In a way, I couldn’t be more spoiled for TV shows to stream this week. Even with just a few subscriptions in tow, the catalog of shows I need to catch up on is enormous. I still haven’t seen season 2 of Peacemaker, for example, and I keep meaning to continue Good Omens on Prime Video. Maybe if enough people pile on, we’ll get an honest-to-goodness Discworld series.
If you’re looking for new material, though, we’re in the summer doldrums. This isn’t usually when services premiere their most popular shows, Apple’s Ted Lasso notwithstanding, and HBO just wrapped up the third season of House of the Dragon. If you’re willing to be mildly adventurous, here are the shows that caught my eye for weekend entertainment.
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7 day free trial and 3 months free if you buy an Apple device
Silo (Season 3)
Shades of Fallout, anyone?
Dystopian fiction isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but Apple’s series pulls it off better than most. The show is set in the titular underground structure, which houses thousands of people under strict rules, working on the assumption that the above-ground world is toxic. Naturally, Rebecca Ferguson’s main character (and others) learn dark secrets about the nature of their home, and conflict ensues.
The third season wraps up September 4, with new episodes dropping on Apple TV every Friday. It’s generally popular so far, and it might be worth jumping into cold if you can find a YouTube synopsis of the first two seasons. Mystery is much of the point of the show, however, so it might also be worth putting up with the first season’s relatively slow pacing.
Lanterns (Season 1)
Another swing at the DCU
Warner Bros. just can’t seem to get the DC Universe (or previously, the Extended Universe) more than a few feet off the ground. For every Peacemaker or Superman, there’s been something like Supergirl or the original Suicide Squad. It’s particularly bold to try to win fans with something based on Green Lantern, a beloved character in the comics, but one that last reached for the mainstream in 2011’s theatrical flop.
The word is positive on Lanterns so far, possibly because it’s taking a very different approach. It plays out as a sort of True Detective-style murder mystery, albeit one with superhuman powers, and ties to the broader DCU. You might not care for it much if you don’t know anything about Green Lantern, or aren’t trying to fill in every gap in the DCU arc — yet this is instantly better than any reality TV show you might name. New episodes are dropping on HBO Max every Sunday through October 4.
Star Wars Visions Presents: The Ninth Jedi
A twist back to Star Wars’ roots
If you didn’t know, Star Wars owes a tremendous debt to Japanese fiction. The Jedi and Sith are essentially samurai and ronin, and Episode IV borrows elements from Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. The Force is a blown-up interpretation of ki.
Visions is an animated anthology series, primarily anime, and this is an eight-episode spinoff of two shorts bearing the same name. Here, Lah Kara trains under Margrave Juro as she works to rescue her father, the sabersmith Lah Zhima. While Zhima is played by Simu Liu, the real attraction for most people will be its unique take on the Star Wars universe from Japan’s famous Production IG. That studio is linked to projects like Patlabor and Ghost in the Shell. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, you might not be excited, but it’s often these spinoffs of Star Wars that are the most creative.
One nice perk: all episodes of the series are already streaming on Disney+. I’d recommend this over watching the prequel trilogy again.
