Each week our staff of film and television 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.
15. Creature Commandos (Max)
If you enjoy the Harley Quinn show and/or James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, you’ll love Creature Commandos. The animated series tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters — including Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, and G.I. Robot — who are recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. “When all else fails… they’re your last, worst option,” the Max description reads. Every episode was written by Gunn, while the cast includes Indira Varma, Sean Gunn, Alan Tudyk, Zoë Chao, David Harbour, Maria Bakalova, Frank Grillo, and Viola Davis. It’s a fun introduction to the new DCU.
14. Black Doves (Netflix)
In Black Doves, the always wonderful Keira Knightley plays Helen, an undercover professional spy who has been passing on her politician husband’s secrets to the shadowy organisation she works for: the titular Black Doves. But when her secret lover Jason is assassinated, an old friend (Paddington’s Ben Whishaw!) is tasked with keeping her safe. Together, they set off on a mission to investigate who killed Jason, which, as often happens with these kinds of shows, leads them into a vast conspiracy. Pepe Silvia will be watching.
13. Carry-On (Netflix)
Carry-On makes a (mostly) single-setting thriller star out of the unsung heroes of the holiday season: TSA agents. Ethan (played by Taron Egerton) is tasked with outsmarting a mysterious traveler (Jason Bateman at his most menacing) who blackmails him into letting a dangerous package slip onto a Christmas Eve flight. Carry-On is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan, The Shallows, and Black Adam, but don’t hold that last one against him) with a script from Ratchet & Clank (!) writer TJ Fixman.
12. Conclave (Peacock)
Discover what all the fuss over the vaping cardinal is about. Directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front), Conclave is about the messy drama behind selecting a new pope. Per the official synopsis: “Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with running this covert process after the unexpected death of the beloved Pope. Once the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders have gathered from around the world and are locked together in the Vatican halls, Lawrence uncovers a trail of deep secrets left in the dead Pope’s wake, secrets which could shake the foundations of the Church.” Such drama queens.
11. Dexter: Original Sin (Paramount Plus)
The Dark Passenger-verse expands with Dexter: Original Sin, a prequel to the original series and Dexter: New Blood. This one is set in 1991 and follows Dexter Morgan (played by Patrick Gibson) as he transitions from student to serial killer with guidance from his father Harry (Christian Slater). Michael C. Hall will reprise his role, sort of, as the voice of young Dexter’s inner monologue. Will there be a treadmill? Find out!
10. Laid (Peacock)
Stephanie Hsu, who really should have won the Oscar over her Everything Everywhere All at Once co-star, is joined by Zosia Mamet in the new series Laid. The “f*cked up rom-com” is about a woman who finds out that her former lovers are dying in unusual ways, and must go back through her “sex timeline” to figure out what the heck is going on.
9. Juror #2 (Max)
Juror #2 received such a tiny theatrical release, we wrote an entire post about how to see it. It’s Clint Eastwood’s possibly final film for chrissakes! Thankfully, the film is now on Max, so more people can watch the throwback legal thriller starring Nicholas Hoult as a jury member going through a moral dilemma. It’s the most 1994 movie of 2024 (complimentary).
8. Squid Game (Netflix)
Netflix’s most-watched show ever is back. Squid Game season 2 sees the return of Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae), a.k.a. Player 456, who has only one goal: to end the horrifying competition for good. This time, Gi-hun finds himself “locked in a tense battle” with the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), as well as trying to survive against the other competitors. Squid Game is the rare water-cooler show in the “death of the monoculture” era. Keep up if you want to know what your co-workers are talking about.
7. Lockerbie: A Search for Truth (Peacock)
Colin Firth with white hair? Yes please. Lockerbie: A Search for Truth is inspired by the true story of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 259 passengers and crew and 11 more on the ground. It’s up to Dr. Jim Swire (Firth), whose daughter died in the incident, to find out exactly what happened.
6. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Netflix)
War is, generally speaking, bad… but I would not oppose a second Revolutionary War on the U.K. for getting Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl before the U.S. did. Just saying. Feathers McGraw returns in the new claymation masterpiece from Aardman. This time, the evil penguin aims to enact revenge on our cheese-loving heroes for getting him locked up in prison by reprogramming Wallace’s robotic garden gnome.
5. Mayfair Witches (AMC Plus)
Along with Interview with the Vampire, Mayfair Witches is part of Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe on AMC (which has seen a surge in popularity since the shows were added to Netflix). Season 2 of Mayfair continues the journey of Rowan Mayfair (played by Alexandra Daddario) after giving birth to the demon Lasher (Jack Huston). As per AMC: “She is determined to understand what he has become – human or monster? – and to use him to fulfill her purpose as a healer, but when tragedy strikes, she must put aside her own desires and fight to protect her family.” To paraphrase Elton John, the witch is back.
4. Asura (Netflix)
Written and directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters), Asura is a family drama set in 1979 about about four sisters — Tsunako (Rie Miyazawa), Makiko (Machiko Ono), Takiko (Yu Aoi), and Sakiko (Suzu Hirose) — who discover that their dad is having an affair. It’s being called 2025’s “first great new TV show.”
3. Black Box Diaries (Paramount Plus)
Black Box Diaries is one of 15 films to make the shortlist for Best Documentary Feature at the 2025 Oscars. It follows Japanese journalist Shiori Itō, who accused a prominent media executive of rape in 2017. She also published a memoir about the case, Black Box, which is “credited with sparking the #MeToo movement in Japan,” according to a synopsis. The documentary is told through video diaries (shot on Itō’s iPhone), audio recordings, and courtroom footage. Black Box Diaries is a tough but essential watch.
2. The Pitt (Max)
Noah Wyle? As a doctor? It’s crazy enough to work. This time, the ER star works in a hospital in Pittsburgh, and the show is “a realistic examination of the challenges facing healthcare workers in today’s America as seen through the lens of the frontline heroes.” The entire 15-episode first season takes place over the course of one 15-hour emergency room shift, not unlike 24.
1. American Primeval (Netflix)
For a while there, Taylor Kitsch was everywhere. He went from playing hunk with a heart of gold Tim Riggins on Friday Night Lights to starring in two big-budget films, John Carter and Battleship, as well as a prominent role in Oliver Stone’s Savages, all released in 2012. But when all three films underperformed and/or were met with scorn from critics (justice for John Carter!), Kitsch stopped being The Next Best Thing. But now he’s back with his biggest part in years: American Primeval, a gritty, gloomy limited series set in the American frontier during the 1800s. The cast also includes the great Betty Gilpin, Kim Coates, and character actor favorite Shea Whigham.