Fourth of July may be over, but the fireworks still go on. This week’s new TV offerings are full of dramatic confrontations – from murders (The after party) to dinner parties (The Real Housewives of New York City) to show participants in reality who are tasked with just not getting along (Too hot to handle).
It’s not all melodrama, of course. Netflix takes a look back at the 2022 NFL season with Quarterback, a new docuseries following a year in the lives of three budding QBs (including superstar Patrick Mahomes). And while the vampires of What we do in the shadows might have a flair for the dramatic, they also bring a lot of really solid comedy to balance it out.
Also worth noting: the return of Foundation, Isaac Asimov’s adaptation on Apple TV Plus starring Lee Pace, Jared Harris and more. The series returns with a new timeline and new challenges for those who follow the gospel of psychohistory, and feels a little more secure than the first season did.
Here are all the major TV premieres (and finales) this week.
New series on Netflix
Quarterback
Image: Netflix
Genre: Sports documentary (football edition)
Date of publication: July 12, with all episodes
Form: Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Neven, Marcus Mariota
In the same vein as Netflix’s other sports documentaries, Quarterback follows a select team of (get this) quarterbacks during last year’s NFL season. We get a behind-closed-door look into their training and family life, and get a sense of how their season came about.
Too Hot to Handle season 5
Genre: Sexual reality competition nonsense
Date of publication: July 14, with 4 episodes
Form: A cast of horny, hot reality singles
You know the drill: there are 10 hot bachelors who are lured to a luxury location (in this case, a yacht in the Caribbean) with the promise of joining a new dating show, when it is revealed that the only way they be able to get $200,000 in cash. price is to avoid all physical intimacy. How are they going to make it??
New shows on Hulu
What we do in the shadows season 5 torrent
Photo: Russ Martin/FX
Genre: Irreverent vampire comedy
Date of publication: July 13 (FX), July 14 (streaming on Hulu)
Show runner: Paul Simms
Form: Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Mark Proksch, Harvey Guillén and Kristen Schaal
What we do in the shadows is back, and thank goodness – it’s been way too long since someone yelled “Bat!” on our television screens. In the new season, Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) reconnects with family from the old country, Lazslo (Matt Berry) and Nandor (Kayvan Novak) fight over Guillermo’s (Harvey Guillén) time and Colin (Mark Proksch) puts out some so much energy. vampires have done for him (running for office).
New shows on Max
Wonderworkers: End Time
Genre: Anthology Comedy (End Times)
Date of publication: 10th of July
Showrunner/creator: Simon Rich
Form: Daniel Radcliffe, Geraldine Viswanathan, Steve Buscemi, Karan Soni, Jon Bass
The long-delayed fourth (and crazy max-inflected) season of Miracle workers finally comes out this week. In this wasteland, there’s only one challenge that’s truly terrifying for a pair of ruthless warriors: settling in the suburbs.
Full circle
Genre: Thriller
Date of publication: July 13
Showrunner/creator: Steven Soderbergh, Ed Solomon
Form: Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, Jim Gaffigan, Jharrel Jerome, Timothy Olyphant, CCH Pounder and more
What could be better in the middle of summer than a prestige limited thriller series? This one — from director Steven Soderbergh and writer Ed Solomon — follows an investigation into a kidnapping gone wrong that links multiple characters to long-held secrets (which, in classic, crisscrossing mystery fashion, are likely to come out in a big way).
New programs on Prime Video
The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 download
Genre: Teen soap
Date of publication: July 14, with three episodes
Showrunner/creator: Jenny Han
Form: Lola Tung, Christopher Briney, Gavin Casalegno, Sean Kaufman, Jackie Chung, Alfredo Narciso and Minnie Mills
The love triangle featuring Belly and two brothers (based on the novel of the same name by Jenny Han) is here to scratch the itch for romance lovers. Season 2 is based on the next book in the series, It’s not summer without you, in which Belly and Conrad’s new relationship is strained by Susannah’s passing, with both of them dealing with her tragic loss. When Conrad goes missing, Belly reunites with Jeremiah to track him down – only to make Belly’s feelings for Jeremiah stronger.
New shows on Peacock
The Real Housewives of New York City season 14
Genre: Angry entitled housewives reality nonsense
Date of publication: July 16 (Bravo), July 17 (streaming on Peacock)
Form: Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Dana Lichy, Jenna Lyons, Jessel Taank and Brynn Whitfield
RHONY is a show you probably already know whether you’re on or not, but of course there’s still time to get on board if you want to. RHONY season 14 promises a new cast and the same old reality show drama. To some dramatic bougie and boozy parties!
New shows on Apple TV Plus
The after party
Image: Apple
Genre: Mystery, with genre-specific parodies
Date of publication: July 12, with 1 episode
Showrunner/creator: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Form: Tiffany Haddish, Sam Richardson, Zoë Chao, Zach Woods, Ken Jeong, John Cho and more
What a beautiful wedding – that is, until the groom is found dead the next day. In the last season of The after party, everyone is (usually) a suspect, everyone has a story, and everyone has a different genre they filter their lives through. Season 2 of the murder mystery brings back Aniq (Sam Richardson) and Danner (Tiffany Haddish) to prank the crowd and see if they can unearth the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth somewhere between everyone’s version of events .
Foundation
Genre: Sci-fi epic
Date of publication: July 14, with 1 episode
Showrunner/creator: David S. Goyer, Jane Espenson
Form: Lee Pace, Jared Harris, Lou Llobell, Terrence Mann and more
Foundation Season 2 picks up where Season 1 left off: decades after the Season 1 storylines, with the Foundation further afield and more in danger than ever before. Meanwhile, a new empire is emerging that attempts to reset their rule by (gasp) bringing in an Empress and having children the old-fashioned way (not by cloning).
New shows on Hulu
How I met your father season 2 finale
Photo: Patrick Wymore/Hulu
Genre: Rom-com-sitcom
Date of publication: July 11
Showrunner/creator: Isaac Aptaker, Elizabeth Berger
Form: Hilary Duff, Christopher Lowell, Francia Raisa, Suraj Sharma, Tom Ainsley, Tien Tran and Kim Cattrall
The How I met your mother spin-off continues fast, having yet to meet (or at least reveal him) the titular father. In the season 2 finale of the show, the whole gang goes to Pemberton’s to wait out a hurricane. Everything will definitely be fine and the confined, tight spaces will not cause any incidents.