Skip to main content

Catch up on The Newsroom and more in our list of 5 shows to watch

For cord cutters, the anticipation of watching an event live gets transferred over to the weekly dumps of content on the various video streaming platforms. What’s dropping when becomes important knowledge to have, as you organize your queue. If you don’t have time to comb through all the content coming down the series of tubes that make up the Internet, don’t worry — we do.

Here are our picks for what you should watch this week.

Recommended Videos

The Newsroom Season 1 and 2

the-newsroomAmazon Prime

The Newsroom has plenty of the polish and characteristics you’d expect out of an Aaron Sorkin production. The writer of The West Wing and the criminally underrated Sports Night, as well as films like the Social Network and A Few Good Men, Sorkin has a long pedigree of quality work. With The Newsroom, he takes on the structure of a cable newsroom and goes behind the scenes to show what happens in the office and on screen.

As a whole, The Newsroom doesn’t always work. It has problems in structure and in how it chooses to present its characters, but it still produces some extremely effective scenes and has the trademark back-and-forth dialogue that make Sorkin scripts so addictive. Even when it isn’t firing on all cylinders, it’s an immensely watchable show. Show stars Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer turn in great performances, as do the rest of the ensemble cast — especially Olivia Munn, who seems like she was born to be in a Sorkin show.

Teacher of the Year

teacheroftheyearNetflix

You likely know Keegan-Michael Key because of the always hilarious Comedy Central sketch show Key and Peele, which he stars in alongside Jordan Peele. Though he’s not reprising his teacher role from the beloved sketch on his show, Key stars along with a cast of other hilarious people playing the eccentric faculty of Truman High School. Using a documentary-style, the film follows the Teacher of the Year award recipient as he wonders if what he’s doing really matters.

The Guest

the-guest Netflix

You may recognize Dan Stevens from his role on Downton Abbey. He’s playing a slightly different character in The Guest. In this roller-coaster ride of a film, full of thrills and unpredictability, you’ll see Stevens as David Collins — a former soldier who decides to help take care of the family of one of his fellow troops who died in Afghanistan. As soon as he turns up, a slew of deaths start to occur to people with ties to the family he’s sent to protect. The film gets plenty violent, but it’s equally engaging and engrossing.

Jim Norton: Contextually Inadequate

JimNorton Amazon Prime

Originally available on Epix and now streaming through Amazon Prime, Jim Norton’s latest special Contextually Inadequate is one of the best comedy specials of the year. Norton is a member of a dying breed of comedy — the rough-edged, tell-it-like-it-is crew — but he makes a case for the resurgence of the perverted and unafraid. He touches on every topic that most people would avoid entirely and isn’t afraid to make himself the butt of the joke when necessary, which softens the often devastating blows that he throws.

The Human Experiment

the-human-experiment Netflix

We willingly — or at least unknowingly — put a lot of things in our body without actually knowing what they are or how they may affect us. That’s the premise of the Human Experiment, a documentary narrated by Sean Penn, which poses that humans are walking, talking labs for a wide array of chemicals. The film examines the process that goes into making the products we use, what they’re made of, and how those chemicals and ingredients may affect the people who use them.

AJ Dellinger
AJ Dellinger is a freelance reporter from Madison, Wisconsin with an affinity for all things tech. He has been published by…
If you have to watch one Disney+ movie this July 2025, stream this one
The cast of Saving Mr. Banks

Unlike most streaming services, the movies available on Disney+ tend to conform to a fairly standard mold. You've got a lot of big franchise films and a lot of movies aimed at children, and not a whole lot in between.

If you're looking for something a little more robust, or at least aimed at adults, you might want to check out Saving Mr. Banks. The movie tells the story of Walt Disney's quest to adapt Mary Poppins and his various attempts to woo the author of the book series it's based on, P.L. Travers. While the film is undeniably a little hagiographic, here are three reasons you should check it out.

Read more
James Gunn’s Superman is better than 1978’s Superman: The Movie. Here’s why
Superman looks up and flies in a poster for "Superman."

Director Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie, which premiered in 1978, is a classic piece of cinema that continues to shape the superhero genre today. Most recently, it led the way for writer-director James Gunn to release Superman, a more modern imagining of the Man of Steel's adventures, with David Corenswet portraying the titular hero.

The influence of Donner’s film is clearly seen in Gunn’s new project, from the John Williams-inspired musical score to the lighthearted tone to the crystalline design of the Fortress of Solitude. This new movie had some big red shoes to fill after the example set by Superman: The Movie, especially with Christopher Reeve's iconic performance as the red-caped hero. Despite the odds, Gunn's Superman not only reached the high bar set by Donner's film, but it actually improved upon the latter on several fronts, making it a far superior movie.

Read more
Like James Gunn’s Superman? Check out these 5 similar comic book movies
David Corenswet stands in his Superman costume and stares in Superman.

Writer-director James Gunn unleashed an instant comic book movie classic with Superman. This new superhero blockbuster brought the Man of Steel back to his roots with a zany, lighthearted adventure filled with quirky and entertaining characters, especially with David Corenswet's version of the titular hero. The movie doesn't shy away from presenting a solemn, inspiring story with stunning, ultraviolent action.

While some Superman fans have decided to see the film in theaters more than once, there is an alternative option. Those who enjoyed Superman can also check out these other comic book movies, some of which were also created by Gunn, that feature similar stories, styles, themes, and action.

Read more