Premieres Wednesday:
Adoration — Another week, another round of shows about missing and/or murdered women. This time, the location is Italy, where the disappearance of a teen may hinge on her reputation for free-spirited wanderlust. Gosh, if I didn’t know better, I’d almost think we hated these broads now or something. (Netflix)
Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy — Nic Stacey, director of the Emmy-nominated The World According to Jeff Goldblum, takes a hard look at the devious tactics major retail brands use to keep us on as loyal and unquestioning costumers. Hey, that’s nothing compared to whatever they did to convince us we all suddenly had the hots for Jeff Goldblum. (Netflix)
GTMAX — Brother-and-sister motocross riders find their relationship tested when one of them is conscripted to take part in a robbery on the streets of their native France. Les fast, les furious, les terminally alienated. (Netflix)
The Merry Gentlemen — It’s Magic Mike meets It’s a Wonderful Life, as the proprietors of a struggling nightclub realize a male revue may be the Christmas miracle they need to survive. Admit it: Now you’re picturing Sam Wainwright in his skivvies. HEE-haw! (Netflix)
Nothing to See Here — In Season 2, blind stand-up comic Alexis starts to neglect his friends and girlfriend to chase professional success. As revenge, they don’t tell him he’s running in the wrong direction. (Netflix)
Our Oceans — Former president Obama narrates a nature docuseries that takes viewers to the depths of the world’s five mighty oceans. Maybe this time we’ll listen when he tells us how low we can go. (Netflix)
Rhythm & Flow — The judging panel for Season 2 of the hip-hop competition show includes regulars DJ Khaled, Latto and Ludacris, plus guests like Eminem. Yeah, we’ve all just seen that a visit from him can make anybody an instant winner. shrugs (Netflix)
Premieres Thursday:
Based on a True Story — Season 2 looks in on Ava (Kaley Cuoco) as she’s trying to focus on her new baby and her work selling real estate but finding her true-crime addiction too compelling to resist. I thought this was the sort of thing paid maternity leave was supposed to prevent. (Peacock)
Cruel Intentions — Sarah Catherine Hook tales over for Sarah Michelle Gellar in a series remake of the 1999 feature film — which was in turn an update of the 18th-century novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses. One more remake in yet another medium, and this thing will be a book again. (Prime Video)
A Man on the Inside — Widower and retired academic Ted Danson gets a new lease on life working for a private investigator, who sends him undercover to solve a robbery at a California nursing home. While he’s there, maybe he can get help from all his friends from Cheers who are still alive. (Netflix)
The Sex Lives of College Girls Season 3 — Sophomore year presents our young heroines with a host of new challenges, like figuring out who’s going to room with whom. “For me, that was always the most fascinating part of college,” co-creator Justin Noble told Variety. Um, he does know his show has the word “sex” in the title, right? (Max)
Tokyo Override — The Tokyo of 100 years from now is the setting for an animated series in which rebel bikers are the last line of defense against a world that’s become ruled by AI and heartless automation. As opposed to now, when they mostly just block you in traffic and pee on the side of dive bars. (Netflix)
Premieres Friday:
900 Days Without Anabel — The longest kidnapping in the history of Spain is the subject of yet another missing-woman story. At what point do we acknowledge that the proliferation of these things is abuse in and of itself? “Your body, my platform.” (Netflix)
Bread & Roses — In a documentary that couldn’t be timelier if it tried, three women are seen struggling to escape the clutches of the Taliban. Can they make it out of Afghanistan to find a new life of carefree emancipation in Salt Lake City? (Apple TV+)
The Empress — Season 2 of the historically based German language drama checks back with Empress Elisabeth “Sisi” of Austria at a time when she’s under immense pressure to stabilize the monarchy by delivering a son. If she fails, I’m sure Franz’ll take it with all the grace and composure of Michael Corleone. (Netflix)
The Helicopter Heist — The drama-series format affords some serious speculation over what went down in September 2009 when a helicopter full of thieves stole several million dollars from a cash depository in Sweden. And we have to speculate, because even though the crooks confessed, not even other Swedes can make heads or tails of that crazy chef talk. (Netflix)
Joy — Bill Nighy plays one of the three British scientists who are credited with having developed IVF 50 years ago. Given that we all now know who its real father was, I’m anticipating some really unpleasant sperm-donation footage. (Netflix)
The Piano Lesson — Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington and Erykah Badu star in a new adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play about the conflicting agendas of a Black American family. Hopefully, the narrative can survive being transplanted from Pittsburgh to Badu-land. (Netflix)
Rita — Crusading director Jayro Bustamante offers a dramatic interpretation of the 2017 uprising that occurred at a Guatemalan orphanage because of the arrival of one special 13-year-old. In the immortal words of R. Kelly, all it takes is one kid to mess up your game real good. (Shudder)
Spellbound — The second feature from Skydance Animation is set in a magical kingdom that’s seen its populace split in two and its rulers turned into monsters. Wow, there too, huh? (Netflix)
Tex Mex Motors — Star Rob “The Rabbit” Pitts passed away during the filming of this second season, leaving the surviving members of his car-restoring team to continue scouring Mexico for fixer-uppers. But I don’t know if I’m ready to see them strap him to the hood of an Impala and drive it to Tijuana for a Viking funeral. (Netflix)
Premieres Monday:
Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey? —Documentary legend Joe Berlinger continues his recent hot streak with a three-part inquest into the second-most baffling mystery of the ’90s. (The first: Why did we all put up with Brett Butler for so long?) (Netflix)
Premieres Tuesday:
Anthony Jeselnik: Bones and All — The world’s only funny edgelord comedian celebrates two decades in the business with his fourth stand-up special. See, now this is a guy who could actually do something interesting with a show about missing women. (Netflix)
Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae — An indigenous-rights activist from Nova Scotia is murdered in 1975, and it takes the authorities a long and painful three decades to find the culprits. OK, Netflix, you have exactly one week to convince us the case should be opened again. (Hulu)
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This article appears in Nov 20-26, 2024.