If you missed the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards last night (I know, there are too many of these awards shows), the only bit you need to see is Jenna Ortega and Aubrey Plaza presenting a trophy. It’s hilarious, but also low-key terrifying.
This week’s What to Watch recs include the returns of The Mandalorian and Grand Crew, the debuts of True Lies and Daisy Jones & The Six, the steamy second season of Sex/Life, Bahrain Grand Prix racing action, and a second chance for Hollywood non-blockbuster Babylon. Get to streaming!
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What’s premiering this week
The Mandalorian | Disney+ | Drama, sci-fi
Season 3 premiere, Wednesday, March 1: You’ve probably seen the meme, “In the future, all sci-fi shows will feature Pedro Pascal escorting a special child to a secret destination.” The Mandalorian returns for a third season of Star Wars–adjacent adventures, with Mando (Pascal, The Last of Us) and Grogu reunited because, really, is there even a show without the little green guy? In this chapter, the duo is headed to Mandalore: Mando wants redemption, while Grogu presumably only wants new snacks.
Bahrain Grand Prix | ESPN | Sports, racing
Coverage begins Sunday, March 5, 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT: Here’s the deal: Every month, my CableTV.com colleague Taylor Kujawa Slacks me a list of sports recommendations to include in What to Watch. Not being as sports inclined as he is, I still fake my way through writing about football, basketball, baseball, and most of the others with reasonable competence (or so I’ve been told). This week, I got the Bahrain Grand Prix, which means I got nothin.’ I’ll instead refer you to Taylor’s How to Watch Formula One 2023 guide.
What to watch on Netflix this week
Sex/Life | Netflix | Drama
Season 2 premiere, Thursday, March 2: In the summer of 2021, Sex/Life debuted to instant internet buzz over the story of suburban mom Billie (Sarah Shahi) and her solution to a nagging midlife crisis: a love triangle involving her good-guy husband Cooper (Mike Vogel) and her bad-boy ex Brad (Adam Demos) from her wild New York City youth. In Season 2, Billie is getting in deeper with Brad, while Cooper may be entering into another love triangle of his own—does that make a love hexagon? All six episodes of Sex/Life Season 2 drop on March 2.
Next In Fashion | Netflix | Reality, competition
Season 2 premiere, Friday, March 3: How is Next In Fashion different from other clothing-design competition shows like Project Runway and Making the Cut? Season 1 was hosted by two actual fashion designers, Queer Eye’s Tan France and British model Alexa Chung, who met at a Victoria Beckham party during London Fashion Week. (That whole sentence screams “couture!”) France will be joined by Gigi Hadid in Season 2, and the international group of designers will be competing for $250,000 and a clothing line with Net-a-Porter (clever).
What to watch on Paramount+ this week
True Lies | CBS, Paramount+ | Action, drama
Series premiere, Wednesday, March 1: James Cameron’s 1994 action-thriller True Lies wasn’t a likely candidate to be adapted into a TV series, but Queen Latifah’s The Equalizer has proven that anything can work if repackaged right (on CBS, anyway). Steve Howey (Shameless) steps into the Arnold Schwarzenegger role of spy/family guy Harold Tasker, and Ginger Gonzaga (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) co-stars as a far-more-involved wife than Jamie Lee Curtis was in the movie. Bonus: Tom Arnold from the O.G. True Lies guests.
Babylon | Paramount+ | Comedy, drama
Movie, now streaming: Much-maligned 2022 film Babylon deserves a second chance, and now it has one on Paramount+. (Who wouldn’t rather spend three hours watching it at home than in a theater?) The sprawling Brad Pitt/Margo Robbie dark comedy puts the 1920s and 1930s heyday of Hollywood on full Technicolor display, a sensational indulgence of drugs, sex, and drama that makes Guns N’ Roses look like Glee. It’s no Boogie Nights, but Babylon is at least better than the inexplicably acclaimed La La Land (“Change My Mind” meme goes here).
What to watch on Prime Video this week
Daisy Jones & The Six | Prime Video | Drama, music
Series premiere, Friday, March 3: Rock & roll drama Daisy Jones & The Six has been in the works since 2018, going through false starts the way Spinal Tap went through drummers. Like This Is Spinal Tap, Daisy Jones & The Six is a mock-rock documentary, but this time about a ’70s Laurel Canyon band who more than resemble Fleetwood Mac. Led by singer Jones (Riley Keough), DJ&T6 traces the band’s blissful rise and volatile crash and burn. Bonus: there’s also a soundtrack album of original music posing as the band’s debut record, Aurora.
Laurel Canyon | Prime Video | Documentary, music
Now streaming: Conveniently, 2020 docuseries Laurel Canyon is also available on Prime Video for historical reference, but not 2002 Christian Bale/Kate Beckinsale drama Laurel Canyon (that’s on The Roku Channel). The rock doc about the Los Angeles–adjacent musical hotbed of the ’60s and ’70s includes interviews with Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Michelle Phillips, Graham Nash, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Roger McGuinn, and more. And it currently sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (the other Laurel Canyon only rates 69%).
W2W wildcards of the week
Wreck | Hulu | Comedy, horror
Series premiere, Wednesday, March 1: Teen Jamie (Oscar Kennedy) covertly joins the crew of a mega cruise ship in order to find his sister who disappeared mysteriously from the same ship. As we’ve learned from Below Deck, ship crews know how to party hard—so hard, no one notices a series of bloody murders being committed onboard. The British Wreck is a slasher comedy with plenty of WTF? moments and a killer in the guise of a duck (slashers always have a hook), like Triangle of Sadness meets Scream.
Season 2 premiere, Friday, March 3: Grand Crew is kinda Friends, but not. It’s set in Los Angeles (not New York), at a wine bar (not a coffee shop), and these six friends (Nicole Byer, Carl Tart, Echo Kellum, Justin Cunningham, Aaron Jennings, and Grasie Mercedes) aren’t all white. The breezy comedy, from Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Insecure writer Phil Augusta Jackson, has more in common with New Girl and Happy Endings than Friends, and it’s one of NBC’s great new comedy hopes. Check out the first season on Peacock for the pinot-noir proof.
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