\n<\/p>\n
HBO Max may<\/span> not have the shine it once did, but the streaming service (previously just Max) is still home to some of the best TV shows of the past 25 years, from\u00a0The Sopranos<\/em> and\u00a0The Wire<\/em> to\u00a0Game of Thrones<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Leftovers.<\/em><\/p>\n Whether you\u2019re a longtime fan of the \u201cit\u2019s not TV\u201d cable network or a HBO Max newbie trying to figure out where to start, the shows below should give you plenty upon which to feast your eyes.<\/p>\n Looking for more recommendations? Head to WIRED\u2019s guide to the\u00a0best TV shows on Netflix, the\u00a0best TV shows on Amazon Prime, the\u00a0best TV shows on Disney+, and the\u00a0best TV shows on Hulu.<\/p>\n If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism.<\/em> Learn more.<\/em><\/p>\n Mare of Easttown<\/em> creator Brad Ingelsby returns to HBO with a new crime-drama miniseries, this time swapping out Oscar winner Kate Winslet for Oscar winner Mark Ruffalo. Here the Hulk actor plays Tom Brandis, a Catholic priest turned FBI agent who is reeling from a family tragedy. But duty calls, and Brandis has a job to do, which ultimately sees his life colliding with that of Robbie Prendergrast (Ozark<\/em>\u2019s Tom Pelphrey), a trash collector by day who spends his nights robbing a local drug gang\u2019s trap houses in the Philly suburbs. Like Mare of Easttown<\/em>, expect lots of dropped Rs and plenty of Wawa references.<\/p>\n John Cena reprises his role as Chris Smith, aka Peacemaker, a violence-prone vigilante who is willing to do whatever it takes in order to achieve peace\u2014even if that means killing dozens of people. Ironic? Yes. It\u2019s also deeply funny, with Cena seeming to relish the opportunity to play such an over-the-top character. The series, which kicked off its second season in August, is a spinoff of The Suicide Squad<\/em> and boasts DC boss\/superhero auteur James Gunn as its creator, showrunner, writer, and most frequent episode director.<\/p>\n Just when you think you know everything about the case of disgraced mommy vlogger Ruby Franke, new revelations come to light. This four-part true crime docuseries aims to uncover what drew Franke to the teachings of Jodi Hildebrandt, how the latter rose to power within the Mormon community, and why the bond they shared took such an abusive turn. The series includes interviews with Hildebrandt\u2019s former clients, as well as her niece, who was a first-hand witness to Jodi\u2019s twisted manipulations.<\/p>\n On December 6, 1991, a police officer responding to reports of a fire at a frozen yogurt shop in Austin, Texas, was horrified to discover the bodies of four teenage girls inside. All four girls, who ranged in age from 13 to 17, had been shot in the head, and at least one of the young women had been raped. More than 30 years later, the events of that night continue to haunt not just the friends and family members of the victims, but the law enforcement officials who investigated the gruesome crime, the individuals who were considered suspects, and even the media members who covered it. HBO\u2019s enthralling new four-part docuseries takes a deep dive into the killings, which remained unsolved until September 29, when investigators in Texas announced that DNA evidence and ballistics had helped to name a (now-deceased) suspect in brutal slayings.<\/p>\n While it hasn\u2019t made quite the splash that Downton Abbey<\/em> did, Julian Fellowes\u2019 latest period piece is just as decadent\u2014and really came into its own with its second season, then became addictive in its third. In this case, the drama moves stateside to document the struggle between New York City\u2019s old-money aristocrats and the vulgar new-money types attempting to infiltrate their social circles. There\u2019s also plenty of the Upstairs, Downstairs<\/em>\u2013type drama that Fellowes is known for, with the servants who cater to Manhattan\u2019s elite playing a big part of the story here too. Somewhere in the middle of it all is Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson, Meryl Streep’s youngest child), a young woman attempting to navigate a world she only belongs to by proxy. Christine Baranski, Carrie Coon, and Cynthia Nixon lead a stellar cast. Its third season, which concluded in August, is getting some of the series\u2019 strongest reviews.<\/p>\n Fifteen years after Lost<\/em> said goodbye, J.J. Abrams and Josh Holloway re-teamed for this 1970s-set action-crime-comedy about a top-notch getaway driver (Holloway) who partners with the FBI\u2019s first Black woman agent (Rachel Hilson) to take down a notorious crime boss (the always-pitch-perfect Keith David). With its quirky mix of genres, distinctly \u201970s look, and unmistakable sense of humor, Duster<\/em> feels a bit like what Quentin Tarantino might do as a TV showrunner. Unfortunately, that didn\u2019t seem to be enough to keep it around; in early July, HBO announced that the series\u2019 first season would also be its last.<\/p>\n HBO delivered one of its most iconic series in the mid-2000s with the family funeral home-set Six Feet Under<\/em>. The Mortician<\/em> is essentially the flip side of that critically acclaimed drama: It\u2019s a three-part docuseries that explores the disturbing story of the Lamb Funeral Home, a real-life Los Angeles business that made headlines in the 1980s when it was alleged that its new owner, David Sconce, was engaging in reprehensible practices that seemed to value profit over human life. Years later, and after spending more than a decade in prison on two separate occasions (the second time for violating his parole), Sconce sits down to speak about his crimes, and still seems unmoved by the emotional damage he has caused.<\/p>\n Good luck trying to explain what\u00a0The Rehearsal<\/em>\u00a0is to anyone who isn\u2019t familiar with Nathan Fielder\u2019s mastery of uncomfortable comedy. What begins as a series in which the awkward star\/comedian attempts to help people prepare for big moments in life by rehearsing them until they get it right quickly turns into a bizarre social experiment in which Fielder himself becomes one of the key players. The less you know about it ahead of time, the better. Just be aware that you\u2019ll be encountering people who responded to a Craigslist ad to take part in season 1, and that the second season sees Fielder stepping in to create a wild role-playing environment to improve communication between pilots, with the hope of preventing plane crashes. It might make you worry about exactly who is commandeering your next flight and give whole new meaning to the chorus of Evanescence\u2019s 2003 hit \u201cBring Me To Life.\u201d<\/p>\n Conan O’Brien is at his zaniest in this offshoot of his popular podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend<\/em>. Whereas the popular audio series features O’Brien chatting with his fellow celebrities, this globe-trotting series sees the former late-night host surprising everyday people he has featured on said podcast. But it doubles as a kind of travel series, as he uses the time in these far-off places (which, in the first season, included Norway, Thailand, Argentina, and Ireland) to immerse himself in the food, traditions, and culture of his chosen destinations. Season 2 sees O\u2019Brien visit New Zealand, Austria, and Spain over three episodes. It’s a short season, to be sure, but a third season is already confirmed.<\/p>\n The Last of Us<\/em> managed to succeed where Netflix\u2019s\u00a0Resident Evil<\/em> (which was canceled after one season) and other live-action TV shows based on video games failed\u2014by being really,\u00a0really good. Craig Mazin (Chernobyl<\/em>) and the video game\u2019s original director,\u00a0Neil Druckmann, cocreated the postapocalyptic drama, in which one grizzled survivor (Pedro Pascal) is tasked with smuggling a smart-mouthed teenager (Bella Ramsey) who could be the key to finding a cure for the fungal infection-fueled pandemic that has turned most of America into zombie-like creatures. Props to everyone for generating so much interest in the (very real and parasitic)\u00a0Cordyceps fungus\u2014because\u00a0fungi nerds like TV too. After a near two-year wait, the show\u2019s second season arrived in April. Set five years after the events of the first season, it begins with Joel (Pascal) and Ellie (Ramsey) having seemingly found a permanent community, despite discord in their own relationship\u2014and zombies that are getting smarter. But the latest season takes some unexpected turns that viewers who aren\u2019t familiar with the video game may not see coming\u2014a trend that will seemingly continue when its third season eventually arrives.<\/p>\n Jean Smart has always been a legend, so it\u2019s only appropriate that she plays a legend in Hacks<\/em>. The HBO Max series debuted in 2021\u2014not long after the streaming platform itself dropped\u2014and became one of its first major hits. Four seasons in, the show follows the evolution of the relationship between world-renowned Las Vegas entertainer Deborah Vance (Smart) and Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder, daughter of SNL<\/em> legend Laraine Newman), a cynical young writer who is on the outs with Hollywood following a bad-take tweet that went viral. What begins as a reluctant \u201cmentorship\u201d slowly transforms into a loving and respectful friendship in which both women realize they have something to learn from the other. The show has won a slew of awards, including nine Emmys (three of them for Smart)\u2014a streak that is likely to continue following the show\u2019s dramatic fourth season, which ended with a development that already has fans wondering what season 5 (which is already ordered) might look like.<\/p>\n The Righteous Gemstones<\/em> is Danny McBride’s latest effort to put forth a group of highly unlikeable people and find a way to make you like them even less but still want to keep watching. In this case, it\u2019s a family of televangelists whose real god is greed and power. McBride assembled an all-star cast that includes John Goodman as the family\u2019s patriarch, Adam DeVine and Edi Patterson as his fellow Gemstone children, and national treasure Walton Goggins as Uncle Baby Billy Freeman\u2014a child-star-turned-grifter who has given the series some of its most memorable quotes and moments. (Can you say Baby Billy\u2019s Bible Bonkers<\/em>?) The series\u2019 fourth and final season, which added Megan Mullally and Seann William Scott to the mix, concluded in May, with all episodes streaming now.<\/p>\n HBO Max\u2019s first Spanish-produced series, adapted from Sergio Sarria\u2019s novel of the same name, is a smart, slow-burning crime drama. US Army special agent Magaly Castillo (Mariela Garriga) is sent to a base in Mor\u00f3n de la Frontera, Spain, to look into the strange disappearance of a soldier. Not far away, Civil Guard sergeant Luc\u00eda Guti\u00e9rrez (Maribel Verd\u00fa) is investigating a suicide that has ritualistic elements of harakiri. Eventually, their investigations begin to overlap, and the two work together\u2014despite protocol and politics\u2014to understand what is happening around them.<\/p>\n While it was originally imagined as a one-off limited series from the brilliantly screwed-up mind (in a good way) of Mike White\u2014who cocreated the sadly overlooked\u00a0Enlightenment<\/em> with Laura Dern, another HBO show you should check out\u2014The White Lotus<\/em> has since morphed into a full-on, five-star franchise that just wrapped up its wild third season. The series dives below the surface of the seemingly fabulous lives of deep-pocketed guests who can afford to stay at one of the ultra-luxe resorts of the title\u2019s locations (first Hawaii, then Sicily, followed by Thailand), and the people who trip over themselves to serve their every need. Somewhere in between, murder always seems to end up on the menu. The newest season proved to be deliciously addictive, with Walton Goggins, Carrie Coon, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Michelle Monaghan, Leslie Bibb, and Aimee Lou Wood among the delightfully dysfunctional guests\u2014plus a surprise cameo from Sam Rockwell as a wild character who won\u2019t soon be forgotten. While fans of the series lamented the loss of Jennifer Coolidge as a recurring cast member, writer\/actor Natasha Rothwell did her former would-be business partner proud (and Coolidge\u2019s lying husband dirty) by reprising her role as Belinda Lindsey, the spa manager fans met (and rooted for) in Season 1. A fourth season has already been greenlit, but production won\u2019t begin until 2026\u2014meaning it could be 2027 before viewers see the next season of The White Lotus<\/em>, wherever in the world the show goes (rumors are swirling that it will be France).<\/p>\n First things first: Yes, The Pitt<\/em> is a medical drama that reunites ER<\/em> star Noah Wyle with executive producer John Wells. But that\u2019s essentially where the similarities to that iconic NBC series end. Really, The Pitt<\/em> has more in common with 24<\/em>. Set in an underfunded hospital in Pittsburgh, the series plays out over 15 hours in real time as patients come and go (in some cases, shuffling off this mortal coil); medical students and interns learn the truth about their chosen profession; and seasoned doctors and hospital administrators butt heads over the nature of the US health care system. It\u2019s an engaging watch that moves at a breakneck speed while offering a somber reality about medicine in a post-pandemic world. Season 1 was a near-perfect season of television, and its five Emmys\u2014including wins for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Katherine LaNasa, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for Shawn Hatosy, as well as a much-deserved Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Wyle\u2014are a testament to that. A second season\u2014which will follow the same real-time format and take place over Fourth of July weekend\u2014is already in production, with a planned January 2026 premiere.<\/p>\n Sam (the amazing Bridget Everett) is a forty-something woman who has lost her way. After returning to her hometown of Manhattan, Kansas, to care for her dying sister, she is left broken and floundering following her sister\u2019s death. Unsure of who she is, what she is doing, or where she fits in, she slowly starts to find her place thanks to Joel (Jeff Hiller), a coworker and former classmate. With his friendship and support, and reconnecting with her love of singing, Sam starts to learn that we don\u2019t need to have the answers to know when something feels \u201cright.\u201d The Peabody Award\u2013winning series is one of the best things to happen to TV audiences in a long time\u2014and a reminder that \u201cacceptance\u201d is in the mind of the beholder. While it managed to fly somewhat under the radar during its three seasons, all of which are streaming now, that changed on September 14 when Hiller won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and delivered one of the night\u2019s most heartfelt\u2014and hilarious\u2014acceptance speeches.<\/p>\n HBO Max is going all in on Frank Herbert\u2019s Dune<\/em>. In addition to Denis Villeneuve\u2019s two recent Dune<\/em> movies\u2014which are both streaming here\u2014there\u2019s now Dune: Prophecy<\/em>. Based on Brian Herbert (son of Frank) and Kevin J. Anderson\u2019s prequel trilogy novels, the series is set 10,000 years before the events witnessed in the Dune<\/em> films. In this world, it\u2019s the women who rule as two sisters (Emily Watson and Olivia Williams) work to establish the secretive Bene Gesserit sisterhood, who have developed the power to ensure that all future members will be built to stand as powerful leaders. Comparisons to The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em> are inevitable. There\u2019s more to come: The series was renewed for a second season just days before its season 1 finale.<\/p>\n Foodies and romance lovers alike will enjoy this latest adaptation of Laura Esquivel\u2019s seminal 1989 novel. Set during the Mexican Revolution, it tells the story of Tita de la Garza (Azul Guaita) and Pedro M\u00fazquiz (Andres Baida)\u2014a young couple in love. Tita\u2019s cruel mother, Mam\u00e1 Elena (Irene Azuela), insists that her daughter will take care of her until her death, and thus refuses to consent when Pedro asks for Tita\u2019s hand. Instead, he ends up marrying Tita\u2019s sister Gertrudis (Andrea Chaparro) in an attempt to remain a part of Tita\u2019s life, which only makes their circumstances more agonizing. Tita\u2019s love does not exactly go unrequited: She expresses it in the food she cooks, which is felt by everyone who tastes it. (This is much less silly than it sounds.) A second, and final, season is currently in production.<\/p>\n Mindy Kaling cocreated this HBO Max series, which puts a new spin on the teenage sex comedy\u2014one in which the women are fully in charge. Nerdy Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet, yes, Timoth\u00e9e\u2019s sister), aspiring professional funny person Bela (Amrit Kaur), snotty Upper East Sider Leighton (Rene\u00e9 Rapp), and soccer star\/senator\u2019s daughter Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott) are four college freshmen randomly thrown together as suitemates. But as they get to know each other, and themselves, their forced cohabitation develops into a true bond\u2014one in which there\u2019s no such thing as TMI and a \u201cnaked party\u201d is just one way to unwind after a long week. Season 3\u2014which saw Rapp depart the series and new roomie Kacey (Gracie Lawrence) take over her space in the quad\u2014wrapped in January and will sadly be its last.<\/p>\n Armando Iannucci has never met a world he didn\u2019t want to skewer (see: In the Thick of It, Veep, Avenue 5<\/em>). In the case of The Franchise<\/em>, which Iannucci co-created with Sam Mendes and Jon Brown, it\u2019s the ridiculousness of superhero movies\u2014and, more specifically, superhero cinematic universes\u2014that is ripe for mockery. Daniel Kumar (Himesh Patel) is the first assistant director on an upcoming movie, Tecto: Eye of the Storm<\/em>, that\u2019s being made in the shadow of one of its franchise\u2019s team-up movies, Centurios 2<\/em>, so getting short shrift. Though his name will be buried in the credits, Kumar\u2014who might have the production\u2019s most thankless job\u2014is determined to make a movie that rises above its material. And budget. And actors. And crew. Think of it as a satirical potshot at the MCU. Sadly, one season is all we\u2019re going to get of Iannucci\u2019s latest; HBO canceled the series in early January.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you\u2019re about to see may be dangerous, petty, misguided, and most definitely stupid,\u201d warns the voiceover in the trailer. \u201cBut it\u2019s also all true. Sort of.\u201d Danny McBride strikes again (as one of the executive producers) on this new late-night series that brings the unbelievable, infamous \u201cFlorida Man\u201d headlines to life. Each episode recreates these Floridians’ stories with an A-list lineup of comedic actors, including Anna Faris, Jake Johnson, Randall Park, Juliette Lewis, Sam Richardson, and Ego Nwodim. Get ready for feral bunnies, mermaids being harassed by witches, and so much more. HBO Max has already given the green light to a second season, which is expected later this year.<\/p>\n While superhero\/villain TV shows typically tend to be the domain of Disney+, The Penguin<\/em> is different\u2014in so many ways. Spun off from Matt Reeves\u2019 The Batman<\/em> (2022) and based on the characters famously created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, The Penguin<\/em> takes a very prestige TV approach to its comic book origins. Which is likely partly why you\u2019ve heard so many comparisons between The Penguin<\/em> and The Sopranos<\/em>\u2014a likening that is somewhat overblown. (Though Colin Farrell\u2019s Oswald \u201cOz\u201d Cobb does bear a passing resemblance to James Gandolfini\u2019s legendary mob boss.) Still, The Penguin<\/em> is its own beast; it\u2019s an origin story that documents Oz\u2019s violent rise to power following the death of Gotham crime boss Carmine Falcone. While Farrell\u2019s Penguin was one of the most compelling parts of Reeves\u2019 The Batman<\/em>, here it\u2019s Cristin Milioti\u2014who manages to be utterly charming despite playing a brutal psychopath\u2014who steals the show as Carmen\u2019s daughter Sofia Falcone, a mastermind battling Oz for control of Gotham\u2019s underworld. While conversations are reportedly being had, there\u2019s no word yet on whether a second season will be coming. (Reeves has stated that The Batman 2<\/em> is their current priority.)<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t tame wild things.\u201d That\u2019s Alan Cumming\u2019s very simple summation of why it\u2019s not a great idea to have a 250-pound chimp living in your home as if it were another family member. Chimp Crazy<\/em> takes that notion to the extreme. Ostensibly, the four-part docuseries\u2014which comes to HBO Max from the same people who brought us Tiger King<\/em>\u2014is about the lengths to which Tonia Haddix, a tanning-salon-loving exotic animal broker, will go to ensure she cannot be separated from her beloved chimp Tonka (despite what PETA believes is best for the primate). Ultimately, however, it\u2019s an examination of the \u201cchimp mom\u201d community and the disturbing reality of what can happen when a human being puts their own needs above those of these highly intelligent primates, who need more than living in the suburbs can afford them. While there has been no word about whether there will be a season 2, Haddix\u2019s recent arrest and four-year prison sentence certainly open up the possibility of there being more story to tell here.<\/p>\n In City of God<\/em> (2002), Fernando Meirelles\u2019 Oscar-nominated feature, Wilson \u201cRocket\u201d Rodrigues (Alexandre Rodrigues) is an aspiring photojournalist who uses his art to help make sense of\u2014and bring attention to\u2014the dangers of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. In this 2024 sequel series, it\u2019s a full two decades after the events of the original film. Rocket has achieved his dream of becoming a successful photojournalist, but the dangers that residents of the favela face on a daily basis are still present. So he uses his camera once again to capture the corruption that happens when the drug trade, police, and militia collide.<\/p>\n You may not have had an \u201cinvestment banking drama\u201d on your bingo card as your next obsessive binge-watch, but Industry<\/em> has got a lot more to offer than financial jargon. The British-American series is set in and around Pierpoint & Co., one of London\u2019s most prestigious investment banks and the place that any up-and-comer wants to land a job at. The problem is, Pierpont is picky\u2014and has a very limited number of full-time positions up for grabs. So what you get instead is an inside peek at a cutthroat industry coupled with an ensemble dramedy about the lives of the young professionals competing to make it to the top. Game of Thrones<\/em> star Kit Harington joined the show\u2014which many have deemed \u201cthe new Succession<\/em>\u201d\u2014for its third season. Kiernan Shipka, Max Minghella, Jack Farthing, Toheeb Jimoh, and Amy James-Kelly have been announced as new cast members for the fourth season, which is expected to arrive in January.<\/p>\n While it would be silly to think any series could replicate the cultural behemoth that was Game of Thrones<\/em>, House of the Dragon<\/em> does a pretty admirable job (even if George R.R. Martin doesn\u2019t necessarily agree with all of the creative choices that make it different from the book). Especially if you wished its predecessor had more dragon action. This prequel series, which is set approximately 200 years before Game of Thrones<\/em>, is all about discord within House Targaryen and the beginning of the end of that ruling family\u2019s dynasty. Just like GoT<\/em>, there\u2019s enough sex, violence, backstabbing, family dysfunction, and dragons to fill that void\u2014and even the occasional darkly lit scene to get audiences all riled up.<\/p>\n It has been more than 25 years since audiences were introduced to Tony Soprano and his family\u2014both the blood kind and the other kind. Whether you\u2019ve never seen the series that still tops many people\u2019s lists as the greatest television show ever created, or it\u2019s just been a while, it\u2019s time to give it a rewatch. By now the basic premise is well known: Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) is a New Jersey mob boss who struggles with depression and panic attacks. So he starts seeing a psychiatrist (Lorraine Bracco), which is a no-no in Tony\u2019s line of work. Over the next six seasons, audiences are invited to experience the life of a mob boss\u2014both the violent side and the mundanities it can bring. A quarter-century later, the series still holds up. For an extra dose of Sopranos<\/em> content, be sure to check out the 2021 prequel movie, The Many Saints of Newark<\/em>, or Alex Gibney\u2019s two-part docuseries, Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos<\/em>, both of which are streaming now.<\/p>\n What would happen if Succession<\/em>‘s Logan Roy were in charge of a Renaissance fair? It might look a lot like Ren Faire<\/em>. This surprisingly engaging three-part docuseries follows the drama that ensues when George Coulam, founder of the Texas Renaissance Festival (America\u2019s largest Renaissance fair) announces his retirement. While it would seem that the festival\u2019s general manager would be first in line to take over, a kettle corn kingpin and former elephant trainer rise up to challenge that notion of succession. Who knew the Ren faire business was so cutthroat?<\/p>\n Calling all Los Espookys<\/em> fans: Julio Torres has a new series. And yes, it\u2019s just as absurd and silly and funny as its horror-comedy predecessor. In this case, Torres plays a fictionalized version of himself who ends up wandering New York City looking for a lost earring. Along the way, he encounters all sorts of bizarre characters, with guest appearances from the likes of Steve Buscemi, Emma Stone, Ziwe, Paul Dano, Bowen Yang, and Aidy Bryant.<\/p>\n The Jinx<\/em> is as unnerving as it is fascinating. Director Andrew Jarecki\u2019s first brush with the history of Robert Durst came in the form of All Good Things<\/em>, the 2010 feature starring Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst that fictionalized the life of Durst. But when Durst saw what Jarecki had done with that project, he requested they sit down for an interview, which spawned this true-crime docuseries that initially premiered in 2015\u2014and eventually led to new charges being filed against Durst. We won\u2019t give away too much, but suffice to say the words \u201ckilled them all, of course\u201d will forever live in your mind. The Jinx Part Two<\/em> picks up the story after Durst uttered that haunting phrase.<\/p>\n Viewers still lamenting the end of The Americans<\/em> will find much to love about The Sympathizer<\/em>, which was co-created by acclaimed filmmakers Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar. Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen\u2019s Pulitzer Prize\u2013winning novel, this limited series follows the exploits of the Captain (Hoa Xuande), a police captain in the Vietnamese capital then known as Saigon, who also happens to be a communist spy. Eventually, he makes his way to America, where he continues gathering intelligence for the Viet Cong. While it may not sound like the premise of a black comedy, that\u2019s indeed what it is\u2014especially whenever Robert Downey Jr. is around. The Iron Man<\/em> star makes for a formidable villain who viewers love to hate in each one of the four characters he plays.<\/p>\n One has to imagine that putting \u201cReality Show\u201d in the title was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as this docuseries\u2014in which comedian Jerrod Carmichael claims he\u2019s attempting to \u201cself-Truman Show<\/em>\u201d himself\u2014is much more intimate and authentic than that label would imply. Carmichael\u2019s goal is to be as honest as he can be about his life and struggles while the cameras are rolling. And if one were to judge his success based on how uncomfortable some viewers might be bearing witness to it all, the show is an absolute triumph.<\/p>\n In 1993, American journalist Jake Adelstein landed a job at the Tokyo-based Yomiuri Shimbun<\/em> as the newspaper\u2019s first non-Japanese staff writer\u2014a position he held for a dozen years. Nearly 30 years later, in 2022, HBO Max turned Adelstein\u2019s life into a slick crime drama that sees the young journalist (played by Ansel Elgort) forge a deep connection with high-ranking members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, who allow him to get dangerously close to the violence and corruption that exist within the city. In summer 2024, HBO Max announced that the show\u2019s explosive second season would be its last. But Tokyo Vice<\/em> producers are still holding out hope that a third season will be greenlit elsewhere.<\/p>\n Did you take our advice and watch Deadloch<\/em> and now you want more of that, but far darker and more creepy? We have just the solution: True Detective: Night Country<\/em>. Truth be told, this anthology series has had a rough go. Following a wildly successful first season that crashed HBO Max\u2019s predecessor, HBO Go, and had everyone talking about how time is a flat circle, the series\u2019 second and third installments failed to capture the same momentum. Night Country<\/em> is a return to form, as evidenced by its 19 Emmy nominations (the most of any HBO series in 2024). It stars Jodie Foster, who won her first Emmy for the role, and Kali Reis as a pair of investigators trying to uncover a conspiracy and solve a series of bizarre murders. Mysterious symbols are also involved. Yes, that\u2019s pretty much the plot of every season of True Detective<\/em>, but this season has corpsicles. As with all of those previous iterations, the less you know at the start, the better. Speaking of the less you know: A fifth season has been commissioned, with Night Country<\/em> creator Issa L\u00f3pez returning as showrunner. Very few details have been revealed except that the season is scheduled to be set in New York\u2019s Jamaica Bay, and that Nicolas Cage is in talks to play the lead.<\/p>\n \u201cI really did the best under the circumstances of a person who hates people and yet had to be amongst them,\u201d Larry David says in the trailer for the 12th\u2014and final (yes, really)\u2014season of Curb Your Enthusiasm<\/em>. David\u2014both the real-life comedian and the semi-fictionalized version of himself he plays on TV\u2014has been dipping in and out of our lives for more than 20 years now. And he continually exceeded audience expectations with each new season of Curb<\/em>. Even though he cocreated Seinfeld<\/em>, one of the most game-changing TV series of all time, it\u2019s Curb Your Enthusiasm<\/em> to which he\u2019ll always be more closely linked. Pretty good for a social assassin. Pretty, pretty<\/em> good. While Curb<\/em> might be dead, David\u2019s partnership with HBO is alive and well; in July, it was announced that he\u2019ll be bringing a new comedy sketch series to the network.<\/p>\n Insecure<\/em> impresario Issa Rae is the brains behind this laugh-out-loud comedy, which follows Mia Knight (KaMillion) and Shawna Clark (Aida Osman), two former high school friends and struggling rappers trying to make it on the Miami music scene. Ultimately, they decide to join forces to form a group, double their chances of success, and use social media as their launching pad\u2014all with mixed results. As much as the series is about music, at its heart it\u2019s really about the unending possibilities of youthdom and the beauty of women supporting women. At just two seasons long, it\u2019s an easy binge-watch.<\/p>\n Jessie (Rose Matafeo) is a twentysomething New Zealander attempting to make ends meet as a nanny in London. One New Year\u2019s Eve, she has a drunken one-night stand, only to sober up and realize she just slept with Tom Kapoor (Nikesh Patel), a major movie star. But what was presumably a one-off encounter turns into much more over time in this charming romcom series, which is a little bit like Notting Hill<\/em>\u2014only drunker.<\/p>\n Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi do what Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi do best as two very different kinds of pirates who cross paths in the 1700s. Darby plays Stede Bonnet, a fictionalized version of a very real member of the landed gentry whose version of a midlife crisis sees him abandon his family and hit the high seas for a swashbuckling adventure. Waititi, meanwhile, plays the infamous Blackbeard, who learns of Bonnet and seeks him out. What begins as a kind of mentorship eventually becomes the gay pirate action-comedy series you never knew you needed.<\/p>\n If Steven Wright and Nathan Fielder decided to create a YouTube channel of how-to tutorials on topics like putting up scaffolding and covering furniture in plastic, it might look a lot like How to With John Wilson<\/em>. So it probably comes as no surprise that Fielder is an executive producer of the series, which follows Wilson as he attempts to uncover the secrets of such universal dilemmas as how to make small talk. Wilson\u2019s surprising mix of earnestness and deadpan delivery make the series surprising, enlightening, and extremely strange.<\/p>\n In 2001, just three years after Good Will Hunting<\/em> made them bona fide Oscar winners, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck launched Project Greenlight, a competition that gave aspiring filmmakers the chance to make a real, live movie\u2014which begat Project Greenlight<\/em>, a reality series that chronicled the ups and downs (mostly downs) of that experience. While the competition was better known for the TV series it spawned versus the movies that it produced, it\u2019s now more than 20 years later. And, as new mentors Issa Rae, Kumail Nanjiani, and Gina Prince-Bythewood quickly realize, it\u2019s all still a bit of a nightmare. Gray Matter<\/em>, the movie that was created from the competition\u2019s rebirth, is also streaming on HBO Max, so you can judge for yourself whether things are different this time around.<\/p>\n This four-part docuseries, based on Elon Green\u2019s book Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust and Murder in Queer New York<\/em>, looks at the murders of several gay men in the early 1990s. Set against the backdrop of rising homophobia during the AIDS crisis, director Anthony Coronna\u2019s doc talks to the family members of those killed and the LGBTQ+ community advocates who pushed law enforcement to investigate the deaths happening in their community.<\/p>\n Chasedreams (Case Walker) is a 13-year-old internet icon whose overnight rise to global stardom has become the sole focus of his mom (Molly Shannon). Chase\u2019s older siblings, however, are having a much harder time finding success. Brother Cary (Drew Tarver) is an aspiring actor who can\u2019t even land the part of \u201cMan at Party Who Smells Fart,\u201d while sister Brooke (Hel\u00e9ne Yorke) is just trying to figure out who and what she wants to be. All three seasons of the series, which was cocreated by former SNL<\/em> head writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, are available to binge.<\/p>\n No one seemed particularly wowed when HBO announced that Bill Hader and Alec Berg were cocreating a series in which Hader would play a hitman with a conscience who attempts to go straight. But what might sound like a played-out trope has\u00a0taken on new dimensions of humor, darkness, humanity, and plain old weirdness, with its recently concluded final season serving as a brilliant crescendo of all of that dark weirdness mixed in with a little time jump. Barry Berkman (Hader) is a traumatized marine whose newfound apathy toward the world and the very act of living makes him perfectly suited to work as a gun for hire. When a job takes him to Los Angeles, Barry stumbles upon an acting class led by Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler, in what may be the role that finally supplants Fonzie as his most memorable), a failed but charismatic mentor. But transitioning back into the real world isn\u2019t without consequences for Barry, who can spend an entire episode being\u00a0hunted by a pint-sized martial arts master. All four seasons of the Emmy-winning series, each one better than the next, are available to stream in full.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Olsen seamlessly transitions from part-time superhero to cold-blooded seductress in this retelling of the story of Candy Montgomery\u2014a churchgoing wife and mother who turns murderous after having an affair with a fellow parishioner (the always excellent Jesse Plemons). If the plot sounds familiar, that might be because it\u2019s based on the true story of a murder that took place in Texas in 1980. Or perhaps it\u2019s because Hulu got there first with its own limited series, Candy<\/em>, starring Jessica Biel as the femme fatale.<\/p>\n Media empires run by dysfunctional families may rise and fall, but we\u2019ll always have\u00a0Succession<\/em>. The Emmy-winning series concluded its four-season run in early 2023, but its legacy as one of the most surprising pieces of prestige TV will be felt for decades to come (especially after what happened at Shiv\u2019s wedding \u2026 then \u201cConnor\u2019s Wedding,\u201d not to mention on the balcony or in the hand-hold seen \u2019round the world). At a time when TV shows about rich people, real or imagined, are in ample supply,\u00a0Succession<\/em>\u00a0manages to stand out by being as bitingly funny as it is painfully tragic. The jet-black family dramedy chronicles the Roy family and the people\/cronies\/tall men who orbit them, all of whom seem to be angling for control of Waystar Royco, the family-run global media conglomerate\u2014whether by succession (get it?) or more hostile means. Think of it as\u00a0King Lear<\/em> meets Rupert Murdoch\u2019s News Corp., only funny. (Unless you\u2019re invited to play a game of Boar on the Floor.)<\/p>\n In 2015, Robin Thede made television history when she was named head writer for\u00a0The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore<\/em>\u2014making her the first Black woman to hold the head writer position on a late-night talk show. Four years later, she revolutionized the TV landscape once again when she gathered up a group of her funniest friends\u2014including Ashley Nicole Black, (future\u00a0Abbott Elementary<\/em> creator) Quinta Brunson, Gabrielle Dennis, and Skye Townsend\u2014and created\u00a0A Black Lady Sketch Show<\/em>, the first sketch comedy written, produced, and starring Black women. The four-season series has brought such A-list names as Angela Bassett out as guest stars with its no-holds-barred humor, and the entire series is available to stream now.<\/p>\n Costello Jones (Daisy May Cooper) is an aspiring novelist and working-class mom who isn\u2019t always successful at making ends meet for herself and her wise-beyond-her-years daughter, Iris (Fleur Tashjian). So Costello is regularly forced to call upon her violence-prone\u2014but wealthy\u2014gay best friend, Selby (Jack Farthing), to unstick them from whatever jams they\u2019ve managed to get caught in. The series is billed as a black comedy, which it definitely is, although the moments between the levity are sometimes so dark and raw that even the frothiest bits carry weight. This darkly nuanced and sometimes surreal meditation on class, sex, dysfunction, and the varying definitions of \u201cfamily\u201d makes for a compulsively watchable series. Sadly, the BBC-HBO coproduction was canceled after one season, so the eight existing episodes are all you get.<\/p>\n Abbott Elementary<\/em> creator\/star Quinta Brunson (A Black Lady Sketch Show<\/em>) has garnered all sorts of accolades with this ABC series and even managed to create streaming deals with both HBO Max\u00a0and\u00a0Hulu. The surprise hit follows the lives of a group of teachers who are working at one of the most woefully underfunded public schools in America while doing their best to inspire students. Yes, it all sounds very earnest\u2014and it is\u2014but it\u2019s also the kind of funny we don\u2019t see much of on network TV anymore. The series\u2014which just finished up its fourth season and already secured a fifth season renewal\u2014has racked up enough awards (Emmys, Critics Choice, Indie Spirit, and beyond) to fill a school trophy case.<\/p>\n Michaela Coel is a creative force of nature who delivered on what she promised with the title of this limited series, which she created, wrote, directed, and stars in. Arabella (Coel) is a Londoner living the millennial dream with a thriving writing career, thanks in part to her celebrity as a social media influencer. But Arabella\u2019s Insta-perfect life begins to unravel when, after a night out with friends, she begins to recall\u2014in fragments\u2014being sexually assaulted. Eventually, the need to piece together exactly what happened to her, and who did it, consumes her completely and the past comes knocking at her door. Last August, Coel announced she was working jointly with HBO and BBC on a new series, First Day on Earth<\/em>, that will be equally personal.<\/p>\n Bad timing may have led to the unfortunately early demise of\u00a0Avenue 5<\/em>, which had filming on its second season delayed, and delayed again, due to Covid-19. But the space-set comedy from the brilliant mind of Armando Iannucci, creator of\u00a0Veep<\/em> (another classic streaming on HBO Max), and its even swearier predecessor,\u00a0The Thick of It<\/em>, is well worth your time, if only to see what could happen when space travel inevitably goes wrong. Hugh Laurie stars as the \u201ccaptain\u201d of an interplanetary cruise ship, with Josh Gad playing the role of eccentric tech billionaire\/huge baby Herman Judd, whose planned eight-week tour of the galaxy turns dire when a gravitational disaster steers the ship off course. The series gets more bonkers as it goes along, and poop plays a massive part in saving thousands of passengers and crew members. Consider yourselves warned\u2014and feel free to laugh at the inanity of it all. Loudly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HBO Max may not have the shine it once did, but the streaming service (previously just Max) is still home to some of the best TV shows of the past 25 years, from\u00a0The Sopranos and\u00a0The Wire to\u00a0Game of Thrones\u00a0and\u00a0The Leftovers. Whether you\u2019re a longtime fan of the \u201cit\u2019s not TV\u201d cable network or a HBO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[10920,287,4958,871],"class_list":{"0":"post-24964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-hbo","9":"tag-max","10":"tag-october","11":"tag-shows"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Task<\/em><\/h2>\n
Peacemaker<\/em><\/h2>\n
Ruby & Jodi: A Cult of Sin and Influence<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Yogurt Shop Murders<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Gilded Age<\/em><\/h2>\n
Duster<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Mortician<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Rehearsal<\/em><\/h2>\n
Conan O’Brien Must Go<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Last of Us<\/em><\/h2>\n
Hacks<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Righteous Gemstones<\/em><\/h2>\n
When No One Sees Us<\/em><\/h2>\n
The White Lotus<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Pitt<\/em><\/h2>\n
Somebody Somewhere<\/em><\/h2>\n
Dune: Prophecy<\/em><\/h2>\n
Like Water for Chocolate<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Sex Lives of College Girls<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Franchise<\/em><\/h2>\n
It’s Florida, Man<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Penguin<\/em><\/h2>\n
Chimp Crazy<\/em><\/h2>\n
City of God: The Fight Rages On<\/em><\/h2>\n
Industry<\/em><\/h2>\n
House of the Dragon<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Sopranos<\/em><\/h2>\n
Ren Faire<\/em><\/h2>\n
Fantasmas<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Jinx<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Sympathizer<\/em><\/h2>\n
Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show<\/em><\/h2>\n
Tokyo Vice<\/em><\/h2>\n
True Detective: Night Country<\/em><\/h2>\n
Curb Your Enthusiasm<\/em><\/h2>\n
Rap Sh!t<\/em><\/h2>\n
Starstruck<\/em><\/h2>\n
Our Flag Means Death<\/em><\/h2>\n
How to With John Wilson<\/em><\/h2>\n
Project Greenlight: A New Generation<\/em><\/h2>\n
Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York<\/em><\/h2>\n
The Other Two<\/em><\/h2>\n
Barry<\/em><\/h2>\n
Love & Death<\/em><\/h2>\n
Succession<\/em><\/h2>\n
A Black Lady Sketch Show<\/em><\/h2>\n
Rain Dogs<\/em><\/h2>\n
Abbott Elementary<\/em><\/h2>\n
I May Destroy You<\/em><\/h2>\n
Avenue 5<\/em><\/h2>\n