📺 This week in TV: a little cheese, a lot of charm, and a sharp return
Reviews of The Four Seasons (Netflix), Government Cheese (Apple TV+), Poker Face S2 (Peacock), and St. Denis Medical (Peacock), plus a weekly watchlist
Happy Thursday! It’s been a slower month for big new releases so far, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to watch—week-to-week favorites are still delivering, and things are set to pick up in the back half of May. In renewal news, Apple TV+ is officially bringing back The Studio, so there’s more Hollywood satire and behind-the-scenes chaos on the way.
In today’s edition:
Weekly Watchlist
The Four Seasons (Netflix)
Government Cheese (Apple TV+)
Poker Face - Season 2 (Peacock)
St. Denis Medical (Peacock)
— Jenni Cullen and Jess Spoll
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Below is a selection of new shows and movies premiering this week on streaming. Our unabridged list of May releases, including 4 movies premiering in theaters this week is available for premium subscribers.
Poker Face (Season 2) — Natasha Lyonne’s sharp-tongued sleuth hits the road again in Rian Johnson’s modern take on the classic case-of-the-week formula, bringing new guest stars and more twisty murders.
Watch on Peacock: May 8 (3 of 8 episodes, then weekly)Forever (Season 1) — Judy Blume’s groundbreaking novel gets a modern update, set in 2018 Los Angeles where two young athletes navigate the highs and heartbreaks of first love.
Watch on Netflix: May 8 (all 8 episodes)Criminal Minds: Evolution (Season 3) — The BAU is back on the hunt, diving deeper into serialized storytelling with another batch of killers.
Watch on Paramount+: May 8 (1 of 10 episodes, then weekly)Summer of 69 (Movie) — In this coming-of-age comedy, set during a life-changing summer at the height of the counterculture era, an awkward high schooler turns to an exotic dancer (Chloe Fineman) for romantic advice.
Watch on Hulu: May 9Nonnas (Movie) — Vince Vaughn and Susan Sarandon headline this heartwarming comedy about a man attempting to honor his late mother by opening an Italian restaurant with actual grandmothers as the chefs.
Watch on Netflix: May 9Love Hurts* (Movie) — Academy Award winners Ke Huy Quan and Ariana DeBose star alongside former football player Marshawn Lynch in this Valentine’s themed action-comedy.
Watch on Peacock: May 9 (*Streaming Premiere)Bad Thoughts (Season 1) — Tom Segura brings his darkest, most unfiltered thoughts to life in this six-episode sketch comedy series where nothing is quite what it seems, and no topic is off-limits.
Watch on Netflix: May 13 (all 6 episodes)
Our thoughts on brand new streaming content, and where you can watch.
The Four Seasons
Keywords: comedy, limited series, remake
Watch if you like: Four Weddings and a Funeral, Friends With Kids, Love Life
Jenni’s Rating: A-
The Four Seasons is a thoughtful and funny adaptation of the 1981 Alan Alda film, reimagined by the writing trio of Tina Fey, Tracey Wigfield, and Lang Fisher. Like the original, this version follows a group of three couples in their 50s—played by Marco Calvani, Colman Domingo, Tina Fey, Will Forte, Steve Carell, and Kerri Kenney-Silver—over the course of a year, four vacations, and the unraveling of a marriage.
Still marked by her signature wit, this is the most restrained and grounded series I’ve ever seen from Fey—a refreshing pivot from the heightened worlds of 30 Rock or Kimmy Schmidt. The comedy is well-observed and rooted in emotional truth, never relying on broad gags or punchlines. And though the show focuses on eight middle-aged characters with struggles that often feel specific to that phase of life, the dynamics resonate with anyone who’s navigated a long-term relationship—romantic or platonic. For at its core, this is a story about the quirks, rituals, and quiet tensions that build up in tightly-knit groups over time.
This came so close to being an A+ for me. The Four Seasons strikes an honest tone without ever feeling heavy-handed, and its more serious moments are softened by a kind of unspoken mantra: “laugh it off—because what else can you do?” But the final episode takes a sharp left turn that feels like a cheap setup for a second season—one that undercuts the grounded, carefully tended tone of the rest of the series. While this adaptation is smart and brings real freshness to Alda’s original story, I can’t help but feel it works better as a true limited series.
— Jenni
Length: 30-min runtime, 1 season / 8 episodes
Watch on: Netflix
Government Cheese
Keywords: surrealist, comedy, 1960s
Watch if you like: Fargo, Hello Tomorrow, Atlanta
Jess’s Rating: C
Some shows are weird in a way that feels brilliant. Government Cheese is weird in a way that feels like it's trying too hard. The series flirts with Coen brothers energy and brushes up against surrealism but then backs away, leaving a shapeless tangle of half-developed ideas that don’t coalesce.
Set in 1969, the series follows Hampton Chambers (David Oyelowo), an ex-con convinced he’s been chosen by God to invent a self-sharpening power drill. Back home, he finds a family that doesn’t want him, a mountain of debt, and very few options. There’s some promise here: the production design is lush, and Simone Missick is excellent as Hampton’s exasperated wife Astoria.
But Hampton is a frustratingly opaque protagonist, and the show’s surrealism is more ornamental than meaningful. The tone shifts wildly, the narrative is impossible to grasp, and the characters—despite strong performances—never seem like real people with shared history. The result is a show that looks good, sounds ambitious, and leaves almost no impression.
For a show about reinvention, Government Cheese never quite finds itself. It’s not without moments, but they’re buried under so many quirks and tonal pivots that they barely land. I appreciate that it’s striving for originality, but like an over-accessorized outfit, it would have benefitted from the “take one thing off” rule.
— Jess
Length: ~30-min runtime, 1 season / 7 of 10 episodes available, new on Wednesdays
Watch on: Apple TV+
These popular shows came back with new episodes. Here’s what we thought and where you can watch them.
Poker Face - Season 2
Keywords: procedural, mystery-of-the-week, crime comedy
Watch if you like: Knives Out, Columbo, Monk
Jenni’s Rating: B
Nearly two years after its debut, Poker Face has returned with more murders, more quirky guest stars, and more of Natasha Lyonne’s singular charm as Charlie Cale—a woman with a supernatural knack for knowing when someone’s lying.
Charlie is less of a detective, more of a fugitive with a moral compass and a compulsion to call BS when she hears it. Her vagrant lifestyle conveniently places her at the scene of a new murder each episode, and by now, the show has mastered its classic case-of-the-week formula. Even if the storytelling style quickly becomes repetitive, there’s a rhythm to it that’s easy to fall into. And I imagine that portioning the season out (rather than binging six episodes in a row, like I did) will make for a much more pleasant viewing experience.
I’ll admit, I drifted from Season 1 after a few episodes. But Season 2 pulled me right back in. Lyonne remains a magnetic, raspy-voiced center of gravity, and the stacked guest cast—including Cynthia Erivo, John Mulaney, Katie Holmes, Kumail Nanjiani, and so many more—are fully committing to their single-episode arcs, and clearly having a blast doing it.
Poker Face has never tried to reinvent the genre or raise the stakes. It thrives on being bit-heavy and unserious. Sure, some jokes overstay their welcome, and not every callback lands. But overall, Poker Face Season 2 remains a breezy, eccentric watch that doesn’t ask for much—just that you enjoy the weird little world it builds, one lie at a time.
— Jenni
Length: 45-min runtime, 2 seasons / 3 of 8 episodes of Season 2 out now, new on Thursdays
Watch on: Peacock
We reviewed a show in its early days on air. Now that we’ve watched more of it, would we change our initial rating?
St. Denis Medical
Keywords: mockumentary sitcom, ensemble comedy, workplace comedy
Watch if you like: Superstore, Parks and Recreation, The Office
Jess’s Rating: B+
When St. Denis Medical premiered, I could tell it had the ingredients of something great. After watching the full season, I’m happy to report it delivers on that early promise. What starts as a familiar workplace comedy setup in an underfunded Oregon hospital gradually becomes one of the most consistent and surprisingly endearing network sitcoms in recent memory.
The season settles into a rhythm quickly, leaning into its ensemble dynamics and letting the characters get sharper as it goes. Wendi McLendon-Covey is reliably strong as the chaos-courting hospital administrator, but the real strength is in the supporting cast. Standouts like Allison Tolman, David Alan Grier, and Kahyun Kim round out a group that clicks better with each episode. The jokes get funnier, the emotional beats sneak up on you, and by the back half, it starts to feel like a show you could imagine running for years.
It’s not perfect—there are still moments where it tries a little too hard for sentimentality, or leans on obvious setups—but those feel more like growing pains than fatal flaws. As I always point out, even Parks and Rec had to refine itself after a bumpy first season. But in a year with very few great network comedies, St. Denis stands out, and I’m excited to see where it goes.
— Jess
Length: 30-min runtime, 1 season / 18 episodes
Watch on: NBC/Peacock
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"But the final episode takes a sharp left turn that feels like a cheap setup for a second season—one that undercuts the grounded, carefully tended tone of the rest of the series." I feel the same! I was really bummed by the ending.