By now, it shouldn’t be too shocking when there are slow weeks in terms of new streaming series. The first week of October only has two new shows worth getting excited about: HBO and Max’s superhero movie satire The Franchis, and Prime Video’s The Legend of Vox Machina season 3. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait until Sunday, October 6 to catch the first episode of The Franchise. Thankfully, Prime Video dropped three episodes of The Legend of Vox Maxchina‘s new season, which picks up the fantasy story where we left off in season 2.
There are also new episodes this week for FX and Hulu’s Grotesquerie, as well as Tulsa King season 2 on Paramount+, and The Penguin on HBO and Max. Consider it a reminder that old-school weekly releases are sometimes the best way to go. You can find all of the rest of the best new shows to stream below.
When you’re done here, check out the best new movies to stream this week, as well as the best shows on Netflix, best shows on Hulu, best shows on Amazon Prime Video, and best shows on Disney+.
Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Max, Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, and Apple TV+ all have one thing in common: They’re more expensive than they used to be! We can live with higher rates as long as new shows keep coming, but it’s always a good idea to consider signing up for the ad-supported tiers, which are worth it if you can sit through a few commercials.
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The Franchise2024 -
The Penguin2024
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Grotesquerie2024
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Tulsa King2022
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Mr. McMahon2024
Max (formerly HBO and HBO Max)
The Franchise (2024)
66%There are so many superhero movies that it was inevitable that someone would use that as a premise for a comedy TV series. The Franchise is exactly that. It’s a biting critique of Marvel and DC superhero flicks, but more so the former than the latter. The show invents its own superhero, Tecto, as played by Adam (Billy Magnussen), an actor who has put all of his hopes and dreams into the idea that this flick will make his career.
Daniel (Himesh Patel), the film’s assistant director, has the unenviable job of trying to placate Adam and the other stars, as well as his director, Eric (as played by the MCU’s Daniel Brühl). The Boys‘ Aya Cash also stars as Anita, Daniel’s ex-girlfriend who suddenly finds herself overseeing the Tecto film. But there may be no stopping this disaster-in-the-making from lurching its way into theaters in an unwatchable state.
The Penguin (2024)
72%
8.8/10If you’ve seen The Batman, then the world of The Penguin should be very familiar. The city’s top crime boss, Carmine Falcone (Mark Strong), is gone. The title character, Oswald “Oz” Cobb (Colin Farrell), has grand designs about taking his place and becoming Gotham City’s new kingpin.
Oz doesn’t have a lot of friends among the criminal underworld, besides his new driver/enforcer, Victor “Vic” Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz). But the biggest threat to the Penguin’s potential reign is Carmine’s daughter, Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti). Sofia wants her father’s empire for herself, and she’s just crazy enough that she might be able to steal it out from under Oz.
Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos (2024)
The Sopranos arguably set the tone for the past 25 years of TV dramas by daring the audience to side with and sympathize with mob boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini). To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show, HBO and Max are debuting the two-part documentary series Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos.
While this series will dive into the creation of HBO’s most iconic show and its continuing influence on TV, it’s also taking a look back at the life of series creator David Chase. The documentary traces Chase’s history in the entertainment business before he makes some history of his own with The Sopranos.
Amazon Prime Video
The Legend of Vox Machina (2022)
81%
8.4/10If you’ve never heard of the streaming series Critical Role, don’t worry. The animated series, The Legend of Vox Machina, doesn’t require any foreknowledge of the live role-playing series that inspired it. In fact, the animation adds more life and excitement to its story than TheLord of the Rings: The Rings of Power could muster in its entirety.
Season 3 finds the band of adventurers known as the Vox Machina in a desperate struggle against dragons who have laid waste to their home. The only way to defeat these foes may require more than the main characters are willing to sacrifice, but the consequences of failure may be even worse. To beat the dragons, they may need an assist from another dragon … for a price.
Hulu
Grotesquerie (2024)
50%
6.5/10Grotesquerie is Ryan Murphy’s True Detective meets Cagney and Lacey … if Lacey was a nun with an eye toward religious and occult symbolism. Niecy Nash stars as Detective Lois Tryon, who works in a small town while fruitlessly trying to hold on to her comatose husband, Marshall (Courtney B. Vance), and their daughter, Merritt (Raven Goodwin).
Lois’ world is shaken by a disturbing murder scene that’s unlike anything she’s ever seen before. But Sister Megan (Micaela Diamond) is more than familiar with the symbols utilized by the killer, and she offers her help to Lois to find whoever is responsible. Things are only getting stranger for her, and the killer is far from finished leaving bodies in their wake.
American Sports Story (2024)
72%
7.4/10Despite playing only three seasons in the NFL, Aaron Hernandez will forever be associated with the league because of the choices he made and the infamy of his crime. American Sports Story casts Josh Andrés Rivera as Hernandez.
The series chronicles his meteoric rise as a member of the New England Patriots before capturing his fall from grace after he was arrested for murder. This dramatization explores Hernandez’s possible motivation for the crime and his personal secrets that he protected at all costs.
The Old Man (2022)
68%
6.6/10FX’s hit action series The Old Man is back for a second season, and that means Hulu has it as well. Last season began with ex-CIA agent Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges) on the run from his former colleague, FBI deputy director Harold Harper (John Lithgow), who put a price on his head.
This season forces Dan and Harold to at least temporarily put aside their differences for the sake of Dan’s adoptive daughter, Emily Chase (Alia Shawkat). Emily has been kidnapped by her biological father, Faraz Hamzad (Navid Negahban), and taken to Afghanistan. To get Emily back, Dan and Harold have to go behind enemy lines.
Paramount+
Tulsa King (2022)
65%
8.0/10Tulsa King is back for its second season, and Dwight Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) isn’t going to let a little thing like facing a possible prison sentence get in the way of making money. Dwight’s barely out on bail before he embarks on what may be one of his most audacious schemes to date: using a wind farm scam to finance a new weed farm.
Of course, Dwight still needs to beat the charges against him, as well as make his peace with ATF agent Stacy Beale (Andrea Savage), whom he still has some feelings for. However, Dwight’s renewed criminal activities are drawing the wrong kind of attention from the underworld, and he may soon have to fight to hold on to his territory in Tulsa.
Netflix
Mr. McMahon (2024)
71%
7.8/10Vince McMahon never shied away from the spotlight when wrestling was on the rise in the 1980s and ’90s. However, he wasn’t really known as the owner of the WWF among causal fans until 1997, when he adopted his villainous character, Mr. McMahon. Even after the company’s name was changed to WWE, McMahon remained a constant presence on the air and one of the top bad guys in sports entertainment.
Mr. McMahon was originally meant to be a self-congratulatory documentary about the man who changed the face of wrestling. But as soon as McMahon’s sex scandals became public, he stopped cooperating with the documentary team, and this story took on a life of its own.
The Perfect Couple (2024)
68%
6.6/10There are some darkly comic moments in Netflix’s new mystery series, The Perfect Couple, and no perfect couples are found here. Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson) is marrying into the wealthy Winbury family, even though she’s not super into her husband-to-be, Benji Winbury (Billy Howle). The family matriarch, Greer Winbury (Nicole Kidman), has a dismal relationship with her husband, Tag (Liev Schreiber). And don’t get us started about Thomas Winbury (Jack Reynor) and his wife, Abby (Dakota Fanning).
Regardless, Amelia plans to go through with the wedding right up until a member of the wedding party winds up dead. This is a scandal that could expose some deeply held family secrets, and Greer can’t let that happen. A killer may be near, but no one is more ruthless about dealing with her problems than Greer.
Disney+
Agatha All Along (2024)
66%
6.8/10Marvel Studios’ first show, WandaVision, finally gets its sequel with Agatha All Along. But don’t expect to see any movie stars in this series. Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness is taking the spotlight, even though she spends part of the episode trapped in a distinct parody of HBO’s True Detective and Mare of Easttown.
The only ones who can pull Agatha out of her personal hell are an old enemy, Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), and Teen (Joe Locke), a young man who is under some kind of hex to hide his true identity. Neither Rio nor Teen have warm feelings for Agatha, but they all need each other if they’re going to claim power from the Witches’ Road trials alongside a new coven.
OceanXplorers (2024)
7%OceanXplorer may have a title that sounds like it escaped from the ’90s, but since it’s the actual name of an oceanic research vessel, we’re going to let that slide. James Cameron is lending his voice to this National Geographic miniseries, and producing the show is another example of his passion for the sea and what lies beneath.
Each episode follows the explorers and scientists on the OceanXplorer as they head to some of the most remote locations on the seven seas in the name of scientific research. They’re also equipped with some of the most cutting-edge technology available, which offers a unique opportunity to learn more about the creatures and the ecosystems that live beneath the waves beyond our view.
Peacock
Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist (2024)
72%
7.4/10We’ve seen some stacked casts in the streaming era, but Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist takes it to the next level. Getting Kevin Hart, Samuel L. Jackson, Terrence Howard, Taraji P. Henson, Don Cheadle, Lori Harvey, and Dexter Darden in the starring roles is very impressive.
The year is 1970. Muhammad Ali’s return to the boxing ring provides an opportunity that’s too good to pass up for a group that makes plans for a heist that could be the score of the lifetime … if they don’t turn on each other along the way.
Apple TV+
Slow Horses (2022)
89%
8.2/10In an era where two or three years can pass between seasons, Apple TV+’s spy thriller Slow Horses is back for its fourth season only 10 months after its season 3 premiere. Warning: Spoilers ahead. Season 4 is already off to an intriguing start, as MI5’s River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) struggles to care for his aging and paranoid grandfather, David Cartwright (Jonathan Pryce), only to wind up dead at his grandfather’s hands.
At least that’s what everyone was supposed to think. Even the head of Slough House, Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), believed it. The reality is that River has faked his death for currently unknown reasons, while a new terrorist threat endangers the security of Britain.
