If you’re one of the lucky souls to have Labor Day off this year, you might want to stay home and binge-watch some TV shows.
There’s plenty of new options to choose from, courtesy of streamers like Hulu, Netflix and even MGM+.
Watch With Us highly recommends Chad Powers, which returns for another season full of football, deception and Glen Powell being charming. Who can resist that?
Another returning show high on our list is The Gentlemen, Netflix’s ultra-chic crime show which sees Theo James’ pot kingpin consolidate his cannabis empire in season 2.
There are some great new shows to check out this Labor Day weekend as well, like the buzzy Netflix reality series Earle Meets World and MGM+’s period romance A Tale of Two Cities, starring Kit Harington.
‘Chad Powers’ Season 2 — Hulu
In season 1 of Chad Powers, Glen Powell’s playboy-turned-football hero, Russ Holliday, thought he had successfully redeemed himself by pretending to be a made-up person, Chad, only to find out that some of the people closest to him still thought he was a jerk. Season 2 continues Russ/Chad’s journey toward being a nice dude, or at least one worthy enough for coach Erika’s friendship — and maybe something more? The season also brings new challenges, like a prosthetic nose mishap mid-game that threatens to reveal Chad’s real identity, and a growing threat in Gerry (Colton Ryan), the backup quarterback who wants to take Chad’s place.
Blending elements of Eastbound & Down, Ted Lasso and Mrs. Doubtfire, Chad Powers is a sports comedy that is even more appealing in its second season. Powell is an unexpectedly gifted comic actor, and he makes his con-artist pigskin player a flawed hero you can’t help but root for.
‘The Gentlemen’ Season 2 — Netflix
Is it wrong to want more of what you already have? That’s the silent question The Gentlemen’s chief protagonist, Eddie (Theo James), asks and answers as season 2 begins. The answer, of course, is no, which is why Eddie wants to expand his cannabis empire beyond the shores of England. He has his sights set on Italy, where he sees an opportunity to muscle in on another alpha male’s drug trade. But to do that, he’ll need to make sure his partner-in-crime, Susie (Kaya Scodelario), wants to risk it all for more money, power and influence.
Created by Guy Ritchie, The Gentlemen is a slick crime drama that doesn’t really bother with reality. This is a show that marinates in its own luxury and invites you to watch its mostly pretty cast talk, fight and scheme in countryside estates and beachfront villas. It’s escapist porn disguised as macho posturing, and it’s super entertaining. As the reluctant drug lord Eddie, James looks and acts like the ideal Ritchie hero: tough when he needs to be, romantic when the opportunity arises and always looking swaggy in tuxedos, tweeds and trunks.
‘Earle Meets World’ Season 1 — Netflix
There are too many reality shows as it is, but Earle Meets World makes a convincing case that it’s one of the few that’s worth watching. The eight-episode series focuses on Alix Earle, a massively popular TikToker who, in 2023, joined Alex Cooper’s Unwell media company to launch her podcast, Hot Mess with Alix Earle. It became an instant hit, but Earle stepped away from it and Cooper earlier this year after the two had a falling-out.
Earle Meets World touches on the aftermath of Earle’s public feud with Cooper as well as her relationship with her extended family, which includes dad TJ, sister and fellow influencer, Ashtin, siblings Izabel, Penelope, mother Alisa and stepmother Ashley, who once made headlines when her affair with New York politician Eliot Spitzer was exposed. Earle Meets World isn’t for everyone, but if you’re a fan of the Kardashians reality shows, then you’ll love what Alix Earle and her clan have to offer.
‘A Tale of Two Cities’ Season 1 — MGM+
Charles Dickens isn’t the first name that comes to mind when it comes to great romance authors, but the Oliver Twist writer penned one of the best love stories ever in his 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities. That book has been adapted many times over the last 100 years, and the latest version might be the best.
Game of Thrones‘ Kit Harington stars as Sydney Carton, a lawyer hired by a young woman, Lucie Manette (Mirren Mack), to help free Charles Darnay (Francois Civil), who knows where her presumed-dead father is in Paris. Sydney can’t help but fall for her client, whose heart increasingly belongs to the wrongly imprisoned Charles.
Of course, there’s a lot more to A Tale of Two Cities — this is Charles Dickens, after all, not Jackie Collins. Set during the French Revolution, the four-part miniseries is appropriately epic without being too melodramatic. The lead actors all pout beautifully, with Harington once again portraying a Byronic hero caught up in events that threaten to consume him.
A Tale of Two Cities premieres on September 6.
