I missed a season premiere and a movie in this and last week’s What to Watch, so I’m making up for it with a little extra coverage: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (season 2 premiere Thursday, June 15) and new bio-drama Flamin’ Hot (now streaming on Hulu). You can’t have too much TV in your life.
This week’s What to Watch picks include new series The Walking Dead: Dead City, the returns of Black Mirror and The Righteous Gemstones, a TV take on The Full Monty, psychological thriller Jagged Mind, and AEW Collision pro-wrestling action. Where’s that remote?
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What’s premiering this week
Series premiere, Sunday, June 18: The Walking Dead is dead, Fear the Walking Dead is on its last rotting legs, and The Walking Dead: Worlds Beyond and Tales of the Walkiing Dead … what happened to those, anyway? The Walking Dead: Dead City is one of three new spinoffs in the TWD universe, following the unlikely duo of Maggie (Lauren Cohen) and Negan (Jeffery Dean Morgan) as they fight off zombies in Manhattan. Why are they in New York? They’re looking for Maggie’s kidnapped son, and probably some decent pizza.
AEW Collision | TNT | Sports, wrestling
Series premiere, Saturday, June 17: The AEW rassleverse expands once more with Collision, a new weekly Saturday night show that will avoid competing with the WWE’s SmackDown on Friday nights (though AEW’s Rampage will continue on Fridays). Along with Dynamite on TBS Wednesdays, that’s five hours of AEW wrestling a week—the extended promotion is so understaffed, they’re even bringing back CM Punk (again). Rumors persist that Mercedes Moné (the former Sasha Banks of WWE) might also show up, but you didn’t read that here … unless it becomes true.
What to watch on Netflix this week
Black Mirror | Netflix | Drama, sci-fi
Season 6 premiere, Thursday, June 15: Thankfully, Black Mirror took the entirety of the pandemic off—we didn’t need the added dystopian existential dread. The new five-episode season is the first since 2019, with tales of technological terror set in the ’60s, ’70s, and beyond, starring Aaron Paul, Zazie Beetz, Michael Cera, Josh Hartnett, Kate Mara, Rob Delaney, and Paapa Essiedu. Also, Annie Murphy unwittingly has her life adapted by a nefarious streaming service into a show where she’s played by Salma Hayek (you could do worse, Annie).
Extraction 2 | Netflix | Action, drama
Movie premiere, Friday, June 16: Black ops mercenary Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) is back in action in the imaginatively-titled Extraction 2, the sequel to 2020’s hit Extraction. What’s he extracting this time? The family of a Georgian gangster who’s thrown them in prison (that’s one way to get out of a summer vacation with the kids). Rake has the tactical advantage of being presumed dead after the events of the first movie, as well as a magical hammer that only he can pick up … sorry, I extracted that from the wrong cinematic universe.
What to watch on Max this week
Season 3 premiere, Sunday, June 18: The Righteous Gemstones is such a scathing satire of televangelists that Pat Robertson opted out of sticking around for a third season. Too soon? Anyway: Season 3 of HBO’s other messy succession story finds Eli Gemstone (John Goodman) stepping back from leading his megachurch, leaving Jesse (Danny McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson), and Kelvin (Adam DeVine) to fight over the throne. Hilariously complicating matters are new enemies played by Steve Zahn, Stephen Dorff, and Kristen Johnston. Two of nine episodes premiere on June 18.
Police Academy | Max | Comedy
Movies, now streaming: Five out of seven Police Academy movies—a.k.a. America’s most beloved film franchise—are now streaming on Max, America’s maxiest streaming service. They include Police Academy (1984), Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985), Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986), Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987), and Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (1988). Factoids: Police Academy helped launch the careers of Sharon Stone and Kim Cattrall, and Steve Guttenberg beat out Bruce Willis(!) for the lead.
What to watch on Hulu this week
The Full Monty | Hulu | Comedy, drama
Series premiere, Wednesday, June 14: Who asked for a sequel series to 1997 indie-flick hit The Full Monty? Possibly no one—it may just have been next up in the Intellectual Property Reboot cue, alphabetically after Fatal Attraction (guess they skipped right over Forrest Gump). Unlike most reboots, this Full Monty reunites the original cast, including Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, Tom Wilkinson, Lesley Sharp, Hugo Speer, Paul Barber, Steve Huison, and Wim Snape. But, do you really want to see these guys dancing naked 25 years later? Expect half Montys at best.
Jagged Mind | Hulu | Drama, thriller
Movie premiere, Thursday, June 15: When Billie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Legends of Tomorrow) begins suffering severe blackouts and the feeling that she’s reliving the same moments over and over again, she suspects that it might have something to do with her mysterious new girlfriend, Alex (Shannon Woodward, Westworld). This twisted take on Groundhog Day is based on the horror film short First Date by Kelley Kali, who also directed Jagged Mind. As the poster’s tagline says, “Believe anything but your own memory.”
W2W wildcards of the week
Outlander | STARZ | Drama, fantasy
Season 7 premiere, Friday, June 16: The seventh season of STARZ’s longest-running original series will be split into two halves, with eight premiering over this summer and another eight arriving in early 2024. As if that’s not enough drama, Jamie (Sam Heughan) has to rescue Claire (Caitriona Balfe) from being convicted of a murder she didn’t commit and navigate the early stages of the American Revolutionary War for their family. Outlander has an eighth and final season on the horizon, as well as a prequel series, Blood of My Blood.
Pocket Dial Murder | LMN | Drama
Movie premiere, Thursday, June 15: Lifetime never disappoints with its movie titles, though you kinda wish the network would have gone all-in on Butt Dial Murder. Still, Pocket Dial Murder is solid, especially when you notice the “Inspired by true events” qualifier. When Stacey (Kirsten Comerford) receives an accidental phone call from her husband Jeff (Steve Byers), she hears the apparent murder of a woman on the other end. Later, Jeff says he lost his phone and knows nothing about it—is he telling the truth? Since this is Lifetime Movie Network, of course not. Come on, Jeff.
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