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 time is valuable.
10. Challengers (MGM movie on VOD & Amazon)
Luca Guadagnino excels at serving up sensual subject matter that stokes several varieties of tension at once (that poor peach) while masterfully declining to deliver the expected outcome of those tantalizing teases. This intense sports drama did, intentionally of course, earn the reputation of being Zendaya’s “threesome” movie although the movie doesn’t actually contain a threesome scene. The cast, however, is phenomenal with the leading trio including Art (Mike Faist), whose rivalry with Patrick (Josh O’Connor) is reignited after the former gets the lady. That lady would be Tashi, who is a force of controlling nature and suffers the most gut-wrenching tennis injury shown onscreen but doesn’t let that dampen her explosive potential.
9. Outer Range (Prime Video/Amazon series)
Josh Brolin has returned to the role that his entire career has been building towards: Royal Abbott, the grumpy-ass, time-traveling rancher whose little world got shaken up by the arrival of the mysterious Autumn (Imogen Poots), but is she good or bad chaotic? You will see. Meanwhile, Deputy Sheriff Joy (Tamara Podemski)’s entire worldview gets turned upside down as she becomes a larger piece of this mystical puzzle woven by that Void. The season ends with even more questions than which it began, so here’s to hoping for a third-season renewal.
8. Civil War (A24 movie on VOD & Amazon)
Alex Garland’s final directorial effort (for the foreseeable future) scored well for A24 at the box office and is popping on the VOD charts, too. Eventually, the movie will hit Max as part of the streamer’s agreement with the indie production house, but perhaps a certain set of trending subjects on Twitter/X will send this frightening movie — starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, and an unsettling Jesse Plemons — into even more home theaters over the next few weeks. Stay tuned there.
7. Bodkin (Netflix series)
Will Forte headlines in this series that got steamrolled (attention wise) by Baby Reindeer and Bridgerton‘s popularity, but this first dramatic TV series effort from Higher Ground (Michelle and Barack Obama’s production house) deserves a circle-back approach if you have the viewing bandwidth. Those who adore Only Murders In The Building will love this Irish spin on podcasters taking on detective roles in this series created by Jen Scharf. The show will never displace Only Murders, but this new show crackles with dark humor and also stars Siobhán Cullen and Robyn Cara.
6. Baby Reindeer (Netflix series)
This show simply will not stop riding the top of Netflix’s charts, and surely, creator, writer, and star Richard Gadd never expected to land on the all-time Top 10 list, which is due to happen pretty damn soon. In other words, watch out Bridgerton, Stranger Things, and Wednesday. Meanwhile, Gadd is moving past the trauma of his past to work on his next project, Lions, in which he will not star but will still no doubt compel viewers. If you haven’t caught Baby Reindeer yet, know that it’s an intense and stressful watch, and it’s not exactly a true-crime series, but the public’s fascination with the based-on-real-life story could arguably qualify it as such.
5. Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies, And Scandal (Netflix documentary)
Nine years ago, a still-unidentified group known as the Impact Team hacked the infamous cheating website and released the email addresses and personal information of millions of subscribers. The collateral damage was immense, and that includes plenty of divorces and even a death as detailed in this series. The most heavily featured case of this season involves married Christian vlogging couple Sam and Nia Rader, who found their lives upended a number of times due to an unending supply of lies by Sam, and they’re one of the “luckier” pairs among the hacking subjects.
4. Under The Bridge ( Hulu series)
Riley Keough unpacked the finale of this limited series for UPROXX this week, and this series also lands on our list of Best True Crime shows. The limited series adapts Rebecca Godfrey’s (portrayed by Keough) book about her efforts to track down a murder whose heinous acts wreaked havoc on a small Canadian town. Lily Gladstone portrays a cop also on the search for justice for a missing girl’s family. A little bit of True Detective vibes adds more fuel for a show with heavy subject matter that propels itself like the two lead investigators do: with dogged determination.
3. Tires (Netflix series)
A second season is already on the way for this very differently-located workplace comedy starring Shane Gillis. The comedian portrays a cousin, coworker, and thorn in the side of Will (Steven Gerben), who has inherited his father’s auto-repair business and is struggling to make it work. The show somehow managed to stand out as an example of counterprogramming amid a sea of Bridgerton seasons dominating Netflix at present.
2. Bridgerton (Netflix series)
Somehow, this series has never been hotter with Netflix racking up endless rewatches of the first two seasons and the Queen Charlotte spin off. Thus far, the first half of the season has delivered on the Carriage Scene promise, but what will come in the next four episodes? Shondaland will not disappoint viewers who adore seeing Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton together, but the Lady Whistledown secret lingers over the entire show.
1. Hacks (Max series)
The tables have truly turned between Ava and Deborah after the final moments of the season showed that the 20-something writer has learned the best and worst methods of her mentor. Max already renewed for a fourth season after this series hit its highest viewership numbers over the past month, and Deborah has suddenly been informed that Ava is really and truly her match. Let the delicious chaos and fallout flow.
