📺 A new sci-fi thriller, WWII drama, Tudor-era murder mystery and more
Plus 8 new movies and TV shows coming to your streaming services this week
Happy Thursday! The Office is officially getting a spin-off. Peacock announced yesterday that they’d be picking up the new mockumentary about “a publisher trying to revive a dying Midwestern newspaper with volunteer reporters.” Unsure how to feel about this…you can find us staring blankly into the nearest camera.
In today’s edition:
Weekly Watchlist
A Man in Full (Netflix)
Shardlake (Hulu)
Dark Matter (Apple TV+)
The Tattooist of Auschwitz (Peacock)
— Jess Spoll and Jenni Cullen
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Below is a selection of new shows and movies premiering this week. Our full list of May releases, including theatrical releases and streaming debuts, is available here and published monthly for our premium subscribers.
Mother of the Bride (Movie) — From the director of early aughts hits Mean Girls and Freaky Friday comes this rom-com about a mom (Brooke Shields) who jets off to a tropical island for her daughter’s (Miranda Cosgrove) wedding only to discover that the groom’s father is the ex she hasn’t seen in decades.
Watch on Netflix: May 9Bodkin (Season 1) — In Will Forte’s new darkly comedic thriller, a ragtag crew of podcasters sets out to investigate mysterious disappearances from decades ago in a charming Irish town full of secrets.
Watch on Netflix: May 9 (all 7 episodes)The Iron Claw* (Movie) — The true story of the Von Erich brothers and their experiences in the competitive world of professional wrestling in the 80s is explored in this Zac Efron-led biopic.
Watch on Max: May 10 (*Streaming premiere)Pretty Little Liars: Summer School (Season 2) — This follow-up to the teen horror reboot of Pretty Little Liars returns viewers to Millwood, PA for a summer of pool parties and sunshine and a brand new stalker to deal with.
Watch on Max: May 9 (2 of 8 episodes, then weekly)Doctor Who (Season 14) — The latest season of this iconic British sci-fi series stars Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor — a new incarnation of the alien Time Lord who travels through time and space to solve the universe’s problems in his TARDIS. Millie Gibson also stars as the Doctor's newest companion, Ruby Sunday.
Watch on Disney+: May 10 (2 of 8 episodes, then weekly)Interview with the Vampire (Season 2) — This modern and sensuous retelling of Anne Rice’s 1976 novel The Vampire Chronicles, returns. If you’re a True Blood or Vampire Diaries fan and haven’t yet tried this gothic horror/romance series, now’s your time.
Watch on AMC/AMC+: May 12 (1 of 8 episodes, then weekly)Madame Web* (Season 1) — The widely criticized superhero movie starring Dakota Johnson as a paramedic who develops the power to see the future makes its streaming debut.
Watch on Netflix: May 14 (*Streaming premiere)Uncle Samsik (Season 1) — This Korean period drama follows the bromance and uneasy alliance between polar opposites Kim San and Park Doochil, a pair navigating the turbulent backdrop of the 1960s.
Watch on Disney+/Hulu: May 15 (5 of 16 episodes, then 2 per week)
Our thoughts on brand new streaming content, and where you can watch.
A Man in Full
Keywords: drama, satire, book adaptation
Watch if you like: Billions, Yellowstone, Dynasty
Jess’s Rating: D+
Adapted from the ‘98 novel of the same name by Tom Wolfe, A Man in Full centers around Charlie Croker (Jeff Daniels), an egotistical and mega-rich Atlanta businessman who faces financial ruin after his bank asks him to pay back a loan of nearly one billion dollars. Despite the novel’s pre-00s origins, the series re-treads common narrative ground, joining shows like Succession and Billions in their examination of wealth and power. Unlike those, this series feels like it was tailor-made to be a forgettable primetime network melodrama.
What works so well for Daniels in roles like his in The Newsroom is exactly what works against him here: he naturally exudes intelligence, sturdiness, and confidence. In trying to play a blustering buffoon — complete with a ridiculous Southern accent — his performance veers into caricature territory, leaving little room for nuance or depth. Alongside Daniels is a talented ensemble cast including William Jackson Harper, Diane Lane, and Lucy Liu, but they don’t aren’t able to pick up the slack either — their characters are underwritten and serve mostly as window dressing.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the show is its failure to capitalize on its potential for social commentary. Despite touching on themes of masculinity, the morality of extreme wealth, and racial tensions in the South, the series never delves beyond surface-level observations, relying instead on plot twists and ham-fisted dialogue. There are various side-plots that attempt to do this, but are underbaked and feel like they belong in a different series altogether, like when the husband of one of Croker’s employees gets thrown into jail after an altercation with a violent police officer. The broad strokes are there, but navigating these social issues would take more time and care than is possible in only 6 episodes.
A Man in Full falls neatly into the bucket of mediocre, mostly forgettable dramas on Netflix. Satirizing the rich and powerful may be hot right now, but this series falls short of offering anything original or being more than passingly entertaining.
— Jess
Length: 50-min runtime, Limited Series / 6 episodes
Watch on: Netflix
Shardlake
Keywords: Tudor-era, crime drama, detective series
Watch if you like: Sherlock Holmes, Broadchurch, Mantel
Jenni’s Rating: B-
This historical mystery series adapted from CJ Sansom’s novel of the same name follows Matthew Shardlake (Arthur Hughes), a lawyer turned detective who is sent by Thomas Cromwell to investigate a murder in a Benedictine monastery. But beneath the surface lies a secondary mission: to uncover any evidence that would justify the Protestant Crown seizing the wealth of the Catholic monks.
Hughes’s Shardlake emerges quickly as a compelling protagonist marked by intellect, intensity, and a spine deformity that causes many to underestimate and spurn him. And his impulsive, cocky partner, Jack Barak (Anthony Boyle) offers surprising depth and comedic relief. The interactions between the pair were the highlight of my viewing experience.
While 16th century monk murder mysteries aren’t the content I would ordinarily seek out (and I honestly worried this would be a slog), I was pleasantly surprised at the brisk pace of this four-part series. To me, Shardlake has high activation energy, but low time commitment: there are only four episodes, and they move well, but it may be a hard show to start. To that end, this series definitely won’t be for everyone, but those who enjoy a Sherlock-Holmes-style detective period drama and the setting of dark and brooding Tudor-era England will probably have a good time.
— Jenni
Length: 60-min runtime, 1 season / 4 episodes
Watch on: Hulu
Dark Matter
Keywords: sci-fi, thriller, mystery box
Watch if you like: 3 Body Problem, Severance, Constellation
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