After last week’s extremely slim pickings for new shows to stream, this week has proven to be very eventful. Apple TV+ has launched its new sci-fi series Constellation, while Disney+ premiered the first three episodes of the third season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch. However, Netflix has the biggest show of the week: A live-action adaptation of the beloved animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. That series is attempting to redeem the franchise after M. Night Shyamalan’s terrible 2010 adaptation, The Last Airbender.
There are still a few more new shows to come in February, including Shōgun on Hulu and Elsbeth on Paramount+. Thanks to this late influx of original series, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Max, Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, and Apple TV+ have gone a long way toward making up for not having as many original series as they did last year. But that doesn’t mean that we’re ready to forgive them for the recent rate hikes. If you’re looking to save some money, you may want to consider signing up for the ad-supported tiers to cut some costs. In the meantime, here’s our weekly roundup of the best new shows to stream.
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+.
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Constellation2024 -
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Life & Beth2022
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Tokyo Vice2022
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Halo2022
Apple TV+
Constellation (2024) new
Constellation is Apple TV+’s latest sci-fi series, although it starts out as a relatively grounded story for astronaut Jo Ericsson (Noomi Rapace). While conducting an experiment on the International Space Station, Jo is thrust into a life-or-death experience that forces her to abandon the ISS and make her escape to Earth.
Unfortunately for Jo, she finds that her life on Earth is no longer quite the way that she remembered it. Her husband, Magnus (James D’Arcy), and their daughter, Alice (Rosie Coleman), now keep her at an emotional distance. Jo also discovers that she has spontaneously gained some skills without any explanation. These are more than just minor changes, and Jo has to decide if she can trust anyone with what she is experiencing.
Netflix
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024) new
It would take too long to fully explain the rules of the fantasy world in Avatar: The Last Airbender, especially if you haven’t seen the Nickelodeon animated series that inspired the new live-action show. For now, all you need to know is that the Avatar is Aang (Gordon Cormier), a 12-year old boy who has just awakened from suspended animation only to discover that he is the last surviving member of his Airbending people.
Aang is also unique in that he’s the only person alive who can command the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. As the Avatar, it’s Aang’s job to save the world from the malevolent Fire Nation and restore balance. Aang’s new friends, Katara (Kiawentiio) and Sokka (Ian Ousley), are willing to help him achieve that goal. But it’s going to take more than just friendship to reshape the world.
Monk (2002)
It’s not as if Monk has been hard to find among streamers. Peacock and Prime Video still have the full series on their respective platforms. But since Netflix is the biggest streamer, adding Monk could give this comedy and mystery series a new lease on life well over a decade after the last episode aired. For new fans, they can check out the 2024 reunion movie, Mr. Monk’s Last Case, on Peacock.
Tony Shalhoub stars as Adrian Monk, a man described in the initial ad campaign as “Obsessive. Compulsive. Detective.” That sums it up pretty well. Monk wasn’t always overpowered by his phobias and OCD. And through his assistants, Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram) and later Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard), Monk is able to cope well enough to reenter the outside world and lend the San Francisco police a hand with their most difficult homicide cases. However, the one murderer who eludes Monk is the man who killed his beloved wife, Trudy. If you watch the entire series, that mystery will be resolved as well.
Disney+
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021) new
There’s a tendency for some fans to overlook the various Star Wars animated series as being inconsequential or kid’s stuff. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially in Star Wars: The Bad Batch. The premiere of the third and final season strikes a somber chord and actually lets the audience empathize with the plight of the youngest clone, Omega (Michelle Ang), as she is forced to serve the Empire at their secret cloning facility.
Omega’s clone brothers — Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo (all of whom are voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) – aren’t willing to abandon her to the Empire. However, the team doesn’t have many allies left, and finding Omega may be one of the last missions that they ever embark on.
Hulu
Life & Beth (2022) new
Life comes at you fast, but rarely as fast as it comes in the second season of Amy Schumer’s Life & Beth. While still reeling from the death of her mother, Beth (Schumer) has found some form of domestic bliss with a farmer named John (Barbie‘s Michael Cera). And Beth is so eager to hold on to John that she’s going fast forward on their relationship with a quick marriage and even a baby on the way.
Beth may be trying to give herself the happy ending she’s always wanted, but she can’t skip steps and she’s going to have to face the truth about what really makes her happy. As John, certain aspects of his character will also come into sharper focus this season. Can these two really make it work as a family? We’ll find out soon.
FEUD (2017)
After a seven-year hiatus between seasons, FX’s Feud is back with a new season-long storyline: Capote vs. The Swans. The series is based on the real-life breakdown in relations between the famous writer, Truman Capote (Tom Hollander), and his female friends in New York City’s high society. In 1975, an excerpt from Capote’s unfinished novel, Answered Prayers, is published, and the women instantly realize that Capote has betrayed their confidence and used barely disguised versions of them in his book.
The titular Swans — Babe Paley (Naomi Watts), Nancy “Slim” Keith (Diane Lane), C.Z. Guest (Chloë Sevigny), Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart), Ann Woodward (Demi Moore), and Joanne Carson (Molly Ringwald) — resolve to destroy Capote no matter how long it takes. And this battle of wills only encourages Capote’s self-destructive streak, especially when he can’t understand why the Swans are so angry with him.
Death and Other Details (2024)
The first two episodes of Death and Other Details have dropped on Hulu. It follows Rufus Coteworth (Mandy Patinkin), the man who was formerly known as “the world’s greatest detective.” The one case that Rufus couldn’t crack was the murder of Imogene Scott’s mother, which is something that Imogene (Violett Beane) has never forgiven him for.
Fate reunites Rufus and Imogene on the luxury cruiser SS Varuna when a murder takes place at sea. And in order to solve this case, Imogene will have to put aside her distaste for Rufus before more bodies start piling up.
Max (formerly HBO and HBO Max)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (2014)
Jon Stewart may be back on The Daily Show once a week, but John Oliver is close behind. The former Daily Show correspondent has returned for his 11th season on HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, a satirical news show that often runs rings around Oliver’s former series.
Since new episodes are taped weekly, we can only guess that Oliver will address the 2024 election cycle, crazy Taylor Swift conspiracies, and plenty of serious topics that the mainstream news won’t touch. That’s why Oliver’s show is such a valuable part of the media ecosystem. Without him, who would be telling these stories to a large audience?
Tokyo Vice (2022) new
It took nearly two years for the second season of Tokyo Vice to arrive, but the show is now once again taking viewers back to the late 1990s. Jake Adelstein (Ansel Elgort) moved to Tokyo to make his name as a crime reporter. But the more Jake learns about the Yakuza and the criminal underworld, the more he gets in over his head.
Season 1 ended with Jake learning that a woman he knew named Polina (Ella Rumpf) had been murdered by one of the Tozawa clan. Now, Jake, his friend Samantha Porter (Rachel Keller), and Jake’s police connection, Detective Hiroto Katagiri (Ken Watanabe), are all looking for answers about Polina’s murder. But there’s never any easy resolution on these mean streets.
Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000)
Paramount+
Halo (2022) new
The second season of Halo has arrived with a two-episode premiere that may indicate that the show is shifting closer to the narrative of the games. After the first season, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 (Pablo Schreiber) still has a lot to sort out about himself, but one thing is clear. In order to win the war with the alien Covenant, Master Chief has to find the ringworld known as Halo.
However, time may be running out on the human colony Reach, as the Covenant closes in on the planet’s location. Once that happens, nothing, not even Master Chief himself, can prevent the Fall of Reach.
Amazon Prime Video
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024)
Put aside any preconceived notions you have about Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Prime Video’s show may share a name with the 2005 movie that brought Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie together as a real-life couple, but the similarities begin and end there. Instead of being rival assassins who are ignorant about their double lives, John (Donald Glover) and Jane Smith (Maya Erskine) are complete strangers who are both in the know about their spy work because it’s for the same shadowy agency.
John and Jane are given undercover identities as a married couple to put them in a position to handle sensitive assignments at a moment’s notice. The relationship is fake, but the mutual attraction is real. And in a world where everything they deal with is filled with lies and deception, all the Smiths have is each other.
Expats (2024)
When Nicole Kidman comes out for television roles, they’re often harrowing emotional journeys for her characters. Expats keeps that tradition alive with Kidman’s role as Margaret, an American woman living in Hong Kong who is consumed by the disappearance of her son, Gus (Connor J. Gillman). And in her ongoing grief, Margaret can’t seem to realize that anyone else, including her own family, is feeling the same pain that she is.
Margaret’s American friends, Mercy (Ji-young Yoo) and Hilary (Sarayu Blue), are dealing with their own personal drama as well. The story is set against the backdrop of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests and a growing realization that none of these three women will ever truly be at home in a country that isn’t theirs.
Zorro (2024)
Peacock
Ted (2024)
Seth MacFarlane’s Ted is making a comeback with Peacock’s new prequel series. Once again, MacFarlane provides the voice of Ted, a teddy bear who miraculously came to life so he could be the best friend of John Bennett (Max Burkholder). The show takes place when John is 16, and the world has gotten used to Ted’s existence as an oddity.
At the behest of John’s parents, Matty (Scott Grimes) and Susan Bennett (Alanna Ubach), Ted has to go to high school with John, and that’s just a recipe for trouble. Ted also starts to question his origin in addition to finding the time to help Matty and Susan through a rough patch in their marriage.
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