If you’ve already watched the Best 25 Best Shows on Netflix, powered through the Next 25 Best TV Shows on Netflix, and got caught up on this week’s best new movies on Netflix, we now have even more Netflix options for you. Here’s all the recently released seasons of television on Netflix, plus upcoming expirations and Netflix TV news.
Pick of the Week — Longmire (Season Two). Longmire, as Dan Seitz wrote last year, is one of those shows you just kind of stumble upon on Netflix. And as I wrote last year, it’s one of 10 shows that are much better than you think they are. Yes, it’s a procedural, and no, there’s nothing groundbreaking or original about the murder mysteries of the week (or even the serialized arc). But it’s a very comfortable show. It’s easy to watch, it’s not dumb. The lead, Robert Taylor, very much has a James Garner thing going on, and Katee Sackhoff is terrific, even if she isn’t used as much as she should be. Longmire probably won’t win many awards, but it’s one of the best TV shows around that you’re probably not watching.
Expiring Soon — The animated Incredible Hulk and Spiderman Unlimited series, and Undercover Boss UK. There are a couple of good movies that will be removed from Netflix in June, too, including In & Out and A Fish Called Wanda.
Netflix News of Note — The streaming service will add DreamWorks Dragons, a cartoon based on the How to Train Your Dragon films sometime in the Spring of 2015, which is actually great news (especially if you have kids) because Netflix’ original animated content hasn’t been all that great yet (they most recently debuted an animated series based on Turbo and it wasn’t that great, according to my six year old).
The Rest of Netflix’s Recent Releases
Derek, Season 2 — The first season of Derek — which is about a loyal nursing home caretaker (Ricky Gervais) who sees only the good in his quirky co-workers as they struggle against prejudice and shrinking budgets to care for their elderly residents — received mostly mixed reviews. Anecdotally, most of what I heard was that it was a very sweet show once you got past the pilot episode. However, season two has received almost universal negative reviews, with critics suggesting that it’s all over the map, that the character has worn out its welcome, that it’s no longer funny, and that it’s too nice. Still, it’s Gervais, so it may be worth a look, especially for Gervais completists and anyone who loved the first series.
Scandal (Season 3) — This is the most recent season of Shonda Rhimes’ ABC series starring Kerry Washington, and it’s also the season where Scandal went from addictively bonkers to completely off-the-rails bonkers. There was one particularly scene where the series just completely transformed from a fun guilty pleasure and into a hate watch. It still has its juicy, salacious, and entertaining moments, but it’s not the series it was in seasons one and two. It’s already into the latter season of Alias or Nip/Tuck territory.
The Glades (Season 4) — I’ve never seen The Glades — an A&E show about an abrasive former Chicago cop moves who to a small Florida town and joins the state police — but reviews are surprisingly decent for the show, and when it debuted, it had the highest-rated debut ever for a series on A&E. Procedural junkies (or your grandparents) may want to check it out.
