cook, so she enlists actual chefs to make this happen. Cue the chaos of Selena attempting to blow out a fire with her mouth, and oh man, why haven’t you been watching this show? It’s very relaxing, other than the occasional infernos, and it gives us many more reasons to realize that she’s vastly underappreciated in Hollywood. Watch it on HBO Max.
10. (tie) The Resort (Peacock)
What if there was a show from the people who made Mr. Robot and Lodge 49 and it was set at a spooky tropical resort and it starred Cristin Milioti from Palm Springs and William Jackson Harper from The Good Place and the whole thing hinged on a mystery they uncovered because one of them crashed a four-wheeler in the jungle and discovered a mangled old Motorola Razr? Well, guess what: there is. Watch it on Peacock.
10. (tie) Reservation Dogs (FX/Hulu)
The first season of Reservation Dogs was a revelation. Just a group of foul-mouthed Native American teens living on a reservation in Oklahoma and getting into trouble and being little rascals. It was also, sometimes, sweet and, also sometimes, heavy, and sometimes there was a mystical figure who would show up and giggle a lot and kind of just screw with everyone for five minutes. It’s a hard show to describe. But it’s a heck of a ride. Watch it on Hulu.
9. The Sandman (Netflix)
Neil Gaiman’s seminal comic book series finally lands on the small screen (while the successful Audible epic keeps cranking with a different cast). The story picks up with Morpheus (the King of Dreams) angry as hell at those who imprisoned him. Tom Sturridge takes on the lead role and guides us through space and time on a cosmic trip. Let’s hope this show is worth the extensively long wait (the project has the unenviable task of piecing together a tapestry of sometimes free-standing stories), but no matter how it turns out, we’re getting Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer. That ain’t nothing. Watch it on Netflix.
8. Industry (HBO Max)
Popularly and positively referred to as Euphoria and Succession‘s love child, Industry returns for season two, focussing again on the realm of global finance through the lens of the 20-somethings who are consumed by it and the realities of survival and success in a world post panny where satisfaction seems like a hindrance. Watch it on HBO Max.
7. Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
This show, now in its second season, continues to be just a blast. As it should be. We’ve got Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez solving murders together in a fancy Manhattan building, complete with appearances from everyone from Tina Fey to Da’Vine Joy Randolph to Michael Rapaport. It’s fun and twisty and something people can watch across generations. There’s really not much more you can ask for out of a single television program. Go ahead. You deserve it. Watch it on Hulu.
6. Legacy: The True Story of the Los Angeles Lakers (Hulu)
There is something intrinsically compelling about the purple and gold with all of their wins, losses, tragedies, and spectacles. That’s why we’re talking, once again, about a project focused on the team and their rich and wild history, following the delicious dramatization of Winning Time and a docuseries focused on Magic Johnson’s life and times. Now we have Legacy: The True Story Of The LA Lakers, a Hulu-made 10-part docuseries from Training Day director Antoine Fuqua in his latest foray into documentary filmmaking and iconic athletes; a series with a story that spans more than 40 years encompassing the entire reign of the Buss family and mononymous legends like Kareem, Magic, Shaq, Kobe, and LeBron. Watch it on Hulu.
5. Harley Quinn (HBO Max)
The good news here is that Harley Quinn is back, finally, after a multi-year break due to, well, everything. The delightfully profane animated series remains one of our finest television programs, between Harley and Ivy being a couple now and chaos descending upon Gotham and this show’s version of Bane continuing to be a hopeless goofball. It really is a blast, a beam of sunshine in a world filled with bleak dramas. You deserve to have fun. Watch it on HBO Max.
4. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (Disney Plus)
Alison Brie didn’t get to portray this “Allison Brie type” role, but hey, we’re getting Orphan Black‘s Tatiana Maslany, who has so much fun relishing this role. She’s smart and silly and she Hulks out like a pro while also being the MCU’s very green attorney for superheroes. Expect a lot of cameos, and Mark Ruffalo is on hand as Bruce Banner. There’s no word on whether we’ll eventually see the Hulk Butt like we received in Thor: Ragnarok. Admit it, that’s on your wishlist, too. Watch it on Disney Plus.
3. The Rehearsal (HBO Max)
Nathan Fielder is back with another show that toes the line between awkward and brilliant. His first go-round was Nathan for You, the Comedy Central series where he “helped” people “fix” their businesses. Now he’s got this project, in which he “helps” people plan out conversations and various personal interactions in very, very deep detail. It’s a lot and it’s hard to explain on paper (please do imagine Nathan Fielder pitching this to a confused HBO executive), but it also sounds like a perfectly imagined Nathan Fielder show. Worth a shot. Watch it on HBO Max
2. What We Do in the Shadows (FX/Hulu)
The good news here is that the vampires are back. The bad is that… well, there’s not really any bad news. How could there be? This show remains relentlessly fun and silly in a way that almost feels like they’re getting away with something, like someone in charge stopped paying attention and they’re just running wild in their own little sandbox. This is, to be clear, a compliment of the highest order. One of our best shows is back and still humming along in peak form. This is worth celebrating. Watch it on FX/Hulu.
1. House of the Dragon (HBO Max)
On the surface, a prequel to a cultural phenomenon like Game Of Thrones seems like the easiest greenlight in the world. How could a sister project miss even with the mixed reception to the original’s finale? But House Of The Dragon is the second attempt (with one pilot failing to generate a series order) and it starts with one particular question hanging over its head: was it the world or the characters that inhabited it that made the original so widely adored? We’re about to find out as a new creative team tries to walk a line between old and new, creating fresh stories with a ring of familiarity. On their side: dragons, face-smashing combat, and Matt Smith’s good kinda bad energy. Watch it on HBO Max.