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.
10. Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney Plus)
The animated series that focuses on a crew of mutated clone troopers doing missions after the events of the Clone Wars returns for a second season. If you need your Star Wars fix before The Mandolorian returns or just want to see a cartoon about mercenaries, this might be just the thing for you.
9. 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.
8. Gunther’s Millions (Netflix)
You gotta respect a good tagline, and Netflix heralding the launch of Gunther’s Millions with the question, “How is the world’s richest dog connected to a sex cult?” is an example of a GREAT one. Do we want to know the answer to that question? No, we really don’t, but there are a lot of other questions we hope we get answers to across this four-part docuseries.
How did Gunther get his money (and can we follow the same path)? Is there some kind of Forbes list of the world’s richest dogs that we can read with a mix of awe and jealousy? Is Gunther a very good boy who deserves some scratchies? And the question posed by the man with the meticulously shaped facial hair in the trailer: did Gunther know he was a billionaire? We hope he does, but we also hope he isn’t a jerk about it
7. Dear Edward (Apple TV)
Dear Edward gets the old gang back together, or at least part of the gang, by which we mean “Connie Britton and Friday Night Lights creator Jason Katims.” That’s a solid start. The story follows, you guessed it, a boy named Edward, who is the only survivor of a passenger plane crash that also took his family. Little Edward and others affected by the crash then go about trying to piece together a life in the wake of tragedy, with all that entails. It’s heavy, and deep in parts, but… there are worse people to have around after a devastating and life-altering event than Connie Britton. Take the good with the bad, you know?
6. Cunk on Earth (Netflix)
Philomena Cunk first appeared as a character in Charlie Brooker’s little universe of shows, making her mark as an “expert” and “investigative reporter” who knew very little about anything but was very confident about all of it anyway. Here, she gets her own playground to go wild, with a full season to examine the history of the world. It’s a ton of fun, part Nathan for You, part Daily Show reports from the field, but still entirely original. And really, really funny. This is a good one to sit down with for a few hours with your brain turned down to a low hum. Let Philomena Cunk teach you nothing of value for a little bit. You deserve this break.
5. That ’90s Show (Netflix)
Red and Kitty are back, along with some of the other regulars from That ’70s Show, in a new series that zips 20 years into the future and over to Netflix. There’s a grandkid involved now. Everything is very… what’s a good ’90s word to describe it all… tubular? Rad? It’s strange. But it could be a lot of fun. If nothing else it’s a double dose of nostalgia — a show from the ’90s that now takes place in the ’90s — for people on the hunt for that. Worth a shot.
4. The 1619 Project (Hulu)
This series, hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones, takes the ball the New York Times starting rolling with its groundbreaking series on slavery in America and picks it up and keeps going. Each episode of the limited series is adapted from one of the essays, and attempts to present a view of America filtered through the lenses of race and contributions made by Black Americans. It’s not a light watch, but it is riveting and important. You need those too, sometimes.
3. Shrinking (Apple TV Plus)
The mental health and comedy crossover of Ted Lasso was apparent in the show’s second season as Ted’s coping mechanisms started to falter, pushing him to get some help. Shrinking, which comes from the minds of Lasso producer Bill Lawrence and Lasso writer/co-star Brett Goldstein (as well as series star Jason Segel) begins in a similar place with its main character, played by Segel, realizing that his strategies aren’t working when it comes to managing grief, having a relationship with his daughter, and helping the patients who come to him for help as their therapist. What follows is an odyssey of personal rediscovery with plenty of awkward moments, incremental improvements, and a whole lot of charming grouchiness from Harrison Ford as a begrudging mentor type.
2. The Last of Us (HBO Max)
One of the most popular video games of all-time comes to HBO as a television series, with Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal leading the cast on a post-apocalyptic trek through a harsh landscape filled with horrors. The reviews are really good. HBO gave it the primo Sunday night slot it reserved for shows like Game of Thrones and Succession. It’s led by Craig Mazin, who also produced Chernobyl, another gripping watch about the potential end of the world. There is a lot to be excited about here. Dive in so you know what your cool friends are talking about.
1. Poker Face (Peacock)
Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne have combined their powers to give us a gift that keeps on giving with a case-of-the-week style detective show featuring a hyper-observant and very idiosyncratic lead. Played by Lyonne, Charlie Cale just happens to be on the lam and on a roll when it comes to stumbling into other people’s very bad days. Part Columbo with dashes of Highway To Heaven and Psych, Poker Face is a true slice of comfort food, smart, funny, and distinctive.