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. The Decameron (Netflix)
Tony Hale has a pretty solid track record when it comes to comedies. Buster in Arrested Development, Gary in Veep, FORKY in Toy Story 4 (do not hold Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip against him). Next up is The Decameron, which is like if The White Lotus took place during the bubonic plague pandemic (or as actress Jessica Plummer described it, “Love Island, but back in the day”). The social satire is getting rave reviews for being “the best apocalyptic ensemble comedy since Clue.” Grab your juice and start watching.
14. Futurama (Hulu)
Last season on Futurama, Fry, Leela, Bender, & Co. took on an Amazon-like company formed by Mom; caught a rage virus; and got turned into toys (that was a weird one). In season 12 (which is technically the second half of season eight if you go by production order, but let’s stick with Hulu’s season designations for the sake of ease), the gang “embarks on mind-bending adventures involving birthday party games to the death, the secrets of Bender’s ancestral robot village, A.I. friends (and enemies), impossibly cute beanbags, and the true 5 million-year-old story behind the consciousness-altering substance known as coffee.” Guest stars include Danny Trejo, Cara Delevingne, and Kyle Maclachlan. (Read more about the new season here.)
13. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Hulu)
A while back, I remember seeing someone online make the case for Planet of the Apes as the most consistently good movie franchise. That’s overstating things (how soon we forget Ape Lincoln?), but there are more keepers than stinkers in the series, especially among the recent films. Surprise box office hit Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes needed to justify its existence following the strong conclusion to the Caesar trilogy — and it did. The 10th overall Planet of the Apes features typically CGI work and a stirring story about determination. You won’t hate every ape you see, from chimpan-A to chimpan-Z.
12. Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Paramount Plus)
2023’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem made a decent amount of money at the box office and received strong reviews — but doesn’t it still feel under-appreciated? It’s a really good movie (and should have been nominated for an Oscar over Elemental)! Paramount Plus spin-off series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is set in the same universe as Mutant Mayhem, and the animation looks just as cool as it does in the film. The voice cast of the Turtles (Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, and Brady Noon) is back, too, as well as Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil.
11. Immaculate (Hulu)
Still not on the Sydney Sweeney bandwagon? You will be after watching Immaculate. The horror film stars Tank’s mom as a devout American nun who travels to a convent in Italy where things aren’t quite as they initially appear. Hate it when that happens. The wild ending, in particular, is pretty great.
10. Solar Opposites (Hulu)
Solar Opposites doesn’t get as much love and attention as Rick and Morty, another science-fiction/comedy animated series, but it should. The show goes to some truly unexpected places, including The Wall and SilverCops side-stories, and the voice cast of Dan Stevens, Thomas Middleditch, Sean Giambrone, and Mary Mack do fine work as the chaotic former residents of Planet Shlorp. I would die for the Pupa (assuming it doesn’t kill me first).
9. Industry (Max)
This third season of Industry, overall, convinces me that there will be a future moment when this series will move beyond scoring critical acclaim and maintaining a loyal but relatively modest audience. Years into the future, this show could catch on with a whole new audience and be streamed into oblivion in a Suits-like way. That USA Network show maintained a dedicated enough audience to last a decade, but years later, the show’s exploding popularity on Netflix led NBC to double back and find new life in the franchise. It’s very easy to imagine Industry someday harnessing broad streaming appeal in the same way. (You can read our review here.)
8. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Max)
The world did Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga dirty. Maybe it’s not a stone-cold masterpiece like Mad Max: Fury Road, but few films are. The George Miller epic deserves better than making less money at the domestic box office than It Ends With Us. It has the best action sequence of the year, Anya Taylor-Joy rules, and Chris Hemsworth gives a genuinely Oscar-worthy performance. Also, there’s a character named Pissboy. Fire up Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga on Max and make it the hit it should have been when it was in theaters.
7. 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.
6. 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.
5. The Boy And The Heron (Max)
Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron is about a young boy named Mahito who moves into his family’s home in the countryside following the death of his mother. There, he discovers a crumbling tower; a mischievous gray heron, voiced in the English dub by Robert Pattinson at his weirdest; and a fantastical world. Also, a parakeet king voiced by Dave Bautista. If The Boy and the Heron is indeed Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, he went out with another masterpiece.
4. Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist (Peacock)
On October 26, 1970, Muhammad Ali made his return to boxing following a multi-year suspension. That same night, a hustler named Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams (played by Kevin Hart) hosted a party in Atlanta that ended with a $1 million heist. The Peacock eight-episode limited series is based on this event, as the Chicken Man tries to clear his name by attempting to convince one of the first Black detectives (Don Cheadle) in the city’s police force to bring those responsible to justice. The cast also includes Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard, Chloe Bailey, Lori Harvey, and Samuel L. Jackson
3. Rebel Ridge (Neftlix)
Here’s a promise: if you make a movie as good as Green Room, I will watch whatever you make for the rest of your career. Rebel Ridge is the latest film from director and writer Jeremy Saulnier, and it stars Aaron Pierre as a former Marine who “grapples his way through a web of small-town corruption when an attempt to post bail for his cousin escalates into a violent standoff with the local police chief. He didn’t start this fight, but he will finish it.” And hey, if he wants to take out some neo-Nazis along the way, that would be cool, too.
2. 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.
1. 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.
