📺 What to watch during the dog days of summer
Idris Elba's new series, a classic HBO miniseries, a movie starring Adam DeVine, and a Sweeney-Todd inspired dramedy
Happy Thursday! ☀️ Hopefully most of you are enjoying a short week and have had plenty of time to relax as we ease into July. Not to bring the vibe down, but we got news yesterday that Sex Education will be coming to a close with its fourth season later this year.
If you’ve recently finished watching the new season of The Bear (and we hope you have!!!), then hop over to the Double Take podcast to hear our reactions. Listen here: Spotify / Apple.
In today’s edition:
Weekly Watchlist
Hijack (Apple TV+)
John Adams (Max)
— Jenni Cullen and Jess Spoll
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We keep an eye on all of the new streaming content that is set to premiere. Here’s a list of new shows and movies to watch this week.
The Lincoln Lawyer (Season 2, Part 1) — This legal drama returns for a second season split into two parts: the first half arrives today, and the second will premiere next month.
Watch on Netflix: July 6 (all 5 episodes in part 1; part 2 on August 3)Kevin Hart: Reality Check (Comedy Special) — Kevin Hart reflects on his growing family and fame in his new stand-up special.
Watch on Peacock: July 6The Horror of Dolores Roach (Season 1) — Based on the scripted podcast of the same name, Justina Machado stars as an ex-con in this Sweeney Todd-inspired dramedy.
Watch on Prime Video: July 7 (all 8 episodes)The Out-Laws (Movie) — Adam Devine stars in this action-comedy as a bank manager who suspects that his fiancee’s parents are bank robbers.
Watch on Netflix: July 7Miracle Workers: End Times (Season 4) — The fourth and likely final season of TBS’s comedic anthology series starring Daniel Radcliffe is set in a post-apocalyptic future in which a Mad Max-style couple attempts to settle down in the suburbs.
Watch on TBS: July 10 (2 of 10 episodes, then weekly)The Afterparty (Season 2) — This genre-bending murder mystery returns for a second season and a new case involving a wedding that is disrupted when the groom is murdered. Tiffany Haddish, Sam Richardson, and Zoë Chao return.
Watch on Apple TV+: July 12 (2 of 10 episodes, then weekly)
Our thoughts on brand new streaming content, and where you can watch.
Hijack
Keywords: thriller, survival, limited series
Watch if you like: Non-Stop, Snakes on a Plane, Flightplan
Jess’s Rating: B
There’s something about a thriller set on a long-haul flight that taps into our base fears and creates a tense, pulse-pounding experience. In Non-Stop, there’s a killer on-board; in Snakes on a Plane, there are venomous snakes in the cabin; in Flightplan, a child goes missing during flight, and so on. Hijack picks an inciting incident that’s more grounded in reality, and thus, arguably scarier: hijackers take control of the plane.
In this limited series, Idris Elba stars as Sam Nelson, a businessman with expertise in negotiating who is on a flight from Dubai to London when it’s taken over by a small group of passengers. The hijackers vary in race, language, gender, and attitude, and there’s no clear connective tissue between them. Nelson has to work to diffuse the situation on board while trying to ascertain the motives of the group and attempting to send an SOS to ground control. Each episode covers one hour of the seven hour flight.
With only 3 episodes available so far, I can’t speak to its overall quality, but I’m having a great time. It’s energizing and action-packed enough to make it a perfect treadmill watch, and the performances by Elba and the ensemble elevate it beyond the standard action-movie fare. The dual mysteries of who the hijackers are and if the plane will make it safely to London are engaging hooks to keep you watching, and the tension remains high throughout without being overbearingly stressful. My primary concern is that there isn’t enough content in this story to warrant 7 full hours; after watching 3, it feels like 4-5 should have sufficed. But I’ll hold my final judgment on that until the end.
—Jess
Length: 60-min runtime; 1 season / 7 episodes (3 available now, new one each Tuesday)
Watch on: Apple TV+
Where we highlight shows that were one-and-done, have ended, or been canceled — and are well-worth revisiting.
John Adams
Keywords: U.S. history, biography, miniseries
Watch if you like: Sons of Liberty, The King’s Speech, Masterpiece Theater
Jenni’s Rating: B
My aunt rewatches this 2008 HBO miniseries about the second president of the United States every 4th of July, and this year, I took a page out of her book.
Adapted from David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography (and executive produced by Tom Hanks!), John Adams chronicles in stunning realism more than 50 years of the founding father’s life. This miniseries removes a lot of the romanticism and hero-shading that often goes into historical dramas, portraying Adams and his contemporaries as supremely real people with flaws and controversial opinions.
In fact, the most compelling part of the series is not the historical landmarks it covers, but the focus on John’s relationships with the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and most importantly, his wife, Abigail. Yes, you may have a little trouble seeing Paul Giamatti as anyone but himself at first, but he and Laura Linney shine in their scenes together as Mr. and Mrs. Adams. The smart, trusting, reverential marriage they portray is in many ways the heart of the series.
I will say, the show is slow-moving at times, and uneven pacing combined with hour-long episodes make it an especially hard series to binge. Part of that, however, is due to an impressive commitment to accurately portray the isolation of the era; John misses the entirety of the Revolutionary War and Constitutional Convention and so we as viewers do too — indulging in long scenes of Adams sick in Europe instead. All in all, the unflinching realism of this series combined with excellent acting and storytelling makes John Adams a sometimes challenging, but rewarding watch.
— Jenni
Length: 60-min runtime, 1 season / 7 episodes
Watch on: Max
Your shows, returned:
The Lincoln Lawyer, Season 2, Part 1: Premieres July 6 on Netflix
Grantchester, Season 8: Premieres July 9 on PBS
Miracle Workers: End Times: Premieres July 10 on TBS
The Afterparty, Season 2: Premieres July 12 on Apple TV+
What We Do in the Shadows, Season 5: Premieres July 13 on FX/July 14 on Hulu
Upcoming new releases:
Shaun White: The Last Run: Premieres July 6 on Max
The Ashley Madison Affair: Premieres July 7 on Hulu
Fatal Seduction: Premieres July 7 on Netflix
The Horror of Dolores Roach: Premieres July 7 on Prime Video
Full Circle: Premieres July 13 on Max
Ya'll Hijack is at least a B+!!!! I'm obsessed.