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. English Teacher (Hulu)
You might know Brian Jordan Alvarez from his videos on TikTok and Instagram as TJ Mack, the singer of earworm “Sitting.” He’s also the star and creator of English Teacher, about a teacher who “often finds himself at the intersection of the personal, professional, and political aspects of working at a high school. Evan wants to be a principled person but often runs into trouble because of it.” His first lesson to his students: sitting is the opposite of standing.
14. Slow Horses (Apple TV Plus)
There’s a few things you should know about Slow Horses:
1. As we previously wrote: “Each season is six episodes long and focuses on a distinct mystery or conspiracy and is full of little twists and turns and double-crosses. Sometimes there are stolen diamonds. Sometimes the slow horses will reveal themselves to be drug addicts or gambling addicts and it’ll muck everything up for a little. Sometimes you’ll be watching someone do something and assume they’re taking a brave and bold stance for righteousness and then realize they’ve been manipulated into accidentally doing the bidding of someone smarter and more conniving than they are.”
2. There is so much farting. Like, even more than you think.
3. You should watch this really good show.
13. I Saw the TV Glow (Max)
If you have an unhealthy relationship with television shows (if you’re reading this, you probably do), have I got a movie for you! Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow follows two outcasts played by Jaden Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine who bond over a shared affection for The Pink Opaque, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer-like series with a deep, very ’90s lore. It’s a wonderful film not only about nostalgia, but also gender dysphoria. There’s a killer soundtrack, too.
12. His Three Daughters (Netflix)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: more movies should star Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen. So thank god for His Three Daughters, which is about three estranged sisters (bet you can guess who they’re played by!) as they reunite to care for their ailing father. The single-setting drama is one of the best movies of the year, which, again, is what happens when you put Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, and Elizabeth Olsen in the same cast.
11. The Penguin (Max)
Colin Farrell’s scene-stealing performance in The Batman resulted in him being turned into a meme and, probably more impressively, getting a spin-off on Max. The Penguin explores Oswald Cobblepot’s (or as he’s called in the show, Oz Cobb’s) rise in the seedy Gotham underworld. The series, which also stars Cristin Milioti, Clancy Brown, and Theo Rossi, is getting comparisons to another crime drama in the HBO / Max family: The Sopranos. Not too shabby.
10. Inside Out 2 (Disney Plus)
There’s a good chance you’ve already seen Inside Out 2. It is the highest-grossing movie of 2024 after all. But now you can watch it again and again (especially if you have kids) on Disney Plus. The Pixar film brings back Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger from the original, and adds new emotions, including Maya Hawke as Anxiety and Ayo Edebiri as Envy. For more on the making of Inside Out 2, read our interview with director Kelsey Mann.
9. Will & Harper (Netflix)
After former SNL head writer Harper Steele came out as a trans woman, she and Will Ferrell went on a two-week road trip across America. Will & Harper follows their journey. “What if we went on a road trip together, giving her a chance to go into a cowboy bar or whatever places she misses, and I can be by her side and lend support as a friend?” Ferrell said about the origin of the documentary. “At the same time, it would give us a chance to reconnect and figure out what this transition means to our relationship.” If only all SNL cast members from the ‘90s were so open minded…
8. Wolfs (Apple TV Plus)
It’s crazy that we live in a time where a new movie starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt is somehow flying under the radar. But don’t miss Wolfs, which reunites the Ocean’s Eleven hunks for an action comedy in which they play professional fixers who are begrudgingly forced to work together. The film is directed by Jon Watts, who made the MCU’s Spider-Man trilogy. Coincidentally, Clooney is one of the few MCU mega-star holdouts (unlike Pitt in Deadpool 2, which kind of counts?).
7. Dan Da Dan (Netflix)
The acclaimed anime Dan Da Dan is about Momo, a high school girl from a family of spirit mediums, and her classmate / occult fanatic Okarun, who begin talking after she saves him from getting bullied. However, an argument ensues between them: Momo believes in ghosts but denies aliens, and Okarun believes in aliens but denies ghosts. It’s a real Mulder and Scully dynamic, if they were both Mulder. Dan Da Dan, which is getting a weekly release, comes from animation studio Science Saru, who also made last year’s shockingly good Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.
6. Nobody Wants This (Netflix)
One of the most talked-about shows at the moment is Nobody Wants This. It turns out, everybody wants to see Kristen Bell and Adam Brody in a romantic comedy, which is something I could have told Netflix without having to be paid an executive’s exorbitant salary. Nobody Wants This follows the unlikely relationship between a sex podcaster (Bell) and a hot rabbit (Brody). It’s very cute, and hopefully a sign that we’ll get more good rom-coms soon.
5. Didi (Peacock)
One of the year’s best coming-of-age movies is Didi. Written and directed by Sean Wang, the Sundance Film Festival winner is set in 2008 and centers on the titular 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy, played by Izaac Wang, as he navigates the horrors of being a teenager. If you were an adolescent during the AOL Instant Messenger days, this one will hit close to home.
4. The Platform 2 (Netflix)
Quarantine hit The Platform is an allegorical horror film about class struggle, where inmates in a “Vertical Self-Management Center” are fed using a platform that’s initially filled with food but as it descends, there’s fewer and fewer options for the lower levels. Those at the bottom are lucky to get anything at all. Following a prisoner rebellion (and some delicious looking panna cotta) in the original, The Platform 2 has a new leader imposing their rule in the Platform, while “a new resident becomes embroiled in the battle against this controversial method to fight the brutal feeding system,” according to the logline from Netflix. “But when eating from the wrong plate becomes a death sentence, how far would you be willing to go to save your life?”
3. Hold Your Breath (Hulu)
Hold Your Breath stars Sarah Paulson… don’t worry, this isn’t another Ryan Murphy project. Let’s start again: Hold Your Breath stars Sarah Paulson as a mother of two in the Dust Bowl-era 1930s who is convinced that a sinister presence is threatening her family. Paulson is predictably excellent, and the rest of the cast, including recent Emmy winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Annaleigh Ashford, isn’t too shabby, either. The film’s original title was Dust, but hopefully that’s being saved for a biopic about the Dust Brothers.
2. The Franchise (Max)
The Franchise is a long-overdue satire of superhero movies from creator Jon Brown and producers Armando Iannucci and Sam Mendes. It’s like The Boys, but less violent — although both shows do star Aya Cash. She’s joined by Himesh Patel, Jessica Hynes, Billy Magnussen, Lolly Adefope, Darren Goldstein, Isaac Powell, Daniel Brühl, and Richard E. Grant. The series makes fun of the chaotic world of superhero moviemaking and asks an important question: “How exactly does the cinematic sausage get made?” (With lots of greenscreen, that’s how.)
1. Salem’s Lot (Max)
Earlier this year, Stephen King had this to say about Salem’s Lot: “Between you and me, Twitter, I’ve seen the new SALEM’S LOT and it’s quite good. Old-school horror filmmaking: slow build, big payoff.” King doesn’t always have the best taste in adaptations of his work, but he makes a strong case here. 2024’s Salem’s Lot (the first feature-film adaptation of the author’s personal favorite novel, following two miniseries) stars Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Pilou Asbæk, Alfre Woodard, and William Sadler, and was written and directed by Annabelle and It writer Gary Dauberman.