A guide to streaming your way through the coronavirus
For the first time since the dawn of Netflix streaming, people are worried they might not have enough to watch. Hundreds of millions of people are stuck at home for the foreseeable future with hours of additional free time, and odds are that the rules keeping you indoors are only going to get more restrictive. While staying safe is the No.1 priority, couples can spend only so much time making TikTok videos.
Built to satisfy these idle hours, streaming services are all sitting on thousands of movies and TV shows from the last 100 years.
Yet viewers crave the new. All five of Netflix’s most popular shows in the US, as measured on Sunday, were released in the past couple of weeks, including a series starring Octavia Spencer as an early female entrepreneur and a documentary series about big cats.
So we thought we’d create a guide with new TV shows (and movies) that are coming to streaming services in the next month.
FOR COMEDY LOVERS
Insecure. The new season of Issa Rae’s show about a young woman searching for answers in southern Los Angeles. April 12 on HBO.
Run. Did you like Fleabag? Phoebe
Waller-Bridge, that show’s creator and star, has executive produced this new show starring Merritt Wever and Domhnall Gleeson. April 12 on HBO.
Black AF. A new show from Blackish creator Kenya Barris, starring Barris and Rashida Jones, hopes to reinvent the family sitcom. April 17 on Netflix.
THE NEXT GREAT DRAMA
The Plot Against America. David Simon, who created The Wire, adapts Phillip Roth’s novel portraying an alternate history in which Charles Lindbergh beats Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election, and anti-Semitism grows rampant. The show premiered on March 16 on HBO, but new episodes will appear weekly.
Westworld. The third season of the dystopic science fiction show finally takes viewers outside the theme park. Like Plot, this has already premiered on HBO. But new episodes are rolling out on Sundays.
Ozark. The third season of the Emmy-winning crime drama stars Jason Bateman and Laura Linney. March 27 on Netflix.
DOCUMENTARIES + TOPICAL NEWS
Crip Camp. A favourite at this year’s
Sundance Film Festival, Crip Camp is about a camp for disabled kids that spawned the disability rights movement. Higher Ground, the company led by former US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, provided funding. March 25 on Netflix Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj. The sixth instalment of the current events comedy show, which has won an Emmy and a Peabody Award. March 29 on Netflix.
SPORTS FANS
There’s nothing to watch, right? Wrong!
The Scheme. A new documentary about a college basketball scandal that ensnared coaches, players, sneaker companies and some even more unsavoury characters. March 31 on HBO.
Sunderland Til I Die. The second instalment of a documentary series about the struggles of an English football club. The Independent deemed the first season “triumphant TV”. April 1 on Netflix.
INTERNATIONAL SHOWS
Terrace House: Tokyo 2019-2020. A new instalment of the Japanese reality show will hit Netflix on April 7. Money Heist Part IV. The most popular heist series on Netflix will return on April 3.
Fauda. The third season of the Israeli crime drama. April 16 on Netflix.