What to Stream: A grab bag of new and returning shows
Thankfully, the Writers Guild of America and major Hollywood studios reached a tentative agreement over the weekend, ending 146 days of picketing.
While pencils are not back up again for the TV and film writers in the guild, it’s a great sign for progress, and new productions will likely begin soon.
There’s still an interesting grab bag of new stuff to stream this week, from spinoff miniseries to long-standing reality TV favorites, to other curios available on streamers. So let’s check out what’s new this week.
First up, the “John Wick” prequel “The Continental: From the World of John Wick” is a threepart miniseries that premiered last week on Peacock, with Episodes 2 and 3 dropping today and Oct. 6, respectively. The miniseries focuses on the mysterious hotel for assassins that features in the Wick movie franchise, and takes place in the 1970s, offering ample opportunity to play in the styles of kung fu and blaxploitation. Colin Woodell of “The Flight Attendant” and “Ambulance” stars as a young Winston Scott (played by Ian McShane in the movies). The only hang-up? No Keanu Reeves, and franchise director Chad Stahelski is also not behind the camera. But if you’re jonesing for the kind of shoot-emups that “John Wick” provides, check it out on Peacock, or stream the first three “John Wick” movies there.
On Thursday, the third season of Rose Matafeo’s charming rom-com “Starstruck” started streaming on Max. The series stars
Matafeo as a nanny who finds out she’s had a onenight stand with a famous actor, Tom Kapoor (Nikesh Patel). In the third season, Jessie has to part ways with Tom but finds love in some other interesting places. This screwball comedy will scratch that rom-com itch on Max.
Wes Anderson may have had the delightful “Asteroid City” in theaters this summer but on Wednesday, another film that he wrote and directed started streaming on Netflix. “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” is a 37-minute short film based on the book by Roald Dahl, and it stars an insane lineup of storied English actors: Benedict Cumberbatch, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes and Dev Patel. This is not one to be missed, and it’s a delightfully bite-sized serving of Anderson.
But for the more reality-minded among us, there are some new seasons of long-running favorites to tune into as well. First up, the new season of “Love is Blind” on Netflix, casts singles from Houston for the addictive dating experiment hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey. Tune in to see if love is truly blind once the couples emerge from the pods. The first four episodes of the new season are streaming.
Finally, on Wednesday, one of the original blockbuster reality series showed that it’s still going strong with its 45th season. That’s right, there’s a new season of “Survivor” on CBS. Yes, they are still in Fiji, but the game is now shorter, faster and more complex than ever. Tune in to CBS or on Paramount+ to check out the ever-evolving survival series. It’s worth it.