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. Dan Da Dan (Netflix)
The acclaimed anime Dan Da Dan is about Momo, a high school girl from a family of spirit mediums, and her classmate / occult fanatic Okarun, who begin talking after she saves him from getting bullied. However, an argument ensues between them: Momo believes in ghosts but denies aliens, and Okarun believes in aliens but denies ghosts. It’s a real Mulder and Scully dynamic, if they were both Mulder (and there was a Turbo Granny). Dan Da Dan, which is getting a weekly release, comes from animation studio Science Saru, who also made last year’s shockingly good Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.
14. Arcane (Netflix)
The animated series on Netflix from creators Christian Linke and Alex Yee is based on League of Legends, but trust me, even if you know zilch about the multiplayer online role-playing game, you can still enjoy Arcane. Season 1 premiered all the way back in 2021 (it’s somehow been an even longer wait than Stranger Things), but the strikingly stylish show is now back for its second season… which is also the final season. The voice cast includes Hailee Steinfeld and Ella Purnell, the queen of the video game show.
13. My Old Ass (Prime Video)
The Aubrey Plaza-starring My Old Ass is the kind of movie that will make you say: wow. During a mushroom trip on her 18th birthday, Ellliott (played by Maisy Stella) comes face to face with her 36-year-old self (Plaza). But when her “old ass” starts giving her advice based on 20 years of experience, Elliott begins to rethink her life during a transformative summer. It’s Gen Z’s defining coming-of-age comedy.
12. Cobra Kai (Netflix)
The final season of Cobra Kai was split into three five-episode chunks, beginning with Part I in July. Part II arrives this weekend, followed by Part III later this year. “The stakes are set at the end of the first five,” star William Zabka, who plays Johnny Lawrence, previously said about the final season. “I think if it was just a movie, it’s a great ending that would beg for a sequel, which fortunately is coming in a few months.” It’s here now.
11. Silo (Apple TV Plus)
You know who rocks? Rebecca Ferguson, that’s who. She rocks in Mission: Impossible. She rocks in Dune. And she rocks in Silo. The future-set Apple TV+ sci-fi series is about a community of people who live in an underground silo due to the toxic conditions of the outside world. Literally toxic, not “social media is bad for your mental health” toxic. Ferguson is joined by Tim Robbins, Common, Harriet Walter, and new addition Steve Zahn.
10. Emilia Pérez (Netflix)
The true star of Emilia Pérez isn’t Zoe Saldaña or Selena Gomez. It’s Karla Sofía Gascón. In Jacques Audiard’s musical crime-drama, the actress, who is trans, plays a feared cartel boss who undergoes sex reassignment surgery with the hope of beginning a new life free from the past. Emilia Pérez has been getting Oscars buzz since it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, with special attention paid to Sofía Gascón’s performance. Could she make history?
9. Interior Chinatown (Hulu)
Silicon Valley’s Jimmy O. Yang stars as Willis Wu, a background character who is trapped in a police procedural called Black & White. As he goes through the motions of his on-screen job, he witnesses an unlawful act and begins to unravel a criminal web in Chinatown, along with his own family’s history. Interior Chinatown is based on Charles Yu’s novel of the same name, and also stars Ronny Chieng, Chloe Bennet, Lisa Gilroy, Archie Kao, and Diana Lin.
8. Alien: Romulus (Hulu)
There’s decades of expectations that come with playing the female lead in an Alien movie; Sigourney Weaver probably would have become a star no matter what, yet Ripley made her an icon. But Cailee Spaeney crushes it in Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus. She commands the screen when she’s shooting a big gun at a bunch of wet aliens, and her scenes with David Jonsson’s robot brother Andy are genuinely touching. Plus, she looks cool as hell.
7. A Man On the Inside (Netflix)
SNL. The Comeback. The Office. Parks and Recreation. Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The Good Place. Rutherford Falls. What do all these shows have in common? Michael Schur. Regis Philbin’s son-in-law (it’s true) has either written for and/or created all of them. He’s one of the most important names in comedy this century, and he has a new show on Netflix. A Man on the Inside follows retired widower Charles, played by Cheers and The Good Place legend Ted Danson, who goes undercover in a retirement community to solve a mystery.
6. Blitz (Apple TV Plus)
Is Saoirse Ronan capable of giving a bad performance? (No.) The actress gives one of her best in Blitz, the new film from director Steve McQueen. The story follows a young boy, played by Elliott Heffernan, who is sent to the English countryside for his safety by his mom (Ronan) during World War II, and the journey they go on to reunite. Another Oscar nomination, her fifth, is possible.
5. Our Little Secret (Netflix)
Lindsay Lohan has found a nice home for herself on Netflix. It started with Christmas rom-com Falling For Christmas, then came fantasy rom-com Irish Wish. Now we have another rom-com set during Christmas, Our Little Secret, where she plays one of two resentful exes, along with Ian Harding, who are forced to spend the holiday under the same roof after discovering that their current partners are siblings.
4. Beatles ’64 (Disney Plus)
It’s becoming a tradition for a new Beatles documentary to drop on Disney Plus around Thanksgiving time. In 2021, it was The Beatles: Get Back. This year, it’s the Martin Scorsese-produced Beatles ’64, the year John, Paul, George, and Ringo visited America. The film features behind-the-scenes footage filmed by David and Albert Maysles, as well as newly filmed and archival interviews with The Beatles. Stay tuned for the next Fab Four documentary in 2027.
3. Sweethearts (Max)
Kiernan Shipka is having quite the year. The Mad Men actress was in two blockbusters (Twisters, Red One), an indie horror hit (Longlegs), a potential Oscar nominee (The Last Showgirl), and the rare Thanksgiving rom-com. That would be Sweethearts, about two college freshmen (Shipka and Nico Hiraga) who make a pact to break up with their high school sweethearts over Turkey Day break. But their plan leads them on “a chaotic night out in their hometown that puts their codependent friendship to the test.” Sounds like something Sally Draper would do.
2. Robot Dreams (Hulu)
Robot Dreams is an absolute delight. It also might break your heart. The dialogue-free film from writer and director Pablo Berger is about the unlikely friendship between a robot and a dog. It’s gorgeously animated, and will delight adults and kids alike. Get ready to have Earth, Wind, & Fire’s “September” stuck in your head.
1. The Madness (Netflix)
In the long break between seasons of Euphoria, Colman Domingo was nominated for an Oscar. He also starred in a new Netflix conspiracy thriller series, The Madness, in which he plays a media pundit who finds himself framed for the murder of a notorious white supremacist after he stumbles upon a dead body in the Poconos woods.
