Every single 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) 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
10. Star Wars: The Acolyte (Disney+ series)
The Star Wars realm is kicking again after the season finale in a series that shakes up the universe with a procedural spin amid a crime spree that brings a dangerous warrior back from a Jedi Master’s past. Amandla Stenberg stars, along with (according to fans) the “hottest man alive” Manny Jacinto. Not every Star Wars fan has embraced the change that came with this series, but even more viewers have praised the departure from formula. This series co-stars Carrie-Anne Moss, Charlie Barnett, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, and Margarita Levieva.
9. Sausage Party: Foodtopia (Prime Video/Amazon series)
Seth Rogen is simply having a field day in this spin off that follows up on the absurdly popular 2016 R-rated animated movie full of filthy jokes that revolve around, well, a sausage named Frank. The lead character is now rallying a community full of fellow profane grocery items, and new actors including Sam Richardson and Will Forte have joined this sausage universe. Returning voices include Kristen Wiig, Edward Norton, Michael Cera, and David Krumholtz.
8. Lady In The Lake (Apple TV+ series)
Adaptations of best-selling books are having a bit of a streaming moment, and Apple TV+ has been seizing that opportunity with multiple series on this list. Here, Natalie Portman makes her TV debut to star alongside Moses Ingram in this modern noir story from Laura Lippmann’s same-named book about privileged 1960s housewife, Maddie, who flees her marriage and launches a new career as an investigative journalist who digs into the murder of Cleo Johnson. Look for a more surreal adaptation as opposed to the book’s narrative-hopping, just-the-facts perspectives with Apple TV+ billing the limited series “as a feverish noir thriller and an unexpected tale of the price women pay for their dreams.” Ouch.
7. The Bear (FX series streaming on Hulu)
Seemingly a zillion Emmy nominations poured out this week for the second season of this show, and this third season seemingly set out to make viewers hate Carmy, and mission accomplished? However, that conversation with Joel McHale’s Mean Chef might provide some closure for Jeremy Allen White’s character to start leaving his trauma behind. Jamie Lee Curtis’ Momma Berzatto was undoubtedly a source of that toxicity, too, and she received some redemption in “Ice Chips,” so here’s to Carmy cleaning up his emotional act without berating his fellow Chefs with so many non-negotiables in the process.
6. Sunny (Apple TV+ series)
Apple TV+ is quietly crushing the dramatic sci-fi realm, and Rashida Jones leads this project as an American ex-pat, Suzie, who finds herself alone in Japan when her family goes missing. As a result, a domestic robot enters her life, and this “relationship” begins to work out better than anticipated. Perhaps they will even solve a mystery together. Expect this season to keep you guessing the answers to that question, and you might want to also check out Rashida’s appearance in another Apple+ series, Silo because that Rebecca Ferguson-starring series will return in 2025 and is well worth binging.
5. Supacell (Netflix series)
Traditional superhero movies and TV shows are out of vogue for the moment, but clearly, audiences do retain an insatiable appetite for inventive stories about those who happen to have extraordinary powers. Such is the case with the South Londoner characters of Supacell, which follows ordinary-but-superpowered people while highlighting sickle cell disease and the social issues tied to its suffering. Rapman (whose real name happens to be Andrew Onwubolu) created the show, and fans await word of a second season.
4. Cobra Kai (Netflix series)
What Cobra Kai has pulled off is spectacular, and this final, super-sized season continues to crush the generation gap while keeping things real for the underdogs. This spin off has also accomplished what few TV shows or movies could have ever hoped for: successfully rebooting a 1980s property while appealing to Gen Z and the original The Karate Kid audience. This season, fans of Chozen and Tory will be happy to see deeper dives into their psyches, and Daniel and Johnny are still occasionally at each other’s throats while now training their joint dojo members to travel to the Sekai Taikai world championship and dominate outside of the Valley.
3. House of the Dragon (HBO series streaming on Max)
We are past the halfway point with mommy issues flying and the audience wondering how much more variants on the Targaryen-incest theme that they can stomach. From here, Aemond appears to be in charge of Team Green, but Team Black will soon ready its dragonseeds, and if they match up to the book before — and Game of Thrones prepared us for this — nearly every dragon faces death in Westeros.
2. Presumed Innocent (Apple TV+ series)
Jake Gyllenhaal is the new king of appearing in “one-off” or “limited” projects that suddenly receive a sequel due to their unrelenting watchability. So far, we don’t know if he will star in the recently announced second season of this series, but he will definitely be in the mix as an executive producer. Additionally, David E. Kelley will be back in the same role with his brand of addictive television, and there will be a lot more Gyllenhaal onscreen soon (more Roadhouse and sister Maggie’s The Bride!) no matter whether his prosecutor character, Rusty, ends up being convinced of murder or not.
1. The Boys (Prime Video/Amazon series)
The fourth season finale left conflicted power rankings in its wake, but most fans agreed that Kimiko deserves the world and not what she received in the final scenes of the episode. From here, the audience will be left to wonder whether Soldier Boy will truly make a comeback and what Sister Sage will cook up next. The second season of Gen V will also be onscreen next year, so plenty of Compound V-fueled shenanigans will materialize before you know it.