#Bingewatch: your #TV #show guide to March 25th – 31st
How’s it going, loyal bingewatcher? We all had our collective minds blown over the weekend with the double threat of Season 2 of The OA dropping, as well as Jordan Peele unleashing his latest thrilling experiment Us to cinemas worldwide. Thankfully, this week’s new and returning shows are giving us a couple of days off to recover, and there’s a full slate of fresh comedies to shake us out of our existential slump before Peele’s The Twilight Zone has us questioning our existence all over again next Monday.
At the top of our list is Abby’s, a charming new sitcom starring Natalie Morales about an al fresco bar in San Diego that will undoubtedly make us long for those long summer days drinking our favorite cocktails under a scorching sun. Plus, stay tuned for the final season of the scathing political satire Veep, the further sexy mishaps of Gina Rodriguez’s Jane the Virgin, and a brand new TV spin on Taika Waititi’s What We Do in the Shadows.
If comedy’s not your jam, and the latest thought-provoking releases have you in the mood for grim drama and captivating thrillers, yet another televisual adaptation of a modern classic, Hanna, should stir up the adrenaline junkie in you. Our pick of the week on the serious side could be Mrs. Wilson, though, a scorching historical drama inspired by the crazy true story of the actress Ruth Wilson’s (Luther) insane family history.
There’s TV treats for every walk of life hitting the air this week, so take your pick from the list below and get bingewatching!
Happy! (SyFy)
Original air date Dec. 6th, 2017
Season 2 airs Wednesdays from Mar. 27th, 2019
As black as comedy can get, this series based on Grant Morrison’s limited comic run of the same name stars Christopher Meloni as Nick Sax, a disgraced detective who stumbles across the imaginary friend of a kidnapped girl. Patton Oswalt co-stars as the animated blue unicorn, Happy, who explains that the girl is his estranged daughter and has been imprisoned by a deranged psychopath who dresses up as Santa Claus. As ever with Grant Morrison properties, expect to be equal parts amused and repulsed.
Jane the Virgin (The CW)
Original air date Oct. 13th, 2014
Season 5 airs Wednesdays from Mar. 27th, 2019
Satirical series about a sexually awkward young woman who believes there’s far more to life than getting laid. Unfortunately, despite her celibacy, she discovers she’s been made pregnant by a disastrously clumsy doctor during a check-up at the gynaecologist. The situation only gets worse when she discovers that the biological father is none other than her teen crush, Rafael Solano, a married former playboy.
As the series progresses, she decides to keep the child and eventually begins a relationship with Rafael, who has fallen out of love with his scheming wife. Features all the steamy twists and convoluted reveals of a trashy erotic novella, but with a satirical edge that keeps it fresh and witty each season.
What We Do in the Shadows (FX)
Airs Wednesdays from Mar. 27th, 2019
Taika Waititi’s laugh-a-second vampire parody serves as the launching point for this new supernatural comedy, in which a group of undead blood-suckers who barely get along struggle to share a flat in New York. It’s not often that films based on original films are ever nearly as good, but given that the premise pretty much writes itself and the new series features the double act of British comedy legends Kayvan Novak (Four Lions) and Matt Berry (Toast of London), we can just about guarantee this will be a good time.
Abby’s (NBC)
Airs Thursdays from Mar. 28th, 2019
Natalie Morales stars as the titular bartender for the best drinking spot in San Diego, a backyard, DIY watering hole with exclusive rules. It takes time to earn your place there, but once you earn a coveted seat at the bar, you’re family for life.
A wholesome new comedy about uber chill drinking buddies that should hopefully take over the fuzzy feeling once Brooklyn Nine Nine finishes its sixth season. A rare venture into the multi-camera, live studio audience sitcom for comedy maestro Michael Schur, though the outdoor setting and lovable cast should keep things fresh and authentic.
Tacoma FD (truTV)
Airs Thursdays from Mar. 28th, 2019
truTV: A group of firefighters find themselves tackling the less glamorous parts of the job in the wettest city in America. What goes on behind firehouse doors if the rain handles most of the fires for you? Starring Super Troopers’ Kevin Hefferman and Steve Lemme, the premise sounds like a great one-off skit for a so-so sketch show, but might find it challenging to stretch for a whole series. Let’s see if the Broken Lizard comedy team can get back their mojo after the woeful Super Troopers 2.
Hanna (Amazon)
Available on Amazon from Mar. 29th, 2019
Thrilling action series inspired by Joe Wright’s 2011 film, originally starring Saoirse Ronan as a girl trained by her father to be the perfect assassin. Newcomer Esme Creed-Miles takes over the role for this new take on the story directed by David Farr, a theatre director who also penned the original film. Co-stars Mireille Enos (The Killing) as the ruthless CIA agent who pursues the young hitwoman, as well as Joel Kinnaman (Altered Carbon) and Joanna Kulig (Cold War).
Harlots (Hulu)
Original air date Mar. 27th, 2017
Season 3 airs Fridays from Mar. 29th, 2019
A band of madams and sex workers support each other in a London brothel during the 18th Century. It was a time of limited autonomy for women, where marriage or prostitution were practically the only viable options for a young lady hoping to become economically stable. As a family of workers and employees form under the cruel eyes of rival brothel-owners Margaret Wells and Lydia Quigley, an era of violent morality and religious prosecution threatens to put a stop to their lucrative trade.
Stars Samantha Morton (The Walking Dead) and Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread) as the two shrewd businesswomen who struggle to retain control of their livelihood amidst Christian activists and brutal police raids.
On My Block (Netflix)
Original air date Mar. 16th, 2018
Season 2 available on Netflix from Mar. 29th, 2019
The squad returns for more streetsmart misadventures in the deep end of inner-city Los Angeles. Far and away from the glitz and glamor of Hollywood, these kids represent the LA you don’t see in the movies. Their tight friendship is tested by gang life, deportation, star-crossed romance, and conspiracy theories during the most formative part of their lives.
Celebrated for its diverse cast and sobering themes, Netflix just named it last year’s most bingewatched show of 2018. Time to sit down in front of the TV and not stand up again ‘till the gang’s next street odyssey is complete.
Santa Clarita Diet (Netflix)
Original air date Feb. 3rd, 2017
Season 3 available on Netflix from Mar. 29th, 2019
Wealth and narcissism are taken down a peg in this dark fantasy comedy starring Drew Barrymore (Miss You Already) and Timothy Olyphant. When Sheila (Barrymore) undergoes a horrific transformation and starts to crave human flesh, the suburban family struggle to support her murderous appetite whilst balancing nosy neighbors, cultural expectations, and a fantastical mystery. Not quite as artistic as Hannibal, but until that gets its long-awaited renewal for a fourth season this is currently the best cannibalistic show on TV right now.
Traitors (Netflix)
Season 1 available on Netflix from Mar. 29th, 2019
WWII may have been won in 1945, but the hostility, scrutiny, and air of distrust would continue for decades after. Emma Appleton (Clique) stars as a British civil servant in this historical espionage miniseries originally released by the UK’s Channel 4.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, unassuming office worker Feef Symonds agrees to spy on her own government for a conspiring group of American agents. Co-stars Michael Stuhlbarg (The Shape of Water) and Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard) and scripted by Boardwalk Empire writer Bash Doran.
Call the Midwife (PBS)
Original air date Jan. 15th, 2012
Season 8 airs Sundays from Mar. 31st, 2019
Quaint British period series about a group of plucky midwives working in Nonnatus House, a convent of nuns who serve as the London East End’s first port of call for childbirth in the 1950s. The show is loosely based on the memoirs of real midwife Jennifer Worth, and has been praised for its sensitive tackling of such difficult subjects as miscarriage, religion, and early LGBTQI movements, though has since become routinely far-fetched in its later life.
Mrs. Wilson (PBS)
Airs Sundays from Mar. 31st, 2019
Ruth Wilson (Luther) stars as her own grandmother in this thrilling expose of a family in turmoil, when Alison Wilson uncovers the truth of her husband’s second life. When her husband of 22 years, Alec, suddenly dies of a heart attack, a woman arrives on her doorstep claiming to be his widow. Thrilling true-to-life drama that reveals the shocking ancestral past of one of Britain’s best actors.
Veep (HBO)
Original air date Apr. 22nd, 2012
Season 7 airs Sundays from Mar. 31st, 2019
American counterpart to Armando Iannuci’s scathing British political satire The Thick of It, in which Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as Selina Meyer, the vice president, and later president of the United States who tries to retain power in the midst of one of the country’s most tumultuous and fragile political periods.
