Premieres Wednesday:
Abominable and the Invisible City Season 2 — Now that the world knows magical creatures exist, the onus is on Yi, Jin and Peng to find a place for them to live where they'll be safe from the prying eyes of human rubberneckers. Hey, why not move them over to HBO Max? Nobody would ever think to look there. (Hulu and Peacock)
The Big Door Prize — Schitt's Creek creator David West Read takes us to a small town where $2 is all it takes to have a fortune-telling machine reveal your greatest aptitude as a human being. Given that price, I'd expect to learn my true calling was "John Cusack's paperboy." (Apple TV+)
Emergency NYC — The docuseries Lenox Hill gets a spinoff that shadows the Big Apple's emergency doctors and responders, both on the job and at home. The period depicted spans the devastation of early COVID and the subsequent spike in crime after lockdowns were lifted. That's why New Yorkers are such an industrious lot: No matter what's going on, they're going to find a way to keep the body count high. (Netflix)
Jules Verne: Journey to the Center of the Earth — Latin America offers its own take on Verne's classic novel, here reimagined as the story of a bunch of plucky kids who find a portal into another dimension. Gosh, I remember when burrowing deep into the core of your own planet was considered exciting enough, but everything has to be multiversal now, I guess. I wonder which of the little brats gets the hot dog fingers. (Disney+)
Unseen — A house cleaner (Gail Mabalane of Blood & Water) is suspected of being an accessory to murder in a South African thriller series that's out to make us question what we know about service workers. Listen, if you want me to wonder if my mechanic was at the Capitol on January 6th, you won't have to work particularly hard. (Netflix)
Wellmania — Australian funnywoman Celeste Barber stars in a series adaptation of Brigid Delaney's novel about a food blogger who tries to get healthy. My first suggestion would be for her to skip the crab-topped barramundi the next time she goes to Outback, because hoo boy can that one test the tensile strength of your stretchy eatin' pants. (Netflix)
Premieres Thursday:
The Croods: Family Tree — Greg discovers some unnaturally advanced artifacts in a cave in Season 6 ... and anybody who's in touch with their inner Dr. Zaius knows what THAT means. Don't touch that Omega Bomb, Greg, or you'll never live to see Season 7. (Hulu and Peacock)
RapCaviar Presents — Filtering contemporary issues through the work of some of today's most significant hip-hop artists, this could be the first docuseries to carry the credit line "based on the influential Spotify playlist." Meanwhile, the entire Netflix slate will continue to be based on Alex Murdaugh's browser history. (Hulu)
Unstable — Rob Lowe and his real-life son, John Owen Lowe, play father-and-son biotech executives in a series they've described as a cathartic undertaking. I take it back: This is what Alex Murdaugh should have been getting up to in his spare time. (Netflix)
Premieres Friday:
Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. — In Season 2, Lahela (or "Doogie," if you will) wonders if one of her patients can replace the boyfriend she's grown apart from. Sounds like a broach of professional ethics, but maybe that explains the new season's tag line, "All AAPI, no HIPAA." (Disney+)
Eva the Owlet — Rebecca Elliott's Owl Diaries series of children's books becomes an animated series for preschoolers, with original songs by Michael Fitzpatrick of Fitz and the Tantrums. But don't worry: Even though Fitz has left his Tantrums at home, your kids will be more than happy to provide their own. (Apple TV+)
Kill Boksoon — A legendary contract killer (Jeon Do-yeon of Secret Sunshine and The Housemaid) has to balance her work with the demands of single motherhood in an action flick the Hollywood Reporter calls "bloated but entertaining." In a positive sign, that's the same thing they said about Brendan Fraser. (Netflix)
The Power — A novel by Naomi Alderman is the source material for a British sci-fi series in which the teenage girls of the world gain the power to electrocute anyone on a whim. Death by side-eye? I'm all for it. Just tell me the trans kids get to perform castrations via telepathy. (Prime Video)
Rye Lane — In a romcom directed by newcomer Raine Allen-Miller, romance finds a guy and a girl while they're wandering around a predominantly Black neighborhood of South London. Working title: Before Sunrise We Might Be Able to Hail a Cab. (Hulu)
Tetris — Video-game history is made as an American businessman (Taron Egerton) weathers corporate skullduggery and international intrigue to bring a Russian inventor's stacking game to consoles worldwide. And here you thought everything had just fallen into place, nyuk nyuk. (Apple TV+)
The Unheard — Jeffrey A. Brown, director of 2019's The Beach House, returns with a shocker about a young woman (Lachlan Watson) who discovers that the surgery she just underwent to restore her hearing may have a dramatic downside. Well, sure: You have to actually listen to people! (Shudder)
Premieres Sunday:
War Sailor — One of Norway's big theatrical hits of 2022 becomes a three-part miniseries fleshed out with footage rescued from the cutting-room floor. At the outset of World War II, two merchant seamen find themselves in the crosshairs of Germany's U-boat fleet; meanwhile, back home, their families are threatened by poorly aimed British bombs. What's Norwegian for "You kids cut it out or I'll knock both your heads together"? (Netflix)
Premieres Monday:
Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields — This two-part documentary shows how the celebrated Shields made the difficult transition to adult success after her early experiences of being sexually exploited as a child. As strange as it may now seem, magazine buyers could once acquire full-frontal shots of a 10-year-old Shields that would today spell career death if they were found to be in the possession of a congressman. (Well, not your congressman, but a theoretical one certainly.) (Hulu)
Premieres Tuesday:
Country Gold — Director Mickey Reece casts himself as a Garth Brooks-like country superstar who meets George Jones on the night before the great man puts himself into cryogenic suspension. Helpful hint: If you wait until after your heroes are on ice, the cost of those meet-and-greets goes way down. (Fandor)
My Name Is Mo'nique — "There are things I'm going to say in this comedy special that I thought I would take to my grave," says the 32-year-old performer. Given that she's already waged a PR war against Tyler Perry and Orpah Winfrey, and sued Netflix for allegedly underpaying her for her previous special, it's tough to imagine what she's been holding back on. Maybe she's going to tell us where she buried the Treasure of the Sierra Madre? (Netflix)
Redefined: J.R. Smith — Documentary cameras follow the former NBA star around the campus of North Carolina A&T, where he's spending his retirement getting an education and pursuing a new passion for golf. Good thing he isn't, say, dying in a plane crash while delivering disaster relief to Central America, because then Florida wouldn't let you hear anything about it. (Prime Video)
