Summer is officially ending next week, so why not watch a good new TV show or two?
There’s no lack of choice this September 18–20 weekend, with streamers like Netflix, Peacock and more dropping some of their biggest titles of the year.
But which ones are worth your time?
Watch With Us has selected the best new shows streaming right now, including a hilarious HBO Max dramedy, a forbidden love story on Prime Video and the return of one of the best competitive reality shows on TV.
‘Youth’ Season 1 — HBO Max
The clock is ticking for Alex (Sharon Horgan). She just turned 50 and she’s still single. That’s perfectly OK for some people, but Alex is lonely and horny; she wants a man, and she wants one yesterday. She might have found one with Patrick (Rupert Friend), but she has trouble fitting romance into a life that still includes her aging parents, who need her now more than ever, and a college-age son, Rurai (Aran Murphy, Cillian’s lookalike son), who still needs parenting. Getting old isn’t easy, but for Alex, it’s proving to be impossible.
Sharon Horgan is one of the U.K.’s best creative talents, but she has yet to really break through in America. She just might with Youth, a funny yet serious look at a subject rarely seen in popular media — a middle-aged woman. Horgan’s Alex is messy, intelligent, sexy and confused — in other words, she’s a normal 50-year-old person, and she’s still figuring things out. Youth is the HBO series And Just Like That wanted to be — a sometimes frank and often hilarious look at a late-in-life woman who still wants all the pleasures she desired in her youth.
Youth begins streaming on HBO Max on September 20.
‘Trespasses’ Season 1 — PBS Masterpiece on Prime Video
At the height of The Troubles in 1970s Ireland, an insignificant affair could ruin two lives — and tear a small community apart. In a small town outside Belfast, a twentysomething Catholic primary school teacher, Cushla Lavery (Lola Petticrew), meets married Protestant barrister Michael Agnew (Tom Cullen) and immediately falls head over heels in love. Michael reciprocates, and they start a love affair that’s as passionate as it is scandalous. Under constant threat that their romance will be discovered by a community already fraught with political, social and religious tension, can Cushia and Michael continue their affair without hurting anyone — especially themselves?
Trespasses is an engrossing look at a time and place that feels as alien as a distant planet. 1975 Ireland is vastly different than the modern world, of course, but the show brilliantly highlights just how divided Ireland was 51 years ago. Against this fascinating political background, it tells a story about forbidden love that is universal. Cushia and Michael know what they’re doing is wrong, but they can’t help it — the heart wants what it wants. And you’ll want to watch Trespasses from beginning to end just to see what happens to them —and how Ireland’s history is still relevant today.
Trespasses is available to stream on September 20 on PBS Masterpiece via Prime Video.
‘MobLand’ Season 2 — Paramount+
Last season, the Harrigans successfully defended their home turf from rival gangs who wanted a piece of their criminal empire. In season 2, they face a bigger threat — themselves. Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan) and his wife Maeve (Helen Mirren) still have expert fixer Harry Da Souza (Tom Hardy) on their payroll, but even he can’t help them tame their eldest son Kevin (Paddy Considine) or Eddie (Anson Boon), who was revealed to actually be Conrad’s child with Kevin’s wife, Bella (Lara Pulver). Harry has his own problems to deal with, like a crumbling marriage and an increasing sense that the Harrigans perceive him as expendable rather than indispensable.
This past summer, rumors swirled that Hardy was fired from MobLand due to clashes with the other cast. Thankfully, those rumors proved to be untrue, and the Venom actor is back in a show that makes great use of his gritty, tough-guy persona. As crime shows go, MobLand isn’t as great as Ozark, but it’s an entertaining melodrama that gives some of Britain’s best actors meaty roles to play.
‘The Traitors: New Blood’ Season 4 — Peacock
Fresh off multiple Emmy wins, including Outstanding Reality Competition Program for the third straight year, The Traitors is back, and it’s changing things up a bit. Among its 22 new competitors, not one is a recognizable celebrity – there are no Housewives or Vanderpump Rules cast members in sight. Instead, there’s a nurse, an astrophysicist and even a dog groomer competing for a grand prize of up to $250,000.
The rules are largely the same: a select few contestants are chosen as Traitors, who must eliminate, or “murder,” the rest of the cast, known as the Faithful, and avoid being exposed. If either side is successful, they win the game. Host Alan Cumming returns, and yes, he will be wearing an array of Scottish kilts, cardigans and other outrageous outfits.
