All the TV That’s Fit to Stream
Welcome back to streaming variability, a newsletter all about tv and what’s worth watching written by some random idiot on the internet!
Programming Note: I’ve gotten a decent rhythm going of Streaming Variability on Monday’s, Sequential Variants on Wednesday’s and the news (and music) on Friday’s (even if I’m late sometimes) that I plan on keeping up. So as always, if you aren’t interested in one or any of those, hit that Manage Subscription button. Paid subscribers help keep the lights on and unlock the full Friday issue.
Quick Thoughts
Tonight is the season finale of Perry Mason (S2), which I’m pretty excited for. After a slow start, things really picked up around E3 and they haven’t looked back.
I got around to finishing Beef this past weekend and oh boy! The start was amazing so I knew I was in for a ride from the jump, but the last three episodes were absolutely incredible (E8 is up there with the best episodes of TV this year) and they take things so much further than I could have ever expected, both from an escalation in terms of plot, but also just in terms of stylistic film-making. It was really special and if you haven’t checked it out yet, do yourself a favor give the first episode a watch.
The first episode of Mrs. Davis was wild, weird, and wonderful. Second episode didn’t hold as much weight for me, but I’m still all-in and excited to see where they take this show.
Lastly, I completely missed mentioning The Diplomat, which is a new show starring Keri Russell that dropped on Netflix last week. The cast they roll out alongside Russell is quite good and the first episode had enough there for me to want to see where things go in E2.
New Stuff
Love & Death (HBO)
Elizabeth Olsen and Jesse Plemons make this a must-watch all by themselves, but if you need mor…. Love & Death is based on the book Evidence of Love by John Bloom and Jim Atkinson, which is based on a true story, and brought to life for streaming by David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies, Boston Legal, Ally McBeal). So that’s a lot. Plus I’m always down for a Limited Series.
Saint X (Hulu)
ABC Family meets You (meets Gossip Girl, maybe…) This one doesn’t really look like it’s my speed, but you never know.
Citadel (Amazon)
Another big bet from Amazon. This is their giant world-building show, where there will apparently be multiple shows around the world all connected in some form or fashion. Fun to see Richard Madden aka Robb Stark again, but ultimately, the Russo Brothers have pretty much only produced misses for me, at least when it comes to streaming, and I have a feeling they’ve bitten off more than they can chew with this one. With all that being said, it was still a top ten most anticipated show for me because I love to see people take big swings even if they inevitably miss.
Fatal Attraction (Paramount)
Don’t really love the idea of a show based on a move, but Paramount’s sister channel, Showtime, did something really interesting with American Gigolo (even if no one else watched it), so maybe they can figure something out with this one.
Sweet Tooth S2 (Netflix)
I never got around to finishing the first season, but the comic is top five all-time for me, so I’m happy to see this continuing if only for the potential opportunity to see more Jeff Lemire books turned into tv/movies down the line.
The Schedule
Monday
🎩 Perry Mason (HBO) 2:8
Wednesday
🎩 Ted Lasso (Apple) 3:7
The Big Door Prize (Apple) 1:7
Saint X (Hulu) 1:1-3
Thursday
Digman! (Comedy Central ) 1:6
Dave (Hulu) 3:5
🌟 Mrs. Davis (Peacock) 1:5
Love & Death (HBO) 1:1-3
Sweet Tooth (Netflix) S2
Friday
🌟 Yellowjackets (Showtime) 2:6
The Power (Amazon) 1:7
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon) 5:5
The Last Thing He Told Me (Apple) 1:4
Dear Mama (FX) 1:3
🌟 Citadel (Amazon) 1:1-2
Sunday
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) 10:10
Lucky Hank (AMC) 1:7
Rabbit Hole (Paramount) 1:7
🌟 Succession (HBO) 4:6
Royal Crackers (Adult Swim) 1:7
Waco: The Aftermath (Showtime) 1:3
🌟 Barry (HBO) 4:4
From (MGM) 2:2
Somebody Somewhere (HBO) 2:2
Fatal Attraction (Paramount) 1:1-3
Legend
Season/Series Premier: bold
Season/Series Finale: italic
Highly Anticipated: 🌟
Top Notch Viewing: 🎩
Elsewhere
🎥 Reality (HBO Original movie starring Sydney Sweeney)
📺 High Desert (Apple TV show starring Patricia Arquette)
🎥 Beau is Afraid (Letterboxd review—hint: it was a masterpiece that lots of people will dislike)
As always, stay sane.
-humdrum