tv

peacock rotation: the recap

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If you read why I rotate my streaming services, you already know how this works: subscribe for a month, binge the backlog, cancel, repeat. This time around it wasn’t even Peacock that got things started it was The ‘Burbs. I put it on during a flight, landed, and immediately went and grabbed a month of Peacock so I could finish.

Here’s what filled the month:

  • All Her Fault – I threw this one in after it got an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series and all I can say is “what?” the show at points started making me mad, it does take a miracle for me to stop watching.
  • Brilliant Minds – I had started this series on my last Peacock subscription, I described it as like an AI wrote a tortured Dr show, not great and now cancelled.
  • The ‘Burbs – The series version of the original flick, this was cute enough based on the characters but not the greatest twisty plot.
  • The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins – This is very Tracy Morgan, take that how you take that, again a fun ensemble cast but I wanted to like it more than I did.
  • The Five Star Weekend – The show that ended up closing out my whole subscription, silly and not really my thing but the cast made it work (and I love me some Olyphant but stalker much).
  • The Hunting Party – This show was really not good and if I didn’t know it had already been cancelled I wouldn’t have stuck around for the weekly hunt-down-of-the-worst-of-the-worst and the overall mysteries.
  • Obsession – This is a flick that everyone seemed to be talking about, not totally my thing but well done for what it is.
  • The Resort – I had heard good things about this and dig the leads but it was so tonally weird, sometimes in a good way sometimes not, but glad I finally got around to it.
  • St. Denis Medical – A decent medical workplace comedy that’s solidly grown on me, glad I finally got caught up.

In case you’re diving in there’s tons of good stuff in the backlog including both Peacock originals and NBC classics:

  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine (NBC) – A cop comedy that’s somehow both goofy and got a real heart to it, I might be due for a rewatch on this.
  • Community (NBC) – I did recently rewatch this weird little show about a community college study group that somehow became one of the most inventive comedies on TV, they keep threatening to do a movie but the cast is in high demand.
  • The Day of the Jackal (Pea) – Eddie Redmayne as an assassin being chased across Europe, high-stakes cat and mouse, kept me intrigued.
  • Friday Night Lights (NBC) – One of the greats, clear eyes, full hearts, and still one of the most quietly devastating dramas NBC has ever made, and no it’s not just about football.
  • Girls5eva (Pea) – Tina Fey’s one-hit-wonder girl group reuniting for one more shot at fame great cast with sharp, silly comedy.
  • The Good Place (NBC) – Philosophy disguised as a sitcom, and the kind of show that rewards a rewatch once you know where it’s headed, and a recent rewatch I did.
  • Law & Order (NBC) – I don’t really watch this anymore but I did for years including in reruns it’s one of the original procedurals, and no I haven’t kept up with the world.
  • Mrs. Davis (Pea) – A nun on a mission to take down an all-powerful AI, surreal doesn’t begin to cover it, but that’s the appeal.
  • Parks and Recreation (NBC) – This first season took a minute but it grew into one of the best workplace comedies ever made, and Ron Swanson alone is worth the price of admission.
  • Poker Face (Pea) – Natasha Lyonne as a drifter with a lie-detector superpower, solving a new mystery every episode, the first season was the best but her crime an episode with great guests and styles was fun.
  • Scrubs (NBC) – The reboot of this, ignoring the original final season, really captured the spirit of the original with equal parts absurd and genuinely moving, and still one of the better medical shows out there (note it moved to ABC for later seasons where you can find the reboot).
  • 30 Rock (NBC) – Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin at their sharpest, with a joke density that holds up on every rewatch, I still quote Fey from this one, also due a rewatch.
  • We Are Lady Parts (Pea) – A British sitcom about an all-female Muslim punk band trying to make it, consistently one of the most recommended comedies on the whole platform.

That’s the wrap on my Peacock month. Now it goes back on the shelf until there’s another backlog worth diving into. If there’s a hidden gem I missed, Peacock original or deep NBC cut, let me know in the comments.

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tv

new and noteworthy tv: 7/27-8/9

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My Peacock subscription finished up with The Five Star Resort which had a good enough cast to make this somewhat silly show work. 7 Dials (Net) was one of my plane shows and I enjoyed the mystery mostly due to the protagonist. For a couple of shows with middling reviews that were somehow called out that both annoyed me All Her Fault (Pea – Emmy nomination?) and His & Hers (Net – best list?), pass and pass.

Plane movies include The Devil Wears Prada 2 which I thought was a pretty good revisit to our characters in today’s world. And The Drama which I thought did a good job of making our judgement about character and actions very questionable. Obsession (Pea) was one everyone seemed to be talking about and while not totally my thing I thought it did a good job for what it was. And Heartstopper (Net) which was more an abbreviated cap off to the series than an actual standalone movie so only if you’ve been on the journey.

  • Furious (Hulu) Series Premiere, Monday 7/27 – An FBI agent, Emmy Rossum, hunts a calculating serial killer, their paths intertwining until the line between right and wrong blurs, giving Killing Eve vibes?
  • The Ridge (Acorn) Series Premiere, Monday 7/27 – Scottish doc flees the shambles of her life to visit her estranged sis in New Zealand and finds death and secrets.
  • The Ark (Syfy) Season Premiere, Wednesday 7/29 – I thought this show wasn’t coming back, will need to remember what this crew searching for a new home was up to.
  • The Bombing of Pan Am 103 (Net) Series Premiere, Thursday 7/30 – A dramatization of the Lockerbie bombing investigation.
  • Paris Is Always a Good Idea (Hallmark+) Series Premiere, Thursday 7/30 – Rom-com comfort food, presumably someone finding love in Paris, Hallmark romcoms a little too light for me.
  • The Librarians: The Next Chapter (TNT) Season Premiere, Sunday 8/2 – Back for round two of librarian adventures, I watched the original of this and found it perfectly decent show to watch while doing other things, I think I stopped getting this after I cut the cord.
  • Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi (Dis+/Hulu) Series Premiere, Wednesday 8/5 – Expanding the animated short into a full series.
  • Sterling Point (Am) Series Premiere, Wednesday 8/5 – A teenager inherits her mysterious grandfather’s island in Canada and uncovers new friendships, romance, and family secrets.
  • The Shards (FX/Hulu) Series Premiere, Wednesday 8/5, 9pm – Adapted from the Bret Easton Ellis novel, I might be behind on his books but generally enjoy his ’80s privileged teens.
  • Ted Lasso (App+) Season Premiere, Wednesday 8/5 – Coach Lasso’s back, we knew it was coming and here we go… I’ll need to time my apple subscription accordingly since I have some catch up to do, hmm doesn’t finish until 10/7.
  • D.O.P.E. Unit (AllBlk) Series Premiere, Thursday 8/6 – A Philadelphia-set crime drama following an off-the-books task force waging a covert war on powerful crime families.
  • Anna Pigeon (USA) Series Premiere, Friday 8/7 – Based on Nevada Barr’s novels, a former city dweller turned park ranger investigates crimes across the national parks.

The procrastinator lists mostly scripted items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation. Times noted are typically PST, please check your local listings.

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tv

new and noteworthy tv: 7/13-7/26

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I had heard good things about Something Bad is Going to Happen and while it’s not totally my bag agreed they did some good stuff, I also plowed through the dark but engaging Detective Hole (Net). The fluffy but not actually good Elle (Am) just doesn’t emotionally make sense as a prequel and wasn’t good enough on its own. I also have had Peacock for a bit so caught up on not good Brilliant Minds and even less tolerable The Hunting Party both cancelled, as well as The Resort which was just so tonally weird. And of course the series finisher of The Bear (Hulu) which was a great final season but not my favorite season.

Movies I caught were The Sheep Detectives (Am) which was more cute than good but was cute, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (Hulu) which was just a smidge too dragged on to be great but had a lot of great elements. Project Hail Mary (Am) which was in fact pretty great, Enola Holmes (Net) which is charming in its way. Catching the final two Emmy nominated movies I hadn’t seen Heads of State (Am), ridiculous but did the action buddy flick fine enough, and People We Meet on Vacation (Net) which didn’t check my good rom com criteria.

  • Lucky (App+) Series Premiere, Wednesday 7/15 – Anya Taylor-Joy as a con artist on the run sounds good.
  • Ride or Die (Am) Series Premiere, Wednesday 7/15 – Also on the run Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham, playing an assassin, take this one in a comedic direction.
  • The Hawk (Net) Series Premiere, Thursday 7/16 – Will Ferrell plays a golf pro on an attempted return in what we can only assume a very Will Ferrell way.
  • Heartstopper Forever (Net) Movie, Friday 7/17 – This series is getting a movie sendoff.
  • A Shop for Killers (Hulu/Dis+) Season Premiere, Wednesday 7/22 – This guns a blasting series returns for more action one can only assume.
  • Gone (Brit) Series Premiere, Thursday 7/23 – Where is this vanished wife?
  • Stuart Fails to Save the Universe (HBO) Series Premiere, Thursday 7/23 – I so far haven’t been much of a fan of TBBT spinoffs, though I enjoyed the original, but this one promises a bit more originality.

The procrastinator lists mostly scripted items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation. Times noted are typically PST, please check your local listings.

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technology

why I rotate my streaming services

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One of the questions I get surprisingly often is how I keep up with so many TV shows without subscribing to every streaming service under the sun.

The answer is…I don’t.

Years ago, I cut the cord and got rid of cable altogether. (If you’re curious why, I wrote about that decision in Time to Cut the Cord.) I’ve never looked back, although I do occasionally wonder what I’m missing.

These days I subscribe to four streaming services that are pretty much permanent fixtures: Netflix, Hulu, Max (still HBO in my heart), and Amazon Prime Video.

Although “permanent” might be a strong word. I periodically look at them all and ask whether they’re still earning their spot.

Max was actually the final addition to that group. For years and years I didn’t subscribe. I’d catch up on HBO shows whenever they eventually landed on Amazon, or I’d sign up for a month here and there if there was enough I wanted to watch.

Then a friend joked that if anyone deserved an HBO subscription, it was me.

Honestly? Fair. I’m still working through my backlog.

The bigger part of my strategy, though, is everything outside those four.

Instead of paying for Apple TV+, Peacock, Paramount+, and every other service all year long, I rotate them.

I’ll subscribe for a month, watch everything I’ve been saving up, and then cancel until there’s another backlog worth diving into.

It turns out most streaming shows aren’t going anywhere. If I don’t watch something the week it premieres, that’s okay. (Though I have been known to time a subscription around the Ink Master finale.) By waiting a few months, I usually get an entire season to binge instead of waiting week after week for new episodes. In fact, I recently wrote about why I’m getting better at letting shows pile up in Say Goodbye to Saved Shows.

The math also works surprisingly well.

My biggest tip? Cancel the subscription as soon as you sign up. That way you don’t forget a month later when the renewal hits. Most services make it easy to keep watching until your billing period ends anyway.

You’ll also sometimes get an offer to stick around at a discounted rate. Occasionally it’s worth taking them up on it, but more often than not I’m ready to move on to the next service in the rotation.

If I’m interested in one new series and maybe a movie or two, paying for a single month of a streaming service is often cheaper than renting or buying everything individually. And since movies make their way to streaming much faster than they used to, I’m usually happy to wait.

Right now, for example, I’m in a Peacock month. That means I get Peacock originals along with access to NBC shows, so it’s been a fun change of pace. Once it expires, I’ll let it go for a while, and I’ll share a roundup of everything I watched that was actually worth your time.

I also share my subscriptions with my dad since we’re considered the same household, which makes the value even better.

As for the services I keep year-round? Netflix, Hulu, and Max consistently have enough shows that I always have something I’m watching. Amazon Prime sometimes feels like a deal with the devil, but between the shipping benefits and the occasional show or movie, it still fills enough of a need that it stays…for now.

Streaming has become a little like the old cable packages it was supposed to replace. If you subscribe to everything all at once, the monthly cost adds up fast.

I’ve found that rotating services lets me watch almost everything I want, spend less money, and never feel like I’m running out of things to watch.

What’s the downside?

Occasionally there’s a watercooler show that everyone else is talking about while I’m waiting for my turn. And I still haven’t figured out sports. It’s not a huge loss for me most of the time, but at the moment I’m missing Wimbledon.

That’s a trade-off I’m willing to make.

I’d love to know: are you loyal to one or two streaming services, or do you rotate them like I do? And if there’s a hidden gem on Peacock I shouldn’t miss before my month is up, let me know in the comments.

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tv

new and noteworthy tv: 6/29-7/12

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I started watching The ‘Burbs on a flight so came home and grabbed a month of Peacock, it had a fun cast but a pretty dumb story. Also caught up on The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, which I want to like more than I do, and St Denis Medical which is a solidly growing on me workplace comedy. Over on Hulu watched Mindy Kaling’s latest Not Suitable For Work which just felt dated, and Welcome to Wrexham which still engages me but not as much as initially. And Beef over on Netflix which honestly I didn’t love last season because it was so tense, and I had heard this season was different, but still not a huge fan.

As far as movies go I enjoyed Voicemails for Isabelle which captured a really sweet take on a romcom, though you know don’t get too picky about the gimmicks and then Dead Man’s Wire the latest Van Sant based on real events, fine but didn’t grab me.

  • Wimbledon (ESPN) Kicking off a fortnight of tennis, I’ll need to see if I have access I’ve kind of been losing touch with tennis since I cut the cord.
  • Elle (Am) Series Premiere, Wednesday 7/1 – Can a prequel capture the magic of Reese as Elle Woods?
  • Enola Holmes (Net) Movie release, Wednesday 7/1 – These Sherlock sister flicks so far have been cute enough.
  • The Five-Star Weekend (Pea) Series Premiere, Thursday 7/9 – A food influencer, Jennifer Garner, loses her husband and hangs with besties in Nantucket, this looked like a cute movie but will see about the series (I think my Peacock month expires right around here).
  • Little House on the Prairie (Net) Series Premiere, Thursday 7/9 – A remake of many’s favorite frontier family.
  • Project Runway (Free) Season Premiere, Thursday 7/9 – A new season and Tyra joins the judging panel.
  • The Westies (MGM) Series Premiere, Sunday 7/12, 9pm – Centering on NYC’s Irish gang in the ’80s.

The procrastinator lists mostly scripted items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation. Times noted are typically PST, please check your local listings.

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lifestyle

staycation

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I had a bigger trip on the books that ended up getting pushed, but the time was already blocked on my calendar and I figured I should take advantage of it. I was ready for a little breaky break. So staycation it is. I’ve done many versions of this before including one back in the deep pandemic days when it came with a whole lot of social distancing, but the bones of the idea still hold up.

Here’s the thing about a staycation: it’s genuinely hard to feel away when you’re sitting in your own space. So I leaned on a kickoff that got me out of the apartment entirely, a girls’ weekend up in Napa. I won’t rehash the whole thing here since I already wrote it up, but going somewhere else first turned out to be exactly the right way to start a week off.

Back Monday, and I kept my regular exercise plan, so gym in the morning. The afternoon went to SFMOMA, where I have a membership and there was a new Matisse show, Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal, I’d been wanting to catch. I did a slow lap, then paused for a glass of something sparkling and a little dessert on the Sculpture Garden, which is just a lovely spot to sit. Wandered through the Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10 on the way out too, reorganized and reimagined since I last spent real time with it.

Tuesday I’d designated my pajama day. One day where I go nowhere and do nothing, that’s the entire assignment. I’ll admit I got pulled into a few things and it wasn’t quite the full void I’d pictured, but still a nice soft middle to the week. Plus you know some tv.

Wednesday, after a morning workout, I took advantage of one of the SF walking tours. I’d been wanting some time in the park anyway, so I paired it with the Japanese Tea Garden and got to hear a lot more about the garden than I’d ever picked up wandering it on my own. From there a stroll around 9th and Irving, a fish taco at Pacific Catch during happy hour, and I called it a day.

Thursday I met a friend for a walk along the Marina Green (there are so many of these pretty stretches in this city) and then we posted up in her backyard to actually catch up.

Friday another friend and I took the ferry over to Angel Island for a little hike walk. There are basically two ways to do it: the over-the-top route, or the perimeter trail. We went perimeter, which has a few museum stops along the way which gave some interesting context to how the island was used as the “Ellis Island of the West.” I’m honestly not sure I’d ever set foot on Angel Island before, so this was equal parts checking it off the list and finally getting a feel for the place. We’d packed snacks for a sort of pseudo picnic, which was the move, since the cafe out there closes early. We’d hoped to sit and wait for the ferry back with a glass of wine but alas, another day (apparently in summer they do bands on the weekends, noted for next time). Took the ferry back and made up for the missed glass at Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant.

Saturday I wanted a down day, and the Hayes Valley farmers market had just started up for the season, so that was honestly the whole agenda. Walk the market, that’s it. Plus you know some strawberries and whatnot. The market seems to be a hit, it’s a dozen plus booths covering about half of the already closed block of Hayes at Octavia.

Sunday I aimed for the Asian Art Museum, which is free the first Sunday of the month (there was an added fee for the exhibit I wanted to see, Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries, worth it). I did the special exhibit and then walked the full museum. It was a gorgeous day, the weather all week really did its part, and they had a DJ out on the patio, exactly the kind of little bonus that makes you feel like the city is throwing in something extra.

A whole week in my own backyard and I somehow still didn’t get to a fraction of what’s out there. But I did find that I had a good mix of activities, some downtime, and yes a smidge of work most days. What are your faves in the city?

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tv

new and noteworthy tv: 6/15-6/28

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On Netflix I worked my way through The Burroughs (Stranger Things light with old people) good cast and good enough but just ok, and Lord of the Flies which looked pretty but I wasn’t that into watching the expected boyhood gone bad, the second season of The Four Seasons which did a better job mixing in more laughs with everyone not getting along, and How to Get to Heaven from Belfast which has notes of Bad Sisters but is a little ridiculous. Over on Amazon Prime I made it through Bait a fun concept about Riz Ahmed’s character’s quest to become the next Bond but for me it was also a little too ridiculous, also ridiculous but I couldn’t miss was Nick Cage as a noir detective and Spider-Man in Spider-Noir which gave him moments of going full Cage, not great but entertaining, and Jack Ryan catching up on both the series, which was very entertaining, and the final movie which probably could have used a full season. And of course over on HBO finished out Hacks which went out on a high note and Euphoria which felt a little too strained for me in its third and final season but had some good moments and performances.

For movies I went to HBO for Lurker, a psychological thriller that had its moments but I thought could have been tighter, and Miss You, Love You which was carried by good performances but otherwise not amazing.

  • The Season (Hulu) Series Premiere, Wednesday 6/17 – From the producers of Crazy Rich Asians, a group of friends in Hong Kong’s elite find betrayal etc. at a summer getaway.
  • Harlan Coben’s I Will Find You (Net) Series Premiere, Thursday 6/18 – A father sets out to find out what happened after being wrongly convicted of his son’s murder.
  • Sugar (App+) Season Premiere, Friday 6/19 – I mostly enjoyed the first season of this noir vibed detective mystery with some added spice.
  • Wild Cherry (Para+) Series Premiere, Wednesday 6/24 – Perfect life of wealthy mothers who are besties when their daughters are implicated in a scandal from the BBC.
  • The Bear (Hulu) Season Premiere, Thursday 6/25 – We’ll see where our frenetic characters take us in the final season.
  • Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness (HBO) Series Premiere, Friday 6/26 – I’m not really a fan of sketch comedy, or Larry David but curious about his pairing with the Obamas to bring a look at America’s history.

The procrastinator lists mostly scripted items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation. Times noted are typically PST, please check your local listings.

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lifestyle

cheers to the wine country

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I’m always saying I need to take better advantage of being so close to the wine country. It truly feels away but it’s just a bit over an hour to get to a wider variety of spots than you might be aware of. I’ve been dabbling over the years (Calistoga+, St Helena+) and this year I’ve recently made a few jaunts.

First up my friend has a membership at Gundlach Bundschu and so we headed up for Deed Day. Free tastings all day? Yes please. They have a lovely patio and set up a few wine stations so you could get a full sampling of wines. Plus free soft pretzels (some foundation for the wine is never a bad idea). Afterwards we did a spin through Sonoma Square to enjoy a little window shopping before heading back. It can easily be done in a day (as long as you watch your wine intake).

The second trip happened based on a friend getting us good priced tickets at a charity auction for the Healdsburg Wine and Food Experience. We knew this was a serious wine intake experience so we planned to stay over, the Hilton Garden Inn in Santa Rosa had a free shuttle pick up across the street and was a fraction of the mostly sold out Healdsburg hotels.

The festival itself is a many tent situation with something like 100 wineries pouring. Sounds like a dream but it’s also a touch overwhelming. You fall into a sip, nod, move on rhythm and after a while it all blurs, and there isn’t much seating near the pours so you need to remove yourself a bit to find a spot. My one tip, and I wish I’d done it myself, look up the winery list ahead of time and pick the few you actually want. Then you can go slow at those and talk to the people pouring instead of marching. Otherwise it’s a lot of good wine flying by.

And yes there is food, over a dozen vendors, most doing genuinely elevated stuff, not festival food. There were also intentional pairings set up around the tents, small bites matched to specific wines, and those were the most fun part. The standout was Sushi by Scratch. We got into line before we knew what it was. They sat six of us down at an actual table for three little nigiri courses, with a wine pairing, each unique and layered in a surprising way. Was the whole thing worth the overall price tag? Maybe only for serious aficionados.

We were surprisingly eventually hungry again so grabbed an easy burger at Carmen’s Burger Bar. The next morning we hit Dierks Parkside Cafe for a tasty breakfast before heading back to Healdsburg Square which gives Sonoma a real run for its charm. Was there one more tasting? Naturally. The day before I’d told someone I’d been to Marine Layer Wine on the square last visit, then realized that wasn’t actually where I’d gone, so we set the record straight.

Then the third and most recent trip… I’m a member of Parlay House and once a year the Queen’s level members get invited to a day retreat which is not to be missed. It’s at a private home near Napa so we came up the day before and checked into the Silverado Resort. We were fortunate enough to do a private wine tasting with one of the winemakers at Relic Wine Cellars, I probably learned more about wine making in that one sitting than I have in any previous. The group of us then headed to RO Restaurant and Lounge down in Yountville for a lot of shared plates and a little reality star sighting.

The next day was filled with a ton of amazing women. We gathered and enjoyed support from Nina Walters for breathwork, Mimi Cohrt for herbal first aid, tarot with Tres Jimenez, a dance party with DJ Mai Azarov, and one more wine tasting with Azur Wines. And of course we needed to end the day with a good meal and weren’t disappointed by the bites at Bistro Jeanty (I especially enjoyed my Sole Meunière). The final day was taking advantage of the pool and some sips and bites at the Silverado before heading back.

So much territory covered and yet so much more to do and wines to taste. Where should I focus on my next visit?

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new and noteworthy tv: 6/1-6/14

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The Boys on Amazon hit its series finale and while I was over the show the finale did its job, staying tuned for the next spinoff. One Piece was equally as sweet the second season it’s not a great show but charming enough pirate adventures. The latest season of Bob’s Burgers continues to do its job on Fox/Hulu. Paradise took a turn in the second season that left me feeling somewhat splintered but slightly intrigued by what comes next. And Margot’s Got Money Problems finished just in time to hit my free Apple TV window and it was definitely enjoyable.

Movie-side I caught The Bride on HBO and while it was a little odd there was enough about it that worked that I enjoyed. Highest2Lowest, also in my Apple window, was the latest Spike Lee with Denzel in the lead, as a ‘thriller’ it wasn’t quite thrilling but entertaining enough.

  • Not Suitable For Work (Hulu) Series Premiere, Tuesday 6/2 – I’m always happy to see what Mindy Kaling brings, this one is twenty-something professionals.
  • The Witness (Net) Series Premiere, Thursday 6/4 – A 2-year-old is the sole witness to a murder in this British drama.
  • Cape Fear (App+) Series Premiere, Friday 6/5 – Based on the film this time Javier Bardem, Amy Adams, and Patrick Wilson among others.
  • Alice and Steve (Hulu) Series Premiere, Monday 6/8 – Best friends take a bad turn when one starts dating the other’s daughter in this British comedy.
  • Every Year After (Am) Series Premiere, Wednesday 6/10 – Based on the book Every Summer After, a romantic tale over the course of six years.
  • The Listeners (Starz) Series Premiere, Friday 6/12 – Based on the novel, an English teacher starts hearing a persistent hum and it impacts her life and relationships.

The procrastinator lists mostly scripted items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation. Times noted are typically PST, please check your local listings.

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new and noteworthy tv: 5/18-5/31

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Will Trent was maybe the only thing hanging on in network that I watch. Also kept up with HBO The Comeback, which I more appreciate than love, and newcomer Rooster which had some charm but still could use some gelling. My HBO backlog finally wrapped up Curb Your Enthusiasm, again more appreciate than love but it did grow on me. And the charming Running Point on Netflix.

Movie-side I did Remarkably Bright Creatures (Net) which was sweet and captured the book well enough and Send Help (Hulu) which I liked elements of but it was maybe not over the top enough for me to not get caught up with the fact that everyone sucks?

  • You’re Killing me (Acorn) Series Premiere, Monday 5/18 – Brooke Shields steps in as bestselling novelist who teams up with a podcaster to find a killer.
  • Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed (App+) Series Premiere, Wednesday 5/20 – I’m here for a darkly comedic thriller with Tatiana Maslany and Jake Johnson, you know when I get Apple again, assuming its any good.
  • Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War (Am) Special Feature, Wednesday 5/20 – I never did this series but just started when I saw they were doing a follow up movie and so far it’s solidly enjoyable in an it is what it is way.
  • The Boroughs (Net) Series Premiere, Thursday 5/21 – An oldster community where all is not what it seems, good cast including Alfred Molina.
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS) Series Finale, Thursday 5/21 – I’m not a regular watcher but glad that he’s putting out some funny stuff before being stupidly pulled from the air.
  • The French Open (TNT) Starts Sunday 5/24 – I’ve lost track of tennis after cutting cable.
  • Spider-Noir (Am) Series Premiere, Monday 5/25 – I’m intrigued by Nicholas Cage in the Marvel series and glad to see it will show up on Amazon after airing on MGM which nobody gets.
  • The Four Seasons (Net) Season Premiere, Thursday 5/28 – This was one of those shows I didn’t love but burned through.
  • Star City (App+) Series Premiere, Friday 5/29 – A spinoff from For All Mankind from the POV of the Soviets.

The procrastinator lists mostly scripted items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation. Times noted are typically PST, please check your local listings.

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