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. Bad Monkey (Apple TV Plus)
Scrubs, Ted Lasso, and Shrinking creator Bill Lawrence’s comedy empire expands with Bad Monkey, a good show with a fun premise: Vince Vaughn plays a former cop who is now a health inspector in the Florida Keys. “But after stumbling upon a case that begins with a human arm fished up by tourists, he realizes that if he can prove murder, he’ll be back in. He just needs to get past a trove of Floridian oddballs and one bad monkey,” according to the plot synopsis. The show is based on author Carl Hiaasen’s novel of the same name, and has fun summer binge written all over it.
14. Only Murders In The Building (Hulu)
There’s been two big changes to Only Murders in the Building: the season is largely set in Los Angeles instead of New York City, and Selena Gomez is now Emmy nominee Selena Gomez. But what hasn’t changed is that the Martins, Steve and Short, are as funny as ever. Outside of that trio, the season 4 cast also includes Melissa McCarthy, Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, Zach Galifianakis, Molly Shannon, Kumail Nanjiani, Richard Kind (!!!), Meryl Streep, Jane Lynch, Michael Cyril Creighton, and recent Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
13. 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.
12. 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.
11. The Old Man (Hulu)
The old man is back, and now he’s even older! In season 2 of the John Wick-like FX series, former CIA agent Dan Chase (played by Jeff “The Dude” Bridges) and ex-FBI assistant director Harold Harper (John Lithgow) are tasked with finding Emily Chase (Alia Shawkat) after she is kidnapped. But “as the stakes rise and secrets are uncovered, Emily finds herself in an identity crisis with dire implications,” according to the official plot synopsis, while Zoe McDonald (Amy Brenneman) makes “surprising moves into Chase’s world.”
10. 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.
9. Agatha All Along (Disney Plus)
The first Marvel Cinematic Universe show with a bare butt scene is a WandaVision spin-off about Kathryn Hahn’s breakout character, Agatha Harkness. Prepare to have *that song* stuck in your head again. The “gayest show” in the MCU stable also stars Aubrey Plaza, Patti LuPone, and Joe Locke.
8. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (Netflix)
Following the (uncomfortable) success of Dahmer, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s “Monster” limited series returns with Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. This time, the focus is on the Menéndez brothers (played by Nicholas Alexander and Chavez Cooper Koch) and the media sensation around their trial after they killed their parents (Javier Bardem and Chloe Sevigny). They also appeared on a basketball card. A third season has already been announced with Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam as Ed Gein.
7. 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 follows 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.
6. 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.
5. 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.
4. Uzumaki (Max)
Based on Junji Ito’s supernatural and frequently disturbing manga of the same anime, Uzumaki is about the peculiar occurrences, many of which involve spirals, happening to the residents of the small Japanese town of Kurouzo-chu. Or as the official plot description reads: “Everything from a strange whirlwind, billowing smoke from the crematorium, and the residents is turning into spirals. People’s eyes spin in whirls, a tongue spirals, and the bodies twist unnaturally. In an attempt to escape the curse of the spirals, Kirie decides to flee from Kurouzu-cho, but can she get away from this turmoil?” The first of four episodes premieres on September 28 at 12:30 a.m. during Adult Swim’s Toonami block, and is available the next day on Max.
3. Apartment 7A (Paramount Plus)
Yeah yeah yeah, it’s another prequel based on a famous horror movie, but hear me out: Julia Garner. The actress, so good in The Americans, Ozark, and The Assistant, plays dancer Terry Gionoffrio, who is taken in by a rich couple (Dianne Wiest and Kevin McNally) following an accident. Soon after, weird stuff begins to occur, as you might imagine from a Rosemary’s Baby prequel. If nothing else, you can count on Garner giving an excellent performance.
2. 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…
1. 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?).
