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) Reboot (Hulu)
A comedy all-star team of Judy Greer, Keegan Michael Key, Johnny Knoxville, Rachel Bloom, and Paul Reiser come together to gently mock the reboot gold rush and the entertainment industry, providing a Larry Sanders-y kind of inside baseball show that benefits from the presence of Modern Family co-creator Steven Levitan and Party Down mastermind John Enbom. Did we mention Judy Greer? The legend that is Judy Greer grows as she totally steals these early episodes as an actress turned duchess turned actress trying to stave off Hollywood irrelevancy, which is something that could never happen to the real Judy Greer because she is an American treasure. But acting! Watch it on Hulu.
10. (tie) Shantaram (Apple TV+)
Charlie Hunnam and Shubham Saraf told us how chaos fueled this odyssey, and they aren’t messing around. Hunnam, as well, is a world away from Sons of Anarchy‘s Charming, California setting here. He’s semi-similarly an outlaw, though, in this adaptation of Gregory David Roberts’ same-named book, which details the life of an Australian convict who flees from prison for a new life in India. This may or may not be a semi-autobiographical turn from Roberts himself, whose life experiences are incredibly similar. Hunnam’s character finds himself both enthralled and struggling to avoid the trouble that got him into prison in the first place. Then he meets an enigmatic woman, and life grows even more complicated. It happens! Watch it on Apple TV Plus.
9. Andor (Disney Plus)
George Lucas has frequently insisted that, like Wu-Tang Clan, Star Wars is for the children. But Andor sure looks like it’s geared more towards adults. The Rogue One prequel starring Diego Luna, reprising his role as Cassian Andor, is gritty, mature, and other words you use to describe movies and TV shows that aren’t messing around. And with this being the first Disney-era Star Wars show to be filmed in real-life locations, Andor isn’t messing around. Watch it on Disney Plus.
8. The Watcher (Netflix)
Fresh off his Dahmer success, Ryan Murphy is here to freak people out again with this true-crime miniseries about the Broaddus family, who thought they found the greatest home ever, but it’s haunted. Not literally, but it’s being stalked by somehow who actually calls himself “The Watcher” and claims a deep attachment to the home, and god, this sounds horrific. Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale portray the terrorized leads, but rest assured, some light moments will exist because Jennifer Coolidge portrays the house’s realtor. Sold! Watch it on Netflix.
7. Atlanta (FX/Hulu)
Atlanta is back — and back in Atlanta — for one last ride after a season-long jaunt to Europe. It’s kind of remarkable that this show has even existed. In a good way. It’s strange and silly, thoughtful and artistic, and not really like anything else out there. Donald Glover was a star before any of this got underway, but it’s made the rest of the main cast stars, too. That’s kind of cool. Get in there and appreciate this show while we still have it. You could be waiting a long time for anything even remotely similar. Watch it on FX/Hulu.
6. Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities (Netflix)
The horror maestro unleashes an anthology series full of sinister tales, helmed by seasoned directors including Jennifer Kent (The Babadook). Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke adapts a story from H.P. Lovecraft, and other directors include Ana Lily Amirpour, Panos Cosmatos, Guillermo Navarro, David Prior, Vincenzo Natali, and Keith Thomas. It’s a fitting way to wrap up the witching season, so make it last forever. Watch it on Netflix.
5. Blockbuster (Netflix)
The bitter irony of Netflix streaming a show about the long-fallen lords of home entertainment will definitely turn heads, but don’t let it distract. The former DVD and VHS haven is more an inconsequential setting, occasionally inspiring nostalgia for a pre-algorithmic world, but often no more vital to the story than the bar in Cheers. It’s less about the place than it is the people, a group of well-drawn characters struggling with economic uncertainty, gentle bickering, and the eye-roll-inducing but still sweet notion of co-workers as family. If you’re looking for a new Superstore (which was your new Parks And Rec which was your new Office), this might be it. Watch it on Netflix.
4. Interview With the Vampire (AMC Plus)
You’ve surely seen the 1990s movie starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Kirsten Dunst, and now, Anne Rice’s most popular gothic novel gets the small-screen adaptation. Great news: this version is better than the film for several reasons. Jacob Anderson of Game of Thrones gives us a very different Louis while Sam Reid swaggers about as Lestat de Lioncourt, and Claudia’s story gets expanded with Bailey Bass giving us a brazen and tragic performance and a secondary narrative framing device. The leading duo takes their sexual tension out of the closet, too, which adds a lot of layers (and fun) to this update. Watch it on AMC Plus.
3. Manifest (Netflix)
These new episodes are nonsensical as always for this sci-fi soap opera, so it remains to be seen whether this investment will pay off for Netflix after NBC dropped the show at the height of streaming glory. Cal suddenly being five years older doesn’t even scratch the top 10 of WTF moments for Flight 828 passengers, but here we are. All of the passengers remain confused as hell, and the voices and red herrings continue. Expect to see many more Death Date mentions and a total fiasco as showrunner Jeff Rake aims to bring this puppy in for a landing. Watch it on Netflix.
2. Abbott Elementary (Hulu)
The first season of Abbott Elementary was a feel-good network sitcom that caught a massive wave of popularity and won a bunch of Emmys in a time when feel-good network sitcoms are kind of not supposed to do that. Credit for this goes to creator and star Quinta Brunson, who realized that an underfunded inner-city public school was exactly the right place to show us people with good hearts working inside a system that can be cold. Kind of like Parks and Recreation but in Philadelphia. The second season is underway and does not appear to be missing a beat. This is basically a miracle, all around. Watch it on Hulu.
1. The White Lotus (HBO Max)
The first season of The White Lotus took the world and the internet by storm with its combination of misery and drama and beautiful Hawaiian scenery. Season two takes the action to a new resort in the White Lotus chain, this one in Italy, and replaces almost the entire cast. “Almost” being the key word here because Jennifer Coolidge is back as Tanya. Which is good. More shows should be about Jennifer Coolidge going to fancy hotels around the world. This is a nice start. Watch it on HBO Max.