Premieres Wednesday:
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea — This Spanish-language take on the Jules Verne classic brings some intrepid kids aboard an upgraded Nautilus that’s piloted by a female successor to Captain Nemo. Throw in an encounter with a Honduran Phileas Fogg, and I think you’d have enough to turn Ben Shapiro sterile. (Wait, too late.) (Disney+)
Acapulco — Shuttling back and forth between 1986 and the present, the fourth and final season takes us to two different times at which Maximo had to restore the hotel to its position of market dominance. It’s hard to believe that long-ago strategy of leaving a four-pack of Bartles & Jaymes on every pillow didn’t cement the place’s stature permanently and for all time. (Apple TV+)
Critical: Between Life and Death — A nail-biting docuseries introduces us to the medical professionals who are tasked with dispensing emergency care to Britons whose very survival is up in the air. At the top of the list: anybody who’s ever been a showrunner on Doctor Who. (Netflix)
Letters From the Past — A treasure trove of mailed missives leads a Turkish woman to an epiphany of self-discovery. See, this is what can happen for you in a country with a healthy postal service. In certain Louisiana counties, you now only have a shot at a life-changing revelation four days a week. (Netflix)
Shiny Happy People: A Teenage Holy War — Season 2 profiles the Christian youth organization Teen Mania, which survivors say is a dangerous cult bent on churning out unquestioning soldiers for the lord. With a name like that, I would have just assumed it was part of Mike Johnson’s search history. (Prime Video)
Washington Black — Sterling K. Brown produced and plays a supporting role in a series adaptation of Esi Edugyan’s novel, which follows a Barbadian former slave (Eddie Karanja) at two stages of his personal journey. If I know my quantum physics, that means he has 2² chance of crossing paths with Maximo from Acapulco going in any given direction. (Hulu)
Premieres Thursday:
Epic Ride: The Story of Universal Theme Parks — Are you a native-born Orlandoan who used to feel swindled every time The Wonderful World of Disney devoted an episode to an extended ad for Walt Disney World? Now your kids and grandkids get to have a similar experience by paying for Peacock to watch a three-part retrospective of Universal’s own park offerings, culminating in a timely tour of Epic Universe. If you live on Kirkman Road, this show basically qualifies as an elaborate Ring camera. (Peacock)
Hitmakers — Some of today’s top songwriters and producers are corralled into “writing camps” so they can turn out new hits for the likes of Lisa of Blackpink and Shaboozey. Meanwhile, in the show’s equivalent of a lifetime achievement award, Desmond Child gets sent to Alligator Alcatraz. (Netflix)
My Melody and Kuromi — Sanrio’s answer to Goofus and Gallant star in their own stop-motion animation series, which establishes them as the proprietors of competing sweet shops. True to form, Kuromi tries to gain an edge by running numbers out of the back room. (Netflix)
A Normal Woman — An upper-class Indonesian enters a downward spiral of self-destruction when she becomes convinced she’s contracted an obscure disease. Hey, you can’t fault her for wanting to do her own research. And that WebMD has been a cesspool ever since RFK Jr. replaced the editorial staff with capuchin monkeys. (Netflix)
The Sandman Season 2 Volume 2 — The final five episodes of the series look like they’re going to break from the source comics by carving out a larger role for Jenna Coleman’s Johanna Constantine. Back when Neil Gaiman was still giving notes, that role probably entailed picking up the dry cleaning and dispensing reach-arounds. (Netflix)
Premieres Friday:
Happy Gilmore 2 — It’s Top Gun Maverick for assholes, as Adam Sandler’s Happy comes out of retirement to put his daughter through ballet school. Now that Bob Barker has gone to that great Showcase Showdown in the sky, who’s left to smack Happy around? I doubt Steve Harvey wants to risk pleading his case to the LAPD. (Netflix)
Mandala Murders — While trying to solve a spate of killings, a pair of Indian detectives stumble upon an ancient conspiracy tied to a mysterious cult. The investigation is going really well until Pam Bondi shows up at the last minute and explains there’s nothing to see here. (Netflix)
Monster Island — Take that, Guillermo del Toro: You’re not the only one who can update The Creature From the Black Lagoon. A Japanese soldier and a British POW have to fight off a fish monster in a World War II-era fright flick that represents the combined artistic efforts of Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and the U.K. Wow, that’s a lineup more formidable than the cast of Destroy All Monsters. Wonder which country thinks of itself as Rodan. (Shudder)
Trigger — South Korea’s cops are overwhelmed when a nationwide gun ban doesn’t prevent black-market firearms from flooding into their country. But as Yoon Suk Yeol was trying to tell them, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is martial law. (Netflix)
Premieres Monday:
Adaptive — This uplifting docuseries about champion paralympic athletes was produced by NBC Sports in cooperation with Dick’s Sporting Goods. Hence its inspiring slogan, “Even if you don’t have arms or legs, you’ll always have Dick’s!” (Peacock)
The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball — The mischievous blue cat and his goldfish brother are back for a seventh season of 40 episodes. Be on the lookout for Episode 4, “The Butts.” Yes, really. Can we infer JLo has entered the “celebrity voiceover” stage of career collapse? (Hulu)
Premieres Tuesday:
Trainwreck: Storm Area 51 — Revisit the panic that erupted within the U.S. military when a 20-year-old Facebook user jokingly invited the public to overrun the fabled Nevada facility that’s allegedly a holding pen for extraterrestrials. Honestly, you could sell me on that theory a lot easier than getting me to believe a 20-year-old was using Facebook. (Netflix)
WWE: Unreal — Learn what it takes to put on extravaganzas like Monday Night Raw and WrestleMania in the only sports docuseries you’re likely to see that includes visits to a writer’s room. At least until Riley Gaines gets better publicists. (Netflix)
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This article appears in Jul 23-29, 2025.