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Over the holidays, a new 4K disc of Planes, Trains and Automobiles was released. The disc got mixed reviews on the basis of picture quality – the biggest complaint seems to be too much digital noise reduction, which takes away the grainy, film-like look a lot of people like; also, strangely, the audio track has the two rear speakers switched – but the real draw to this disc is the discovery of around 70 minutes of deleted scenes that were thought lost.

There have long been rumors of a longer version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. There just had to be based on the fact that, clocking in at 92 minutes, it’s a very short movie. That’s in the length of, “hey, what went wrong here?” Yet there was really no evidence of this longer version other than some peculiar character traits we’ll get into in a bit that kind of, sort of don’t make total sense. Having now watched the deleted scenes, it’s kind of a revelation on how much these change the story of Planes Trains and Automobiles. It becomes not just a story about Neil (Steve Martin) trying to get home to his family, who got stuck with an often annoying companion, Del (John Candy) … but it changes the whole dynamic into a movie about Neil’s wife assuming Del is a woman and her plotting to leave him for having an affair. The ending of Planes, Trains and Automobiles is one of the most beloved endings of any holiday movie, but with the deleted scenes it becomes something else entirely.

But before we get to that, most of the deleted scenes are just extended scenes of John Candy riffing, seemingly just trying to make Steve Martin break character, though he never does in any of the stuff we see. These don’t really change the dynamic of the movie much except make Del a little bit more annoying. My favorite of these, which I wish were in the final movie, is Neil and Del on the plane as Del tells Neil all about the shower curtain business. The best exchange is when Del is telling Neil about the time he landed the U.S. Navy contract and asks Neil to guess how many shower curtain rings Del sold to the Navy. Neil wants no part of this but, finally broken, guesses, “a thousand?” Del fires back, “Try 83 million.” Which is such a ridiculous number you can physically see Steve Martin using all his willpower not to laugh. (What are there, 10 shower curtain rings on each shower curtain? The thought of the U.S. Navy having 8.3 million showers that need curtains is really funny.)

Also of note, there’s a cut scene in the Wichita motel of Del stiffing the pizza delivery guy on a tip (using Neil’s money), who winds up being the thief who comes back and steals their money in the middle of the night. So this wasn’t initially intended to be a random crime, this was supposed to be revenge for Del being cheap. I say “of note” because it’s certainly interesting, but doesn’t change the entire movie except for painting Del in a bit of a bad light.

But there is an excised plot point that does change the whole movie. And that’s Neil’s wife, Susan (Laila Robins), believing Neil is having an affair with a woman named Del. In fact, there’s an entire cut scene between Susan and her mother where she lays all of this out and goes as far to say she’s leaving Neil. She is not buying Neil’s story that Del is just some “random annoying guy” he’s spending all his time with. Though it’s not clear if Neil realizes how serious the situation is with his wife. This is why Neil doesn’t simply put Del on the phone to clear all of this up. Like a good Midwesterner (I speak from experience), Susan Page just passive-aggressively makes a couple offhand comments to Neil about the situation, then bottles up all her anger inside so it can finally come out in one grand overreaction.

So here is how all this drastically changes the ending of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. And I find this truly fascinating. When Neil is on the L and it starts to hit him that Del doesn’t have anywhere to go, Neil doesn’t realize there’s an ambush waiting for him at home. Susan has literally told her mother she’s leaving Neil. So if Neil shows up at home by himself, all he has is his stories about Del, but no physical proof. But Neil doesn’t know this ambush is waiting for him. So when Neil goes back and invites Del to Thanksgiving dinner, a true act of unselfish kindness, Neil is, unknowingly, also saving his own marriage. So that’s why the end scene plays out a little fraught. And that’s why Susan introducing herself to Del is played so dramatically. In that instance she realizes Neil has been telling the truth about Del and Del isn’t a woman Neil has been having an affair with.

So the way it plays out in the actual film, Neil displays an act of kindness and Del benefits. In the original imagining, Neil’s act of kindness winds up saving his marriage. Neil and Del didn’t even exchange numbers when they parted ways. If Neil didn’t go back, Neil has no way of finding Del to vouch for his story. If Neil isn’t kind to Del at the end, Susan is going to either file for divorce or, at the very least, be skeptical of Neil for the rest of their lives. And look, the way the movie wound up coming out is the better ending. It’s nice that Neil just does a kind thing for no benefit. And again, in the cut version Neil thinks he’s doing a kind thing for no benefit, but the reality is he is befitting and that would take away a little bit from how nice that ending scene winds up being. But, again, it’s fascinating to now know for sure that that ending at one point did exist.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

It’s a new year, and that means there is a whole new roster of movies to look forward to over the next 12 months, though we all know which movie everyone is most excited about: Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.

But the Dune sequel comes in at a close second! Maybe you thought that the upcoming sequel had finished adding everyone under the sun to the cast, but you would be wrong. Despite the fact that the movie was allegedly done filming, one player entered the project way late in the game. They save the best for last though!

Tim Blake Nelson has joined the already stacked cast of Dune: Part Two which is set to be released in theaters on November 3rd, 2023. Nelson will be joining the rest of the star-studded cast in the sci-fi epic, including Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, Charlotte Rampling, and Javier Bardem.

Last year, it was revealed that newcomers Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Léa Seydoux, and Christopher Walken would also be added to the growing franchise, which is based on Frank Herbert’s legendary novel of the same name which follows a young man named Paul (Chalamet) who is fighting to protect his people while dodging giant sand worms.

Nelson recently finished up a series of collaborations with director Guillermo del Torro which included an episode Cabinet of Curiosities, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, and Nightmare Alley. Maybe he will be Denis Villeneuve’s next muse?

(Via Deadline)

On Thursday, Matt Gaetz proudly nominated Donald Trump for Speaker of the House — an announcement that was met with the pathetic sound of one person clapping (Lauren Boebert, who didn’t even vote with Gaetz). He stuck with the 45th president as his choice in the next voting go-around, despite the fact that Trump himself has publicly stated that he supports Kevin McCarthy. Then he moved on to nominating Ted Bundy or something.

But just hours later, while speaking with Laura Ingraham, the Fox News host questioned the seeming disconnect between why Gaetz would nominate Trump when the former president is urging his fellow Republicans to vote McCarthy in and get it over with already.

“I love President Trump,” the longtime sycophant responded. “I defended him a great deal in Congress, but HR wasn’t always his strong suit.” Which sounds like just the kind of guy you’d want heading up the House of Representatives.

As Gaetz continued, he claimed that Trump is just plain wrong for urging people to support McCarthy’s bid for SOTH:

Donald Trump got us folks like Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr and Jim Mattis and Mark Esper — people who didn’t always advance America First policies. So while I think Trump has the vision… I think President Trump is wrong to the extent that he supports Kevin McCarthy.

I’m going to support President Trump if he, or when he, uhh, runs for re-election in 2024. But I’m not going to back him on this play.

So far, Trump’s only response to Gaetz was a poorly Photoshopped image of what he might look like as Speaker, which he posted to TRUTH Social. The former POTUS will no doubt have a response to that knock on his HR skills.

You can watch Gaetz’s full interview with Ingraham below:

Abraham Mateo is stepping into the new year with new music. Yesterday (January 5), the Spanish pop star released the heart-wrenching music video for his single “La Idea.”

Mateo wrote and co-produced “La Idea” with David Cuello. He also had a hand in the sound engineering, vocals production, keyboards, and programming behind the song. Mateo seemingly takes cues from The Weeknd and Ed Sheeran with the breakup banger’s synth-pop edge. In the dazzling track, he sings about his feelings that linger for an ex-lover and the difficulty of moving on. Mateo continues to position himself as one of Spain’s rising artists to watching out for with this rollicking emotional rollercoaster.

“The concept behind ‘La Idea’ is to continue experimenting with this new ’80s sound, with a lot of feeling as I always put in my songs,” Abraham said in a statement. “Every single beat of this song is tattooed in my own flesh, and that’s why I connect with it so much. I hope you like it because that’s the idea.”

The “La Idea” video was directed by Nacho López and Eduardo Montes. In the nostalgic video, Mateo does his best to win back the one that got away. Over the past few years, he has collaborated with global acts like Jennifer Lopez, CNCO, 50 Cent, and Austin Mahone. Watch the video above.

Welcome to 2023 in gaming! After two years of delays, largely due to the world-changing year 2020, we will finally see hundreds of hours of work from developers come to fruition. 2023 is going to be, in a lot of ways, a fresh start for many within the gaming industry. Everyone is a little tired of the phrase “a return to normalcy” but it’s going to feel that way. Whatever normal is in this always-changing landscape is of course.

So, this year is going to be awesome. There is going to be a ridiculous amount of games that come out this year, too many for the average person to play, and that’s great for everyone. The sheer amount of options and genres out there means nobody is going to be left unfulfilled, and we don’t even know what surprise game is going to come out yet and blow our minds away. Here are the exciting titles we do know about, broken out by their (current) anticipated release months with a few epic trailers thrown in for good measure.

January

Fire Emblem Engage – Nintendo Switch

January is starting off strong with a new Fire Emblem title. This tactical RPG has gained popularity in the West over the last decade and has gone from a niche franchise to a major staple of Nintendo’s release calendar. Its latest title, Engage, appears to be doing something a little different though as it pulls from the long history of the franchise to bring back fan favorites like Marth. There isn’t really a true gateway game into the franchise, but if you’ve never played a Fire Emblem before then maybe this is the one that you can finally try.

Dead Space – PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Horror fans have been asking for a return to the Dead Space franchise for quite some time now. So long that many other games began emulating the mechanics that made Dead Space so unique such as attacking specific limbs, and a few games like Callisto Protocol ended up copying its premise entirely. In 2023, though, we’re finally going to get the chance to experience Dead Space all over again. It’s a remake, so it’s still the same game that we played all those years ago, but now we get to experience it on modern hardware with modern graphics.

There isn’t much to say here about Dead Space that hasn’t been said already, but maybe if this iteration does well enough we will get the chance to experience a new game. Dead Space 3 left a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouths, and while there may be no recovery from that, who says you can’t continue to make similar games in this same universe? There’s a lot of potential to do something creative with this universe and its mechanics, but how much EA wants to with Dead Space will likely depend on how the remake does.

March

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor – PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Ever since watching the credits of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order there has been an overwhelming desire to see what’s next. It’s not that the Fallen Order wasn’t good, but it was very clearly the first game of a series with room to grow. Finally, with the announcement of Star Wars Jed: Survivor in March we will get to see the next step in the series.

What the first game did really well is find a good mix of souls-like inspired combat with explorative aspects taken from, what felt like, Uncharted. The plot itself was also a fun look at what happens in the space between the prequel trilogy and the original trinity, and at the time that was still pretty novel before many of the Star Wars TV shows started doing the same. Hopefully, this game can take the next step that many fans want it to while continuing to expand on the plot elements laid out in the first.

Resident Evil 4 Remake – PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Another beloved horror remake! When the first few Resident Evil games got remakes it made a lot of sense because all of those games had become dated over time, but the reason they had become dated was because of the revolutionary changes to the franchise that were made in Resident Evil 4. When it was announced that Resident Evil 4 was also receiving a remake the decision felt a little odd. Reports that the remake is supposed to be even scarier and include some originally cut content, however, have caused anticipation to mount.

Resident Evil 4 is among the best horror games ever made. Everything about it at the time was revolutionary for a genre it had already revolutionized once before. While this remake probably isn’t going to change video games forever, it is going to very likely become the definitive version of an all-time classic.

May

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo Switch

How does Nintendo plan to follow up on one of the best-made and most beloved Zelda games ever? That’s the main question with Tears of the Kingdom. What made Breath of the Wild so great was how revolutionary it was to the Zelda formula. Its openness, freedom, and exploration made it a breath of fresh air in a franchise that for some had grown a little tired of the formula established by Ocarina of Time all those years ago. For others, it was a jarring and unwelcome change from what had always been enjoyable.

The game is being advertised as a direct follow-up to Breath of the Wild so we can expect more of the same, for better or for worse depending on what your preferred Zelda is. But while hopes of a return to the traditional formula don’t seem likely there are definitely ways the game can improve.

June

Street Fighter 6 – PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Summer is no longer the dead period for games. June is packed with titles, including Street Fighter 6. The latest game in Capcom’s fighting game franchise is taking on a new look and direction in a way that shows promise. Players have already gotten their hands on it through an open beta and it sure seems like this is going to capture people in a way that Street Fighter V never seemed able to. At this point, everyone knows they’re going to like it, they’re just waiting for permission to play it.

Diablo IV – PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC

When Diablo IV comes out it will have been 11 years since Diablo III was released in 2012. That lengthy wait has caused fans to eagerly anticipate a new entry into the franchise that, for many, defines what a dungeon crawler is supposed to be. It will be interesting to see how the developers of Diablo IV have planned to modernize it amidst the flurry of other dungeon crawlers, many of them rogue-likes, that have come out over the years. None of them did it quite the same as Diablo does, but that need to stay relevant in the always-changing gaming landscape is vital to making this game feel fresh and new.

Final Fantasy XVI – PlayStation 5, PC

It has been a long time since Final Fantasy fully embraced the fantasy aspect of its origins. It’s never been a stranger to embracing sci-fi, but over the last couple of titles, it has been more focused than ever before on its sci-fi inspirations. So when trailers started dropping for Final Fantasy XVI showing castles and knights’ armor it started to feel like this was going to be something of a return to form for the long-running franchise. However, while the franchise embraces fantasy it’s still keeping its new action combat in favor of the turn-based RPG combat it became known for. An interesting choice and one we’ll need to keep an eye on as we get closer to the release date.

No Date Set

Assassin’s Creed Mirage PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Speaking of returning to form, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is making the surprising decision to move away from the Action RPG formula that served the franchise so well over the last few games, choosing to reset the series instead. While not going entirely back to its roots, this new game is going to focus on stealth and linear story progression like previous games. Will that surprising bit of familiarity feel like a win, or like the series is regressing? We’ll have to see how this pans out once the game receives a release date.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – PlayStation 5

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has the potential to be amazing. Not only is it following up two of the best-told and most detailed superhero video games ever made, but with the introduction of Miles Morales there is a chance to do some extremely creative storytelling between both Peter Parker and Miles in the game’s main plot. It would be really fun if we could swap between both, or have two different campaigns – the possibilities really are endless.

There are also going to be some plot threads in this game that carry over from the first game. Those of us who really dug into the entirety of Insomniac’s Manhattan found secrets that we want answers to. Hopefully, this story delivers on those.

Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch

The people who play Pikmin always come away loving it. Something of a cross between RTS and puzzle games, there’s a good mix of cute and stressful that each game employs masterfully. It’s great to know there’s another one of these coming out this year and that Pikmin is growing into a consistent name for Nintendo.

Starfield – Xbox Series X/S, PC

Easily the biggest name to get delayed in 2023, Starfield is the next game from Bethesda and has been in the works for what feels like an eternity. This is going to be a new direction for the Elder Scrolls and Fallout developers because it’s fresh IP on a new engine.

Starfield on its own feels interesting, but a lot of Bethesda’s reputation as a blockbuster developer is all tied up in the performance of this title. Fans are tired of the glitches, and with how long Starfield has been getting worked on there has been plenty of time to make this near-perfect. Expectations like this can be scary for any developer. We’ll just have to see how it shakes out whenever it finally launches sometime in 2023.

Marjorie Taylor Greene may very well have been one of the architects of the January 6th insurrection, but Ali Alexander — a notorious far-right activist and key organizer of the Stop the Steal rally — has officially turned his back on the Georgia congresswoman and hater of sleeves.

Alexander’s anti-Marge crusade all seems to have started when Greene dared to actually disagree with her longtime contrarian cohorts Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert and declare that she would support Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House. When that political divide led to some minor histrionics and name-calling, Alexander was NOT OK with that, and referred to Greene as “a trailer park hoodrat.” Now, Raw Story reports that Alexander is taking his anti-MTG hate to the next level.

As House Republicans continue their circle-jerk process of nominating a speaker, Greene (kind of amazingly) has not wavered in her support of McCarthy (most likely because he’s actually promised to give her something to do). So Alexander is now claiming that he’s got some dirt on Marge, and he’s not afraid to use it. According to Raw Story, here’s what Alexander had to say:

I will not suffer this harlot. I will not be taught vows and loyalty, commitment from a whore! You have got me mistaken for some damn fool, and a fool, Ali Alexander has never been called.

In the coming days I’m going to reveal that Marjorie Taylor Greene, in my summation and the summation of lawyers, committed a crime. That crime is going to be handed to the state of Georgia, and the state of Georgia will decide whether they adjudicate that crime or not. The House Ethics Committee and House Rules [Committee] must expel Marjorie Taylor Greene when this evidence comes to light.

While it’s likely that Alexander has been called a “fool” and much worse many times, his threat is kind of poetic. And he didn’t even end it there:

Ho, go home! I am done with you. You are lukewarm, I am spitting you out of my mouth. You played me, and no more. Everyone will know about your drunken night, because the consultants who have drunk with you will have to choose whether they fear me or whether they fear you, and they fear me, Marge. They fear me a lot more than they fear you.

This is one more political quagmire we’re ready to witness multiple rounds of.

(Via Raw Story)

At every kickback, I always run into this one friend who’s become the official mascot of San Diego. The food is amazing! The clubs are popping! It’s super affordable! The beach is right there! And when the Padres conquered my Dodgers a few months ago, I woke up to a text message novella on how this was a sign to move to “SD.”

It’s true there’s a ton going on in San Diego. Over the New Years’ weekend, thousands of lively festival lovers congregated on the grass of a sold-out Petco Park (The Padres’ home stadium) to end 2022 in style. Across three stages, the largest-ever edition of CRRSD took the city by storm for a two-day NYE and NYD event. And wow, it looked like an amazing time.

Featuring scintillating sets by Tech x House virtuosos Azzecca, Chris Lake, Dombresky, Jamie Jone, Mary Droppinz, Eli Brown, and many more, music lovers were truly spoiled. VIP access offered after-hour events, bars, great food, and mingling with interesting personnel. However, right smack in the heart of Downtown, there were countless clubs and after-hour events to seamlessly migrate towards for everyone wanting their own VIP experience.

Fingers crossed I won’t be caving into my friend’s San Diego seduction any time soon, but after looking at these photos, I’ll definitely make a visit.

NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service only launched a few years ago with The Office being the obvious flagship series, but the situation has changed a lot. Much like Netflix is becoming a stand-up comedy standout, no streaming service is currently better at serving up classic TV series with fresh additions.

Here are the best shows you can watch on Peacock now.

1. SNL

Year: 1975-Present
Cast: Various
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 48 seasons
Created by: Lorne Michaels
Trailer: Watch here

Saturday Night Live is four decades into its run for a reason: the sketch comedy follows a classic formula that is uninterrupted by a rapidly changing world. While everyone has their favorite era of SNL (it usually depends on when you grew up) and it can be hit or miss, it’s reliable entertainment that introduced the entertainment business and the world to some of the greatest comedians including (but certainly not limited to) Martin Short, Will Ferrell, Bill Hader, and Kate McKinnon.

Watch it on Peacock

2. Cheers

Year: 1982-1993
Cast: Ted Danson, Shelley Long, Woody Harrelson, Kelsey Grammer
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 11 seasons, 275 episodes
Created by: Glen and Les Charles, James Burrows
Trailer: Watch here

The heart-warming but sharp comedy series is as comforting as it is clever. The series, which dominated NBC primetime throughout the ’80s, follows a group of eccentric regulars at a Boston bar and its equally eccentric employees. A lot of sitcoms feel of their time, with pop culture references you have to Google to understand if you weren’t alive, too young, or simply don’t remember. Cheers looks a lot like the ’80s with its costumes and hairstyles, but the jokes feel just as fresh as they did when they originally aired.

Watch it on Peacock

3. Parks And Rec

Year: 2009-2015
Cast: Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aubrey Plaza, Nick Offerman
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: Seven seasons, 125 episodes
Created by: Greg Daniels and Michael Schur
Trailer: Watch here

What started as a riff on The Office but with a lady boss became, by its second season, one of the best network comedies of all time. The series explores the mundanities of working at city hall in the small, strange town of Pawnee, Indiana.

Watch it on Peacock

4. Friday Night Lights

Year: 2006-2011
Cast: Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Taylor Kitsch, Michael B. Jordan
Genre: Drama
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: Five seasons, 76 episodes
Created by: Peter Berg
Trailer: Watch here

A television show about a football team had no right to become one of the best television shows of the Golden Age and one of the best of all time. Among a group of prestige programming including The Sopranos and Mad Men, this little football show kept up in terms of quality, because it was always more about people and relationships than it was about the sport. It will make you cry buckets, and you won’t even be mad about it.

Watch it on Peacock

5. Bel-Air

Year: 2022-Present
Cast: Jabrai Banks, Cassandra Freeman, Jimmy Akingbola
Genre: Drama
Rating: TV-MA tk
Runtime: One season, ten episodes
Created by: Morgan Cooper, Malcolm Spellman, TJ Brady, and Rasheed Newson
Trailer: Watch here

Bel-Air is the most Peak TV show to ever Peak TV (in a good way). The series started off as a short film that reimagined The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air sitcom as a serious drama. Lo and behold, the edit is now a dramatic television series that dives into class and race, and makes Will’s culture shock upon moving from West Philly to Bel-Air more dramatic than comedic.

Watch it on Peacock

6. The Office

Year: 2005-2013
Cast: Steve Carrell, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: Nine seasons, 201 episodes
Created by: Greg Daniels
Trailer: Watch here

Gen Z’s favorite comedy is a favorite for a reason. The sitcom that launched the single-cam revolution features one of the greatest performances ever from Steve Carrell as the horrible but somehow sweet boss Michael Scott, with a sprawling cast of comic geniuses that worked like comedy magic together.

Watch it on Peacock

7. Law and Order: SVU

Year: 1999-Present
Cast: Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni, Ice-T
Genre: Drama
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 24 seasons, 525 episodes
Created by: Dick Wolf
Trailer: Watch here

Even if you’ve never seen SVU, you probably know about Benson and Stabler. The crime procedural following cases in a Special Victims Unit in New York City is ideal for every kind of viewing: one episode at a time, a massive binge, while you’re working, or when you just want to sit down and pay attention to something.

Watch it on Peacock

8. That ’70s Show

Year: 1998-2006
Cast: Topher Grace, Larua Pripon, Mila Kunis, Wilder Vadleramma
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: Eight seasons, 200 episodes
Created by: Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, Mark Brazill
Trailer: Watch here

This Fox-period sitcom is about a group of teenagers in the 1970s who spend the majority of their time hanging out in Eric Forman’s basement. It’s getting a ’90s reboot over at Netflix featuring some of the O.G. cast, so it’s the perfect time to catch up or revisit.

Watch it on Peacock

9. Columbo

Year: 1968-2003
Cast: Peter Falk
Genre: Mystery
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 69 episodes
Created by: Richard Levinson and William Link
Trailer: Watch here

Ahhh, Columbo. As soon as you see that long beige coat, his thick cigar and hear him saw, “just one more thing” you will feel relief. On this sort of procedural, Detective Columbo catches killers by, for lack of better words, annoying the sh*t out of them. The series spans decades, and the first pilot, “Murder by the Book,” was directed by none other than the master, Stephen Spielberg.

Watch it on Peacock

10. Yellowstone

Year: 2018-Present
Cast: Kevin Costner, Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley
Genre: Drama, Western
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Five seasons, 47 episodes
Created by: Taylor Sheridan and John Linson
Trailer: Watch here

Everyone (a.k.a., everyone’s dad) is talking about Yellowstone for a reason: it’s like a contemporary western Game of Thrones. The neo-western starring Kevin Costner, which follows the dysfunctional Dutton family who has owned the Yellowstone Ranch (the largest ranch in Montana) for generations is filled with water-cooler talk-worthy moments of bloodshed and betrayal, if only there were water coolers anymore. I suppose group chats are the new water coolers?

Watch it on Peacock

11. Girls5Eva

Year: 2021-Present
Cast: Sara Bareilles, Busy Philipps, Paula Pell, Renée Elise Goldsberry
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Two seasons, 16 episodes
Created by: Meredith Scardino
Trailer: Watch here
The comedy from executive producer Tina Fey about 40-something women who reunite their late 1990s/2000s girl group after decades apart gets bolder and weirder as it goes along. Although the girl group Girls5Rva is fake, the show, which calls back to the strange period of time that was Y2K, feels weirdly nostalgic. The original songs are better than most of the songs that win Oscars.

Watch it on Peacock

12. A Friend Of The Family

Year: 2022
Cast: Jacke Lacy, Colin Hanks, Anna Paquin
Genre: Drama, Crime
Runtime: One season, 9 episodes
Created by: Nick Antosca
Trailer: Watch here

In this limited series based on a true story, the Broeberg family lives an idyllic American life until their daughter is kidnapped twice over a two-year period. Continuing his turn into darker characters after The White Lotus season one, Jake Lacy stars as the next door neighbor Robert Berchtold, who happens to be her captor.

Watch it on Peacock

13. 30 Rock

Year: 2006-2013
Cast: Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: Seven seasons, 138 episodes
Created by: Tina Fey
Trailer: Watch here

Former SNL writer Tina Fey’s meta NBC comedy about writing a late-night sketch comedy for NBC is a classic, known for its idiosyncratic characters and rapid pace: there are jokes almost every single second, maybe even more than that, but we won’t do the math. The series was the perfect satire for the strange time that was the late aughts/early 2010s, blending political commentary with pop culture commentary, all wrapped up in an NBC show that very frequently made fun of NBC and capitalism.

Watch it on Peacock

14. We Are Lady Parts

Year: 2021
Cast: Anjana Vasan, Sarah Kameela, Juliette Motamed
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: One season, 6 episodes
Created by: Nida Manzoor
Trailer: Watch here

This subversive, rowdy British comedy featuring great music and quick jokes (30 Rock style) follows a punk band called Lady Parts. Every member of the band is a Muslim woman. As the band seeks commercial success, they also face challenges both personal and cultural.

Watch it on Peacock

15. Rutherford Falls

Year: 2021-2022
Cast: Ed Helms, Jana Schmieding, Michael Greyeyes, Jesse Leigh
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Two seasons, 18 episodes
Created by: Ed Helms, Michael Schur, and Sierra Teller Ornealas
Trailer: Watch here

This comedy explores the lives of Indigenous people in a small town and the challenges they face living in modern America and manages to remain hilarious despite approaching serious material. The writers’ room featured one of the largest Indigenous writing staff on American television. Sadly, the series was not picked up for a third season.

Watch it on Peacock

16. Dr. Death

Year: 2021-Present
Cast: Joshua Jackson, Grace Gummer, Christian Slater, Alec Baldwin
Genre: Drama, Crime
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: One season, 8 episodes
Created by: Patrick Macmanus
Trailer: Watch here

Based on a podcast based on a true story, teen heartthrob Joshua Jackson of Dawson’s Creek delivers an unsettling performance as a doctor who purposely botches his patients, and ends up killing two in the process. The anthology series will return for a second season starring Mandy Moore and Édgar Ramirez.

Watch it on Peacock

17. The Thing About Pam

Year: 2022
Cast: Renée Zellweger, Judy Greer, Josh Duhamel
Genre: Crime, Dark Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: One season, six episodes
Created by: Jenny Klein
Trailer: Watch here

Renée Zellweger is having an absolute blast playing Pam Hupp, who gets caught in a scheme to murder her best friend. The show is shockingly comedic in tone for a series about a murder based on a true story, which may not work for everyone.

Watch it on Peacock

18. Angelyne

Year: 2022
Cast: Emmy Rossom, Hamish Linklater, Alex Karpovsky
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: One season, five episodes
Created by: Allison Miller
Trailer: Watch here

In the mid-’80s, Los Angeles billboards experienced a takeover. The blonde bombshell Angelyne covered nearly them all. This series starring Emmy Rossum tells Angelyne’s story and implies that she invented being famous for the sake of being famous. Kim Kardashian owes a debt.

Watch it on Peacock

19. The Amber Ruffin Show

Year: 2020-Present
Cast: Amber Ruffin
Genre: Comedy, Late night
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Three seasons, 57 episodes
Created by: Amber Ruffin
Trailer: Watch here

Amber Ruffin’s appearances on Late Night with Seth Meyers were so good that she got her own show. The show follows the classic format of a late-night show with monologues, sketches, and interviews with incredible guests including Wanda Sykes and John Oliver. Ruffin suits the host role naturally and her sweet but cunning persona makes the show unique.

Watch it on Peacock

20. Saved By The Bell

Year: 2022-2021
Cast: Haskiri Velazquez, Mitchell Hoog, Mario Lopez, Mark Paul-Gosslear
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: Two seasons, 20 episodes
Created by: Tracey Wigfield
Trailer: Watch here

Revivals and reboots premiere every day, but none of them were as charming as Saved by the Bell. California governor Zach Morris gets criticized for closing low-income schools in the state. His response? Bringing those students into better performing schools in higher-income areas including his alma mater, Bayside High. The newcomers of a new generation bring their own style and tone to the show, which dips into nostalgia but is not reliant upon it.

Watch it on Peacock

21. One Of Us Is Lying

Year: 2021-Present
Cast: Annalisa Cochrane, Chibuikem Uche, Marianly Tejada
Genre: Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Two seasons, 16 episodes
Created by: Erica Saleh
Trailer: Watch here

In this teen drama/murder mystery based on the New York Times best-selling novel of the same name, five teens go to detention, but only one comes out alive. All four survivors claim innocence, but all of them have their own motivations to kill the deceased.

Watch it on Peacock

22. Baking It

Year: 2021-Present
Cast: Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler
Genre: Reality, Food
Rating: TV-1 4
Runtime: Two seasons, 10 episodes
Created by:
Trailer: Watch here

This baking competition series featuring duos competing for a cash prize is hosted by SNL legends Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph and judged by the people who know baking best: grandmas, known within the show as the Judging Grannies.

Watch it on Peacock

23. Vampire Academy

Year: 2022
Cast: Sisi Stringer, Daniela Nieves, Kieron Moore
Genre: Drama, Supernatural
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: One season, ten episodes
Created by: Julie Plec and Marguerite MacIntyre
Trailer: Watch here

The Vampire Academy is not just like any other boarding school. It’s a boarding school for vampires. It’s campy but deep, packed with story and good fun that will satisfy your insatiable thirst for vampire content.

Watch it on Peacock

24. Suits

Year: 2011-2019
Cast: Patrick J. Adams, Gabriel Macht, Meghan Markle, Rick Hoffman
Genre: Drama, Legal
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Nine seasons, 134 episodes
Created by: Aaron Korsh
Trailer: Watch here

Come for a pre-royal Meghan Markle, stay for the dramatic but never too serious law firm drama. Suits is smart, fun, occasionally (enjoyably) dumb, and calls back to USA’s “characters welcome” era, which is sorely missed.

Watch it on Peacock

25. Wolf Like Me

Year: 2022-Present
Cast: Isla Fisher, Josh Gad
Genre: Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: One season, 6 episodes
Created by: Abe Forsythe
Trailer: Watch here

The title largely gives the show’s premise away, but let’s just say that there’s a secret from one of the main characters that will finally surface in the first season finale. On the story’s face, Josh Gad plays a widower who begins to date a delightful woman played by Isla Fisher. Both have major baggage, so this relationship just might work.

Watch it on Peacock

You’re likely already an Amazon Prime subscriber, so why aren’t you taking advantage of all of the insanely good television hiding on the streaming platform? From award-winning comedy series to big-budget fantasy epics, Amazon Prime Video is one of the few platforms taking risks and delivering show-stopping TV right now, and its catalog is only growing.

To help whittle down the best binge-watches, we’ve carefully curated a list that has something for everyone — think bloody superhero brawls, paranormal comedies, hardboiled legal dramas, dusty Westerns, and more. So really, there’s no excuse not to start tuning in.

1. Fleabag

Year: 2016
Cast: Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Sian Clifford, Olivia Colman, Andrew Scott
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 2 seasons: 12 episodes
Created By: Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Trailer: Watch here

Raunchy, riotous, and revolutionary. When Phoebe Waller-Bridge turned her one-woman stage production into a fourth-wall-breaking comedic masterpiece on Amazon Prime a few years ago, TV shows everywhere took notice. Many have tried to replicate, but none have captured the dry-witted humor and brutally insightful poignancy of the mold they’re homaging. Bridge plays a 30-something Brit only identified as the titular Fleabag, a woman with emotional baggage that takes increasingly bizarre, problematic, and frankly, hilarious forms — a Guinea Pig Cafe, sexual trysts with Bus Rodents, familial squabbles, blasphemous confessional hook-ups with the Hot Priest, and a suicide attempt. This eventually becomes a love story, one more fixated on the kind of self-love Fleabag so desperately needs, but Andrew Scott’s foul-mouthed Father does inspire more than a bit of swooning in season two.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

2. The Boys

Year: 2019
Cast: Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 3 seasons: 24 episodes
Created By: Eric Kripke
Trailer: Watch here

A wild, vulgar, berserker of a comic book adaptation, The Boys takes swing after swing at the very superhero verse its characters belong to. Created by Eric Kripke based on a Garth Ennis series, this show pulls absolutely no punches, delivering stomach-churning, awe-inspiring action sequences that are so gory, so nasty, you can’t possibly turn away. The premise follows a group of unexceptional vigilantes who recognize the superpowered gods among them have amassed too much, well, power. Karl Urban’s wise-cracking Billy Butcher has a personal axe to grind with Antony Starr’s deliciously evil, over-the-top Homelander (basically Superman if he had even bigger daddy issues), so he teams up with Jack Quaid’s Hughie to form a group of outcasts who just might be able to bring these corrupt Supes down a peg. Of course, they’ll have to sacrifice some marine mammals in the process.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

3. Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power

Year: 2022
Cast: Morfydd Clark, Charlie Vickers, Ismael Cruz Cordova
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Drama
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 1 season: 9 episodes
Created By: Patrick McKay, John D. Payne
Trailer: Watch here

Adapting Tolkien is a tall order. Adapting an unfinished Tolkien work on the heels of Peter Jackson’s uber-successful film series is a near-impossible task. But somehow, this “prequel” does it, delivering epic storytelling and breathtaking visuals but pairing them with the kind of world-building and character-driven storytelling LOTR fans love so much. Spanning the rarely written about Second Age, the show follows new and familiar faces as they meet a new evil threatening Middle Earth. The cast is diverse, the action exciting, and the fantasy vibes are off the charts. Plus, this is one of the few newcomers to not only stick its season finale landing but use to it shake up the chessboard and keep fans guessing into season two.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

4. The English

Year: 2022
Cast: Emily Blunt, Chaske Spencer
Genre: Western, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 1 season: 6 episodes
Created By: Hugo Blick
Trailer: Watch here

Sure, this Emily Blunt-starring mini-series delivers the exact amount of saloon shootouts and dust-ridden standoffs you’d expect from a show set in the Wild West of the 1800s. It even follows some tried-and-true tropes of the genre with its hero (heroine here) out for revenge on the wild open plains. But there’s something undeniably fresh and original about showrunner Hugo Blick’s tale, which sees Blunt’s Cornelia Locke partnering with an ex-calvary scout from the Pawnee Nation named Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer) to hunt down the men responsible for the death of her son. The two have a push-and-pull that eventually reveals harsh truths, not only about themselves but the way of the world, and those epiphanies land harder because Blick makes room for quieter, character-driven moments amidst all the violence and bloodshed endemic of the times.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

5. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Year: 2015
Cast: Rachel Brosnahan, Alex Borstein, Tony Shalhoub, Marin Hinkle
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 4 seasons: 35 episodes
Created By: Amy Sherman-Palladino
Trailer: Watch here

Amy Sherman-Palladino follows up her Gilmore Girls success with another fast-talking, dry-witted dramedy, this time starring Rachel Brosnahan as a 1950s housewife with a hidden talent for stand-up comedy. Brosnahan plays Midge Masel, a young Jewish woman living an upper-crust New York City life when her marriage suddenly falls apart, and her natural affinity for comedy becomes the vehicle she uses to strike out on her own. Alex Borstein plays Susie, a club promoter who sees Midge’s potential and eventually becomes her manager while Tony Shalhoub and Marin Hinkle play her parents Abe and Rose Wiessman. Brosnahan is undeniably the star here but it’s Midge’s friendship with Susie and their shared determination to make it in a man’s world that will keep you watching.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

6. Good Omens

Year: 2019
Cast: David Tennant, Michael Sheen, Frances McDormand, Jon Hamm
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy
Rating: TV_MA
Runtime: 1 season: 6 episodes
Created By: Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett
Trailer: Watch here

David Tennant and Michael Sheen star in this hellishly fun adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s beloved work of fantasy. Tennant plays Crowley, a demon who’s spent the past 6,000 years living life as a kind of rockstar on Earth. Sheen plays his angelic counterpart, Aziraphale, a bumbling seraph who also calls Earth home and has a reluctant friendship with his immortal enemy. The two must band together to prevent the Anti-Christ — a kid in Oxfordshire — from rising to power, destroying the world, and, most importantly, Crowley’s best of Queen mixtape.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

7. Invincible

Year: 2021
Cast: Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, J.K. Simmons
Genre: Animation, Action
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 1 season: 8 episodes
Created By: Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley, Cory Walker
Trailer: Watch here

Robert Kirkman builds on his track record of turning comic book favorites into worthwhile TV shows with this animated adaptation that stars his Walking Dead buddy Steven Yeun and a host of other A-list talents. Yeun voices a teenager named Mark Grayson, whose dad is an all-powerful being known as Omni-Man (JK Simmons). Grayson has abilities of his own, and he’s trying to walk in his father’s footsteps but some bloody storytelling twists elevate the show’s premise to something infinitely more exciting than its Marvel-esque beginnings. If anything, this show continues the tradition of investigating our habit of superhero worship that The Boys does so well, albeit in cartoon form.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

8. Jack Ryan

Year: 2018
Cast: John Krasinski, Wendell Pierce, Michael Kelly
Genre: Action, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 3 seasons: 24 episodes
Created By: Carlton Cuse, Graham Roland
Trailer: Watch here

John Krasinski’s return to television marks a dramatic departure from his Office days. Here, he plays famed CIA analyst Jack Ryan in a series that explores the character’s beginnings as an up-and-coming agent whose confidence in his abilities often lead to him clashing with higher-ups like his boss, James Greer (a fantastic Wendell Pierce). In its latest installment, Ryan finds himself on the wrong side of the law when a hunch that Russia is resurrecting a Cold War plan to destablize Europe puts him at odds with his own government. There’s enough spy-thriller action to keep fans on the edge of their seat and Krasinski delivers a well-rounded action hero who’s easy to root for.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

9. ZeroZeroZero

Year: 2019
Cast: Andrea Riseborough, Dane DeHaan, Gabriel Byrne
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 1 season: 8 episodes
Created By: Leonardo Fasoli, Mauricio Katz, Stefano Sollima
Trailer: Watch here

This Italian crime drama is a unique blend of three separate stories, all thrilling in their own right but, when combined, make for an epic, action-packed adventure. One thread follows a pair of Mexican druglords helped in their business pursuits by a corrupt military. Another focuses on a Mafia-like crime syndicate in Italy thrown into chaos when its boss is challenged by a rival family member. The final storyline unites these two, centering on an American family whose shipping business transports large amounts of cocaine between the Mexican and Italian sides. When one such shipment is diverted, disaster strikes, forcing everyone to get a bit more cutthroat in order to come out on top.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

10. Outer Range

Year: 2022
Cast: Josh Brolin, Imogen Poots, Will Patton, Lewis Pullman
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 1 season: 8 episodes
Created By: Brian Watkins
Trailer: Watch here

Think Yellowstone meets The Twilight Zone, and you’ll come close to grasping the sci-fi sky-country vibes of this Josh Brolin-starring series. There are the normal soap opera elements that make for juicy drama — feuding families, rival ranches, etc. — but they’re all elevated by a central mystery that incorporates some mind-bending genre tropes to great effect. Brolin plays Royal Abbott, a quiet rancher fighting to save his family after tragedy strikes. When he discovers a black void hidden in one of his pastures, he’s forced to question where he comes from and the nature of more abstract concepts like time, space, and the meaning behind it all. It’s weird, it’s eerie, and it makes for a riveting binge-watch.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

11. LuLaRich

Year: 2021
Cast: DeAnne Stidham, Mark Stidham
Genre: Documentary
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 1 season: 4 episodes
Created By: Jenner Furst, Julia Willoughby Nason
Trailer: Watch here

Multi-level marketing scams are a true crime goldmine but even the wildest pyramid scheme put to camera has nothing on this story of a stretchy legging empire run by brightly patterned, highly-caffeinated Mormon overlords. What begins as an empowering tale of entrepreneurship (a housewife selling maxi skirts from her trunk to make ends meet) snowballs into a weird, prosperity gospel garbage fire filled with Tijuana Skinnies group chat members, fart-smelling leggings, weaponized oral sex acts, and hellish company cruises. It’s the “Fyre Festival” of online retail, and you won’t be able to look away.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

12. The Underground Railroad

Year: 2021
Cast: Thuso Mbedu, Joel Edgerton, William Jackson Harper
Genre: History, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 1 season: 10 episodes
Created By: Barry Jenkins
Trailer: Watch here

Barry Jenkins gives audiences a beautiful, moving portrait of the Black experience with this fantastical adaptation of a 2016 novel by Colson Whitehead. The series tells the story of a runaway slave named Cora (a sublime Thuso Mbedu) who is hunted by a dogged and dangerous catcher named Arnold Ridgeway (a menacing Joel Edgerton). As in the book, the show imagines the Underground Railroad not as a series of safe houses slaves used to escape the South, by as an actual, working entity with conductors, railworker, and underground tunnels that ferry fugitives across state lines. It’s magical realism done with careful thought for character development and storytelling and it’s one of the most thrilling, emotional, and inspiring POVs of the time period we’ve seen thus far.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

13. Bosch

Year: 2014
Cast: Titus Welliver, Jamie Hector
Genre: Crime, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 7 seasons: 68 episodes
Created By: Eric Ellis Overmyer
Trailer: Watch here

Bosch takes an often-done police procedural trope, turns the dial up to 11, and lets lead Titus Welliver have unseemly amounts of fun playing a rogue detective charged with solving increasingly grisly crimes each season. Harry Bosch is a bit of a formulaic character — a former military man, a rule-follower, and truth-searcher, but Welliver gives him the right amount of sass to make his case-load — which includes everything from corrupt cops and conspiracies to solving his own mother’s murder — that much more interesting.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

14. Hanna

Year: 2019
Cast: Esme Creed-Miles, Joel Kinnaman
Genre: Action, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 3 seasons: 22 episodes
Created By: David Farr
Trailer: Watch here

Based on the 2011 film of the same name, this action-adventure series only gets better with each season, building a mythology around its titular character that its feature-length counterpart just didn’t have time for. Esme Creed-Miles plays Hanna, a young girl living an isolated life in the Polish wilderness with her father Erik (Joel Kinnaman). Erik was once part of a government program that recruited pregnant women to experiment on their unborn children, essentially creating super soldiers. Hanna is one-such child, but Erik rescued her after falling in love with her mother. He teaches her to become expert assassin, training that comes in handy when the program hunts down its lost property, thrusting them both into a global conspiracy that puts their relationship to the ultimate test.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

15. Flack

Year: 2019
Cast: Anna Paquin, Lydia Wilson, Rebecca Benson
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 2 seasons: 12 episodes
Created By: Oliver Lansley
Trailer: Watch here

Anna Paquin plays an out-of-control fixer in this quick-burn British comedy series that’s a surprisingly addictive watch. Paquin’s Robyn is an American PR exec living in London with her loving boyfriend and sister. She’s tasked with making the problems of her very messy, very high-profile clients quietly disappear in whatever ways she deems fit. The problem: her personal life is just as chaotic as her professional one and when they start to mix, Robyn’s method of “fixing” grows increasingly problematic — and hilarious.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

16. The Legend of Vox Machina

Year: 2022
Cast: Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jefferson, Ashley Johnson
Genre: Animation, Adventure
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 1 season: 12 episodes
Created By: Chris Prynoski
Trailer: Watch here

If you’re a fan of Dungeons & Dragons style RPGs, then you likely already know of this beautifully animated Amazon Prime series (which just got renewed for a third season). But even if massive video-game epics aren’t your thing, there’s something whimsical, thrilling, and addictive about this show that’s set prior to its web series counterpart, Critical Role. It follows a seven-member Vox Machina team on their first real mission which takes them across the continent of Tal’Dorei and sees them avenging murders and rescuing entire towns in need.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

17. Hunters

Year: 2020
Cast: Al Pacino, Logan Lerman, Lena Olin
Genre: Crime, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 1 season: 10 episodes
Created By: David Weil
Trailer: Watch here

Al Pacino leads a group of Nazi hunters in this thrilling crime drama set in late ’70s New York. Pacino’s Meyer Offerman is a Holocaust survivor and philanthropist who runs a secret group trying to prevent numerous escaped Nazis from enacting their plan to establish the Fourth Reicht. Each Hunter has a specific skill set that comes in handy for certain missions, with Logan Lerman’s brilliant mathematician student being the newest addition to the group. The show’s central question, “Would you do bad things for the good of humankind?” is an intriguing one that hasn’t really been asked like this before.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

18. The Kids In The Hall

Year: 2022
Cast: David Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 1 season: 8 episodes
Created By: David Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald
Trailer: Watch here

If the successful revival of this Canadian series 27 years after its original run doesn’t convince you that sketch comedy is alive and well, we don’t know what will. The ’80s troupe is back from the broadcast dead, finding new life on Amazon Prime’s streaming platform. The main players return, as does their signature brand of hilarious hijink-ery but a few things look different too which means the guys aren’t just rehashing old jokes but pushing their comedy in inventive ways that fans should appreciate.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

19. Tell Me Your Secrets

Year: 2021
Cast: Lily Rabe, Hamish Linklater, Amy Brenneman
Genre: Crime, Mystery
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 1 season: 10 episodes
Created By: Harriet Warner
Trailer: Watch here

This series starring Lily Rabe and Amy Brenneman investigates the fine line between victim and perpetrator by way of three separate stories that have surprising connections through guilt and grief. Brenneman plays Mary, a mother whose daughter is believed to have been murdered by a convicted serial killer. Rabe plays Emma, the girlfriend of said serial killer, recently released from jail for aiding in his crimes and trying to start a new life in Louisianna. Hamish Linklater’s John is the third player in this story, a serial rapist looking for redemption. Each try to move past their sins, to evolve into functioning members of society, and each are eventually forced to reckon with their true natures because of that.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

20. Reacher

Year: 2022
Cast: Alan Ritchson, Malcolm Goodwin, Willa Fitzgerald
Genre: Action, Crime
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 1 season, 8 episodes
Created By: Nick Santora
Trailer: Watch here

No offense to Tom Cruise, but this is the Jack Reacher adaptation that fans deserved. Based on the book series by Lee Child, this show introduces the drifter and ex-military man to audiences by way of actor Alan Ritchson, whose bulk and stony demeanor feel bit more faithful to the source material. Reacher visit a rural Georgia town in the show’s first season and finds himself arrested for a murder he didn’t commit. When law enforcement wises up to his innocence, he decides to track down the killer himself, a hunt that leads him into the thick of a conspiracy filled with corrupt cops, shady businessman, and cutthroat politicians.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

21. Goliath

Year: 2016
Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Nina Ariande, Tania Raymonde
Genre: Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 4 seasons: 32 episodes
Created By: David E. Kelley, Jonathan Shapiro
Trailer: Watch here

This gritty legal drama starring Billy Bob Thornton as a washed up alcoholic lawyer is the kind of all meat, no-fat storytelling you’d expect from David E. Kelley (the guy who gave us Boston Legal and Ally McBeal). Thornton plays Billy McBride, a prodigious attorney who walks away from his firm after a case gone horribly wrong. He’s pulled back into the legal drama when an investigation into a big tech firm falls into his lap. The courtroom theatrics are dialed down a notch here in favor of showing McBride’s troubled personal life and the increasingly problematic ways he manages his guilt — all to say, it’s the perfect kind of show for Thornton, who excels at playing the gruff, silent, burdened anti-hero.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

22. Truth Seekers

Year: 2020
Cast: Nick Frost, Samson Kayo, Emma D’Arcy, Simon Pegg
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 1 season: 8 episodes
Created By: Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Nat Saunders
Trailer: Watch here

Nick Frost and Simon Pegg re-team for another paranormal comedy, this time in small-screen form. Frost plays Gus, an engineer with an Internet Service Provider who does a bit of ghost hunting on the side. Pegg plays his boss who saddles him with a new partner, Elton John (Samson Kayo). The two become unlikely friends and unlikely paranormal investigators, eventually added by Emma D’Arcy’s Astrid, a woman haunted by ghosts to the point that she’ll do anything — even working with these two idiots — to shut them up.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

23. Paper Girls

Year: 2022
Cast: Camryn Jones, Sofia Rosinsky, Riley Lai Nelet
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 1 season: 8 episodes
Created By: Stephany Folsom
Trailer: Watch here

Based on a comic book series by Brian K. Vaughn, this ’80s Sci-Fi adventure series continues on the tradition of kids saving the world from monstrous threats that Stranger Things has made so popular. Here, four young girls just trying to finish their paper route on the night of Halloween get pulled into a war between two sets of time-travelling factions that could decide the fate of mankind. It’s funny and mind-bending and filled with cozy nostalgia.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

24. The Expanse

Year: 2015
Cast: Steven Strait, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 6 seasons: 62 episodes
Created By: Mark Fergus, Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck
Trailer: Watch here

This Sci-Fi space epic based off a series of beloved books found new life on Amazon for its fourth season after being canceled by Syfy in 2018 which was good news for fans who wanted more adventures for the show’s rag-tag band of anti-heroes. Set in the future when humanity has colonized the Solar System, The Expanse follows a trio of leads: United Nations Security Council member Chrisjen Avasarala, police detective Josephus Miller, and ship’s officer James Holden as they unravel a conspiracy that could break the uneasy peace. It’s full of action and thriller-like twists, but it’s the memorable, well-rounded character work that makes this a must-see.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

25. The Wheel Of Time

Year: 2021
Cast: Rosamund Pike, Daniel Henney, Madeleine Madden
Genre: Fantasy, Drama
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 1 season, 10 episodes
Created By:
Trailer: Watch here

Based on a best-selling series of books, this high-fantasy adaptation charts a lot of ground in its first season. Set in a world where magic exists but only a select few can access it, the show follows a powerful woman named Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), who must guide five young men and women on a dangerous journey to save their world. It’s a less-complicated follow-along than something like The Rings of Power with a fantastic magical system and plenty of action to keep things interesting.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

Matt Gaetz is reportedly testing the patience of his fellow Republicans. Following the 12th vote for Speaker of the House, which once again saw Kevin McCarthy fail to clinch the coveted position, Gaetz was greeted with a not so friendly reception after he nominated Jim Jordan ahead of the vote. Jordan, for his part, has continued to nominate and vote for McCarthy.

According to CBS News reporter Robert Costa, Republican House members reportedly lost their cool with Gaetz as the speaker debacle continued to show no end in sight. It presumably didn’t help that a 13th vote came and went with McCarthy still short of the necessary threshold.

“Some House Republicans just walked off the floor in disgust with Gaetz,” Costa tweeted from the scene. “I’m in speaker’s lobby and some members are cursing out Gaetz as they leave the floor. ‘I’m not listening to this —-!’ one House R says… others fuming and going outside to balcony to cool off.”

Getting chewed out by his own party is becoming routine for Gaetz as he, somehow, continues to hold sway over enough GOP members to derail the House vote. During a Thursday evening appearance on Fox News, Gaetz was grilled by Laura Ingraham who blasted Gaetz for demanding concessions from McCarthy while still vowing that he’ll never vote for him.

“You can’t have it both ways,” Ingraham yelled at Gaetz. “You can’t say ‘I’m a man of principle and I believe in X, Y and Z. But if he gives me X, Y and Z, I’m not gonna vote for him.’ What? How does that make sense?”

(Via Robert Costa on Twitter)