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. Squid Game (Netflix)
Netflix’s most-watched show ever is back. Squid Game season 2 sees the return of Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae), a.k.a. Player 456, who has only one goal: to end the horrifying competition for good. This time, Gi-hun finds himself “locked in a tense battle” with the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), as well as trying to survive against the other competitors. Squid Game is the rare water-cooler show in the “death of the monoculture” era. Keep up if you want to know what your co-workers are talking about.
14. The Pitt (Max)
Noah Wyle? As a doctor? It’s crazy enough to work. This time, the ER star works in a hospital in Pittsburgh, and the show is “a realistic examination of the challenges facing healthcare workers in today’s America as seen through the lens of the frontline heroes.” The entire 15-episode first season takes place over the course of one 15-hour emergency room shift, not unlike 24.
13. A Different Man (Max)
Sebastian Stan received career-best reviews for his performance in A Different Man, in which he plays Edward, an inspiring actor who undergoes a radical medical procedure to transform his appearance. But his dream turns into a nightmare when he loses out on the role he was born to play to the uber-confident Oswald (Adam Pearson), who has the same genetic condition he once had. A Different Man is a surreal, thought provoking, and inventive film.
12. Severance (Apple TV Plus)
After a long, long break, one of the best shows on TV is back. Severance picks up where season 1 left off, with Mark (Adam Scott), Helly (Helly Riggs), Dylan (Dylan), and Irving (Irving Bailiff) trifling with the severance barrier, “leading them further down a path of woe,” according to the cryptic Apple TV Plus synopsis. There are so many mysteries left to answer: what’s the deal with Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman)? What’s the deal with Seth Milchick (series MVP Tramell Tillman)? And seriously, what’s the deal with the freaking goats?
11. The Wild Robot (Peacock)
Best Animated Feature at the 2025 Oscars is unusually stacked. Inside Out 2 is the frontrunner considering how much money it made, but honestly, it’s probably the weakest of the nominees. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is a delight, obviously, while the beautiful and heartbreaking Flow is my personal favorite. But don’t sleep on The Wild Robot, a charming critical and commercial hit from Lilo & Stitch co-director Chris Sanders about a robot learning to adapt to their surroundings in the great outdoors. It’s very good.
10. Common Side Effects (Max)
Mike Judge and Greg Daniels have been attached to some of the best TV comedies of the last 30 years, including Parks and Recreation, The Simpsons, and The Office for Daniels and Beavis and Butt-Head and Silicon Valley for Judge. They also co-created King of the Hill. Their latest collaboration is producing Common Side Effects, a surreal Adult Swim animated series about the “world’s greatest medicine” from creators Joseph Bennett (Scavengers Reign) and Steve Hely (30 Rock). Episodes will stream the next day on Max.
9. You’re Cordially Invited (Prime Video)
Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon star in You’re Cordially Invited, a big-hearted romantic-comedy about two weddings being booked on the same day at the same venue. The father (Ferrell) of one bride and the sister (Witherspoon) of the other go “head-to-head as they stop at nothing to uphold an unforgettable celebration for their loved ones.” Beyond Witherspoon, You’re Cordially Invited has a strong rom-com pedigree with writer and director Nicholas Stoller, who previously made Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
8. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (Disney Plus)
Spider-Man: you know him, you love him (unless you’re J. Jonah Jameson, then you want more pictures of him). Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is an animated throwback to a time when the web slinger was as concerned with his high school studies as he was saving the citizens of New York. Hopefully there are fewer galaxy-threatening portals than in the MCU movies.
7. Mo (Netflix)
Mo is a special series. The Netflix comedy-drama follows Mo Najjar (played by creator Mo Amer), a Palestinian refugee living in Houston, Texas, as he attempts to secure asylum. Season 2 begins with Mo stranded across the border in Mexico, and he’ll need “all the hustle and charm he can muster” to return to the States. Mo is timely, hilarious, and heartbreaking.
6. Mythic Quest (Apple TV Plus)
A new season of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is coming later this year, but don’t forget about Rob McElhenney’s other excellent comedy series. Mythic Quest season 4 (also the show’s final season) brings everyone — including McElhenney’s Ian, Charlotte Nicdao’s Poppy, and Danny Pudi’s Brad — back together at Mythic Quest HQ, where they’ll confront “new challenges amongst a changing video game landscape as stars rise, egos clash, relationships bloom and everyone tries to have a little more work life balance.” I’ll miss Ian and Poppy’s Don and Peggy-like fraught yet platonic relationship the most.
5. Piece By Piece (Peacock)
Pharrell Williams probably isn’t the first musician you would think of to have his life story be turned into a movie, let alone a movie that tells his life story through Lego. That is, until you remember, oh yeah, he wrote and/or produced “Happy,” “Get Lucky,” “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” “Hollaback Girl,” “Rock Your Body,” “Milkshake.” So, yeah, now it makes more sense. Piece By Piece also features interviews with some of Pharrell’s famous collaborators, including Kendrick Lamar, Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg, and Jay Z.
4. We Live In Time (Max)
Yes, We Live In Time has the goofy-looking horse, but it’s also a moving film that stars Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield as Almut and Tobias, who hit it off following a, uh, car accident. “Through snapshots of their life together — falling for each other, building a home, becoming a family — a difficult truth is revealed that rocks its foundation,” the official plot synopsis reads. “As they embark on a path challenged by the limits of time, they learn to cherish each moment of the unconventional route their love story has taken.”
3. Clean Slate (Prime Video)
Clean Slate is one of the final projects from the late Norman Lear, the creator and/or producer of All In The Family, The Jeffersons, Sanford And Son, Good Times, and Maude. The comedy follows Alabama car wash owner Harry (played by George Wallace) who learns that his child, who he thought was his son, is actually a trans woman named Desiree (Laverne Cox). As per Prime Video: “Her homecoming brings together a hilarious cast of friends, coworkers, and love interests, as Desiree and Harry try to get it right the second time around
2. Invincible (Prime Video)
Prime Video has two very popular depraved superhero shows: the one that’s animated, and the one that it isn’t. Invincible is the animated one, and it’s back for another season of a shockingly effective “pairing [of] consistent bone-squishing action with a slow-burning plot.” In season 3, Mark (voiced by Steven Yeun) is forced to face his past and his future, while discovering how much further he’ll need to go to protect the people he loves.
1. Apple Cider Vinegar (Netflix)
Ahead of playing season 2’s most polarizing character on The Last Of Us, the great Kaitlyn Dever stars in Apple Cider Vinegar. The limited series tells the “true-ish story” of Belle Gibson (Dever), an Australian wellness influencer who claims to have cured her terminal brain cancer through health and wellness. As you might imagine, Belle is full of crap. Apple Cider Vinegar is about the rise of a wellness empire, and the inevitable downfall.