The Best New TV Series to Stream This Week

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Maya Erskine and Donald Glover star in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, this week's most intriguing new series. There's also a new season of Feud that details Truman Capote's real life clash with a cadre of upper-crust society ladies, Chilean action-comedy series Baby Bandito, and a new season of Farmer Wants a Wife. I also threw in a couple of slightly older shows that are excellent.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith 

This Prime original series shares a title with the 2005 film starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, but it strays far from the source material. In this version of the story, the Smiths (Pen15's Maya Erskine and Atlanta’s Donald Glover) are a couple of intelligence agents who get married for real to make their undercover identities bulletproof. But feelings develop between the two opposites; complicated feelings. Each episode details a dangerous case the couple work as well as charting their equally dangerous marriage.

Where to stream: Prime

Feud: Capote vs. the Swans

The second season of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series tells the true(ish) story of writer Truman Capote’s conflict with a gaggle of rich, powerful wives. To research his seminal 1966 book In Cold Blood, Capote spent countless hours among lowlifes and murderers in the Midwest, but it wasn’t until he spilled the literary tea of a hive of society mavens that Capote learned the meaning of “ruthless.” Directed by Gus Van Sant with a cast including Chloë Sevigny, Diane Lane, Calista Flockhart, Molly Ringwald, Demi Moore, and Naomi Watts, Capote vs. the Swans is a must-stream.

Where to stream: Hulu

Baby Bandito

This Spanish-language series embellishes the hell out of a real-life heist that happened in Chile in 2014. Over the course of Baby Bandito’s eight fast-paced, funny chapters, Chilean skateboarder Kevin Tapia falls in love, double-crosses a crime lord called “The Butcher,” and pulls off the heist of the century, boosting tens of millions of dollars with the help of his friends. Getting the money turns out to be easier than keeping it, as both cops and criminals chase the Baby Bandito and his girl across the world, while his crew can’t help flaunting their new wealth on social media. 

Where to stream: Netflix

Genius: MLK/X

The fourth season of Genius, an anthology drama series about historically brilliant people, examines civil rights icons Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Genius delves deeply into their lives to bring out the personal, comparing and contrasting two men who shared a goal, but had very different ideas about how it should be achieved.

Where to stream: Hulu

Clone High, Season 2

The first season of Clone High aired for one season on MTV in 2003. It was canceled after a depiction of Mahatma Gandhi sparked an international uproar. But Clone High’s creators apparently spent the last 20 years working on being edgy without being shitty, because the new, improved Clone High earned a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has yet to inspire any protests or hunger strikes. The show tells the story of a high school populated by clones of historical figures like Abraham Lincoln and Frida Kahlo (but not Gandhi) through crude animation and funnier-than-you expect writing.

Where to stream: Max

Farmer Wants a Wife, Season 2 

There probably isn’t a TV show that is less aimed at me than Farmer Wants a Wife, but I like to confound expectations, so I’m going to watch every episode of season 2, starting tonight with episode 1. The reality show follows the romantic adventures of four hunky famers. Each farmer picks five city ladies to live with them on their farm and wear straw hats or swat flies or do whatever people do on farms. Through this rigorous process, love is achieved. Yee, and I cannot stress this enough, haw.

Where to stream: Hulu

The Devil’s Hour (2022)

Too many people slept on Prime’s The Devil’s Hour, a six-episode British supernatural crime drama released in 2022, but it deserves an audience beyond a small niche. The “Devil’s Hour” of the title is between 3 and 4 a.m, when troubled main character Lucy Chambers awakens every night with nightmarishly specific visions, but Lucy and her nightmares are only one part of a deliberate, slow-burn story that carefully builds to an unexpected and chilling conclusion. 

Where to stream: Prime

Julia (2022)

This Max original series detail the fascinating life of uber-chef Julia Child over two seasons. It opens with the publication of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and goes on to chronicle how this eccentric, boisterous woman parlayed a local PBS cooking show into becoming the most famous celebrity chef in history. The details in Julia come together like the ingredients in a Child's coq au vin: the performances are excellent (particularly Sarah Lancashire’s as the iconoclastic main character), the writing is witty and smart, and the production design nails the time period perfectly. I bet the snacks on the set were particularly delicious too.  

Where to stream: Max

Last week's picks

Queer Eye, season 8

There are six new episodes of Queer Eye available on Netflix now. If you’ve seen the show, you’re probably already watching them, but if you haven’t, now’s the time to dive in. The premise of a gaggle of LGBTQ+ experts fixing up regular people’s looks and lives would get old fast if the cast wasn’t so charming and the presentation wasn't unfailingly empathetic and tolerant. It’s tear-jerking, transformation TV made with honesty and care that transcends the "reality" genre entirely.

Where to stream: Netflix

True Detective: Night Country

The fourth season of True Detective is set in a tiny arctic community at the beginning of polar night, and things get crazy when the lights go out. Jodie Foster and Kali Reis are investigating the strange disappearance of the entire population of an arctic research center and its possible connection to a the grisly murder of a native woman. If the rest of the series lives up to the creepy, atmospheric vibe of the first couple episodes, Night Country is a must-watch.

Where to stream: Max

Expats

Nicole Kidman is the driving force behind this drama about a group of rich American expatriates in Hong Kong. Expats is a heavy, only-for-adults drama about loss, grief, class, and alienation as architect-turned-housewife Margaret (played by Kidman) tries to cope with the disappearance of her son while her expat friend deals with her own failing marriage. In the background is the uncomfortable fact that the troubled rich people's servants are expats of a different kind.

Where to stream: Prime

Hazbin Hotel 

Series creator Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano financed the pilot for Hazbin Hotel largely through her Patreon followers, earning enough buzz to get a series on Prime. The not-for-little-kids cartoon series tells the story of the Princess of Hell, Charlie Morningstar, who builds the Hazbin Hotel to rehabilitate demons so they can go to heaven. Bright, colorful, and packed with memorable songs, Hazbin Hotel crackles with youthful energy and will appeal to every theater kid, goth, weirdo, and creative—my people!

Griselda

Sofía Vergara turns in a ruthless performance as real-life Columbian kingpin Griselda Blanco in Griselda. Blanco was on par with Pablo Escobar in the 1980s; she controlled most of Miami’s cocaine trade, and her rise to power and subsequent fall from grace is detailed over six episodes in this intense new series. 

Where to stream: Netflix

Masters of the Universe: Revolution 

The world needs He-Man right now, and luckily he’s there waiting for you to beam his muscular, heroic form right into your home. Sci-fi icons Mark Hamill and William Shatner lend their voices to this animated series that updates the source material enough to make it current while keeping the essential vibe of the original series intact. By the power of Greyskull!

Where to stream: Netflix

Superhot: The Spicy World of Pepper People

“Let’s look at people who like spicy food” might seem like a thin premise for a TV show, but these folks really like spicy food, and examining their subculture reveals an unseen world of inspiration, obsession, beauty, and controversy. Plus, you get to see people sweat a lot as they consume inhumanely spicy peppers. What's not to like?

Where to stream: Hulu

Zorro

Zorro has been around since 1919, and the masked swordsman’s derring-do is still inspiring adaptations. This one finds Zorro in Los Angeles in the 1800s, dishing out justice to scoundrels of all types at the point of his shiny rapier. If classic cinematic heroics and good vs. evil storytelling turn your crank, check out Zorro.

Where to stream: Prime

On the Roam with Jason Momoa

Megastar Jason Momoa is doing good things with his fame, including hosting reality show On the Roam. In it, Momoa travels the country exploring the work and lives of craftspeople, artists, and others on unconventional personal journeys, whether they’re dirt-bikers or photographers.

Where to stream: Max

Six Nations: Full Contact 

The 2023 NFL season is nearing its end; the perfect time to dive into the sport’s father: rugby. Docu-series Six Nations: Full Contact was made by the people who brought us Formula 1: Drive to Survive, and like that series, it examines a sport that most American have heard of but few understand. The setting is the Six Nations tournament, the Super Bowl of rugby, and we have a front row seat to all the drama, beauty, and violence of the sport as the tough-guy bruisers of rugby strive toward the ultimate championship.

Where to stream: Netflix