If you're looking for a new show to watch this week, streaming has you covered. Some of them are even worth your time!
If you like teen horror, check out Max's Pretty Little Liars: Summer School. If you're into old-school reality-competition shenanigans, you can watch Prime's GOAT. And if you like documentary series, here's a double-dose: AppleTV's Hollywood Con Queen, a three-parter that details a con so strange you might not believe it really happened, and Black Twitter: A People’s History, that tells the story of the memes and the majesty of Black Twitter.
Pretty Little Liars: Summer School
The first season of the Pretty Little Liars reboot is a rare thing: A horror TV show that's actually good—so good, it was dubbed "one of the best horror TV shows of the past two decades" by the horror-freaks over at Bloody Disgusting. Season two, subtitled "Summer School," finds high schoolers Tabby, Noa, Imogen, Faran, and Mouse in class for the summer. The season of romance and fun they imagined is interrupted by a terrifying new villain: Bloody Rose, a mysterious knife-wielding murderer who gets off on testing their limits. Choose this if you like genre-bending horror.
Where to stream: Max
Black Twitter: A People’s History
Based on a Wired article by Jason Parham, Black Twitter: A People’s History is a three-part documentary series that details the people and memes that made Black Twitter such an influential and powerful force. Through interviews with W. Kamau Bell, Kid Fury, Jemele Hill, Roxane Gay, Raquel Willis, and many more, Black Twitter: A People’s History examines how Black people on social media shaped our politics and culture throughout Barack Obama’s election, the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, and beyond.
Where to stream: Hulu
Hollywood Con Queen
This three-part documentary series from Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Chris Smith (Tiger King, Fyre) details an extremely strange criminal operation that snared many LA movie industry hopefuls over the course of decades. The con: A criminal impersonated Hollywood executives and hired low-level entertainment industry professionals to work on movies. Victims then traveled to Indonesia only to find there was no job and no movie. Unlike most criminals, the mastermind here wasn't just trying to make money; they had other, more mysterious motivations.
Where to stream: AppleTV
The GOAT
Remember back around 2004, when reality television was everywhere and shows like The Surreal Life had washed-up celebrities live together to see what would happen? The GOAT feels like a throwback to those halcyon days. Hosted by Daniel (Tosh.0) Tosh, The GOAT features 14 "reality superstars" like CJ Franco from F Boy Island and The Bachelorette's Joseph Amabile living together in GOAT Manor and competing for $200,000 and the honor of being named the greatest reality star of all time.
Where to stream: Prime
Stupid Pet Tricks, Season 1
Sometimes, you just need to look at some cute animals. Sarah Silverman hosts this comedy-variety program featuring performing cats, dogs, camels, hamsters, foxes, and all manner of other smart animals doing stupid things. David Letterman originated the gag as a segment on his show back in the 1980s and lends a hand here as the executive producer of this piece of pleasantly brainless feel-good television.
Where to stream: Max
Last week's picks
Hacks, Season 3
The first and second seasons of HBO original show-biz comedy series Hacks earned rare 100% fresh ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, and the new season aims to continue that perfect record. Picking up a year after Deborah (Jean Smart) and Ava (Hannah Einbinder) went their separate ways, season three finds Deborah enjoying a career resurgence (thanks to Ava's writing), while Ava is working on a Daily Show-like nightly comedy program. Fate, as you'd probably guess, soon brings the odd couple back together.
Where to stream: Max
John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in LA
As part of the "Netflix is a Joke" festival, stand-up comedian John Mulaney will host six nights of live broadcasts, beginning on May 3. Described as a "celebration of LA" and featuring the biggest names in comedy (said big names to be announced), Everybody’s in LA promises to see Mulaney and his comedian pals descending on the City of Angels to create an anything-can-happen experience that comedy fans will definitely want to catch in real time.
Where to stream: Netflix
Welcome to Wrexham, Season 3
Season three of Welcome to Wrexham was originally announced for April, but better late than never. The new season begins with the ragtag Welsh football team owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney having ascended to League Two, the fourth-highest tier of English soccer. But the squad’s new position brings bigger obstacles. Wrexham's season is currently in play in real life, so whether the club continues its Cinderella story or crashes and burns in the face of a higher level of play remains to be seen.
Where to stream: Hulu
Tattooist of Auschwitz
The Tattooist of Auschwitz tells the true story of Holocaust survivors Lali and Gita Sokolov. Imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1942, Lali (Jonah Hauer-King) is given the job of tätowierer and tasked with inking identification numbers on the camp's inmates. Under these worse-than-imaginable conditions, Lali meets Gita (Anna Próchniak) and love blooms within the poison heart of the death camps. Harvey Keitel plays the 80-year-old version of Lali, recounting his story to novelist Heather Morris, played by Melanie Lynskey.
Where to stream: Peacock
The Veil
Elisabeth Moss, star of incendiary and awesome The Handmaid’s Tale, returns with a new series that explores the shadowy world of international espionage. The Veil follows a pair of secret agents locked in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse that takes them from Istanbul to Paris to London and everywhere in between. Thousands of lives hang in the balance as agents of the CIA and the French DGSE work together to learn a deadly secret from a mutual enemy. If you’re in the mood for a stylish, fast-paced, whip-smart spy thriller, The Veil is your new jam.
Where to stream: Hulu
A Man in Full
Television powerhouses David E. Kelley and Regina King teamed up to create this emotionally gripping drama based on the best-selling novel by Tom Wolfe. Jeff Daniels plays Charlie Croker, a brash Atlanta real estate magnate facing bankruptcy and fending off white-collar adversaries eager to capitalize on his fall-from-grace. Diane Lane, Sarah Jones, and Lucy Lui round out A Man in Full's impressive cast.
Where to stream: Netflix
Star Wars: Tales Of The Empire
Kids and Star Wars fans take note: There's a new animated Star Wars series premiering this week. Tales of the Empire, as the title suggests, is set amongst the bad guys, giving the dark side of the Force the attention it deserves. This six-episode series tells the stories of Morgan Elsbeth and Padawan-gone-rogue Barriss Offee, and will feature appearances by legendary Star Wars evil-doers like Darth Vader and General Grievous.
Where to stream: Disney+
Shardlake
Set in the 16th century, Shardlake is a moody mystery series that kicks off with Oliver Cromwell assigning young lawyer Matthew Shardlake (played by Arthur Hughes) to investigate a murder at a monastery in the remote town of Scarnsea. With Cromwell hoping to shut down the monasteries, the monks greet Shardlake with suspicion and hostility. To make matters worse, Shardlake isn't sure of the loyalties of his new assistant. Based on mystery novels by C. J. Sansom, Shardlake aims to present a historically accurate version of the Tudor world as a backdrop for its proto-Sherlock Holmes protagonist.
Where to stream: Hulu