Summer is slower when it comes to new TV show releases, but it’s the perfect time to catch up on older shows you haven’t gotten around to yet.
Giving off total To All The Boys and Never Have I Ever vibes, The Summer I Turned Pretty is a similar coming-of-age story about a 16-year-old young woman named Isabel who visit Cousins Beach with her family every summer. But she has a feeling that this summer will be different, and she’s right when a love triangle ensues between the brothers of her mom’s childhood best friend, with whom they vacation. It’s about love, heartbreak, and a young woman coming into her own during one pivotal summer that will change everything.
Based on the book of the same name by popular YA novelist Jenny Han, the show, which returned for a second season, generated plenty of buzz before it even debuted.
Take a story based on a hit podcast and chances are, you’ll have a winning TV series. The Horror of Dolores Roach, which is based on the Spotify podcast of the same name, fits the bill. Described as a contemporary Sweeney Todd-inspired urban legend, it combines elements of love, betrayal, weed, and even cannibalism. One Day At a Time’s Justina Machado stars as the title character, who returns to her now gentrified New York City hometown after spending 16 years in prison. But when her survival is threatened, the woman known as “Magic Hands” must do what she needs to do in order to make it through.
The Horror of Dolores Roach is a dark, horrifying tale that combines both scary moments with humor. Keep an eye out for other recognizable faces like Alejandro Hernandez (New Amsterdam) as Roach’s old friend Luis, and guest stars like comedian Marc Maron and musician Cyndi Lauper.
American film director, producer, screenwriter, rapper, and communist activist Raymond “Boots” Riley (Sorry to Bother You) is behind this absurdist comedy about a 19-year-old Black man who stands 13 feet tall. Cootie is played by Jharrel Jerome (Moonlight, When They See Us), who actually stands about 5 feet, 8 inches The illusion of height is achieved through the use of old-school camera tricks (think Will Ferrell in Elf), not CGI.
I’m a Virgo follows Cootie as he comes out of hiding for the first time to join a society he knows nothing about, with the support of a new group of welcoming teenage friends. Meanwhile, there’s a vigilante superhero trying to make the city right by using brute force against minor criminals, and Cootie has attracted his attention. I’m a Virgo is worth a watch even just to see how they pull off the special effects without any use of CGI. But it’s also a unique coming-of-age story like no other that will have you laughing the whole way through.
The town is called Deadloch in Tasmania, and the situation is that of the murder of a local man. Two detectives join forces to investigate, and they couldn’t be more different from one another. Dulcie (Kate Box) is the senior officer in town who had sworn off detective work due to mental health reasons until being drawn back into this case. She is joined for the investigation by Eddie (Madeleine Sami), who contradicts everything Dulcie has done up to the point, instantly setting up tension between the two.
Deadloch was created by the Australian comedy duo known as “the Kates,” Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, who gained fame from their comedic cooking show The Katering Show. This series manages to combine both darkness and humor, and it’s a regular, entertaining whodunit for fans of the genre.
If you want to watch a star being born, stop what you’re doing and immerse yourself in Rachel Brosnahan’s work as Miriam “Midge” Maisel on the 1950s-set comedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Midge is a housewife who pursues a career in stand-up comedy after her husband, Joe Maisel (Michael Zegen), unexpectedly leaves her.
After a drunken, impromptu, and mile-a-minute stand-up set that ends with Midge being arrested, hard-nosed venue employee Susie Myerson (Alex Borstein) takes Midge under her wing in hopes of molding a diamond in the rough. The show has won numerous well-deserved awards, solidifying its place among the best period comedy-dramas you can watch right now.
Nothing good ever happens at 3 a.m. If you have ever heard this saying, you know that the time between 3 and 4 a.m. is known as the “Devil’s Hour,” and this is precisely when Lucy (Jessica Raine of Call the Midwife) keeps waking up, night after night, following the same recurring nightmare.
